Masala Bread Toast

Masala bread toast was a staple breakfast when I was a child. It is a vegetarian version of the French toast but with an Indian twist.

Masala Bread Toast ( Indian style vegetarian French Toast)

Ingredients:

4 Bread slices (I have used white sandwich bread)
2-3 T milk
Butter for toasting

To Grind:

1 bunch of coriander leaves
1/4 cup pottukadalai (roasted gram dal)
1 onion
1 clove of garlic (optional)
2-3 green chillies
salt to taste

Method:

1. Grind items given under "to grind" into a smooth paste
2. Add milk until it is a thick spreadable paste.
3. Heat a flat skillet and add butter. Spread the masala paste on one side of the bread and place that side on the hot skillet.
4. As it toasts spread the paste on the top side. Flip the bread slice and allow the other side to cook as well.
5. Serve hot.

Notes:

1. The toast will be a bit on the softer side. You can try toasting it on a pop up toaster. But remember to keep the paste thick as it should not drip.
2. You can substitute the green chillies with dry red chillies for a different taste. You can even omit the chillies and use pepper powder instead..

Masal Vadai / Masala Vadai / Paruppu Vadai

I was not a big fan of this popular Chennai street food - Masal Vadai. While it was popular among masses - to me, it was "Eli Vadai" (it's commonly used as a bait in rat(eli in tamil) traps - as the aroma is so tempting that it is haute cuisine for the rodents). As a child I used to patiently pull out every single onion and et al out of the vadai making it a cumbersome task for me to eat it and also to dispose the ruins secretly. As I grew up, it was easy - I refused to eat this vadai saying only rats eat it :-).

 Like how bad karma follows you everywhere, it is an irony that my in-laws love masal vadai. So I got around to making them though I don't wolf down as much as I would normally do if its medhu vadai. While I personally prefer the latter, I  do enjoy making the masal vadai because of its simplicity and popularity. This is an easy version and makes for a crispy hot tea time snack.

Ingredients:

1 cup Channa Dal / Gram Dal / Kadalai Paruppu
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2-3 cloves Garlic
1" piece Ginger
1 t Garam Masala
3-4 green chillies
1 large Onion, finely chopped
2 T Mint leaves, finely chopped
2 T Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 T Curry Leaves, finely chopped
1 t Rice flour (optional)
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method

1.Soak Channa dal in sufficient water for 2 hours.

2. Retain a handful of the soaked dal and grind the rest with ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, green chillies and garam masala into a coarse paste.

3. Remove onto a bowl  and add in the retained dal, onions, salt, mint coriander and curry leaves leaves and mix well.

4. Add the rice flour if using and mix well. Shape into small balls, flatten them slightly and deep fry in hot oil until the outer turns into golden brown.






6. Serve hot with chutney and a steaming cup of coffee / tea.

Notes:

1. Adding rice flour helps bring in some crispiness to the vadai.
2. You can use the same recipe to make pakoras. Instead of making small balls, you pinch a bit of the batter and drop it in hot oil.
3. You can also add boiled and mashed vazhakkai for an interesting twist.

Medhu Vadai / Ulundu Vadai - A Step-Wise Tutorial

Warning: This is a super-long post. It is meant for those who want to make vadais and those who have been eating vadais all their lives without knowing the complexity of making one.

There are certain dishes in Indian cooking that are meant to showcase the skill levels of the cook who makes them. Have you seen that man in the corner chips store standing outside in front of a huge cauldron of boiling oil. He has a grater held at an angle and deftly slices the potato or banana in such a manner that it lands into the cauldron without even a drop of oil spluttering out. Next time you walk by a tea-stall, watch the man cool the tea  in a gravity defying display(i think its called tea-pulling!! I am not joking. Google it and see :-)).  It is the same with making jalebis and jangris - SKILL. Skill that I have realized that comes with practice and not by watching Masterchef. 

How is it that our grandmothers and mothers exhibit the same skill in making complicated dishes that require great sense of geometry and physics considering that they are not making it day in and day out like the chipswallah or tea master. I have watched with fascination during Diwali, Pongal and other festivals as frail hands mix and shape beautiful and delicate pieces of "kozhukkattai" with such precision that each piece is of the same dimension and contains the same amount of filling. (I made kozhukkattai once and the experience is better left unsaid. Think globs of undercooked flour! ).

One of the dishes that involves skill and practice that I have learnt  am learning is Medhu Vadais.  It is a breakfast dish in South India and is served in most restaurants along with steaming Pongal or soft idlies and a bucket of sambar and chutney. Due to the efforts involved, it is not an everyday dish in homes and is more of a festival food.

 I have been trying to make these vadais ever since I was allowed to come near a pan of hot oil. It involves bringing your hands close to boiling oil to drop the batter and therefore is not exactly a mom-and-me cookie making stuff. Making vadais is like a military operation. Coming to my experience, after exactly five attempts (done over 2 years and 5 festivals), my vadais now justify their name. It took 3 attempts for me to get that darn hole in the vadai (until then I was making medhu bonda). 

But none of the results were inedible. When I look back, it is not that difficult - especially not as difficult as kozhukkattai. (I am sure my kozhukattai would take atleast 10 trials. Look out for that post in 2016).

I made medhu vadais for the recent festival and it came out pretty decent. I agree that the shapes are no way close to precision and dont even start me on the hole. But if you ask me - how boring is it to have the same shaped vadai - I like my vadais to have character. Thats why I dont clone them. Infact I tell my family that life is like a plate of vadais. You never know which size or shape you are going to get them (hehe. Sorry Forrest Gump)

So here you go - my first post with steps - a tutorial on how to make Medhu Vadais. 

Disclaimer: This post may sound too much if you are my grandmother or a born vadai maker. I am no way close to a vadai expert (just look at that darn hole and you would know) and this post is not meant to be a Masterclass in vadai making. This is to help amateur vadai makers like me to impress their family. Do go through the extensive notes at the end of the recipe. (It is longer than the recipe itself).  If you have suggestions or advice, please feel free to leave them as comments. Will update the post with the same. 

Medhu Vadai / Ullundu Vadai / Deep-fried Indian Dumplings

Makes about 10-15 small vadais

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Urad Dal (skinned white variety)

2 tablespoons Rice flour

1 tablespoon Ginger, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Seasoning

2 Onions finely chopped

3-4 Green chillies, finely chopped

1/2 cup Coriander leaves, finely chopped

1/4 cup Curry leaves , finely chopped

Method:

Making the batter:

1. Wash the urad dal two or three times and soak in sufficient water for 1 to 2 hours.

2. Drain and grind to a smooth paste in a mixie or grinder along with the ginger. (Refer notes). Please add very little water during the grinding process. Adding water would result in loose batter that cannot be shaped into vadais. Ideally if you find the batter to be dry creating a strain on the grinder, then just sprinkle some water by hand and continue grinding until you get a smooth batter. The batter will be thick.

3. Just before stopping the grinding process, add the required amount of salt.

4. Mix in rice flour and the items given under seasoning.

5. Keep the batter in the refridgerator until frying.

Shaping and Frying the vadais:

1. Heat sufficient oil. Check if the oil has reached the correct temperature by dropping a small bit of the batter into the oil. If the batter immediately rises to the top, then the oil is ready. Else remove that piece and wait some more.

2.Keep a small bowl of water on your kitchentop. Wet your fingers and take about 1 tablespoon amount of batter with the four fingers on your hand.

3. Keep the batter on the top portion of the four fingers and using the thumb of your hand pat the batter and create a round shape to the batter.

4.. Using the thumb, make a hole in the
middle of the batter.

5. Gently slide the batter into the hot oil. Keep the stove on medium flame to ensure even cooking.Repeat from Step 2 for the rest of the vadais.

6 Gently turn the vada until both sides are golden brown.

7. Use a slotted ladle / spoon (jalli karandi) and remove onto a kitchen towel

8. The vadai should be crisp, evenly browned to a golden hue and should not have any oil on it. The insides should be white and fluffy.

9. Serve hot with chutney and sambar. Or go ahead and make some sambar vadai or thayir vadai (refer notes)

Notes:

• A wet grinder is the most ideal appliance for grinding the batter. If you dont have one, then a mixie would do. Do watch out for over-heating on account of longer grinding time in a mixie.  I have used a wet grinder.

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• The important aspect is the water content to the batter. It would seem difficult to grind without water. But take note that the urad dal has been soaked and therefore has a bit of water content. I would have added only about one or two tablespoons of water throughout the grinding process.  Too much water can be a disaster. If you do end up with a loose batter, try adding more rice flour. Or make medhu bondas. 

• Rice flour helps in making crisp vadais. Too much of it will change the taste of the vadai. So keep it under 2 tablespoons.

• Adding salt too early in the grinding would result in hard vadais. You can even add the salt after removing the batter to a vessel.

• Adding ginger at the time of grinding is optional. It helps in not having to bite into ginger bits while eating. If you dont want to grind them, then add it along with the onion and chillies. Again it is optional.

• Chilling the batter for 5 to 10 minutes enhances the texture of the vadai. Not mandatory. You can skip it if you want to make the vadais quickly.

• Quantity of oil depends on the size of kadai and the size of the vadai.

• If the oil is not of the right temperature, then it will result in oily and oil soaked vadais. If its too hot and smoking, then it will result in the vadai being cooked only on the outside with the middle remaining raw. Adjust the heat while frying to ensure even temperature.

• If  you want to make bigger vadais or shaping and dropping the vadai and bringing your hands near the hot oil sounds dangerous, then do try it the traditional way with a small piece of banana leaf smeared with oil held in your left and using your right hand shape the vadai on the leaf and turn the leaf over slightly above the oil to drop the batter into the oil. Alternatively, you can use the slotted ladle that you use to fry and shape the vada on it directly and drop it into the oil. 

• If you are a first-timer, then focus on making the vadai edible for the first couple of attempts. Don't fret too much over the shape. It will come with experience. Trust me :-)

• With experience, you would be able to fry a batch of 4 or more vadais at a time.  Do not crowd too much as they may not get evenly cooked. 

• If vadais seem to look oily, then keep the batter again in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Alternatively add some more rice flour.

• You can make the batter the previous day and store it in the refrigerator until frying. I have kept the batter in the fridge for a maximum of two days without affecting the taste and quality of the vadai. I am not sure about the maximum time it can be stored.
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Variations:

1. You can omit any or all of the seasonings given if you like plain vadais

2. You can add roasted and crushed pepper, small pieces of coconut to the batter.

3. Restaurants normally add cooking soda/baking soda to the batter just before frying for giant sized crisp vadais. This is optional when you are making at home. I did not use it.

4. Soak the leftover vadais in sambar and garnish with chopped onions and chillies for a delectable sambar vadai.

5.Soak the vadais in curd that has been seasoned with mustard seeds, urad dal and chillies. Garnish with shredded carrot and serve chilled. This is the yummy thayir vadai.

Maggi Masala Noodles with Vegetables

If I ever had the power to award a Nobel Food Prize - my first choice would definitely be Maggi. It revolutionized an entire generation's food chain and looking at Little A's passion for instant noodles, it makes me wonder if there has been some genetic inclination to it as well. Whatever it is, for the last two decades, the answer to the following situations has been the same

• Hungry after school? 
• Tired after long day at work?
• Don't feel like cooking?
• Don't know how to cook?
• Nothing at home?

MAGGI!. All you need is just 2 glasses of water and a heat source. On the stove, in a rice cooker, in an electric kettle, inside a microwave and in cases of some people I know - straight out of the packet (no, not me. I do have a lot of food fetishes. But I don't eat raw Maggi!)

A lot of people have cautioned me about the bad effects of instant noodles. For even a die-hard Maggi fan - I am sometimes paranoid of feeding it to Little A who adores it (In fact she has designated Friday as "Noodles Day" and takes it for lunch to school and every day asks "is it Friday today)!. But I have had this stuff for almost 2 decades and if nothing has happened so far. So it can't be that bad - right?  

I never knew that each country had its own variation of flavors - so was quite surprised to see Maggi Mee Goreng, Maggie Tom Yum and Maggi Curry Ayam here in Malaysia and of course I didn't like it. I want my Masala and so each time we come back from India - there are always couple of packets in my luggage. I was happy to find a store in Kuala Lumpur that stocked the "Indian Maggi Masala" and grabbed a few. 

A lot of people cook Maggi in different ways. Some cook noodles separately, drain and mix the masala. Some like it plain. Some may eat it plain out of necessity or laziness. Even in our home, I like it with vegetables, my husband likes it with just curry leaves and Little A likes it plain. 

Today's recipe is my favorite version of the 2-minute noodles. You can substitute with any instant noodle brand. 

Maggie Masala with Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 packet Maggi Noodles (I used masala flavor. You can subsitute for any other instant noodles brand).

1/2 onion - finely chopped

1/2 carrot - finely chopped

1/2 capsicum - finely chopped

2-3 green chillies - finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder or sambar powder

a pinch of salt

1 teaspoon oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a deep pan.

2. Add the green chillies and onion and fry well

3. Add the onions and fry. Add the carrot and capsicum and fry well.

4. Add red chilli powder and salt and fry well.

5. Add the tastemaker in the packet and mix well.

6. Add the required quantity of water as mentioned in the packet.

7. Break the noodles and add to the pan.

8. Cook until the noodles are done

9. Serve hot.

Notes:

1. Adjust green chillies and chilly powder according to taste and tolerance

2. You can add garam masala if you like for an Indianized curry taste

3. Add a drop of soy sauce while cooking vegetables for a slightly sour twist. But skip the salt as soy sauce would have salt.

4. Tomatoes also add a slightly sour taste. Add it if you like it.

5. I like to make my noodles slightly "soupy". So I add an extra 1/4 cup of water. If you prefer dry, the cook as per the packet instructions.

P.S - It was quite a task to take the photos without grabbing a couple of fork fulls of the stuff. Darn! I am addicted to it. It took exactly 5 minutes to reach this point.

Note: This is not a paid post.

Kuzhi Paniyaram

For a long time, the traditional paniyaram was relegated to the kitchens of chettinad households. Invented by diligent home chefs who were keen on not wasting food especially idli/dosa batter that was painstakingly hand ground. So the batter took on various avataars - idli on day 1, dosa on day 2, uthappam on day 3 and finally it became the delectable paniyaram. Spongy and soft with just the hint of onion, chillies and spices, the humble kuzhi paniyaram has come a long way.

The traditional kuzhi paniyaram pan has 7 or 11 holes/indents. The pan itself can be of aluminium/hindolium, cast iron or non-stick. The latter required minimum conditioning while the first two need to be seasoned and conditioned well.

This dish will take a bit of oil and even if you are a serious health freak, it is hard to say no to a plate of steaming paniyarams with spicy coconut chutney.There are so many variations to the paniyaram. It can be sweet, or made with grated veggies or if you are adventurous , then with stuffings as well.


The recipe below is for the basic paniyaram made with an onion and green chilly seasoning.

It goes well with any type of chutney, but the best match is coconut chutney or peanut chutney.

KUZHI PANIYARAM
Recipe Source: My Mother in Law
Makes 21 paniyarams

Ingredients

Dosa Batter - 3 cups (refer notes)
Onions -2, finely chopped
Green Chillies - 4, finely chopped
Mustard seeds - 1t
Broken urad dal - 1t
Channa dal - 1/2t
Curry leaf - 1 sprig finely chopped
Coriander leaf - 1 sprig finely chopped
Ginger - 1 inch, minced finely
Oil - 1T + 1/2 cup
Grated carrot - 1/4 cup, optional


Method

Heat oil in a kadai. Splutter mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, ginger and curry leaves. Add green chillies and onion and fry till onion turns pink.

Mix the seasoned onions and coriander leaves and grated carrot with the dosa batter and allow it to rest for 15 mins.

Meanwhile, heat the paniyaram pan. Add about 1/2 spoon of oil in each of the holes. (I used a nonstick paniyaram pan. Cast iron/aluminium pans would require more oil.)

Mix the batter and pour a small ladle full of batter into each of the holes. Close with the lid and wait for 3 mins. Open the lid and using a skewer or the stick that comes with the pan, turn each paniyaram gently without making any obvious damage to the paniyaram. Cook without the lid for another 3 mins. When both sides are evenly browned, remove them using the skewers. (To check if the paniyaram is done on the inside - a skewer inserted should come out clean).

Repeat the steps till you finish the batter. Any leftover batter can be stored in the fridge for 24 hours.

Serve hot with spicy coconut chutney.

NOTES

• Use sour dosa batter for the best results. I normally use batter that is atleast 5 days old.
• Batter should be in the same consistency as used for dosa.
• Grated veggies like carrots, beetroot, zucchini add color, flavor and nutrition.
• You can also use Ebelskiver or poffertjes pan if you cannot get a paniyaram pan.