Category: Vegan

Dalvada Lentil Fritters

Dalvada Lentil Fritters

Dalvada Lentil Fritters, a specialty of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is a highly nutritious, quick and easy snack that can be easily had in a place of a meal! You will find lots of people feasting on this as they are so delicious. I had been exposed to this delicacy during my childhood days,  eating the then famous dalwadas  at Natraj Cinema  during my college days at HL College. The snack is served with fried green chillies as accompaniment and is a popular street food of Gujarat, like the Vada Pav in Maharashtra.

This snack was made popular by the street vendors and made more famous by one vendor, Shri Ambika Dalvada. In one of the interviews with the owner, it turns out he is originally from Rajasthan, and  it is no wonder that a successful dish based on lentils would be coming from Rajasthani. As Rajasthan is known for Dal Bati, Moong Chilla etc. These Dalvada will also be appreciated by people who like Pesarattu, as it contains the same Split Green Gram Lentils as in the Moong Chilla or Pesarattu.

The addition of blackeyed peas (Chora Dal or Lobia Dal) gives it the extra crunch in the Dalwada. Split green lentil is already very high in protein and assists in lowering glycemic index. Black eyed peas or chora/lobia dal is  very high in phosphorous and magnesium along with high folate content. So together this is a great combination. The added spice of green chillies, ginger, garlic mix gives it a great flavoring.

What is interesting to know is that in southern food in USA, cowpeas(blackened peas) are known to bring good luck and so southerners insist on having them on the first day of the year, to bring them good luck. So why not have some luck coming your way on the upcoming Super Bowl weekend?!!

Hope your team wins as you munch on the Dalvada Lentil  Fritters, while watching the Super Bowl and also debating on which one was the most creative commercial of all! Have a great Super Bowl weekend!

Print Recipe
 Dalvada Blackeyed Peas Fritters
Nutritious snack with split green mung lentils with skin and black eyed peas(chora/lobia)
Dalvada Lentil Fritters
Course Appetizers
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Course Appetizers
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Dalvada Lentil Fritters
Instructions
  1. Mix the lentils and wash them thrice. Soak them in 5 cups of water for at least 3 hours
  2. Make a paste of chillies, ginger, garlic by crushing them in a mortar pestle.
  3. Keep very little water in the lentils and grind the lentils coarsely. Add the ginger paste to it and grind further. Add fresh coriander to the blended lentils.
  4. Add salt for taste, and add some water if needed to arrive at a dropping consistency.
  5. Heat the oil to smoking point and lower the flame to medium low
  6. Drop the dalwada fritters using your fingers or an ice cream scoop. The finger method works better tor me.
  7. Fry on a medium low flame till golden in color on both sides, rotating as needed.
  8. Sprinkle some chat masala and black salt powder on top and serve hot with green chutney.
    Dalvada Lentil Fritters
Recipe Notes

Tips

Grinding consistency is important to crunchiness and so is the water level in the mix.  If the mix is too watery, it will not drop well.Starting with less water will always be easy as we can add more with required.

More commonly people now use, only yellow split moong dal, so you can try that recipe too. But the dal with the skin is more fibrous and nutritious than the yellow moong dal

Instinct Factor

It will have more flavor if green chillies are chopped and added to the mix along with coriander leaves. Since I was having kids as guests too, I decided to make a paste of it. Addition of Chat masala and Sanchal or black salt powder was purely instinct driven!

Feel Factor

Enjoying the delicacy from my distant past,!  Memories unfolded as I recalled all the carefree days of my college time.Truly a nutritious snack that I plan to make more, as the weather is still cold enough to enjoy warm snacks with a cup of tea and munching a handful while entertaining guests and having easy conversations. I would like to extend my gratitude to another friend at whose place I discovered the addition of blackeyed peas to dalwada, while enjoying Hindi Kavita and discussing literature with like minded folks! The best part of the Dalvada Lentil Fritters was the crunch in it, that promised to remain so even after they were cold.

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Pistachio Almond Chikki Chewy Bites

Pistachio Almond Chikki Chewy Bites

Pistachio Almond Chikki Chewy Bites is my attempt at making a dry fruit chikki in a jaggery base, instead of the traditional base of sugar, specially for dry fruit chikki. I decided to try this base, as I prefer the more nutritious jaggery as compared to sugar. No Makar Sankranti is complete without a bite of chikki, the traditional sweet of the Makar Sankranti festival. The chewy or crispy taste of the chikki depends on the quality of jaggery as well as the duration of cooking the jaggery. Jaggery from Kolhapur, works best for chikki, specially the golden colored jaggery. This time I had more darker colored jaggery,  hence the color of the chikki is also slightly more darker than I would have preferred. I opted to also undercook the jaggery a bit, in order to keep it chewy, as preferred by my family members. The chewy texture would also do less damaging to the teeth when biting, as opposed to the extremely crispy traditional texture of chikki. Feeling a little creative, added a few drops of rose water were added to give a freshness of rose in the chikki,

Enjoy the fragrant, colorful, chewy and jaggery based pistachio almond chikki chewy bites, which is extremely quick to make. One can have a fresh batch of chikki in different flavors made every couple of  days, since it takes very little effort and time. Check out the recipes for Sesame Chikki, Chocolate Walnut Chikki and Daliya Chikki from earlier blog posts. Tomorrow I plan to make the good old Til Chikki in the extreme crispy flavor, as that is how I like it, and sankranti is not auspicious enough, till one has had the combination of til and jaggery तिल गुड़!

Wishing everyone a  happy cheerful Makar Sankranti and a season of good results and good tiding, and enjoy the display of  Pistachio Almond Chikki Chewy Bites in a flying feather shape, akin to a flying kite!

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Print Recipe
 Pistachio Almond Chikki Chewy Bites
Pistachio Almond Chikki Chewy Bites
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 2
Cook Time 12
Passive Time 5
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 2
Cook Time 12
Passive Time 5
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Pistachio Almond Chikki Chewy Bites
Instructions
  1. Grease the chopping board, or a plate, or sheet of aluminum foil or wax paper with some ghee and keep it aside.
  2. In a thick bottom pan, put the ghee to melt on a medium flame gas.
  3. Once it melts, add the jaggery and water and let it melt. Keep stirring on medium flame, till the color becomes dark brown like a melted chocolate for about 6-7 minutes. If you want it more crispier heat the jaggery for about 8-9 minutes.
  4. Once the jaggery is cooked well, reduce the flame to the minimum and quickly add whole pistachios, crushed pistachios, silvered almonds and rose water and mix everything into a nice big lump, stirring for a minute or she on the gas.
  5. Quickly transfer the mixture on to the greased board. Using a roller pin, roll down into as far thin as you can roll, without breaking from between. Alternatively, press it with the base of steel bowl to flatten it further.
  6. Cool for about five minutes, and make diamond pieces, by first making vertical lines, and then turning the board to an angle, and making diamond kite shapes.
  7. Cool completely for 20 minutes, and then store in an airtight container.
    Almond Chikki Chewy Bites
Recipe Notes

Tips

  • The type of jaggery you use will also determine the texture of the chikki. To make it crisper, cook the jaggery for at least 9  minutes on medium low flame.
  • For Vegan recipe, add oil, instead of ghee.
  • Add cashews, split chickpeas, peanuts, coconut, whole almonds as optional flavors.
  • If the chikki is not as crispy, or too sticky, just reheat the whole lump adding a tsp of water and cook for 2-3 minutes, till it binds well.

Instinct Factor

  • Adding rose water was a result of listening to my instincts! Be creative and add some essences to give it a different feel!

Feel Factor

If you cannot fly kites in USA, at least lets have chikki and celebrate the Sankranti in some way! The  roasted salty pistachio flavor goes well with jaggery and my family appreciated the chewy texture of this  and I loved the green color of pistachios in the chikki!

Grape Focaccia

Grape Focaccia

Grape Focaccia is a bread from Northwest Italy, where there is a tradition of having dolce focaccia, meaning sweet focaccia, topped with raisins, honey and sugar. Focaccia bread has lots of olive oil, herbs and salt and could be thick or thin. When I  first heard about the word, Focaccia, I was quite intrigued by it. The traditional meaning is “hearth baked flat bread”. The first time I had focaccia bread, in New Zealand it was thick and soft version and had grapes inside it and we fell in love with it. The ingredients in terms of butter, olive, grains in New Zealand are in my opinion the world’s best, because of so little commercialization and population. It’s still very pristine, and our experience of having Focaccia was 18 years ago. Would love to go  there, and eat this bread again in Wellington, hoping that bakery/deli shop still exists! Kind of taking a parallel from a current movie Lion, which runs on  a similar theme, where a lost boy finds his way home in India, all the way from Australia. I would like to do the reverse to find this sandwich place  in Wellington:)

Till then, I will just have to try out my version of the same. And interestingly enough, came across  this recipe in Southern Living, and it immediately caught my attention. Though the size was flat, it had an interesting flavor and taste, with olive oil, salt, rosemary, thyme and lavender herbs and the sweetness of red grapes. Using organic and unbleached bread flour, will make the bread more light and flavorful  The color and size makes it an attractive appetizer, side dish. Having  this on a snowy evening, uplifts you with its sweet aroma and gives you a perfect accompaniment to celebrate the joy the nature provides you everyday!! Providing you this recipe in a new plugin which seems to provide all my needs as an author. Let me know if you like it, by commenting on the contact form!

Happy to be baking and celebrating the first snow of the season, with the warm,sweet,  savory flavor of Grape Focaccia!!

Print Recipe
 Grape Focaccia
Grape Focaccia
Course Appetizers
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Course Appetizers
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Grape Focaccia
Instructions
  1. Warm the water for 20 seconds in the microwave. Add the water and yeast to the bread maker bowl and leave it for 5 minutes. Add bread flour, salt, 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1 tbsp of herbs to the yeast. Select the bread maker to dough and make the dough. The cycle should last about 1 1/2 hours, during which the dough should rise.
  2. Alternatively, if you don't have a bread maker, mix everything in a blender bowl, and mix using a dough blade , mix on medium high for five minutes. Grease some olive oil in a bowl and put the sticky dough in it, and wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rise to double in size in a warm place( under the oven light) for about an hour or more.
  3. Remove the dough after an hour, and transfer to the baking pan. Grease the baking pan lightly with oil, add another 1/4 cup of olive oil, and punch the dough with knuckles. Mix in about 1/3 quantity of grapes and cover again the dough and leave it to rise for another hour.
  4. After an hour, flatter the dough further to the thickness you would like to have, add the balance grapes on top. Garnish it with sea salt, pepper, balance herbs and remaining 1/4 cup oil.
  5. Pre heat convection oven to 425 degrees and bakes for 30 minutes till the top is golden brown.
  6. Remove from the oven and cool for couple of minutes. Slice into square shapes and serve.
  7. Enjoy your bite of Grape Focaccia!
    Grape Focaccia
Recipe Notes

Tips

Feel free to explore with fresh olives, or raisins or any topping of your choice. Fresh Basil also will give a great flavor in the bread.

Instinct Factor

Normally the focaccia is served in square pieces, but even triangles shapes would look good, and give a pizza feel!

Feel Factor

Warmth, love, happiness and joy from outdoors into the indoors! Love the red color of grapes on top, the orange glow of baking and crispiness of the bottom texture in the Grape Focaccia. The crunch mingled with softness of the inside and the fragrance of the herbs and olive and hint of sea salt! Wow baking bread is so so easy and satisfying and the house also warms up the bread aroma!! Bon Appetit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jalebi Spiral Doughnut

Jalebi Spiral Donut

Jalebi Spiral Doughnut, also popularly recognized as the national sweet of India, has its earliest reference in India, in a Jain manuscript Priyamkarnrpakatha written by Jinasura in 1450 AD, The traditional name for Jalebi was Jal-Vallika meaning “dipped in water”, which in later dialects in India became Jalebi, Jalepi , Jilabi and so on.  In Sanskrit it was also alternatively known as Kundalika, which means coiled rope, circle, which is how the shape of this jalebi spiral doughnut. Personally, it reminds me of two things, one is the ripple effect of stone thrown in water, and secondly it reminds me of the countless galaxies that exist in our universe! It so nice to see nature reflected in our daily food and day to day activities!!

The current recipe for making Jalebi, is still very similar to what has been documented in 17th-century classic Bhojan-kutuhala by Raghunath. All these evidences clearly give more weight to the theory that this is an Indian Sweet as compared to some claims that it originated from Persia, where it was known as Zelbia or Zoolabiya. The Persian trade route would have definitely made the travelers excited in their talks about this aphrodasiac dessert which is prominent dessert at weddings and also for major national celebrations and holidays. The fact that Jalebi it was mentioned in the manuscript with the name Priyam, makes me think it was aptly made by the rich merchants to please their guests! And boy it pleases so many across the world, as it is found in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Persia, Iran, Africa, Egypt, Turkey, and even Israel. And it seems in the USA, a Syrian used it to make ice cream cones, till the current ice cream cones were made.

In Gujarat, traditional celebrations of Dusshera is done with jalebi and gathiya, and I have an extreme liking for jalebi. Hence, I had to try it out for Dusherra. So I opted to trying out the Gits Instant Jalebi Mix using a cookie decorating nozzle. The result was very satisfying as I was able to get a great shape, that held even after hours, the right texture that was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the color was the shining golden! Next time I will try to use a different nozzle, so that the thickness is a bit more. I have to admire that the Gits Instant Mix are often my source for instant and reliable recipes and for which I have also blogged earlier for making Idlis, Dhoklas, Handvo and now even desserts.

Jalebi Spiral Doughnut has an enticing shape, a firm texture, inviting color and fragrance. It becomes simple to make with an instant mix, and it would be not surprising if Jalebi, can also be one of the easiest fried donut recipes. Even if the shape is not totally perfect, it does not matter, as one cannot go wrong with this fried dough dipped in saffron sugar syrup! Enjoy these lovely swirls of delicious sweetness as we get closer to the festival of Diwali!!

Recipe makes about 25-30 2inch wide Jalebis

Cooking Time : 30 minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pack of Instant Jalebi Mix
  • Oil for frying
  • Icing bag, nozzle or ketchup bottle for making jalebi.(In India, the Gits Packet includes the bottle too!)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 11/4 cup of water
  • saffron strands
  • few drops of lemon
  • 1 tbsp of milk(optional)

Method

Cooking the sugar syrup:

  • Mix the sugar and water and bring to boil.
  • Boil vigorously about after 8-10 minutes.

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  • Add 1 tbsp milk and a few drops of lemon, to clear the water.

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  • Remove the froth with a slotted spoon to make the sugar syrup clear of dirt.

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  • Add saffron strands to the water and keep it lukewarm, ready to be dipped.
  • The consistency of sugar syrup or chasni should be for one string.
  • Make the sugar syrup first, before making the Jalebi.

Making the Jalebis

  • Mix the ingredients for the pack with 190 ml of water plus 6 1/2 tbsp of water.
  • Whisk the mix thoroughly with hands.
  • Continue mixing till it is an extremely smooth paste.

  • Put the oil to heat on a medium flame
  • Pour the mix into a icing bag or a ketchup bootle. I used a Kuhn Rikon cookie decorating bottle with nozzle#1

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  • Make swirls into the oil on a low heat. The swirls will hold shape and rotate on its own, when the oil temperature is appropriate.

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  • Cook for a a minute or so and flip over with a slotted spoon. Alternatively  you can use tongs too.

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  • Cook the other side for a minute and a half and remove and instantly drop it into the sugar syrup. The color should be light pink, as the above image does not give the indication of the cooked jalebi color.
  • Ensure that the sugar syrup is always lukewarm, so keep it on a low heat continuously.
  • Press the inserted Jalebis so that they soak up the sugar syrup.
  • Remove from the syrup after a minute or so and serve.
  • After 10 minutes, on cooling, can be  stored in an airtight container.
  • Enjoy them hot, cold, with milk rabri, or just as plain simple snack and sugar shot!

 

 

Jalebi Spiral Donut

Tips

For Vegan recipes, milk can be avoided in the sugar syrup, as it is mainly used as a cleanser. To get a better control of the shape keep the nozzle close to the oil so that you can go with the flow of the rotating swirls.Do not overcook, the jalebi as that will make them brown in color and also stiff.

A delay in the transfer to sugar syrup will yield it not evenly colored, as well as it will entail crystallizing of sugar on the top. Frying in oil is more preferable to hold the texture, as compared to frying in ghee, though folks in Rajasthan and some other parts, fry only in ghee!

Instinct Factor

Using a nozzle was an instinct based, as was to figuring out how to swirl! Try topping it with cinnamon powder to create a new flavor.The sugar syrup can also have additions of rose water and cardamom powder for extra flavor.

Feel Factor

A sense of joyful accomplishment on savoring Jalebi Spiral Doughnut, a  childhood favorite dessert of mine, specially from my hometown Rajkot, where it is savored with fafda ghatiyas. I distinctly remember watching in awe some of the kandoi making these delicious savories and snacks and in my wildest dream I did not think I will be doing this one day! The taste was great, the look was sharp and the texture was firm as I liked it!!! By making this, I surely was happy I celebrated Dusshera in its true sense and the joy of sharing these sweets with friends and family made it even better! Happy Dusherra though belated one, to all my readers!!

Jalebi Spiral Doughnut

 

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Avocado Banana Chaat

Avocado Banana Chaat

When things are meant to be, they just happen! Something like that happened for this Avocado Banana Chaat. I had dinner guests who are strict Jain Vegetarians, and hence had to find some summer recipes that would suit their needs, as well as my need for some chaat on the menu. I often think of the awesome Avocado Banana Chaat that I once had at Rasika, in Washington D.C. It was truly unique as it had avocado and indian spices. Rasika made an impression on me with its unique combination and superb presentation. And I always wanted to recreate this appetizer in my home. The guests  served as an inspiration to look out for the recipe on the web. A click on one of the google search for avocado banana chaat, accidentally led me to a link on the Chef at Rasika himself explaining this recipe of Avocado Banana Chaat! I felt as if I had hit a goldmine!! And I can confidently say that the appetizer hit a gold medal with my guests too!

The recipe is simple, healthy, and the tamarind sauce can be made in advance and used as needed. All you need is ripe avocados to enjoy this delicious, tangy, appetizer that is just one of the coolest way to have avocados. Almost like having an avocado bhel feel! The recipe is great for pregnant women and people on the path of improving their good cholesterol(LDL) as Avocados are good source of good fat! So along with Guacamole, keep this Avocado Banana Chaat in your menu for dinner party lists, as it is colorful, easy and super healthy and highly novel item too! The interesting flavor of the caramelized banana sprinkled with black pepper is what gives it and extra dimension to this already cool appetizer!!

No summer is complete without a chaat, so start a healthy ABC with this Avocado, Banana, Chaat🙂

Recipe makes for 15 people

Prep Time :  15 min.

Cook Time : 15 min

Avocado Banana Chaat

Ingredients

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  • 20 Avocados
  • 2 cups jaggery
  • 2 cups dates
  • 1/2 cup tamarind paste( or 2 cups dry tamarind)
  • 1 tbsp fennel seeds
  • 6 dry Red Kashmiri Chillies
  • 1600 ml water
  • 7-8  About to ripe bananas
Method
  • Put  water to boil
  • Add all the ingredients and boil for 30 min on fast flame.
  • When the water reduces to half. remove from flame

 

 

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  • Using a hand blender, blend all the ingredients

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  • Sieve the mixture  and remove the coarse parts.
  • Cool the tamarind paste.
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  • Peel the bananas and cut into half and slice each half vertically into two more pieces.
  • On a non stick or thick bottom shallow pan, put  some oil to heat.
  • Griddle the bananas for a few minutes on slow-medium flame till reddish brown.

IMG_1212

  • Remove from flame and sprinkle crushed black pepper and a pinch of salt on them
  • Skin the avocados and remove the pit and dice them into cubes.
  • Gather  the chopped avocados in a small bowl, and invert the bowl in the plate.

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  • Top it with tamarind paste and surround it with caramelized bananas.
  • Serve immediately.

Avocado Banana Chaat

 

 

 

Tips

Ensure that avocados are not extremely ripe, as then it is not possible to cut into cubes. Also if you cut the avocados in advance, pour some lemon juice on it, for it to avoid oxidation.

If well cooked, the tamarind paste will give off a nice glaze from the caramelization of the jaggery.

Instinct Factor

Just trust your heart to let you know what the body needs!

Feel Factor

To recreate what a master chef creates at his restaurant, is a wonderful feeling! And the feeling gets even more satisfying when the recipe turns out good and the guests enjoy this colorful chaat appetizer that becomes the spotlight for the evening! It is extremely colorful and healthy chaat recipe with avocados and banana, that will give you enough grounds for something to really chat about 🙂

 

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Chocolate Sorbet

Chocolate Sorbet

CHOCOLATE SORBET

Chocolate Sorbet was our celebration on the National Day of Ice cream, celebrated on third sunday of July! Now that is a fun event started by President Ronald Reagan, and what a way to enjoy the summer! Sorbets feel lighter and more cooling than ice cream, as there is more of water. Ronald Reagan was a Republican candidate, and with the Republican Convention going on, this Chocolate Sorbet is a good accompaniment while watching the RNC. This recipe was found in Stef Ferrari’s  book of ice creams. She mentions that she had issues with sorbet, and for me getting the  smooth creamy texture in sorbet was a challenge.   So I decided to try this recipe out. What interested me also was that this was one of the first non-fruit based sorbet, as popularly sorbet are made from fruit based sweetened water,

The recipe did prove to make it more denser and smoother than my earlier versions. But I had to modify the sugar/chocolate ratio, as the taste had excess chocolate. So adding extra sugar was the only way to fix it! If you are in the mood to buy an ice cream maker, you may want to check out the  new ice cream maker with two different blades from Cuisinart. There is one blade for ice cream and one for sorbets! Now I would like to try that, as a special sorbet churning blade will definitely have an impact on the texture of the sorbet. My experience with Cuisinart products has been pretty satisfying across a series of products so I am looking to buy this soon, and thanks again to this blog, I now officially qualify as a professional! For a die hard chocolate fan, this is just one more reason to celebrate and one extra reason to have another scoop of Chocolate Sorbet!

The taste is is chocolaty, texture is dense and sweetness is just right, but the best part is that it only takes five minutes in cooking time! One of the easiest ice cream/ sorbets I have experimented with. It does need overnight aging, and the usual churning time and freezing time.Looks like next week is going to be extra extra hot, and having chocolate sorbet on hand, will definitely assist in cooling the body!

Enjoy the summer with a great selection of ice creams, sorbets and granita and you may just include this chocolate sorbet in that list!

CHOCOLATE SORBET

Recipe makes about 16 oz  of sorbet ( or half of a quart)

Cooking time : 5 minutes with aging of mixture of overnight

Churning time: Approximately 20 minutes

Freezing time: 7 hours

Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 plus 1/3 cup cane sugar
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup chocolate morsels, shredded chocolate
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence.
Method
  • Mix 1 1/2 cup of water and both sugar and heat for 2-3 minutes, till all sugar dissolves.
  • Remove the mixture from flame, and cocoa powder , vanilla essence and dissolve the chocolate pieces, ensuring that no lump remains.
  • Leave the mixture overnight.
  • Using a hand mixer, churn the chocolate mixture for a 1-2 minutes

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  •  Churn the mixture in an ice cream/sorbet maker to the manufacturer’s instructions. Usually in 20 minutes, the mixture would firm up.

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  • Freeze the chocolate sorbet in a freezer for at least 7-8 hours before serving. It is fun to serve the chocolate sorbet in an ice cream cone too!

Chocolate Sorbet

 

 

Tips

If using sweetened cocoa powder, you may be okay with 1/2 cup of cane sugar.

Ensure that the ice cream container is well chilled before making sorbet, otherwise, sorbet will not firm up on churning.

Instinct Factor

Its always best to check the sugar and cocoa level before freezing, so that the end product is to your liking!

Feel Factor

Having a Chocolate Sorbet on a late night evening  while watching television, is a perfect kind of summer night! For a die hard chocolate fan, you cannot go wrong with this super easy recipe of making a chocolate sorbet. A non-fruit based recipe sorbet in a flavor that has a wide universal appeal makes this chocolate sorbet an easy recipe to go to!

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Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters

Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters

Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters

Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters is an Indian subcontinent delicacy, from a vegetable, that is considered as one of the oldest cultivated vegetables. Its popular name is Elephant Ears, and that is no wonder as elephants are found in abundance in Malaysia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. The size of the Arbi/Colocasia leaves is gigantic and justifies its popular name as Elephant ears! This plant is mainly cultivated in USA around lakes and ponds but in Indian sub continent it is widely eaten for its roots, leaves and corms. My good luck that I live next to a botanist, to whom I introduced this delicacy and he was so captivated by it, that we decided to grow it in a containter in USA, as fresh Arvi leaves are hard to find on a consistent basis! He even looked for it at the nursery for us! As I come from Jain family, my association with roots vegetables is not great, but my mother-in-law makes excellent vegetable curry from Arvi roots. So while buying Arvi root for my husband, I had a Eureka moment, and figured, why not try cultivating this root in a container pot and see if I can have fresh Arvi leaves through the year! So this eureka moment is a result of neighborly mingling and sharing one’s culture and food with others. Also always taking the opportunity to know more about different cultures and cuisines!

The common way of cooking Patra or Alu Vadi is by steaming the leaves. However my mother had an additional way of making it, by frying them. By doing this, it looses some of its extra sharpness in taste and plus the taste is crunchy, and can be served as a warm appetizers, just before the meal is served. Gujarati households have a penchant for fried stuff, so its understandable, why this dish became popular in our household! And my neighbor also liked this version better than the steamed one, and he is not of Indian origin! So this delicacy will definitely appeal to taste buds of many people, and it also has a high visual appeal with its pinwheel look.

The process involves coating the leaves with a spiced gram flour paste on the leaves, and then rolling them in group of three, or single. And then either steaming the rolls, followed by cutting into pieces and then garnish it with mustard, sesame , coconut and lime. However for fried patra, we first slice into pieces and then fry them golden brown and serve with ketchup and chat masala. The taste has some sweetness, some spice, some crunch, that creates a very attractive finger food! I can easily vouch that Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia  Pinwheel Fritters are addictive if you like them, as you start eating one, and you will  soonfinish a handful and want more!  And this recipe covers both the fried as well steam option of the Patra, Alu Vadi and Cocolasia Pinwheel Fritters appetizer.

Hope I find luck in growing the leaves in my container from the Arvi root! That way a high dose of Vitamin A and Potassium is always available through these Elephant ears/ Patra leaves! These small joyful moments of discovering something new and learning something new, make my days exciting and keeps my mind eager to learn!

Make both versions, steam and fried, and decide which one you like more!

Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters

Recipe makes 60-70 pieces of Patra  Pinwheel fritters

Cooking time 1 hour 20 minutes

Prep time: 15 min

Ingredients

  • 10 Arvi or Colocasia leaves (mix of large, medium and small sizes)

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  • 2 1/2 cups gram flour besan
  • 11/2 cups water
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 2 tsp chilli  powder
  • 1/4 tsp asafotida
  • 3 tsp lemon juice
  • 3 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

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For frying and garnishing

  • oil for frying
  • chat masala for seasoning

Method

  • Wash the leaves thoroughly and leave them to dry.
  • Using a sharp knife, skin the thick veins on back of the leaves.
  • Mix all the ingredients into a paste and leave it set for half an hour, ensuring that there are no lumps.

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  • Lay the biggest leaf on face down and cover it with gram flour paste.

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  • Lay second leaf face down with tip on the opposite direction and cover it with paste.

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  • Lay the third smaller size leaf again face down, tip facing the side of first leaf and cover it with gram flour paste.

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  • Now from the tip side of the first leaf, starting rolling over small and tight till you reach the other hand. Every second turn of the roll, apply the gram flour paste.

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  • Slice the rolled leaves into half and inch thick pieces.

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  • Heat the oil for frying. and when warm, insert the sliced pieces to fry on low- medium flame.

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  • Turn over when golden brown and cook on the other side.
  • Remove to cool a bit.
  • Garnish with chat masala and serve it with ketchup.

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Tips

Fresh leaves taste the best. Do not buy leaves that are yellow or lifeless. as it will taste bitter.
When skinning the veins at the back, ensure that you do not cut through leaves, and the smooth edges seem as flat as the leaf.

Instinct Factor

My mother prefers to use only single leaf roll for Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters. This makes the pinwheel fritters to a nice bite size form.

Big spinach leaves can be an alternative to Colocasia leaves, as they have a similar color, texture.

Feel Factor

A snack in a pinwheel form with attractive  gold and green colors, reminding me of a peacock feather, when laid together!. Truly enjoyable  as an accompaniment to any meal, and a novel way to cook the Patra leaves. Since they are not so easily available in USA, it is a delicacy for me that needs to be truly cherished and savored every bit for its rich unique taste. The chat masala sprinkled on top is a perfect seasoning to this yummy appetizer that is rich in vitamin A and potassium nutrients. Go healthy and eat the steamed version or feel festive and have the Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters.

 

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Orange Sorbet

Orange Sorbet

Orange Sorbet, having the  color of the sun, is a perfect antidote to beat the summer heat! Its a great recipe to have in your recipe collection for this summer. Officially, the swimming pools have opened today, it being Memorial Day over here, so time to look out for  cooling recipes that are quick to make and yum to eat!

Memorial Day is also a day of  remembering veterans who have served the USA in its wars. Personally I would like to remember a neighbor of mine in NJ, who was a major inspiration for me to get serious about coming out with a cookbook or something related to cooking.  We were having conversations on how many recipes to include in the cookbook and so on and so forth,  and then we moved away from there. She recently passed away after fighting bravely against cancer. She was  one of the first ones, who I asked to critique my blog, and I was encouraged to receive a thumbs up from her for the voice in my writing! Rest in peace Elizabeth Zibman, and your opinion mattered to me a lot as you were a creative writer and a professor at Rutgers!  Your confidence in me, helped me take a step towards creating this blog.

This recipe has been adapted from myrecipes.com as it seemed easy enough for my daughter to make it for her class picnic. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it in the 85 degrees weather, though we should have planned to make it earlier, for it to have a more firmer consistency. The picture in this image was after two days of freezing the same!.

The taste feels like frozen orange-lime juice and its quite nice to have a scoop of it in the mid-afternoon to beat the heat, and replace the normal tea break with a sorbet break! Personally I relish the sorbets more, as I have a soft corner for snow cones and ice golas. So this is a cool, fresh juice based, healthy alternative to the syrup based dessert. I truly liked the size, flavor, color and cooling aspect of this  high vitamin C delicious dessert, and will be made more often in summer!

Wishing everyone a great Memorial Day and happy memories of the loved ones gone too soon!

Orange Sorbet

Recipe makes 2 servings for about 24 people

Prep time : 30 min

Cooking time : 10 min

Chilling time  : 48 hours

Ingredients

  • 15 medium-big size navel  oranges
  • 4  cups water
  • 2 1/2  cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 medium)
  • Grated orange rind (optional)
  • Mint sprigs (optional)

 

Method

  • Using a vegetable peeler, lightly  remove rind from 1 orange.  Cut rind into 1 x ¼-inch-thick strips and grind it a bit in a mortar pestle. This would result into a roughly a tbsp of rind.
  • Peel the oranges and extract juices from them, roughly resulting in about 6  cups of orange juice.

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  • Combine  water and sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Add rind strips to pan. Reduce heat; simmer for 8-10 minutes. Strain sugar mixture through a sieve over a bowl, reserving liquid; discard solids. Cool completely.

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  • Add orange juice and lemon juice to sugar mixture; stir well.

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  • Pour mixture into the freezer can of a tabletop ice-cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.
  • Spoon sorbet into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze for about 2 days  until firm.

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  • Scoop the sorbet and garnish with mint sprigs, if desired and add grated rind as topping if so desired. Here,  we did not go with either of them.

 

Orange Sorbet

Tips

You can try this with ready orange juice in the market,  but in that case, reduce the water quantity by a cup and  and  use two cups of sugar. There might be a slight taste variation, but will prove to be a much quicker way of going about it. Also taste the sugar content before freezing.

Instinct Factor

If you see the juice underneath the top layer, freeze some more.

When you scoop the sorbet, leave it out for 5-7 minutes room temperature, so that it softens a bit for you to scoop nice rounds. Otherwise it will have a brittle crunch feel. And to get perfect rounds, scrape 3-4 times over to make one nice round scoop of sorbet! After all looks do matter when serving!!

Feel Factor

Cool. colorful, healthy, beat the heat, with this easy sorbet recipe, that even a teenager can make! So how about having some sorbet stands this summer instead of the lemonade stands, and earn some good pocket money! Colorful sprigs of mint and orange rind will give additional edge to this delicious cool recipe! Any snow cone and Ice Gola lovers, please make a note of this wonderful sorbet and enjoy the summer!

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Almond Coconut Eggless Cake with Strawberries

Almond Coconut Eggless Cake with Strawberries

Mother’s day provided a great opportunity to try  gluten free recipe of Almond Coconut Eggless Cake with Strawberries,  that has delicious almond and coconut flour as its base and topped with the fresh strawberries. Something that I had almost a year back, was now being re created in my kitchen, with the recipe of my master chef neighbor who takes special extra care to make eggless recipes for me, since he knows that I prefer not to consume egg based products. Love thy neighbor in true sense over here!!

The almons in this recipe  reminded me of  another great diamond shaped dessert, Almond Katli from India. it. Coconut flour gives it a nice dense texture, and the look of red strawberries over a beige/cream cake base is quite attractive. This being a fruit topped cake, it is much simpler and quicker to make.

The cake base even though its flourless, does not loose any of its taste or texture. It  bakes well and holds shape and coconut gives it a unique sweetness and flavor to cake. And the almond flour and coconut flours are readily available at grocery stores.

On this mother’s day, I was pleasantly reminded of how my mother started baking  eggless cakes in a handvo oven, using sand as a base, to give it a slow and even cooking flavor.These cakes by her are the ones that I enjoy most, and are just delicious fresh from the oven. I hope that she will be happy to see that the tradition of exploring more on baking and cooking has continued. So here is the perfect recipe, for me to celebrate the Mother’s day, and  for all, a great recipe for  special occasion with friends and family!

Almond Coconut Eggless Cake with Strawberries

Recipe makes 9*13 inch cake serves 6-8 people
Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter

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  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 3/4 cup whole milk (for vegan use almond milk or soy milk)
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour

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  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 8 medium sized strawberries, thinly sliced for garnishing

 

Method
  • Beat butter and sugar until extremely smooth for about 5 minutes on high. The color of the butter should become 3 shades lighter then the original butter color.

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  • Add milk and vanilla essence an beat some more

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  • Combine flours,salt and baking powder and mix it into the beaten sugar milk
  • Beat everything for another 5-7 minutes, till well blended.
  • Grease a cake tin 9″ *13″ with butter and some flour.
  • Pour the mixture into the cake pan.

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  • Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F
  • Bake for 40 minutes.

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  • Top it with whipped cream and/or fresh fruit of your choice.

 

Almond Coconut Eggless Cake
Almond Coconut Eggless Cake
  • Enjoy a piece as fast as you can!!

Almond Coconut Eggless Cake

 

Tips

  • While deciding if the cake is ready or not, look out if the cake has released from the sides. Once that happens, the cake is well baked.
  • Give enough time to cool before flipping it over from the containers, as mine broke on the top while releasing it from the container.
  • Beat enough for the flours to blend well .

Instinct Factor

  • Lot of people believe making a cake requires a lot of precision, but in my view it is quite a forgiving dish, as all errors can be more or less made good, either with syrup , or garnishes or layers and sandwiches. And so I used the strawberries on the top to make the top all pretty and professional. Trusting the instincts and my mother’s experience of so many years!!
  • For more moistness and softness, add another 1/2 cup of milk.

Feel Factor

  • A cake for myself and for my mother on mother’s day! A lovely celebration with this extremely delicious flavor of coconut and almond  as well as strawberries. The combination goes well and the cake tastes great even after a couple of days in the refrigerator, but the chances of it lasting that long are slim:) A great mother’s legacy celebrated with this unique almond coconut eggless cake, which is very likely to become a summer feature in our household to enjoy the varied fruit toppings over this summer!
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Falafel Sandwich

Falafel Sandwich

Falafel Sandwich will definitely “fill” you up with all the protein you need and make you “feel” healthy for sure! How I wish there were more Falafel sandwich options as there are Subway sandwich options! That would be a real nice addition for those watching weight and trying to lose weight once you hit the middle age! Falafel has a very confused origin, but it favours Egypt, to be the most likely place from where it came, and there it is traditionally known as Tamiya. the word coming from Tam,meaning plenty, and tamiya is also a prominent part of the meals of Gujaratis of Sudan and East Africa! Tamiya though are made purely from Fava bean base. I took some time to cultivate this taste, as I definitely did not like the sesame taste as a young kid, as well as the taste of fava beans. My journey to becoming a Falafel fan started with the Cheap Food Eats  at Mamoun’s Falafel. The college kids in SOHO district in Manhattan, which housed the all night open joint of Mamoun’s Falafel are always on the lookout for good cheap eats.  I have an old school friend of mine to thank for introducing us to this gem.

Mamoun’s is an extremely small joint with hardly 2-3 tables to sit at MacDougal St in Manhattan. A video on the store can be seen at Mamoun’s at MacDougal. They claim to be one of first ones to introduce Middle Eastern cuisine and Falafel to New York. And their Falafel comes from chickpeas base, and hence I can see why it got such a vast popularity, that it has now four new locations in New Jersey and Connecticut! Way to go for a cheap filling, healthy food place, that 15 years back charged just $2.50 a falafel sandwich, and now is just $3:50! The quality has remained consistent over the years, and this is one place we really miss not going to.

So had to resort to making the same at home, and much easily done when using instant mix of Nirav’s Falafel mix, easily available at Indian Grocery store. The ingredients in the pack include, chickpeas, fava, sesame, onion, garlic and parsley and spices and salt. The whole story of the various versions of falafel as well as the making of falafel from scratch is well explained on this blog  http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2011/01/falafel/ where she mention how originally this started as vegetarian base food only!

This is a very healthy recipe that satisfies your tastebuds, mind and replenish your body and muscles with the great amount of protein in chickpeas, fava beans and yogurt, and the ease with which this is made. makes it a much frequently had meal in our house. Another great point about it is,  it]S rainbow color meal, a principle I try to follow, to ensure the different nutrients are consumed via the different color of foods.

Check out the tips section for more options to the balls and sauces to get more unique flavors or get original and try the various version from scratch as detailed in the blogs mentioned above! This can be a very easy party menu, as it is simple to  fry the balls before hand and then slice everything and guests can assemble the falafel sandwich according to the sauces and garnishes of their choice. So why not have a fulfilling Falafel flavoured full on party at home?!

FALAFEL SANDWICH

Recipe makes 9  falafel balls

Time to cook 20 min

Ingredients

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  • 1 1/2 cup of Nirav Falafel Mix
  • Oil for frying
  • 1 1/4 cup of water
  • 1 cup shredded lettuce
  • 2 tomatoes thinly sliced into half circles
  • 1/2 cup cucumber sliced thin and then further sliced vertical like strips
  • 1 1/2 cup of hummus – my recipe detailed here Hummus Using Canned Chickpeas
  • salt to taste
  • 8-9 pita or 4 pitas cut into halves( Middle Eastern brand Pitas is what I prefer)

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For Tzatziki Sauce
  • 1 medium sized plain greek yogurt or any thick yogurt
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup grated cucumber
  • salt to taste
  • 2-3 pods of garlic crushed
For Hummus Recipe

Refer my previous recipe of  Hummus Recipe Using Chickpeas Canned or Soaked

Method

For Making Falafel
  • Soak 1 cup of Falafel mix with 1 cup of water and leave it to rest for 30-45 min.

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  • Heat oil for frying on high flame and then reduce it to medium
  • Using an ice cream scoop drop scoops of mix into the oil.

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  • Fry till golden brown and then flip and cook the other side.
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  • Using a slotted spoon, remove the falafel balls from oil  and drain.

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For making Tzatziki Sauce
  • Mix all ingredients and serve.
Serving the Falafel
  • Cut the pita into halves, and insert your fingers in the half to create a pocket in the middle.

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  • Layer the bottom of the pocket with some hummus.
  • Layer some tzatziki sauce on top.
  • Insert couple of falafel balls.

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  • Top it with chopped lettuce, sliced tomatoes and thinly sliced cucumbers.

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  • Layer it again with some tzatziki and hummus and sprinkle of salt. Another way of serving is on  flat whole pita bread. with falafel ,  veggies and dressing and fold over and eat.
  • Or serve just the falafel balls with hummus and tahini sauce.  Bon Appetit!!

Falafe Sandwich

Falafel Sandwich

 

Tips

If the oil temperature is not right, the falafel balls will be uncooked, and not crispy on the outside and soft to bite. So medium heat, while cooking is essential.

If the mix is too dry, add little  water to make it to dropping consistency.

Instinct Factor

If you like sesame seeds on top, use 1 cup water only, and form balls with your hand and then roll it in sesame seeds and fry.

Additional toppings of pickled cucumber, spicy Sriracha sauce are good additions to the falafel sandwich.

I like the pocket pita sandwich but it is also served on a flat pita bread and layer things on top and then folded like a wrap.

Feel Factor

A sandwich of a different kind that is more protein based, cooling, healthy, and tasty as well! It is colorful, makes you feel like you are eating a pakora and yet feel healthy! Crunchy taste of the pakoras with the dressings of hummus, and yogurt based tzatziki is an interesting combination. A definite addition to my monthly menu for the huge protein components that are of high importance for vegetarian diet. And interesting enough. Falafel originated as a vegetarian sandwich and not a meat based so a definite another plus point for me!