Vada Curry - Old Recipe With New Pictures

This is one of the initial recipes I posted as soon as started my blog. Though the pictures are not so good this remains the most popular recipe of this blog till date. So when I got a new SLR camera this weekend, I got all excited and planned to give the pictures for this recipe a makeover .

Click here to read my old post.

This is one my Mom's classic and she never fails to make this whenever I visit. This recipe is different from the hotel version calorie wise as the vada's are not deep fried instead made by crumbling thick Adai/Dosa, which gives a unique flavor to the dish. It doesnt take muchtime, if we plan a little ahead. My mom alwys soaks the dhal and makes the adai the previous day night, and then crumble them in the morning to make this delicious side dish. I am re-posting the recipe here.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup channa dhal (soaked for two hours)

1/2 cup Thoor dhal
1tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp jeera

1 inch cinnamon strip
3 cloves
1 bay leaf

1 tsp fennel seeds

3 tblsp ginger garlic paste
 2 green chillies , slit

1 medium sized onion chopped finely
2 medium sized tomatoes chopped finely
1 cup chopped coriander leaves
1tsp chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
salt as needed

Method:
For Vada/Adai:


 Soak the channa dhal for two hours and grind it coarsly along with fennel seeds(like we do for masal vadai).Heat a dosa pan and make thick adai's(about 2 inch thickness) by adding little oil on the sides.Keep the heat in medium and allow it to cook well, until browned on both sides(as shown in picture above).Cool it and scramble it into tiny pieces.You can do this the night before, store it in refrigerator and use it the next morning. 

For Curry:
Add 2 tsp of oil in a sauce pan.

Add cinnamon, cloves , fennel, and bay leaf to it.

When the cloves pop add the chopped onions and fry till translucent.

Add the ginger garlic paste.Fry well till the raw smell goes.

Add the chopped tomatoes to it and fry till mashed well and the oil leaves the surface.

Now add all the powders and stir well till the masala mixes well with the tomatoes.

Now add about 4 cups of water.It should be very watery at this stage.

Close with a lid and allow it to boil. After 10 mins, add the scrambled adai/vadai pieces to this liquid and mix well.

Simmer in very low flame for 10 mins.

The chana dhal mixture will soak up all the liquid. Add the chopped coriander leaves and stir well.

Enjoy with hot steaming idlies or spongy dosa's

Red Swiss Chard Greens Stir Fry/Porial.

I have tried a variety of greens like turnip, collard, mustard  that are available in the US to make stir fry /porial. Each of these tasted good in its own way, but didnt get close to the authentic South Indian keerai porial (stir fry). That includes spinach too as I make only dal with spinach, the porial either turns up a little bitter or gets soggy. Recently I tried a bunch of these Red Swiss Chard for a simple stir fry with shredded coconut and am hooked to the taste ever since. It tastes more like 'Ponnanganni Keerai' that we get in back home in Chennai. (I am a great fan of that one)
 Do try this porial when you get a chance to grab a bunch of these Chard, it has such delicate taste and flavor.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of Red Swiss Chard
1 small onion finely chopped
2 green chillies/red chillies(optional)
2 tblsp shredded coconut (optional)

for tempering:
1 tsp mustard
2 tsp urad dhal
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

Method:

Wash the Greens well. Remove the thick part of the center stalk and then chop the greens finely
In a pan add 2 tsp of oil. When the oil is hot add the mustard, urad dhal and jeera seeds. (If using red chilli add it at this stage).
When the mustard pops, add the chopped onion, and slit green chilies
Fry till translucent .Now add the chopped greens and stir to wilt. Add salt to taste.
Reduce the flame to low, cover and cook for about 10 mins. ( no need to add water.)
Add 2 tblsp of shredded coconut , mix and switch of the stove.

Notes:
Reduce the flame to 'low' after wilting.
Do not discard the stems. Store it in a ziplog bag and use them when making sambhar or dhal, tastes delicious.
Coconut is completely optional. I did not use in this picture.

Red Bell Pepper Chutney with Peanuts and Idli's with Black Urad dhal

Well, Spring has officially started this month over here. Along with blooming flowers it has brought pollen allergies and some typical spring viruses causing the seasonal flu. My home has been hit with them all one after another and we all are recovering in a slow pace. While there is regular cooking and experimenting with food done in my kitchen as always, there's not much time to relax and take a few pictures to blog about it.
Today I realised that its been almost two weeks since I made a post and decided to get to it. So here's the most famous breakfast of all time - 'Idli' with a twist to give an extra dose of fibre and a fiery red chutney to go with it.
Couple of weeks back when I was cleaning my kitchen shelves, I saw a packet of long forgotten black urad dhal. I remember buying them during my first visit to the Indian stores over here. Since I could not find any white urad dhal there, I grabbed a packet of these in a desperate mode to make Idli's that weekend. But later that week I somehow got the Urad dhal from an other store and these black ones were moved back to the far corner of the shelf. This time when I found them, I decided to try Idli's with it. Unlike the regular ones, this has to be soaked for a longer time, atleast over night to get a smooth consistency of the batter.
There is not much difference in taste and obviously it becomes more healthy and rich in fiber.

For the Idli's:
Ingredients:
4 cups of Boiled rice/Idli rice
1 cup Whole black urad dha;
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
salt as required


Method:
Soak rice and whole Bback urad dhal along with fenugreek seeds , seperatly over night.
Grind the urad dhal first to smooth consistency, and then grind the rice in three batches.
Mix them well in a vessel, along with required salt and allow it to ferment for 8 - 10 hrs.
It took 16 hrs for me, here, to get the batter right.
Pour the batter to the Idli trya and steam in the pressure cooker (without weight) for 10 mins in medium heat.

Red Bell Pepper Chutney


Ingredients:
 1 Red Bell Pepper
2 tblsp split urad dhal
3 red chillies
1 inch piece of tamarind
handful of roasted peanuts


Method:
Dry roast the urad dhal and red chillies.
Add a tsp of oil to the pan and stir fry the chopped bell pepers for about 4 mins.
Add all ingredients to the mixer and grind till smooth.


Seasoning:
Add a tsp of mustard ,1 tsp of urad dhal and curry leaves to a tsp of hot oil and pour it over the Chutney. Serve with Idli/Dosai.

The chutney is not as fiery as it looks but it sure tasted heavenly. Adjust the amount of redchillies as per the variety and taste.