Cabbage Fritters or Pakoras

AKA Cabbage Pakodi /Pakoda

Got introduced to these fritters during my MCA days when our neighbour made these and passed it to us. I was actually stunned to see the ingredient inside these pakoras was cabbage..Because those days we are only used to onion pakoras..Wanted to include this snack in my kitchen menu too..Since it is deep fried I haven't made it once or twice say in these 12-13years..

The other day specially made these to blog on my space..Honestly is this one unhinged snack - guilty of course..You are consuming the nature's most nutritious vegetable in not so healthy form..but once in a while you got to have a treat!!! so enjoy sparingly with portion control!!!

Ingredients:Cabbage - 2 Cups
Channa Dhal Pwdr- 1 Cup
Green Chillies - 2 (chopped)
Baking Soda - A pinch
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Pwdr - A pinch
Chat masala Pdwr - 1/2 tsp ( for extra flavour)

A pinch of Amchur pwdr

Curry leaves - 8-10

Coriander leaves chopped - a few

Salt - to Taste

Enough Water

Oil for deep frying


Procedure:
1. Chop cabbage as shown in the pic and place it in a mixing bowl
2. Add the rest of the ingredients with water to make the batter thick enough to gather everything together. Adding excess water will make the Pakoras very oily.
3. Now drop small amounts of the mixed batter into the oil for deep frying.
Once the pakoras turn dark yellow or orange color strain them from oil onto a plate with issue paper to drain all the excess oil.
Arrange the Pakoras on a serving plate and enjoy with array of chutneys or sauces

Vazhaipoo vadai / Banana Flower Fritters / Aarati Puvvu Vada

The first time I tasted this was at one of our friend's house back home in Chennai. Her mom prepared these. I had no clue what they were. And it being a Tamil savory never got to taste growing up. Only thing I remember was these tasted damn good. They look and taste like our regular masala vada but definitely something different. Ever since wanted to know how it was made., but never took the leap to make it myself..Many a time I even bought the Banana flower, stored it in the fridge but never got time to make these, because of the time consuming part of cleaning the flower. Finally one day with help from my husband in cleaning the flower I made these at home. I never intended to have a photo shoot with these..so please don't mind my presentation. Will surely replace them with better ones if I happen to make these again.

Also Will update later with the pictures of Banana flower and the cleaning process
Ingredients:
3 cups Banana flower - Thoroughly cleaned and finely chopped
1 cup Channa Dal soaked for 2-3 hours and ground into a coarse paste
5-7 Green Chillies chopped
Handful of Curry leaves
3/4 tsp Fennel Seeds/Saunf
A pinch of Asafoetida & baking soda & turmeric each
Salt - to taste

Enough Oil to deep fry

Method :
Add all ingredients except oil, in a deep bowl and mix into a paste like below
Heat enough oil in a pan.
Once the oil is hot enough, take a small amount of the mix, shape them into round vada and drop them gently into hot oil.
Just the way we do masala/paruppu vada
Deep fry them till they are golden brown on both sides by turning once in a while.
Then remove from heat and drain them on paper towels.
Can be serve as starters or snack with evening tea.

Prawn Pakora or Shrimp Fritters

AKA Eraal Pakoda or Royyala Pakodi


With US OPEN and TIFF going around it sure is an interesting week so far. When it comes to weather the tables have turn from hot humid conditions to windy cool cloudy and sometimes rainy too. All the more reason to enjoy some spicy snacks..and this time its prawn pakora. We desi ppl tend to make fitters/pakoras with pretty much any ingredient..be it veggies or chicken, meat or seafood like fish or shrimp.

Growing up I never liked the idea of prawn pakodi. Desi prawns are so filled with flavour that I use to feel they overpowered the original taste of pakodi. But the frozen small shrimp that we get in our local Asian markets are much milder in flavour..perfect to prepare a quick starter or snack. Must add that kids like these too.



Ingredients:
1 pkt frozen shrimp - small size, defreezed
1 medium size Onion cut thinly length wise
Channa flour/besan/Channa maavu/Chenaga pindi- 1 Cup
Green Chillies - 2 ( cut into small pieces)
1/2 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a handful
Coriander leaves - A few chopped
Baking Soda - A pinch
Salt - to Taste
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Chat masala powder - 1/2 tsp ( for extra flavour)
Enough Water

Oil for deep frying


Method
Mix all the ingredients with enough water to make a mixture which is not too thick or too thin. Keep aside

Meanwhile heat oil in a deep wok/kadai/pot.

Drop small amounts of the mixed batter into the oil for deep frying.

Once the pakoras turn dark yellow or orange color remove them from oil onto a plate with issue paper to drain from excess oil.

Serve hot with ketchup or just by itself.

Masala Vada/Vadai - Channa Dhal fitters

Its been a severe winter so far in Canada...For the past two months there is no break from extreme cold temperatures and tons of snow...Of all the years I lived here this has been one heavy, cold and absolutely white winter. Life has also been hectic to the core much like the weather for the past few months...though i catch up with the food blog world now and then...I'm hardly finding time to publish posts...But I somehow wanted this month to appear in my blog archive...so pushing myself to post a recipe...

I still have few more pictures in my drafts to go on with my Egg series. But being the first post in new year I decided to post something new.

Well having lived in South India who won't long for a savoury snack like Masala vada. All the more when it is biting chill out there. And being weekend who wants to drive on those snowy roads to Tamil stores to buy them. So hubby and i decided to make them at home for one weekend evening tea.

Though growing up I liked these store bought or home made by my granny, I really tasted the best masala vadai in my life when i came to Chennai newly wed. There was this Nayar Tea kadai (Store) right adjacent to the apartment we lived in...And boy the smell that use to fill the air every morning with freshly made masala vadai was so enticing and hard to resist. In andhra the vadai are small in diameter and more thick and hard unlike those in Tamil nadu where they are flatter and big in diameter. Therefore they are crisp on the outer and soft inside. Taste wise both are good...but different.

I'm giving the Tamil version here...no doubt for the last 10 years I have been transformed into a Tamil girl. But still I'm very much Telugu too. At least I want to keep the best of both.

So lets make our Tamil Masala Vadai here.

Ingredients:
Oil for deep frying
400gms or approx 1.1/2 cups Channa Dhal
1 medium Onion
2 long Green Chillies
10 Curry leaves
5 Garlic pods crashed into small pieces skin on
1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
1/4 tsp baking soda
salt to taste
Add chilly powder if desire more spicy.
chopped coriander leaves ( My addition)

If you want a fusion of Andhra an Tamil nadu then add 1/8 tsp garam masala powder and 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste. You can omit crashed garlic then

Procedure:
Soak channa dal in enough water for 2 to 3 hours.
Drain the liquid fully and keep 2 tbsp of full dhall aside.
Now grind the remaining strained dal into a thick course paste.
You can add half salt when grinding.
Heat oil in a wok or deep wide kadai/pot
Alternatively add chopped onion, chillies, coriander leaves, curry leaves, crashed garlic, fennel seeds, baking soda and remaining salt and mix nicely.
Make lemon size balls with this channa mixture and on a wax paper or even on wet palm pat them into small patties keeping the centre thick and tapering towards the end with approximately 2 inch diameter.
Once the oil is heated nicely drop these channa patties into it and deep fry them till orangish brown color is achieved and a savoury smell feels the kitchen.
Once done remove from oil and place on tissue paper to remove excess oil.
Repeat till all the mixture is done.
Serve hot with tea and any desired sweet dish like chakra pongal, kesari bath, gulab jamun to contrast the spice.
These don't need any chutney or sauce to go with, cause they are spicy and flavoured by them self to make them a wholesome snack/savoury.