Egg Bonda / Soft Boiled Eggs dipped in Batter and deep fried

Ever tried deep fried eggs ? No, not fried eggs. These are soft boiled eggs dipped in batter and deep fried. One of the most famous snacks in the Movie theatres. Yes, the very first time I saw these bondas are in a movie theatre in Madurai. I was so tempted and wanted to taste it. Unfortunately, my sister never allowed me to buy one. She is very particular about eating food outside due to hygienic conditions...because, Because She is a doctor. :) She promised me that she will ask mom to make it at home for me.

Mom experimented twice or thrice with the batter and finally she got the right consistency. Getting the right consistency of the batter is very important to get perfect bonda that has batter sticking over the eggs. otherwise the moment you drop the batter coated eggs in the oil, the batter may get separated and it will be a big time mess in the oil. This is the first time I tried making them and it was big hit at home. Kids loved it so much and it was finished in few minutes. Guess, anything fried will taste awesome !

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 1/4 Cup Besan / Gram Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Rice Flour
• 1/2 Teaspoon Rava/ Sooji / Semolina
• 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Ajwain / carom seeds
• 1/4 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
• a big pinch of Hing / Asafoetida
• 1/4 Teaspoon ground Black Pepper
• Oil for deep frying
• Salt to taste 

Directions

1. Boil Eggs : Eggs should be at room temperature. Place the eggs in a bowl along with enough water to cover them. Add 1 Teaspoon salt. Place the bowl on the medium flame. Don't keep the flame high. Sometimes if the flame is high the eggs get cracked and the water will become messy. So keep the flame on medium
2. Bring the water to boil. Let the water boil for  4 to 5 minutes and switch off the flame. Let the eggs remain in the water for 10 minutes
3. Drain hot water and add tap water to the boiled eggs. Drain tap water also and crack remove the egg shells

4. Prepare the batter for deep frying : In a bowl mi together gram flour, rice flour, rava, red chilli powder, ajwain, thyme, hing, black pepper powder, salt
5. Add 2 tablespoons of water and make it as thick paste. Check for salt and spice levels and adjust
6. In a sauce pan / wok heat oil for deep frying. Dip the boiled eggs in the batter and drop them gently in the hot oil. Drop only one egg at a time for deep frying. Reduce the flame to the lowest setting and fry the egg on low flame. Flip sides once and deep fry the other side too
7. Remove from oil when the egg is golden and drain on paper towel
8. Serve hot with ketchup or dipping sauce. We had these bonda with hot tea in the evening. Delicious it was !

Rava Ladoo / Laddu

Rava Ladoo is a sweet made with semolina , coconut, nuts and raisins. This is a famous sweet made during festivals in India. It is easy and quick to make and fool proof recipe. Mom makes rava ladoo for festivals and she uses lot of ghee and little milk to bind it. However , this version of ladoos use more milk and less ghee. We are using ghee just to roast all the ingredients and milk will be a binder to shape the mixture in the form of ladoos.

 

 



 

 

A close up of the rava ladoo to show the texture

 



 

Ingredients

 

                                    

 

• 1 Cup fine Rava / Sooji / Semolina
• 2 Tablespoon Ghee
• 1/4 Cup Cashew nuts
• 1/4 Cup Black Raisins
• 1/2 Cup Fresh Coconut slices
• 1 Teaspoon Cardamom Powder
• 2/3 Cup Granulated White sugar
• 1/3 Cup Warm Milk

Directions :

Preparation :

1. Chop raisins into small pieces. I chopped each raisin into 3 tiny pieces. If you have whole cashew nuts, chop them into tiny pieces

2. In a spice grinder , add coconut slices and cardamom powder and Pulse it for 5 to 6 times or grind it until the coconut resembles finely grated pieces


                                 

3. Powder the sugar in the mixer Jar and set aside

4. Microwave 1/3 Cup of milk in microwave safe coffee mug for just 30 seconds and set aside. You can do this step while you are roasting rava / sooji

Making Ladoos : 

 

1. In a pan over lowest heat setting, heat 2 tablespoon Ghee

2. Add cashew nuts pieces and fry until they are light golden

3. Add raisins and fry until they start to plump up

4. Add the coconut we prepared at step number two of preparation and fry for 2 minutes

                                   


5. Add Sooji / Rava and roast it for 2 minutes. Do not brown the rava


                                    


6. Add powdered sugar and mix everything together and roast on lowest flame until the rava changes color to light golden. Do not brown the rava

7. Please keep stirring frequently so that the rava gets roasted on all sides evenly

8. Once the rava is roasted and starts changing color, you can smell nice aroma of ghee and rava. At this stage swtich off the flame. It took 9 minutes for me to notice rava changing color

9. Add the warm milk we prepared  (at step number 4 of the preparation)  to the hot rava mixture in slow steady stream and keep stirring the mixture while you are adding milk. Please add milk only after switching off the flame


                                     


10. Using a spoon mix everything together

11. Let the mixture cool for about 5 minutes or until you can handle the mixture with your hand


                                     


12. Pinch about lemon sized mixture from the pan and roll them in to balls using your hand

13. I used a spoon to scoop out mixture just to ensure that my ladoos are approximately the same size ( for the photographs :) )

14. Serve when they are cool completely. Since we add milk in making these ladoos , these needs to be consumed within a day or two

 

Sweet Potatoes in Caramel Sauce

This is very easy and quick recipe to make when you are craving for something sweet. Sweet potatoes are par boiled in microwave and then they are mixed in caramel sauce and grated coconut. This is my kids all time favourite snack for the evening / after school. Sometimes I add jaggery instead of caramel sauce.

Ingredients

• 3 Sweet Potatoes
• 1/4 Cup Granulated white sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Cream
• 1 Tablespoon Grated Fresh Coconut

Directions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Wash sweet potatoes and chop them roughly. In a microwave safe bowl, add sweet potatoes along with /14 cup water and a pinch of salt and microwave on high for 6 minutes. Set aside and let them cool

                                      

                                      



2. In a sauce pan, add sugar and keep the flame low. The sugar will melt in few minutes and it will start to change color

                                           

3. At this stage add butter to the pan and stir well
4. Once the butter melts and the mixture starts boiling , add fresh cream and stir continuously
5. Stir for 3 minutes until the mixture is thickened

                                             

6. Meanwhile, peel sweet potatoes and cut them into equal sized pieces
7. Once the caramel sauce is cooled little bit, add sweet potato pieces and grated coconut to the sauce and stir gently such that sweet potatoes are coated with caramel sauce

                                                 


8. Cool completely and serve

 

Potato Curry

Potato Curry is simple but flavourful curry that pairs well with rasam rice / sambar rice / curd rice. Potatoes are par boiled and then cooked with onions, tomatoes and spices. Garnished with lots of fresh cilantro leaves. This recipe makes spicy curry. Please adjust the red chilli powder for less spicy version.

Ingredients

3 Large potatoes + 1/2 Teaspoon Salt + 1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
2 Tablespoon Oil
1 Medium sized onion chopped
1 small sized tomato chopped
5 curry leaves
1 Teaspoon Mustard seeds
1/2 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
1/2 Teaspoon Urad dal
a big pinch of Hing / Asafoetida
1 Teaspoon Coriander powder
1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Garam Masala
Salt to taste
3 Tablespoon Chopped Cilantro Leaves

Directions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Pressure cook potatoes with 1 Cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder for 5 whistles on low flame. Alternatively , you can cook potatoes on stove top until they are cooked. You should be able to peel remove the skin

                                        


2. Remove skin and chop them in to big chunks

                                  


3. In a large skillet or wok, heat oil When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add curry leaves, cumin seeds, urad dal and fry until the dal is light golden

4. Add onions and tomatoes and fry just until onions are pink

                                 


5. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and fry for 2 minutes

6. Add chopped potatoes along with 1/4 cup water and salt to taste and cook on medium flame until all the water evaporates

                          


7. Switch off flame and garnish with chopped cilantro leaves

                                    


8. Serve hot with rice

Palakottai Kaara Kuzhambu / Jackfruit Seeds in tangy gravy

In summer, Jack fruit and Mangoes are in season and we get good quality jack fruits in the month of April. We do not discard the jack fruit seeds after consuming the fruit. Weird ? :) We make curry and poriyal out of seeds. This is the first time I tried making gravy with seed. Usually we boil seeds with little salt and turmeric powder and just eat it plain. Mom adds these boiled seeds in sambar. My MIL makes a super spicy coconut gravy with seeds. I searched internet for some Kerala type coconut milk curry with jackfruit. Unfortunately, I could find was sambar and poriyal or kootu with jackfruit.
 

Since I was craving for tangy and creamy recipe , I decided to follow my pepper kuzhambu recipe and make some changes to it.
 

Ingredients :

For Roasting and Grinding

• 1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil
• 2 Tablespoon Coriander seeds
• 1 Teaspoon Raw rice
• 1 Teaspoon Urad Dal
• 1 Teaspoon Channa Dal
• 2 Teaspoons Black Pepper
• 4 Red Chillies
• 10 Curry Leaves
• 1/4 Cup fresh coconut slices
• 2 Tablespoon Water 

For the Gravy

• Jackfruit Seeds
• 3 Tablespoon thick Tamarind pulp or extract  (soak tamarind in hot water for 5 minutes and extract thick pulp)
• 2 Tablespoon Sesame seed Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
• 1 Teaspoon Fenugreek Seeds
•  a big pinch of Hing / Asafoetida
• Salt to taste

Directions : 

1. Prepare the Spice paste : In a pan, heat 1/2 Teaspoon Oil. Keep the flame to the lowest setting. When oil is hot, add urad dal and channa dal. When the dal changes color, add coriander seeds, black pepper corns, raw rice, red chillies and fry until the rice is puffed up and changes color to light brown. Finally add curry leaves and coconut slices fry until curry leaves are crispy. Switch off the
 flame and let the mixture cool completely


                         

                                 



2. When the mixture is cooled, add it to a spice grinder and grind it to fine paste along with 2 tablespoon water. Set aside


                      


                    


3. Wash Jack fruit seeds and pressure cook along with 1/4 teaspoon salt and turmeric powder for 2 whistles. Peel of skin of the outer skin and set side


                              


4. In a pan, heat 2 tablespoon oil. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds.                      


5. Add the paste we prepared at step number 2 to the pan and give it a good stir

6. Add tamarind extract to the pan and add about 1/2 Cup water , salt to taste and let the gravy cook for about 8 to 10 minutes

                                   



7. Oil gets separated from the gravy and it will start floating on the top when the gravy is done. At this stage , add jaggery and boiled jackfruit seeds and let it cook for 5 minutes more. Switch off the flame                                    

8. Cool completely and serve with Steamed rice. 
 

Shakkar Para / Shakkar Paare

Shakkar Para is a deep fried sweet made with All purpose flour, wheat flour , cinnamon powder and sugar. They are very mildly sweet and flavoured with Cardamom and cinnamon powder. They are also called as diamond biscuits in south India. They are served along with hot tea as a munching snack. You can add grated coconut in the pastry dough for a nice crunch.

Ingredients

2 and 1/2 Cups of All purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole wheat flour
1/4 Cup Ghee / Clarified butter - melted
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
1 Teaspoon Cardamom Powder
1/4 Cup Sugar ( add more if you like it sweeter)
a big pinch of Salt
Oil to Deep Fry

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, add All purpose flour, wheat flour, salt, sugar, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder and mix

2. Add melted ghee to the flour and mix using a spoon such that the ghee is uniformly distributed to the flour

3. Sprinkle warm water and start kneading the dough. Keep sprinkling water and knead with hands until the dough is soft and non sticky

4. Cover it with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes

5. After 15 minutes, divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Shape each part of the dough into a ball


                         

6. Roll out a dough ball as thin as possible

7. Using a pizza cutter cut the rolled out dough lengthwise into long strips

                   


8. Now, using the pizza cutter , cut the rolled out dough across the long strips, there by forming a shape of kite ( we call this shape as diamond shape)

                    


9. Take each piece of cut pastry and arrange them on a greased plate

                   


10. Heat oil for deep frying
11. When the oil is hot, add 10 pieces of cut pastry in the oil and fry them on low flame until they are golden
12. Drain on paper towel and cool completely
13. Store it in air tight container and serve as snack at tea time

 

Plantain / Raw Banana / Vazhakai Poriyal

Plantain poriyal is a flavourful side with steamed plantain , onion ,Garlic,  spices and coconut. It pairs well with Sambar rice, rasam rice and curd rice. It is very simple dish , but easy to make. Thinly sliced plantain pieces are steamed with salt and then cooked with onions.

I steamed plantains with salt and turmeric powder in microwave on high, however you can do it on stove top also. For me, I find microwaving is quick and easy.

Ingredients

• 2 Raw Banana - peeled and sliced thinly
• 1 Tablespoon Oil
•  4 Garlic chopped roughly
• 1/2 Teaspoon Mustard seeds
• 1/2 Teaspoon urad dal
• 6 curry leaves
• 1 Medium sized onion chopped finely
• 1 Teaspoon Coriander powder
• 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
• 1 /2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• a pinch of Hing
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh coconut

Directions

1. In a microwave safe bowl, add sliced banana pieces along 1/4 Cup water , with a pinch of turmeric powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt and microwave on high for 3 minutes
2. In a frying pan, heat oil. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter
3. Then add urad and curry leaves and fry until dal is light golden. Add hing and fry for few seconds
4. Add onions and Garlic  fry until they are soft
5. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder and turmeric powder , salt and stir
6. Add steamed plantain pieces along with water to the pan
7. Mix everything together and let it cook until all the water evaporates
8. Finally add grated coconut and ground pepper to taste and toss gently
9. Serve hot with steamed rice and sambar / rasam

Namak Para / Namak Paare

Namak Para is a crunchy savoury snack made with all purpose flour, clarified butter and wheat Flour. Traditional namak para will have carom seeds, cumin seeds/ powder. However I added ground black pepper and sesame seeds to the pastry dough. These are buttery and crispy and very addictive snack. One can not stop munching them. We serve namak para as a snack for tea time.

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/2 Cups of All purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Whole wheat flour
• 1/4 Cup Ghee / Clarified butter - melted
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Cumin Powder
• 1 Tablespoon white Sesame Seeds
• Salt to taste
• Oil to Deep Fry

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, add All purpose flour, wheat flour, salt, pepper, cumin powder, sesame seeds and mix
2. Add melted ghee to the flour and mix using a spoon such that the ghee is uniformly distributed to the flour

                          


3. Sprinkle warm water and start kneading the dough. Keep sprinkling water and knead with hands until the dough is soft and non sticky
4. Cover it with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes
5. After 15 minutes, divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Shape each part of the dough into a ball

                         


6. Roll out a dough ball as thin as possible


7. Using a pizza cutter cut the rolled out dough lengthwise into long strips

                        


8. Now, using the pizza cutter , cut the rolled out dough across the long strips, there by forming a shape of kite ( we call this shape as diamond shape)

                       


9. Take each piece of cut pastry and arrange them on a greased plate

                         


10. Heat oil for deep frying

11. When the oil is hot, add 10 pieces of cut pastry in the oil and fry them on low flame until they are golden

12. Drain on paper towel and cool completely

13. Store it in air tight container and serve as snack at tea time

Vendakai Puli Kuzhambu / Okra and shallots Gravy

Vendakai / Okra Puli Kuzhambu is a spicy gravy with tomato and coconut milk. We serve this gravy with steamed rice and side. This is my mom's recipe and she makes the best ever gravy. My husband loves okra in any form and especially this gravy prepared by mom. Please adjust red chilli powder since the gravy I prepared is too spicy and my kids did not eat it.

                        

 

Ingredients

• 250 Grams Okra cut length wise into 1 inch long pieces
• 1 Medium sized onion chopped finely
• 1 Cup Shallots peeled and washed
• 1 Medium Sized tomato chopped finely
• 2 Tablespoon Coriander powder
• 1 and 1/2 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 1/2 Cup thick coconut milk
• 1/2 Cup Tamarind Pulp
• 2 Tablespoon Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
• 1/2 Teaspoon Fenugreek Seeds
• 5 Curry Leaves
• a big pinch of asafoetida / Hing
• salt to taste

Directions :

 

 

1. Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a frying pan and fry cut okra pieces on high flame for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and place them on a paper towel and set aside

2. In a pan, heat remaining oil. When the oil is hot, add mustards seeds. When they splutter, add cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and fry until curry leaves turn crispy and fenugreek seeds change color

3. Add onions and fry until onions are soft

4. Add tomatoes and fry until they are mushy

5. Add shallots and hing and fry for a minute

6. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder with 1 tablespoon of water and fry nicely

7. Add tamarind extract, salt to taste and bring it to boil

8. Add fried okra pieces and cook for 5 to 8 minutes until the okra is half way cooked through

9. Add coconut milk and cook for 5 minutes

10. Switch off the flame and serve hot with steamed rice

Milk Bun

Inspired by Manjari Chowdhury's post on one of the Facebook groups, I baked these cutie buns. Her bread pictures were perfect and I loved the texture of bread pictures she posted.  Also, her recipes are fool proof, and worked perfectly for me always. I know for sure that I can blindly follow her recipe.  Her recipe was to make Milk bread,  however I rolled the dough in the shape of bun because my kids love buns more than Bread. For them , bread is for regular everyday breakfast and buns are special and tastier than bread :) 

Usually while baking bread, I have this Yeast Feat  - " Yeah, will my yeast raise or not"  but this time I was nervous for a different reasons. Original recipe was in grams measurement and I do not have weighing scale. I have to convert the ingredients from Grams to US Cups measurement. But I was lucky that I had a beautifully doubled dough. This bread is the softest I have ever baked. When you hold these buns, it feels like you are holding a new born baby's .... :) It tastes awesome , and fluffy inside.

Recipe Source : http://fromthekitchenstothetastebuds.blogspot.in/2014/04/milk-bread.html

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
• 50 ml Warm Water
• 1 and 1/2 Teaspoon Dry active Yeast
• 190 ml Warm Milk ( milk should not be hot, it should be warm )
• 1/4 Cup unsalted butter minus 1 Teaspoon
• 1 Tablespoon Honey
• 1 Teaspoon Salt

Directions

1. Add 1 and 1/2 teaspoon yeast to the 50 ml of warm water
2. Wait for the yeast to get active and froth
3. If it doesn't froth, discard and start with a new batch of warm water and yeast
4. In a mixing bowl, add flour, salt
5. Add honey and melted butter to the flour and using a spoon mix gently
6. Now add frothy water with yeast and warm milk to the flour and mix using your hand. Grease your hands well so that the flour doesn't stick on your hand
7. This mixture will be slightly sticky
8. Transfer this mixture in to working surface and using your hands, knead well for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the dough will not be sticky and it will be holding shape nicely. Shape it in the form of ball
9. Transfer this dough ball to a greased bowl and keep it in a warm place. I preheated my oven to 180C for 5 minutes, switched off the oven and then kept this dough bowl inside the oven. Heat in the oven will help raise the dough. Cover the dough with a wet cloth and keep the oven door slightly open
10. After 1 hour or 1 and 1/2 hours, the dough will be doubles in size
11. Take the dough out of the oven, punch it and knead again
12. Divide the dough into 5 or 6 equal sized balls in the shape of buns and place them on a greased cookie sheet
13. Return the cookie sheet to the warm oven and let the (bun) dough raise in the oven
14. After 30 minutes, the buns would have doubled in size and they are ready to bake
15. Preheat oven to 180 C
16. Brush the buns with milk wash ( 2 tablespoon milk with 1/2 teaspoon cream ). You can use egg wash instead of milk wash
16. Place the cookie sheet with bun dough in the oven and bake them at 180C for 40 minutes
17. Keep watching your buns after 30 minutes
18. Buns are done when the top is nice golden color
19. Let them cool in the cookie sheet for 5 to 10 minutes
20. Then transfer them to the wire rack and cool completely
21. Serve with butter or Jam. I love eating it plain and my kids ate with chocolate hazelnut spread and jam
 

Hyderabadi Bhagaare Baingan / Bagara Baingan

Bhagaare Baingan is a dish made of tender eggplants and cooked in peanut based gravy. It is very famous side served along with Briyani in Hyderabad. This gravy is nutty , spicy , tangy and little bit sweet. Pairs perfectly with roti / naan / curd rice. I saw this dish posted by Sarika on one of the FB Groups. Followed her recipe from her blog and the dish turned out super yummy. Thank you Sarika for the perfect recipe

Recipe Source : http://sarikasethgunjal.com/hyderabadi-bhagaare-baigan/

Ingredients 

• 10 Small sized tender egg plants
• 1 Medium Onion Chopped finely
• 1 Teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
• 1 Tablespoon Coriander powder
• 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 1/4 Cup Tamarind Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Jaggery Powder

For the Paste

• 2 Tablespoon Sesame Seeds
• 4 Tablespoon Peanuts
• 2 Tablespoon Fresh Coconut bits

Tempering :

• 2 Tablespoon Sesame seed Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
• 1 Teaspoon Fenugreek Seeds
• 5 Curry leaves
• 2 Whole Red Chillies

Directions 

1. Wash eggplants and slit each egg plant into four. Do not cut them into 4 pieces. Just make 2 slits keeping the stem intact

                                      

                                      

2. Apply a pinch of salt inside the slit on each eggplant and set aside
3. In a pan, dry roast sesame seeds on high flame. When they start to splutter, remove them from the pan and transfer it to a plate
4. In the same pan, dry roast peanuts until they are crispy and the skin turns light brown. If you are  using readily available roasted peanuts, you may skip this step
5. Remove the peanuts from the pan and let it cool
6. In the same pan, dry roast coconut bits on low flame until they are crispy and the color changes slightly to light golden
7. Cool sesame seeds, roasted peanuts and coconut completely. Once cooled, grind it to fine paste along with 2 tablespoon water

                              

                             


8. In the pan, heat 1 teaspoon Oil. When the oil is hot, add all the eggplants at once and leave them undisturbed for 5minutes

                            


9. Egg plants will get roasted in oil and they will start having nice char on the skin

                            

10. Switch off flame and set the eggplants aside

11. Preparing the gravy : In a wok / pan, heat sesame seed oil. When the oil is hot add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves. Let them splutter

12. Add onions and sauté till they are soft

                                     


13. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté till oil starts leaving from the mixture

14. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and sauté nicely
15. Add the paste we prepared at step number 7 to the pan and fry it for 5 minutes on low flame

16. Finally add eggplants along with tamarind extract and cook for 20 minutes or until the eggplants are cooked through

                                     

                                    

17. Add jaggery and stir , switch off the flame when the eggplants are cooked

18. Serve hot with biryani / roti / naan