Thenu’s Kitchen

Makes about 10 small vadas

• Soak 0.5 cup of Channa Dhal for about 5 hours
• Drain the dhal completely
• In a mixie, put 1tsp of cumin seeds, 1 small red chilly, soaked dhal
• Coarse grind the mix without adding any water
• In a bowl add a quarter of a medium size onion, 1 small green chilly (chopped), few cilantro leaves, few curry leaves, salt per taste
• Toss the dhal and mix well
• Make small balls and flatten them in the vada shape
• Deep fry in hot oil for about 7 mins or until the vadas turn golden brown
• Tips: You have to coarse grind the dhal so that few dhals remain whole.
• Serve as is or with some chutney and chai

Makes about 12 pieces.

• Mix 1 cup of Maida & 1 tbsp of sooji or Rava in a bowl
• Add salt per taste
• Add ajwain (You can also add cumin seeds if you dont stock ajwain)
• Optionally you can add split dhal (pottu kadalai) / peanuts broken in half or even smaller
• Add luke warm water little by little to the flour and knead into a hard dough
• It might consume about 1/4 cup water approximately
• Make small balls and roll into small circles like you do for chapathis
• Poke with a fork to make small holes to ventilate the air
• Deep fry in oil until the pieces turn golden brown
• It might take anywhere from 8 to 10 mins for a batch of 12 to get fried
• Serve with chai
• This is a keeper for few days if stored in an airtight container

RECIPE:
Makes about 8 small size cutlets

• Boil 1 potato and grate it. Make sure the potato is dry
• Steam cook 1 cup of mixed diced vegetables (Peas, carrot, beans etc)
• Coarse grind the vegetables. The pieces should be little bigger size. And again the veges must be as dry as possible
• In a non stick pan, add very little oil and season with cumin seeds
• Add little ginger-garlic paste and saute
• Reduce the heat and add 1/2 sp chilly powder, 1/2 coriander powder and salt per taste
• Fry the mix for a min and add the dry veges (squeeze out the water if any)
• Saute until the veges mix well with the spices
• Add a handful of cilantro and fry till the leaves wilt
• Transfer the dry veg content to the bowl of grated potato
• Mix them well and make balls. If you feel any moisture, add very little bread crumbs to absorb it
• In a bowl beat 1 egg white with pepper
• If you avoid eggs, use maida (all purpose flour) and little water to make a thin paste to coat the vege balls
• In a separate plate put some bread crumbs
• Quickly dip the ball into the egg mix(or maida mix) and roll it in the bread crumbs so the balls are well coated with the bread crumbs
• As you roll the balls in the crumbs, flatten them to the shape you want
• After you coat all the balls, deep fry or shallow fry with liberal oil in a pan of oil in medium flame
• When the cutlets turn golden brown on both sides, take them out and place on a tissue to absorb the excess oil
• Serve with Ketchup