Aapam

My apologies for not updating this blog for months, I've been very busy with my tight schedule as I was involved in work related to various types of art... So here, I'm back with a new recipe, hope you like it!

Ingredients:

Raw Rice	- 2 cups
Idly (Boiled) Rice	- 2 cups
Urad Dal	- 1/2 cup
Sago	- 1/2 cup
Fenugreek Seeds	- 1 cup
Salt	- to taste
Cooking Soda	- as needed(I used 1 pinch of cooking soda for approx. 500ml of batter)

Method:
Soak  Idly rice, raw rice together  for atleast 4 hours.
Soak Urad Dhal and fenugreek seeds together and sago separately. 
First grind Urad Dhal and fenugreek seeds till it becomes smooth and fluffy.
Then add sago, soaked rice, enough water  and grind till the mixture becomes a smooth paste.
Add required amount of salt, mix well and allow it to ferment (keep the batter overnight for good fermentation.)
When the batter is ready to make aapams,  add baking soda  and water  and mix well.
The appam batter should be a bit thinner than the batter used to make Dosa, and should not be thick, it needs to be light but not too watery. The consistency of a batter is very important in making an Appam.
Heat an aappa Kadai/Pan and put two scoops of batter into the pan. (I use a non-stick pan which makes it easier for me to cook).
Tilt and rotate the pan until the batter spreads around forming a circle and cover the pan with a lid.
The centre will become puffy and soft like an idly, while the edges will be crispy like dosa.

Your delicious aapam will be ready to be eaten! It can be served with vegetables stew, coconut and chilley chutneys, kurmas or coconut milk which is, in fact, my family's favourite!

Kadai Paneer

Ingredients:

Paneer  -250gms (cut into cubes or thin fingers)
Oil        - 3 tbls
Ginger paste -1 tsp
Garlic paste  -1 tsp

Grated onion - ½ cup

Tomato puree - ½ cup
Chilli Powder  -  1 tsp
Salt - to taste (I used 1tsp salt for this recipe)
Turmeric Powder - ½ cup
Garam Masala      -1 tsp
Asafoetida       - ½ cup
Fenugreek leaves - 1 tbls
Thick Curd      - ½ cup
Capsicum    - ½ cup (cut into cubes or thin fingers)
Chopped Coriander leaves - 1tbls
Chopped green chillies - 1tsp
Hot Water  - 1 cup

Method:
Always fry the paneer in oil or boil in water for about five to ten minutes.

Heat the oil in a Kadai. Add ginger and garlic paste, fry lightly.
Add Onions and fry until it turns gold in colour.
Add the tomato puree and fry till the masala leaves the oil or becomes dry.
Then add the salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, asafoetida, and fenugreek leaves. Mix well. Add curd, green chilli and stir till the oil separates.

Add capsicum and fry for a minute.

 Add 1 cup boiling hot water ,mix well. Add Paneer and then boil for 2 minutes.

 Garnish with green coriander and serve hot.

Instant Khaman Dhokla

Ingredients:
Besan (gram flour)  -¾ cup
Sooji (Semolina)     - ¼ cup 
Ginger                   - ½ tsp
Green chillies        -3
Salt                       - ¾ tsp
Lemon Juice          - 2 tsp
Sugar                    - 1½ tbls
Oil                        -2 tbls
ENO (fruit salt)     - ½ tbls
Turmeric Powder  - ¼ tsp
Water                 - ¾ cup

Tempering:
Oil                     -1½ tbls 
Mustard seeds    -1 tsp 
Sesame              - 1 tsp (optional)
Curry leaves       - 8 to 10
Green coriander  - 2 tbls (approx)
Grated coconut   - 2 tbls (approx)

Method:
Crush the ginger and green chillies.
Mix all the ingredients well except Eno to a smooth batter. Leave the batter for approximately 20 minutes. At the time of making , add ENO to the batter and  beat well for few seconds. Immediately pour this into the greased  thali ( I use square shaped baking tray ) and steam it for 10 minutes on medium flame and 10 minutes on low flame.

The picture  shown above  is the bottom side of the dhokla.

Cut into 1-1/2 " square or diamond shaped pieces.To temper , heat the oil , add mustard . As  mustards crack up ,add curry leaves.Then add 1/2 a cup of hot water. Pour this on the top of the dhokla.

Once the water gets absorbed ,the dhokla becomes soft . Sprinkle chopped coriander and freshly grated coconut. Now the dhokla is ready to serve.

Notes: (1)  Use aluminum vessels for the best dhoklas.
           (2)  Cover the  steaming vessel lid with towel.
           (3) 1 cup = 250 ml , 1 tbls = 15 ml,  1 tsp  = 5 ml

Diamond Biscuits (Salted)

Got some dough left out after making samosas?
Don't worry! Vegetarian Hut is here to help you make use of them.
Those are small salted biscuits made just out of samosa dough.

Ingredients:
Samosa Dough (Click here for the recipe)

How-to-make
Roll the dough until it's thin like in the image below, and cut it into diamond shapes (you can cut in other shapes if you want) and deep fry. Your biscuits are now ready to be served, you can serve with tomato sauce or coriander chutney. You can keep them in an air-tight container and keep them up to a week or more.

Samosa

Ingredients:
- For the dough

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup (250 ml)
Salt - ¼ tsp
Ghee or Oil - 2 tbsp
Hot Water - 3 to 4 tbsp

 - For fillings

Potato - 300 grams
Frozen Peas - ¼ cup
Chopped Green Chilli - 1
Coriander Powder - ½ tsp
Chilli powder - ¼ tsp
Garam Masala - ¼ tsp
Dry Mango Powder - ½ tsp

Cumin Seeds - ¼ tsp
Chopped Onions - ¼ cup
Salt to taste

Method:
- For dough
Mix the all purpose flour and salt.
Rub the mixture in ghee or oil.
Add hot water to the mixture to form the dough.
Knead the dough until it becomes soft. Keep it aside until you finish making the fillings.

- For fillings
Boil the potatoes and chop them into small cubes, and mash half of the cubes.
Heat the oil in a pan and put the cumin seeds in.
Add the chopped onions, green chilli and fry until it becomes golden colour.
Add garam masala, coriander powder, chilli powder, dry mango powder and salt.
Fry for a minute, then add the frozen peas. Cook until it becomes tender.
Two minutes, add the boiled potatoes and stir.
Fry for 4-5 minutes.
Your masala is now ready for filling.

For samosas

Make a small ball from the dough, and roll oblong.

Cut into two and apply water on the straight edge.
Take the semi-circle and roll it to form a cone shape.

Fill the cone with the fillings leaving some space around the closing part.

Apply water at the edge and stick both edges together as shown above.

Press the edge with a fork to make a secured joint.

Repeat the method for all the other samosas too.

Fry them in a low flame until the cover becomes crispy.

Serve hot with coriander chutney and tomato sauce.

Garlic Rasam with Dal, Pepper and Jeera

No Rasam powder is needed for this recipe.

Ingredients:

Toor Dal (Yellow lentils) - 1/4 cup

Tamarind - goose berry size

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Pepper Powder - 2 tsp

Jeera(cumin)Powder - 2 tsp

Garlic small - 10 cloves

Tomato - 4 medium size

Curry Leaves -few
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

- For Seasoning

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek -1/4 tsp

Dry Red Chilli -2

- For Garnishing

Coriander leaves – few

Method:

Cook the toor dal, turmeric powder and asafoetida with 1½ cup of water.

Separate the water and dal then keep it aside.

Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and crush the garlics and curry leaves.

Soak the tamarind in 1½ cup of water, squeeze out tamarind pulp and filter the juice.

Heat the oil in a pan; add mustard, fenugreek seed and dry red chillies. When it pops up, add the crushed garlic and curry leaves and fry for a minute.

Add the tomatoes and fry until the oil separates, and then add the tamarind water, pepper powder, jeera (cumin) powder, salt, and dal.
Boil for 3 minutes and then add the dal water, simmer for about 2 minutes until the frothing forms.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Your Rasam is ready to drink.