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Posts tagged BESAN

Methi Muthia (steamed version) – Gujarath...

April 8, 2014 Written by Gayathri Kumar
For today’s dish I take you to my favourite state of India, Gujarath. From childhood, whenever I saw the map of India, I like the state of Gujarath as it looks really cute. At that age, I din’t know anything about the state but when I went to college, there was an all India trip organised and we went to Gujarath. The main purpose of the visit was to see the Natinal Institute of Design. We as Fashion Designing students were awed by the institute. Then came the tourist attractions. Our visit to Gandhiji’s Shabarmati ashram was a great experience. We spent quality time over there. We also visited ISKON temple and Akshardham as part of spiritual tour. I remember the Law Garden night market we visited. There were so many types of handworked fabrics available. And one needs bargaining skills to buy there. And the chaat stalls of that place was great. We actually finished our dinner there and then went for shopping till mid night. 

Coming to the present age, I have a blogger friend who is so so so talented and she is also part of Blogging Marathon group. Last year for the 25th edition of BM, a trip was arranged and some of the bloggers travelled to Ahmedabad and had a great time. And the hostess was Vaishali (=&0=&) who is the blogger I am talking about. I feel very sad to have missed that trip and even now I blame hubby for that. I have a wish that atleast once I have to visit Ahmedabad and meet up with Vaishali.  And coming to today’s recipe, it is the famous recipe from Gujarath. Muthia is the favourite snack of Gujarathis and there are two versions of this snack. One is the calorie laden deep fried version and the other one is the healthy steamed version. I chose to make the steamed version from Veg Recipes Of India. It was quite easy to make and tasted absolutely delicious. I loved the tempering which gave a nice flavour to the muthias. =&1=& =&2=& =&3=& Besan-1 cup Yogurt/ Curd-1/2 tbs Baking soda-a pinch Methi Leaves-1 1/2 cups (chopped) Sugar-1 tsp Salt-to taste Oil-1 tbs Semolina-1 tbs White Sesame Seeds-1 tsp Turmeric Powder-1/2 tsp Coriander Powder-1/2 tsp Cumin Powder-1/2 tsp Chilly Powder-1/4 tsp Lemon Juice-1 tsp Green Chilly -2 Ginger Grated- 1 tbs =&4=& Oil-2 tbs Sesame Seeds-1 tsp Mustard Seeds-1 tsp Asafoetida-a pinch Curry Leaves-a sprig Coriander Leaves and Coconut for Garnish =&5=& 1. In a bowl mix all the ingredients except curd for muthia and set aside for 30 minutes. 2. Now add curd to make a firm dough. 3. Divide the dough into two equal portions and roll each into a log. 4. Place it in a greased plate and steam cook it for 20 minutes. Do not over cook as it will dry it out. 5. Remove from the steamer and let it cool to room temperature. 6. Slice each log into 1″ slices. 7. heat a pan and add oil. 8. Add the tempering ingredients one by one and when they crackle, add the muthia slices and genly stir to coat the muthias evenly with tempering ingredients. 9. Cook on low flame until the top of the slices are slightly brown and crisp. 10. Serve it hot garnished with coriander leaves and grated coconut. Take all the ingredients except curd in a bowl. mix and set aside for 30 minutes.

Add curd.

Make a firm dough.

Divide into two and roll into logs. Steam cook the logs for 20 minutes.

Once done bring it to room temperature. Slice the logs. Prepare the tempering. Add the slices. Mix it very gently and cook until crispy and brown. Serve garnished with coriander and coconut.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 39 read more

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Gujarathi Gathiya

February 15, 2014 Written by Gayathri Kumar
For this month’s=&0=&, Srivalli got the recipe for Gujarathi snack Gathiya from Vaishali who got it from her friend. Gathiya is a savoury snack which is almost like the south Indian kara sev. The only difference is it is mildly spiced whereas kara sev is extremely spicy. I made this two days back. Sruti is not a great fan of savoury snacks but hubby dear loved it. We are having a nice time during coffee. They pair up perfectly. The addition of baking soda to the dough is very quite interesting. We need to roast baking soda until brown and then add it to the flour. This makes sure that the gathiyas melt in the mouth. The addition of ajwain/ omam gives it a nice flavour.

I added sesame seeds and pepper powder for the extra flavour. Gathiya needs a special press with large holes. I used my murukku press with the largest hole to make these crunchy gathiyas. You need to press a large disc into hot oil and once it is fried, you need to break it into tiny pieces which is the same for kara sev preparation also. So if you want some mild snack, you can make these gathiyas and enjoy. =&1=&
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Aval Vadai

September 2, 2013 Written by Gayathri Kumar
Today after so much thought, I am starting Blogging Marathon #32, which is going to run the full month. I think I will never get out of losing my mom if I do not divert myself to some other thoughts. So finally I decided to do this month long marathon. I have been preparing the dishes for the past 4 months and getting ready for this BM. So whatever you see in my forthcoming posts are all prepared months before and I am just posting it now according to the theme. 
The theme Valli chose for this month long marathon is quite interesting. We need to post A-Z recipes. To make it more challenging, she also has given us four categories- Regional, International, Street Food and Baked. Every category must have minimum 6 posts and we will be preparing totally 26 recipes for this BM. Last time during April, there was a month long BM and I enthusiastically took part. But by one week, I had so many problems that I opted out of it. So to make this BM a success, I started preparing the dishes 4 months ago just when this BM was announced ( Valli announced it so early so that someone like me can prepare it in advance) I usually never ever plan my dishes. I do it on the day of posting (yeah! I am such a great planner!!!) and will be totally tensed. So this is the first time I have been planning. For the first day I am doing a regional dish with alphabet A. Aval / poha/ flattened rice is very easy to cook and we like it so much. This vada takes less than half an hour and it is apt for unannounced guests. It is very tasty. Usually Sruti is not very keen to eat vadas, but even she polished off her plate. This vada is not on the crispy side but is on the softer side. Serve it along with chutney or sauce and you will surely enjoy the evening.



Ingredients:
Aval/ Poha/ Flattened Rice-1 cup
Besan/ Gram Flour-1 cup
Onion -1 large
Red Chilly Powder-1/2 tsp ( adjust according to your taste)
Salt-to taste
Coriander Leaves-3 tbs
Oil- to deep fry

Procedure:
1. Wash ans soak aval in water. The aval must be just immersed in water. Do not add more water.
2. When the aval is soft ( in 5 minutes) grind it to a coarse mixture in a mixer grinder. Do not add water.
3. Take this in a bowl and add besan, salt, chopped onions, coriander leaves and red chilly powder.
4. Mix it well and if the dough is crumbly, add little water to bring it together. 
5. The dough should be little crumbly, but you should be able to make a ball out of it.
6. Divide it into 20 equal pieces and shape each into a ball.
7. Heat oil and when hot, place the dough ball in your palm, slightly flatten it and carefully drop it into the oil.
8. Deep fry until both sides are golden.
9. Drain and serve along with chutney or sauce.


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Maharashtrian Kadhi with Besan Bhajia

July 4, 2013 Written by Gayathri Kumar
Today is the second day of Blogging Marathon #30 and I am cooking under curds theme. I love any kind of kadhi and I have posted two types of kadhis so far. When I was searching the web for a different type of kadhi, I saw this recipe at Aroma of Spices. The Maharashtrian version of the kadhi is very simple and adding the easy to make bhajias make it very interesting. Instead of deep frying the bhajias, I cooked them in paniyaram pan with little oil which makes it a healthier version. Though the author says that kadhi tastes great with rotis, in my house we like it with rice. So I made this for today’s lunch and it was a simple yet satisfying meal.


Recipe Source: Aroma of Spices
Ingredients:
For The Bhajias:
Besan-1/4 cup Salt-to taste Cumin Seeds-1/4 tsp Oil-To Deep Fry
For The Kadhi:
Curd-1 1/2 cups
Water-11/4 cups
Besan-2 tbs
Salt-to taste
Oil-2 tsp
Mustard Seeds-1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds-1/2 tsp
Green Chilly-3
Ginger-a small piece
Coriander Leaves-3-4 tbs
Curry Leaves-a handful
Hing/ Asafoetida-a pinch

Procedure:
1. Mix besan, salt, cumin and a little water to make a thick batter. 2. Heat oil in a pan. 3. When hot add spoon full of batter into the hot oil and fry them until golden. 4. Transfer to a plate once ready. 5. In a bowl mix curd and besan and whisk until besan has dissolved completely without any lumps. 6. Add water and mix. 7. Heat oil and add cumin, mustard, hing and curry leaves. 8. When they crackle, add the curd mixture and salt to taste. 9. Bring it to boil. Remove from flame. 10 Half an hour before serving, bring the kadhi to boil, add the bhajias. 11. Let it boil for a minute. 12. Add the coriander leaves and set it aside and let the bhajias soak up in the kadhi. 13. Serve with rice and papad.
Note: The bhajias will soak up the kadhi. So make sure to add the bhajias only half an hour before serving. 


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#30

Dapka Kadhi
Sindhi Kadhi read more

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Aval Mixture

April 25, 2013 Written by Gayathri Kumar
Mom used to make mixture during Deepavali. It is a combination of 4-5 individual snacks merged into one. The ingredients of mixture is as per our choice. The most commonly used are kaara boondhi, aval/ poha/ flattened rice, murukku, diamond biscuits, chevu, oma podi, cheeval (click on the names for the recipes) and so on. Mom used to prepare this in large quantities. We used to relish it along with rice, mixed it with pori for snack. You even can make a raitha with this just like boondhi raitha. When Sruti returned from school, she wanted to some snack and I wasn’t interested in buying the usual biscuit pack so bought some ingredients for this mixture. It was made within 30 minutes and her snack was ready by the time she finished her homework. For this mixture I used poha, kaara boondhi and groundnuts. I used a large quantity of groundnuts as Sru is a great fan. When PK returned home I served it with a cup of coffee and he couldn’t believe that it was home made. He was all praises. What else does a foodie blogger need??


Ingredients: Besan/ Kadalai Maavu-1 cup Aval/ Poha/ Flattened Rice-1 cup Groundnuts/ Peanuts-1 cup Curry Leaves-1/2 cup Cashew Nuts-1/2 cup Salt-to taste Red Chily Powder-1/2 tsp Cumin Powder-a pinch Oil-To Deep Fry
Procedure: 1. First we need to prepare the boondhi. Mix besan along with water to make a batter of dosa batter consistency. 2. Heat oil in a pan. 3. Pour a ladle full of the batter onto a slotted spoon held over hot oil. Let the batter drop by itself. Do not press the batter. This ensures nice round boondhis. 4. When golden in colour remove the fried boondhis to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining batter.

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Gujarathi Farsan – Khandvi

April 4, 2013 Written by Gayathri Kumar
For the fourth day of party specials I decided to prepare Gujrathi Khandvi. I have already made it once and I made it again for the South Vs North Challenge, brain child of Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook. There are two groups- The Southern and the Northern. Every month a southern team member will challenge the northern team with a recipe from south whereas the northern team member will challenge the southern team with a speciality of North. I have been taking part in these challenges since January. For this month Hetal of Gujarati Zaika– the host of southern team challenge, asked the southern team to create the famous Gujrathi Farsan- Khandvi. Farsan is the collective word used for snacks. The preparation of khandvi is a little tricky. If you don’t remove the besan mixture from flame at the correct moment you will end up with thick and cracky rolls. But when removed at the correct time, you will get nice thin silky smooth rolls which are so cute to look at. If you are new to khandvi, I suggest you start with 1/4 cup of besan. Because once the besan mixture is removed from flame, it needs to be spread on the back of a plate immediately. If the portion is huge then you end up with dried out mixture. I learnt it the hard way..

Ingredients:
For Khandvi:
Besan-1 cup Sour Curd-1/2 cup Water-1 1/2 cups Sugar-1 tsp Salt-to taste Turmeric Powder-1/2 tsp
For Tempering:
Oil-1 tbs Sesame Seeds-1 tsp Mustard Seeds-1 tsp Asafoetida-1/4 tsp Curry Leaves-a sprig Green Chilly-1 (Finely Chopped)
For Garnish:
Grated Coconut-2-3 tbs Coriander Leaves-2-3 tbs
Procedure:
1. Mix besan, salt, sugar, curd, turmeric powder and water to make a thin lump free batter. 2. Pass it through a sieve to a heavy bottomed pan or a non stick pan. 3. Heat the mixture. 4. It may seem to be lumpy at first but once it starts cooking the mixture will become smooth. Keep on stirring. 5. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and spread it on a plate. Try rolling it. If you can roll it, then the mixture is of correct consistency. If not it need to be cooked a little more. 6. Have plates ready. When the mixture has reached the consistency, take a little on the backside of a pplate and spread it with a spatula to a thin film. This has to be done very fast. Finish off all the dough. You can also spread it on marble counter. I used nearly 7 plates for 1 cup of besan. 7. After 5 minutes, cut the applied mixture into 1″ wide strips. 8. Roll each strip into a tight roll. Place the rolls on a plate. 9. Heat oil and add the tempering ingredients. When they crackle, pour it evenly on the prepared rolls. 10. Garnish with coriander leaves and coconut. 11. Serve and enjoy.. =&5=&
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Paneer Potato Pakoras

April 3, 2013 Written by Gayathri Kumar
As I mentioned yesterday, I made these tiny pakoras with paneer and potatoes to go along with the mullingatawny soup. This could be a nice appetizer to serve in small parties. Hubby liked it very much and told that it tasted like kola urundai. I had a cup of paneer for nearly 4 days and was breaking my head on what recipe to make. Finally I settled with these pakoras. When hot they tasted awesome. Nice crunchy on the top and soft inside. This surely would be a crowd pleaser. But make sure that you fry it as soon you make the dough, otherwise the dough becomes very soft and you need to add some extra flour.

Ingredients:
Crumbled Paneer-1 1/2 cups
Potato-2 medium sized
Sooji/ rava-3 tbs
Besan/ Gram Flour-1/2 cup
Kasoori Methi-2 tbs
Salt-to taste
Chaat Masala-1 tsp
Garam Masala-1/4 tsp
Red Chilly Powder-1/2 tsp
Oil-To Deep Fry

Procedure:
1. Pressure cook the potatoes.
2. Peel and mash.
3. Add paneer, chaat masala, garam amsala, sooji, besan, salt, red chilly powder to the potato and mix well to form a soft dough.
4. Pinch small portions from the dough and roll into balls.
5. Heat oil and deep fry the balls until golden.
6. Serve hot along with sauce of your choice. read more

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Cheeval / Seeval / Ribbon Pakoda

November 12, 2012 Written by Gayathri Kumar

Cheeval or ribbon pakoda can be prepared with chevu dough. There are so many recipes for this snack. I made it with rice flour and besan along with sesame seeds and pepper powder. You can also add garlic paste for a nice flavor. Mom gave this recipe and I made some changes like adding butter and pepper powder. He press used for cheeval has a small rectangular opening so that the dough comes out like ribbon. That is why it is also called as ribbon pakoda. The press I have is wooden and the plate is bronze. It was bought by my aunt from Karaikudi and it is a very nice press.  Today is the final day of Blogging Marathon#22. I am linking this to WTML hosted by Preethi and started by me. read more

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Chevu / Savoury Murukku

November 11, 2012 Written by Gayathri Kumar
Chevu is a besan based savoury snack which is a favourite among our family. DH buys chevu whenever he visits the nearby store. For the last few weeks the store hasn’t got the brand of chevu he likes. So he has been asking me to prepare it at home. I was just postponing the preparation because I wanted to make it for Deepavali. Then I called up my mom and asked for the recipe last week. My mom prepares the tastiest chevu. But she is not very good at giving exact measurements. But as I wanted measurements, she gave me the measurements in Padi (a type of cup measurement used in Tamil Nadu). I then converted it to the basic cup measurements and prepared it. I did little changes for DH. Mom never added pepper but he is a fan of pepper in chevu. I also added butter for extra crispness. The result was fabulous. We loved it so much. Today is the second day of Blogging Marathon#22. I am also linking this to WTML hosted by Preethi and started by me.
Ingredients: Parboiled Rice-2 3/4cup / 500gm Besan-4 cups / 500gm Salt-to taste Garlic-25-30pods Red Chilly- 30 or according to your taste Butter-5tbs Oil-To Deep Fry Black Pepper-3tbs Procedure:

1.    Wash and soak parboiled rice for 3hours.
2.    Drain water and transfer it to the wet grinder.
3.    In a mixer jar take garlic and red chillies and garlic and grind it to a paste.
4.    Add this paste to the rice and grind it to a thick and smooth batter.
5.    Transfer the batter to a bowl.
6.    Add crushed black pepper, salt, besan and melted butter.
7.    Knead everything together to form soft dough.
8.    If the dough is hard, then pressing chevu into oil will be tough. So let it be soft.
9.    Heat oil in a pan.
10.   Pinch a portion of dough and fill the murukku press.
11.   Press out the dough in spiral formation into the hot oil.
12.   Flip the chevu when one side is done.
13.   Remove chevu when the sizzling of oil stops. Repeat with the remaining dough.
14.  When cool, break I into small pieces and store in an air tight jar.
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Soan Papdi

October 18, 2012 Written by Gayathri Kumar

Today is the third day of Blogging Marathon #21. This sweet is in my to do list for long. To be frank, I tried it twice before. First time the whole lot went into a dust bin. The second time the sugar syrup’s consistency was not right and I ended up with a soft sweet which my hubby’s colleagues liked very much ( they don’t know that it is a sweet that went the wrong way). Then I took a decision not to try out making soan papdi. But when I saw Sanjay of Vahchef making it in a video, I was tempted again. Soan papdi cannot stay away from me longer. I saw the video four or five times and then I set on preparing the sweet with 100% confidence. Every thing went according to plan until the final stage. When I poured the mixture on the counter, it started leaving ghee. Only then I realized my mistake. The recipe in his website mentioned adding 250 gm of ghee and the video recipe mentioned 1 1/2 cups of ghee. I should have added 250 gm. But I went for 1 1/2 cups and the 1/2 cup of extra ghee came out of the sweet. Apart from that soan papdi looked okay. It was crispy and little chewy. When hubby came home I gave him a piece and asked him to identify it. He ate it, thought for some time and told me that it tastes like banaras (that is what they call soan papdi at my home town). Then he told me that I was half way through in making the sweet. So if some one dares to prepare this sweet, please go through the video again and again. When you feel confident, you can try it. I think I will try it again. I am not going to accept my defeat to this sweet.

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