Vadas are very popular lentil fritters that are made all over India. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, vadas are delicious appetizers and snack time treats. There are as many vada recipes out there as the various types of lentils. The basic recipe for vada involves soaking lentils in water for a few hours to soften, and then they are ground into a thick coarse batter to which vegetables and spices are added. The thick batter is then deep-fried. Vadas are usually served with a side of chutney like coconut chutney. For those of you living in the South think of these as hush puppies except these are made with lentils. Continue reading Masala Vadas – Yellow Split Pea Lentil Fritters
Tag Archives: Indian food
Green Beans Sauté
I am so excited to share this green beans recipe with you all. A couple of months ago our power had gone out for almost three days as a safety precaution shutoff from PG&E, and it happened during our Indian festival of Diwali. This is when my friend Roli dropped off the most amazing array of home-cooked dishes for a special Diwali lunch. I tell you folks, for someone like myself who cooks often, having a home-cooked meal made by someone else and that too made by an outstanding cook like my friend Roli – the food just tasted like ambrosia. Continue reading Green Beans Sauté
Eggplant Gotsu
Gotsu is a saucy, tangy, spicy cooked salsa made in most South Indian homes to accompany any type of rice dish. I shared a recipe earlier for an easy tomato onion gotsu that my Mom used to make to accompany a lentil and rice pilaf called pongal. Here I would like to share my Aunty Shashi’s recipe for an eggplant gotsu made with eggplant, juicy tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and lots of spices. Continue reading Eggplant Gotsu
Upma, Raita and Soup. Lunch with a Friend
Happy Tuesday!
It’s looking like fall around here; temperatures are cooler, leaves are falling, and it’s getting darker earlier in the evenings. This type of weather always gets me in a contemplative mood. It’s times like these when allthough I want to socialize and meet friends, I really want to keep it low-key – you know what I mean? This is the mood I was in when I had a friend over for a simple fall lunch one Friday afternoon recently. Not two friends, not three, but just one. It’s nice once in a while to have a quiet lunch with a friend, it gives us a chance to catch up one/one with each other and relax over comfort food and conversation. Continue reading Upma, Raita and Soup. Lunch with a Friend
Shishito Pepper Stir Fry Coconut Rice
Here I was left with a large quantity of Shishito peppers from my farmer’s marker trip wondering what to do with so many, I’m talking over 50 peppers! Don’t get me wrong, I love Shishito peppers but even for our family there is a limit to how many Shishito peppers we can have. I was looking for a way to use up all these peppers when I got the idea to use them in a stir-fry rice. I cut up the peppers into bite size pieces, sautéed them until they were tender and charred, added fresh coconut, a couple of Indian spices, salt and sugar and I ended up with this delicious Shishito pepper stir fry coconut rice. The rice tasted so good that my family was having it by the bowl fulls. It tasted even better the next day as all the flavors had a chance to marinate and get absorbed into the rice. If you love Shishito peppers or Padron peppers like we do, this is an awesome recipe to use up a good amount of these peppers. Give it a try! Continue reading Shishito Pepper Stir Fry Coconut Rice
Dhoklas. Steamed Cream of Wheat Savory Bites
Light and spongy, salty, sweet and spicy – dhokla is a very popular appetizer prepared in the state of Gujarat in the Western region of India. The basic recipe for dhokla uses chickpea flour, rice flour, or semolina (cream of wheat) that are combined with yogurt and spices to form a thick batter. This batter is then steamed until a spongy cake of sorts is formed which is then cut into bite-size pieces and lightly pan-fried with mustard seeds. Served as an appetizer with mint chutney these are delicious cake-like savory bites. Continue reading Dhoklas. Steamed Cream of Wheat Savory Bites
Bell Pepper Potato Curry
Late summer brings with it a harvest of peppers in all shapes and sizes. Sweet peppers, spicy peppers, mild peppers, green, yellow, red, and orange peppers – you name it, it’s available at the farmer’s market right now. All these peppers are the inspiration for this curry that uses peppers in an Indian spiced potato curry. Continue reading Bell Pepper Potato Curry
Zucchini Eggplant Stir Fry Curry
Zucchini Eggplant Stir Fry Curry
Ingredients:
- 1 large Japanese eggplant or 2 medium sized Japanese eggplants cut into small chunks
- 2-3 medium sized zucchini cut into small chunks
- 4 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 medium onion finely cut
- 1 tbsp finely minced ginger
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
- 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
- Salt
- Oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Cilantro for garnish
Shalini’s Coconut Chutney with Cilantro and Green Chili
Coconut chutney is such an ubiquitous side condiment in every South Indian home that at any given time there is almost always coconut chutney available and ready to be had with any food of one’s choice. Naturally with such a common dish every family has their own variation. I posted a recipe for a quick and easy coconut chutney a while back, in this new version I would like to share with you my friend Shalini’s coconut chutney recipe which has the added dimension of fresh cilantro and fresh ginger. Continue reading Shalini’s Coconut Chutney with Cilantro and Green Chili
Indian Summer Ratatouille
If you are looking for a great way to use up a large quantity of summertime tomatoes and veggies then this dish is the one! That’s the dilemma I faced that inspired this veggie-laden dish. I had loads of peppers, zucchini, carrots and tomatoes, and I knew it would take a few days to use all these up, but these veggies were ready to be had ASAP. I decided to make a giant pot of Indian stew/curry type of dish with all the veggies I could collect from the refrigerator. I also wanted this to be a saucy dish as I had soooo many tomatoes too. Indian Ratatouille, is the name the kids gave this stew. The name sounded pretty cool to me as this stew made with summer vegetables and Indian spices would have otherwise been called Carrot, Zucchini, Pepper Curry; but somehow the name Indian Ratatouille just sounds better. Continue reading Indian Summer Ratatouille
