Kara boondi / Spicy boondi

Ingredients:
Gram flour(Besan) - 1 cup
Water - 1 to 2 cups
Chilli power - 2 tsp
Crushed Garlic - 3 to 5
Curry leaves- few
Peanut - 1/4 cup
Cashew nut - 2 tbsp (optional)
Salt- to taste
Oil- for deep fry

Method:
Mix the besan and a tablespoon of oil along with water (add water gradually till it gets a dripping consistency - the batter should be little watery and not so thick).
Pour drops of this mixture into hot oil with a slotted spoon.
Deep fry till the drops become golden brown. Drain this from oil and repeat the same for the whole batter.
Fry the peanuts and cashews in the same oil or separately. Keep it aside.
Then heat little Oil in a pan, fry garlic and curry leaves.
Finally mix it all into the boondi and sprinkle red chili powder and salt.
Mix well.

Aloo Tikki

Ingredients

4 large potatoes (aloo)
¼ cup boiled peas (optional)
3 tbsp raisins
3 tbsp chopped almonds
2 tbsp coriander leaves
4 green chillies finally chopped
½ cup bread crumbs
1 tsp Cumin seeds
½ chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder (optional)
salt to taste
2 tbsp corn flour
oil (tel) to fry

Method
Make a corn batter with ½ cup water.
Wash and finely cut the green chillies.
Boil the potatoes. Peel and mash well.
Mix well the all ingredient except bread crumbs and oil.

Take out small balls from it and make any shape of your choice..
Dip these balls in the corn flour batter and coat it with breads crumbs. 

Deep fry in oil till crisp and golden brown on all sides.
Serve hot with some chutney or yogurt.

Ellu Seedai / Sweet Seedai

Ingredients

1 cup sifted rice Flour
2 tsp Urad Dal flour (dry roast and make a powder)
1 cup Jaggery
pinch of cardamom powder
1 tbsp white Sesame seeds

Method
Grate the jaggery, pour down 1 cup of hot water on the jaggery and let it sit for at least 40 minutes.
In a skillet dry roast the rice flour until aromatic (about a minute or so). Set aside to cool it down. In the same skillet, dry toast the sesame seeds less than 30 seconds or so. Set aside.
Now using a strainer, strain the jaggery water mixture. Warm this jaggery syrup, add cardamom powder. Give it one quick stir and take off the stove.
Add all the dry ingredients together and slowly (one spoon at a time) add the jaggery syrup to form a tight dough. Too much liquid will spoil the recipe. (Sometimes depending on the quality of the flour, you may require the full jaggery syrup or just half of it)

Set aside for at least 30 min. This enables the flour to absorb all the flavors. Place a damp cloth/paper towel. Take a small piece of the dough and using a greased palm, roll it out into small balls.

Drop few at a time in the oil and deep fry. Slowly move them around to prevent them from sticking to one another. Fry till deep brown. A few cracks here and there on the surface of these Seedais are perfectly normal. Make sure the oil is med-high hot, drain in paper towels to remove excess oil.

Onion Pakora

Ingredients
3 big onions (chop them lengthwise)
1 cup besan/Gram flour
1/2 cup rice flour
2 tbsp chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)
2 tbsp chopped curry leaves
1 tsp Red Chilli powder
1 tsp green chilli½ tsp ginger crushed
A pinch of hing
Salt as per taste
Oil for deep frying


Method

Mix all the ingredients together along with a tbsp of oil

Sprinkle little water over the mixture, not like a normal batter but just coat the onions.

Heat the oil in a pan, sprinkle the mixture into the oil. Deep fry until golden brown.

Thattai

Ingredients

Rice flour – 2 cups
Urad dal flour – ¼ cup
Butter – 2 tablespoon
Channa Dal – 2 tablespoon (Soak for 15 mins in warm water)
Red chillies – 2 or more according to taste
Garlic pods – 2(optiomal)
Sesame seeds – 2 teaspoon
Curry leaves – 1 spring cut into small pieces
Salt as required
Oil for deep frying the thattai.

Procedure

Grind the red chillies and garlic in a small mixer and add it to the rice flour. Dry roast the urad dal and cool it completely and grind it to a fine powder. Mix all the other ingredients together. Slowly add some water and make a tight dough. Let the dough rest for 10 mins.

Grease some thick plastic cover (zip lock) with oil. Now form small balls out of the prepared dough.
Place the balls on the greased plastic cover and press it with your greased fingers to make them flat.
Take a fork and prick some holes on the thattai. This will allow the steam to escape and the thattai will not puff up and remains flat.

Repeat the same with rest of the dough.Not slowly remove the thattai from the greased cover and drop it in hot oil. Fry until golden brown. Remove from oil and transfer it on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

Let it cool and store in a air tight container.

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients
To make cauliflower fritters
1 small Cauliflower (Gobi)
1 cup Maida (All purpose flour)
1/3rd cup Corn Flour
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder (according to taste)
Water to make batter
Oil for deep frying

For sauce
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove Garlic, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp Ginger, finely chopped
2-3 green chillies finely chopped
2 tbsp Sweet & Sour Ketchup
1/2 tbsp green chilli sauce (optional)
2 tbsp Soy sauce
1/4 tsp Ajinomoto (MSG) (optional)
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
1 tsp sugar
3 spring onions (finely chopped both white and green)
1 tbsp corn flour (mixed in little cold water)

Method
Cauliflower Fritters
Pluck the florets from the cauliflower and cut them into bite size pieces.
Take a bowl and mix all the dry ingredients (maida, corn flour, salt and chilli powder) Slowly add water to make a batter for cauliflower fritters (similar to the ‘bajji’ batter).
Heat oil in a deep pan or kadai, dip the cauliflower pieces in the batter completely and fry them until light brown, remove and drain the excess oil on a paper towel.


  


For Sauce
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet or wok, add chopped garlic, ginger, onions (white) and green chillies and fry them until they start to turn brown. Add the remaining ingredients listed below sauce except for corn flour mix and cook for 2-3 minutes. Now add the corn flour and mix well (without lumps). Add fried cauliflower fritters and mix well.
Garnish it with reserved spring onions.
Serve the gobi manchurian hot. I made it wet to go along with fried rice.

For a dry one: Skip adding corn flour and add capsicum and onions for crunch.