Onion Pakoda | Erulli Pakoda | Deep-fried Snacks |

Onion Pakoda - Erulli Pakoda

Onion/Erulli Pakoda is the most favorable snack in our family. My mom prepares this pakoda even now and it has the same lip-smacking taste, years (read decades) of practice I must say. She tries a lot of variations every now and then with the available veggies to satisfy our ever changing palate.
Recently, I prepared this dish for my husband's office potluck party. Everyone loved it and was a big hit, no doubt. My recipe for you to try and satisfy your deep-fried food craving on rainy/snowy cold winter days along with a hot java or tea, etc.

Ingredients

Onion - 1 (thinly chopped lengthwise)
Chickpea flour - 3/4 cup (also known as Besan, as required to match the correct moisture in the mixture)
Fine Semolina - 1/4 cup (also known as Chiroti Rave in Kannada)
Rice flour - 2 tbsp (also known as Akki Hittu in Kannada)
Carom seeds - 2 tsp
Green chillies - 3 (minced)
Ginger - 1 inch (grated)
Curry leaves - 20 leaves (roughly torn or chopped)
Cilantro - 2 tbsp (thinly chopped)
Mint leaves - 2 sprig (thinly chopped, optional)
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp (freshly ground/crushed in a mortar pestle)
Cashew nuts- 1/4 cup (whole or roughly chopped, optional)
Chili powder - 1 tsp (or as per your taste)
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp (or as per your taste)
Oil - 2 tbsp (any high-heat oil of your choice, heated oil)
Oil - for frying (any high-heat oil of your choice)

Preparation

1. In a large mixing bowl add the onion and 1 tsp salt and combine well.

2. Mix in all the spices and seasonings; carom seeds, turmeric powder, coriander seeds (crushed), cashew nuts, chili powder, salt, green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, cilantro, mint leaves, into the Onion and salt mixture.

3. Heat 2 tbsp oil and add to the mixing bowl and gradually add the rice flour, fine semolina into the mixture.

4. Now add the chickpea flour or besan into the combined ingredients slowly until the onion mixture turns into a thick paste consistency.

5. Heat the oil for frying and once the oil is hot enough to fry, spoon in the pakodas into the oil. Deep fry the bite size pakodas well and untill they turn dark golden brown in color. Fry the remaining onion pakoda mixture in batches and enjoy with your favorite ketchup or sauce and a hot beverage of your choice.

Brown Rice Grits Steamed Kolakatte (Kozhukatte) / Brown Rice Grits Steamed Dumplings Recipe

Brown Rice Grits Steamed Kolakatte (Kozhukatte) / Brown Rice Grits Steamed Dumplings

Kozhukatte is an authentic Tamil Nadu recipe, adopted in Karnataka as an evening snack or a breakfast dish in many Brahmin household like ours, who did a lot of touring and staying in different parts of South India.
My grandmother prepared this dish very often with a coconut chutney and Idli powder/pudi as a side. I have altered the authentic recipe that uses regular white rice grits to brown rice grits.

Ingredients

1 cup Brown Rice Grits
1/4 cup grated fresh coconut
2 cups water
1 cup boiling water (optional)
2 tbsp extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil
3/4 tsp black mustard seeds
1/8 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp urad dal, washed and split black gram lentil
1 tsp channa dal, washed and split bengal gram lentil
1/8 tsp hing, Asafetida
4 curry leaves (optional)
4 dreied chillies broken into 1 inch pieces (optional)
Salt to taste


Method

1. Dry roast the brown rice grits in a frying pan for a couple of minutes (this step is optional, I would like to dry roast it as my brown rice grits were a little old and not freshly brought from store).

2. Place the frying pan in a medium heat with 2 tbsp of coconut and once it is hot (not smoking hot), add the mustard seeds and let it sputter. Then, cumin seeds, black gram and bengal gram lentils and fry until golden brown and add red chiles until they roast a little and then hing.

3. Soon after the hing is added mix in the coconut shreds and water along with the salt, to taste. Curry leaves could be torn and added at this time (although optional as it might get in the way while eating the dumplings, some might not like to chew the fibrous leaf).

4. Once the water reaches the boiling point add the brown rice grits and combine throughly and making sure no lumps are formed. Add boiling water incase your grits dough is too dry. It should look like Uppit / Upma consistency.

5. Mix and combine the dough and keep it to cool completely.

6. Make golf sized balls / elongated balls from the dough and keep aside the dumplings.

7. Heat a steamer/pressure cooker without the weight or an Idli cooker with some water at the bottom and place all the dumplings and steam cook for 15 minutes.

8. Serve hot brown rice grits steamed dumplings with a dollop of ghee along with a chutney of your choice/idli powder in sesame oil on the side. Enjoy as a breakfast or as an evening snack.

Spinach Curry / Palak Palya / Soppina Palya / Madhwa Recipe

Spinach Curry / Palak Palya Recipe

A tasty and spicy curry, a vegan / vegetarian side dish to go along with rice or any Indian flatbread. Enjoy the delicious curry for lunch / dinner.

This is a very authentic curry commonly made with Amaranth leaves in almost every Madhwa Brahmin household. Due to the unavailability of fresh Amaranth leaves in the nearby groceries. I regularly make it with the spinach leaves which is easier to find in almost all the grocers near my place.

The same curry could be made with any type of fresh green leaves available to you like, fresh dill, mountain spinach leaves, fenugreek leaves, linseed leaves, drumstick leaves etc.

Ingredients

4 cups throughly washed and chopped spinach

3/4 cup toor dal or pigeon peas spilt dal (soaked for 15 mins and pressure cooked)

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut

5 dry red chillies

2 green chillies

1 sprig of curry leaves

1 tbsp jaggery or brown sugar

1/4 cup water

salt to taste

For seasoning,

1 tbsp vegetable oil or coconut oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp urad dal

1/2 tsp channa dal (split chickpeas)

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds or Methi seeds

1/4 tsp hing or asafoetida

Method

1. Heat a pan over a medium flame and add oil. Once the oil is hot (not fuming hot) add mustard seeds and after it sputters add cumin seeds, urad dal, channa dal, fenugreek seeds and hing. Make sure the seasoning doesn't burn.

2. Add the curry leaves, green and red chilies into the seasoning and fry for a a minute. Mix in the chopped spinach into the pan and sauté. 

3. Sprinkle water over the spinach and cover it 3/4 with a lid and cook for 10-15 minutes over medium heat. 

4. Once spinach is wilted and cooked well add toor dal into the pan and mix well.

5. Add the jaggery and freshly grated coconut into the pan and combine well.

6. Now add salt to taste. Mix it throughly. Spinach curry or Palak palya is ready to serve. Tastes best with hot rice or Indian flatbreads like roti, phulka or chapati with a dollop of ghee on top of the curry or as desired.

Akki Rotti / Akki Roti / Rice Flour Savory Flatbread / Mung Bean Akki Rotti

Akki Rotti Recipe / Rice Flour Savory Flatbread Recipe / Spicy Gluten Free Flatbread Recipe / Mung Bean Rice Flour Roti / Avarekayi Rotti

This a very common dish made is almost every household in Karnataka, South India. There are several varieties of this flatbread made with different grains, spices and vegetables. Avarekayi / Avarekalu or European Flat-beans Rotti is a very popular rotti along with regular plain akki rotti.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups white rice flour
1/2 cup green mung beans (or flat-beans, Indian name Surti Papdi Lilva)
1 cup water
1/2 cup shredded fresh coconut
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup grated cucumber
1/4 cup grated bell pepper (any color bell pepper will do)
1/2 cup coconut oil or any vegetable oil of your preference
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1 tbsp finely chopped curry leaves, optional (found in most Indian stores)
2 tbsp finely chopped green chilies (Thai or Indian chili), optional
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp hing or asafoetida
1 1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Method

1. Wash and soak the 1/2 cup mung beans in a cup water for 4-5 hours or refrigerate overnight. The next day, drain the beans and reserve the soaking water (you could water the plants). This step is completely optional, in case you are allergic to mung beans or don't like the taste or didn't find the ingredient. 

2 In a mixing bowl, combine the rice flour, mung beans, cumin seeds, green chili, asafoetida, cilantro, curry leaves (optional, but gives a great flavor to the dish), shredded fresh coconut, shredded carrot, grated cucumber, grated bell pepper and salt. Gradually add the water, mixing well with your hands to form a soft workable dough. Use only as much water needed.

3. Shape the dough into balls about the size of a tennis ball. Set aside. 

4. Grease a cool pan/griddle with 1 tbsp (more or less depending on your calorie intake) oil and place the dough ball and start to flatten the dough with your fingers on the griddle and spread evenly, distributing the dough all around the pan/griddle into a thin flatbread. Grease your hands with oil incase the dough is sticking to your fingers. 

5. Turn on the heat and cook the rotti by covering 3/4 of the pan/ griddle and let the steam out (drizzle some oil if your rotti turns out dry on the top).

6. Flip the rotti onto the other side when the rotti turns golden brown on the bottom, takes about 3-4 minutes on a medium flame.

7. Repeat with the remaining dough, adding a tbsp of oil to the griddle for each rotti. Serve hot with a dollop of ghee or clarified butter or chutney of your choice or with pickles.

Notes - When cooking the rotti, allow the griddle to cool down slightly before cooking the next one. You can also use two skillets, alternating between the two.