Seppankizhangu roast curry (taro root curry)

Seppankizhangu roast curry ( taro root or Arbi).I like the way my mil roasts it with less oil in an iron kadai.

Ingredients:

seppankizhangu - 1/2 kilo
haldi ---------------1tsp
chilli powder ------- 1.5 tsp( add 2 if you want it spicier)
salt        ---------- 1 tsp
hing powder ---- 1/2 tsp
curd or tamarind juice  - 1 table spoon
( to remove the itchy property of the roots)

besan or rice powder( optional) - 1 tablespoon.
Oil for frying - 1 table spoon.

Method:

Parboil seppankizhangu  in cooker to two whistles ( don't boil till it turns mushy). Remove their jackets and slice them to roundels with the help of a oil smeared knife, else the goeey sap will stick to your hands

Then in a bowl, add haldi, chilli powder, salt and curd and marinate them for a while.( min 15 mts to 20)

Heat a kadai( i use iron kadai for roast since a  seasoned iron kadai is more like a non stick). Add 1 table spoon of oil. When it heats up, add hing powder and immediately follow it up with marinated arbi roundels.

Cook on slow heat till it gets roasted and does not stick to the kadai. To make it crispier you can sprinkle rice powder or even besan before the final toss.

pizza muffin

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Organic sugar - less than 1/4 cup
Baking powder - 1/2tbsp
Baking soda- 1/4tsp
Italian Basil - 1 tsp( i used the thai basil from my organic garden, dehydrated it in microwave and crushed them

salt- 1 tsp

cheese( i used mozarella) - 1/2 cup

Chilli flakes -1/2 tsp

Wet ingredients:

Yogurt - 3/4 cup

flax goop (instead of eggs) - 1 tablespoon flax meal with 3 tablespoons of water)

Oil( olive) --1/4 cup

Red and yellow pepper - 1/4 cup

pizza/pasta sauce - 1/4 cup

Mozarella cheese - grated 1/2 cup

Method

In a large bowl , mix the dry ingredients with hand ensuring the contents are well mixed

In another bowl, mix the flax goop, olive oil and yogurt till they blend well.

Stir wet mixture into the dry mixture till there are no lumps. Avoid stirring for long. Mix in the chopped bell peppers. the batter will be in doughy consistency

Spoon the batter into muffin cups till 2/3 full.

Top the batter with pizza sauce

                                  Sprinkle each cup with mozarella cheese, shove them into the oven( mine wason combi 2 for 20 minutes

And out comes the pizza muffins. ( my baking powder was beyond expiry date and so they don't seem puffed)

My fussy teens thoroughly enjoyed the muffins. Taste was awesome

The highlight of this was the thai basil leaves used in the preparation was grown at home.

Base recipe adapted from Kitchenkemist.com 

Vada pav

 Vada pav - the indian version of burger has many   kiosks now .  The vadas in the kiosks are fried under automated  fryer pans , stowed into the buns.  But for me,  their tastes  nowhere matches the chachaji's bandi where the vadas are handmade right in front of you.

Chachaji's bandi @ Sindhi colony is where i first discovered this famous street food of Mumbai. It was one of our weekend outings and when it was time to return back home we stopped at Sindhi colony. We found a  bandiwallah doing brisk business. Chachaji and his wife who is beautiful and neatly dressed, work like an automated machine catering to the various customers around the bandi.  While chachaji is busy chopping onions /making hot vadas or toasting  the buns, it is  aunty  who stows the vada into the  pav buns  slots which are  slathered with garlic chutney,  tops it with chopped onions and hands over to the customers. At any point there are nearly 20 customers around the bandi that they wind up their business by 8 or 8.30.

The vada pav's are delicious and filling . Just one will do but if i still feel  like eating one more then i opt for the Dabeli. The dabeli story i will tell later now i will share i how made the vada pav's at home.

Ingredients:

1 pav bun packet

 for Garlic chutney:

2-3 table spoons of chopped garlic

2-3 roasted dry red chillies or chilli powder  1 teaspoon

1/2 cup copra powder

salt to taste

Method:

Grind all the above ingredients to chutney consistency

For the vadas:

  Ingredients for filling: 

6 Potatoes

2 green chillies

salt to taste

coriander chopped -2 tablespoons

mustard for seasoning

haldi- a tsp

asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Take a kadai and heat it. Add a tablespoon of oil,  when it heats oil, add mustard. let it crackle.

Then add chillies and asafoetida. follow it up with haldi and salt. 

next add the mashed potatoes and blend all the ingredients.

Finally add the coriander and allow the curry to cool.

When cool, take equal proportions and roll them into a lemon sized ball.

for batter

1 cup of besan 

a pinch of baking soda

salt to taste

a spoon of hot oil

water to mix

To make batter

Take a bowl. Add besan, baking soda and salt and mix well. To this add a spoon of hot oil. Mix them all with water to make a besan batter.

Method For vada

Now take the  lemon sized potato balls and dip them into the batter till they are coated well. Deep fry them in a kadai of  hot oil till they turn golden. The vadas are now ready.

Assembly of vada and pav.

Take a pav and make a slit big enough to slide the pav. Toast them on a tava with some butter without breaking them into two.

Smear the red chutney into the slot and stow in a vada

Garnish it with finely chopped onions.