Thengai Paal Vadai

 

As my late paternal grandma called it, thengai paal vadai or sweet bonda in coconut milk is a recepi I learnt from her. Yes,  my passion for cooking started from a budding age. I used to spent my school holiday at my late paternal grandparents house and tea time snack is a must in their household. Now I know why I love to serve tea time treat for Dandelions. It's something inherited from your family 😊. I still remember how grandma will start her preparation for her thengai paal vadai as early as 7am. The soaking part only needed 4 hours but,  she'll make a huge batch to distribute to neighbors as well. Those are days of exchanging food with your neighborhood.

She'll start to grind using her old mortal with a little help from me (I'm 9-10 years old that time)  and could hardly lift the mortal. I'll be eagerly waiting to taste the soft, fluffy, coconut milk oozing vadai. The batter  whipping process after adding the baking soda is important to yield a fluffy vadai and it helps to absorb the coconut milk well.  Unlike other Indian sweets, thengai paal vadai are mildly sweet and the aroma of cardamom powder are irresistible with the creamy and rich coconut milk. Food does bring back memories. People might leave but,  their memory and love stays forever 😍

Ingredients 

1/2 cup ulunthu/urad dhal

1/8 cup raw rice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 cups freshly squeezed coconut milk

1/4 cup sugar/vellam

1/2 tsp cardamom powder 

1 tbsp chopped pistachio 

Oil for deep frying 

Methods 

Wash and soak rice and urad shall for 4 hours. 

Add urad shall, raw rice and salt into a grinder or food processor. Grind into a smooth paste without adding water. If needed just add 2 tsp water. 

Transfer the batter into a bowl and add baking soda. Whip the batter well to add air which will result in fluffy soft vadai.

Heat oil in a medium flame and using your hand,  gently drop the batter into oil. Fry in batches till golden.

Remove from pan and transfer to a plate lined with clean kitchen towel to drain excess oil.

In a saucepan over a low heat,  warm the coconut milk. Do not boil the milk just warn it for 1-2 minutes. 

Remove from heat and add sugar and cardamom powder. 

Stir till sugar completely dissolved.

In a large bowl add the fried vadai and pour in the warm coconut milk. Stir gently and let it soak for 15 minutes. 

Serve  with sprinkling of crushed pistachio.

Apple Nachos

 

Due to the pandemic, Dandelions schools are closed for months and started with virtual online classes. By end of the classes both the girls will be worn out and looking for snacks. As a mother, I don't want them do munch on junk foods which is not to be found in my household instead, I prepared a simple and refreshing munchies. Apple nachos as it's sounds has the elements of nachos with the crispiness of the apples, drizzling of sweet caramel sauce and sprinkling of nuts and chocolate chips. Assorted flavors on each bite and amazing texture of crunch and velvety sauce. 

Choosing a crisp apples for nachos are very important for the texture.  I prefer Granny Smith and Fuji red apples. You may use store bought caramel sauce or in my case,  I used my homemade caramel. Choose your favorite nuts or assorted nuts to build the flavor. The girls polished off the whole plate and I'm a satisfied mom 😁.

Ingredients 

2 Granny Smith apples

2 Fuji red apples

1/4 cup caramel sauce

1 tsp salt

Handful roasted and chopped walnuts/almonds/hazelnuts

Handful semi sweet chocolate chips

Methods

Filled water in a large bowl and stir in the salt. Keep aside.

Washed, cored,sliced the apples and add into the prepared salt water. 

Arrange the apple slices on a large plate. Drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle with chopped nuts and chocolate chips.

Serve immediately.

Vanilla Chocolate Loaf

We are experiencing monsoon season here, the usual climate as any other year end. Baking bread on cold weather is quite challenging in the term of activating the yeast. To yield a soft and spongy bread, yeast need to be activated to perfection and it's warm place for the process. One of simple trick I learnt overtime on baking on cold climate is,  by placing the covered dough in a warm oven. When I say warm,  it shall be warm to body temperature level not hot. Too hot or too cold environment will easy kill the yeast resulting, in a dense and hard loaves. 

For a change, I made two basic flavored bread. Vanilla for my elder Dandelion who are not into chocolate and the dark beauty is my youngest favorite flavor in the whole world. You got to satisfy two different audience here with one single loaf 😂. As for the bread,  it's soft, spongy and and goes very well with a generous slab of butter or marmalade. 

Ingredients

4 cups bread flour
2 tbsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 cup lukewarm milk
1/3 cup + 1 tsp granulated white sugar
1/3 cup butter,melted

1/4 cup butter,softened

1 egg,slightly beaten

4 tbsp cocoa powder 

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract 

3 tbsp chocolate chip

1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Methods 

Using a stand mixer, fitted with dough hook add lukewarm water,yeast and 1 tsp sugar to the bowl. Stir and let the yeast to bloom for 5-10 mins.

In another mixing bowl, mix in melted butter,egg,vanilla extract and milk. Add the mixture to the yeast. Add flour,salt and remaining 1/3 cup of sugar. Turn on the machine and beat for 15 minutes. 

Divide the dough into two and add the cocoa powder to one portion of the dough. Knead till the cocoa powder thoroughly mix with the dough. You will end up with one plain and another chocolate dough. 

Place the both dough separately in large greased bowls and cover with clean kitchen towels. Let the doughs to rest in a warm place for 90 mins.

Punch down the vanilla dough and lightly dust a clean working surface with flour. Place the dough on working surface and divide them equally into 6 equal sized balls.

Repeat the same with chocolate dough. Using a rolling pin, roll the ball into a oval. Brush the surface with butter and make few slits leaving the edges intact. Using your hand gently, roll the dough into cylinder. 

Place it on a 9"inch round cake tin lined with parchment paper. Take a ball of chocolate dough, roll into oval,brush with butter, make few slits leaving the edges intact and using your hand gently, roll into cylinders. Place the chocolate dough next to the vanilla dough. Repeat the process with the remaining vanilla and chocolate dough. 

Cover the dough with  it clean kitchen towel and let it rest for another 30 mins in a warm place. 

Brush the vanilla dough with egg wash. Sprinkle the chocolate dough with chocolate chips. 

Preheat oven at 350'F or 180'C and bake in the middle tray of the oven for 30-35 mins till golden. Remove from oven and cool on cooling pan for 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely on the rack. 

Tapioca Masala Dosa

I have shared masala thosai or dosa recepi in my blog few times with different stuffing or masala. This time too,  I'm sharing a unique stuffing unlike our regular potato stuffed masala dosa. The secret lies in the very special powder which is known as super food. As we all are aware pomegranate is one of the best fruit nature has gifted us. For centuries this jewel fruit has been used for health and beauty. Known as a fruit ideal for women, this ruby red gem like fruit packed with essential nutrients and antioxidants. It helps to keep the uterus in pink of health and a favorite fruit for skincare products. It give a natural glow to the skin, reduce cancer risk and etc.

I regularly include pomegranate in our diet in the form of fresh fruit, juice or even in cooking as masala. I powdered the dried seeds and add them to my stir fry recipe or curries as an health booster. In this masala dosa recipient,  I added them into the making of the masala and topped with a generous sprinkle of fresh pomegranate and chopped chillies for extra kick.  Lightly pungent,sharp in flavour and crunchy in texture goes really well with the fermented soft and spongy dosa.

Ingredient

1 cup par boiled rice
1/4 cup urad dhal
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
Salt taste

For The Masala

1 cup boiled tapioca, lightly mashed
1 sprig coriander leaves,chopped
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 onions,chopped
1 green chilly,chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 sprig curry leaves

3/4 tsp pomegranate powder 
1 tomato,chopped
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Oil

For The Toppings

3 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds

1 green chilly,chopped

Methods

For The Dosa Batter

Soak all the ingredients except salt for atleast 4 hours or overnight.

Grind the soaked ingredients with little water. The batter should not be too thin or too thick.

Pour he batter into a large pot or vessel and add salt. Mix well. Let  the batter ferment for 7-8 hours

For The Masala

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutters Add chopped onions and curry leaves. Saute till thee onions turns translucent

Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds. Add the chopped tomato and saute till soft.

Add the mashed tapioca,pomegranate powder and turmeric powder. Mix well.

Add coriander leaves and season with salt. Stir to combine.

Transfer to a bowl.

Prepare Dosa

Heat dosa tawa and drizzle with little oil. Take a ladleful of dosa batter and spread into a circle.

Sprinkle little oil along the edges of the dosa.

Smear the tapioca masala and cook til the dosa turns golden and crispy.

In a bowl, combine pomegranate seeds and chopped chilly. Keep aside 

Fold and top with prepared pomegranate seeds. 

 Serve hot with chutney