Vada Pav : Indian Veg Burger

Vada Pav originated in the state of Maharashtra, India, but now is a staple food for many across... A simple yet most tasty dish that can be cooked in a few minutes. For many it serves as the breakfast, lunch and dinner along with a hot cup of tea!

It is almost similar to a burger, just that this is made out of simple and easily available pav (buns, small breads) with a Vada (potato based stuffing) in between along with some spicy and tangy green chutney accompanied by some green chili and spicy garlic chutney / powder.

After tasting at a few places, I always wanted to try my hands at it. Finally, my first attempt at making Vada Pav is a reality and a complete success with my dearies :)

Ingredients:

To prepare the Vada / Tikki:

• Potato                    :2 medium boiled and smashed 
• Green Chillies       : 2 crushed
• Garlic                    : 1 tablespoon crushed 
• Ginger                   : 1 tablespoon crushed
• Mustard Seeds      : 1 tspn
• Curry Leaves        :  a few
• Turmeric Powder  : 1/2 tspn
• Coriander Leaves  : 2 tbspn finely chopped 
• Salt                        : To Taste
• Oil                         : 1 tbspn
• Asafoetida             : a pinch

To prepare the Flour / Batter for Vada:

• Gram Flour / Besan : 3/4 cup
• Turmeric Powder     : 1/2 tspn
• Baking Soda             : a pinch
• Salt                           : to taste
• Oil                            : to fry

To prepare the Chutneys:

Green Chutney:

• Coriander leaves : a bunch (as much qty as you need)
• Mint leaves           : a bunch (I take it in almost equal qty)
• Green Chilies       : 4-6 (as spicy as you need it)
• Sour Curd            : 1/2 cup (to make the chutney tangy)
• Mango Powder    : 1 tbspn (optional; if used accordingly quantify the curd)
• Salt                        : To taste 

Red Coconut Garlic Chutney: 

• Coconut                      : 1 cup
• Garlic                          : 6-8 cloves
• Red Chili Powder        : 1 tbspn (as spicy as you like)
• Sesame Seeds (white)  : 1 tspn 
• Lemon Juice                : 1 tbspn

Method:

To make the Vadas:

• In a bowl, mix the mashed potatoes with chilies, ginger and garlic
• In a pan, heat the tbspn of oil and add mustard seeds. As they crackle, add curry leaves, asafoetida, and turmeric powder. Remove from fire immediately and pour it to the mashed potato mix. 
• To this, add the remaining ingredients including salt and mix. Make small round vadas and leave them aside for some time

To fry:

• In a bowl, mix the gram flour, turmeric powder, baking soda, salt and beat it to make a nice batter (consistency similar to making dosas)
• In a kadai (deep frying pan), add oil to fry. 
• Add a spoon of this oil to the batter prepared and mix.
• Dip the vadas in this batter, and add them to the heated oil. Fry them till golden brown and place them aside.

To make the Chutneys:

  Green Chutney: Just grind all ingredients and place it in a bowl.

  Red Chutney: 

  

     The way I prepared: Slightly roast the sesame seeds, and grind all ingredients to a  smooth mix. If you like, add a bit of lemon juice and mix well.

     Typical Method: Roast coconut to a deep brown color. Roast the sesame seeds to light brown color. You can roast the garlic and red chili powder as well. Cool them and grind them to a mix (with very less or no water).

To make the Vada Pav:

• I slit a pav (a bun) into two and slightly roasted them on a tava (this is optional; typically it is had raw)
• Apply the Chutneys you have made (green, red etc), and place a Vada / Tikki in between two loaves and serve it hot with green chilies.

Note: Green Chilies can also be slightly sauteed in oil and some salt and mustard seed powder can be sprinkled on it before serving. 

Serve it hot with the accompanying green chilies and chutneys, with a hot cup of tea or any of your favorite drink!

Tomato Masala Gravy / Chutney

More than the main dish, the challenge lies in making an interesting yet varied yet tasty side dish; one that gels well with the main dish in the making. Whenever we have Idlis / Dosas / Idiyappam etc, we typically run short of ideas... So, we need to keep innovating with chutneys and gravies. One such is this Tomato Kurma / Chutney (Tomao Masala Gravy).

While visiting many cookery blogs, some dishes stay with you and you want to try it out for your taste budzz... this is one such recipe, a Chettinad preparation.

Ingredients

• Tomato                  : 5-6 medium (based on Qty required)
• Onion                    : 2 medium or a handful of small onions
• Turmeric Powder  : 1/2 tspn
• Chili Powder         : 2-2.5 tspn (as spicy as you like)
• Coriander Powder : 1-1.5 tspn
• Salt                        : To Taste
• Coconut                : 1/4 cup grated 
• Green Chilies       : 2 (optional)
• Garlic                   :4-5 cloves
• Ginger                  :1 "
• Jeera                     : 1/2 tspn
• Clove                     :2-3
• Cinnamon             :1"
• Saunf (fennel)       : 1/2 tspn
• Oil                         : 2 tbspn (or more as rqd) - I used sesame oil (nallenai)
• Curry Leaves        : A few

Method:

1. In a kadai, add a spoon of oil. Fry Cinamon, Cloves, Jeera and Saunf. Remove from fire and take it in a mixer. Just saute garlic and ginger and add it to the mixer.
2. To this add the grated coconut, green chilies (if rqd) and grind it to a smooth mix
3. Separately, grind the tomatoes and keep it aside
4. In a kadai, add remaining oil. To this add the onions and let it cook to golden brown with a pinch of salt. To this, add the ground masala and coconut mix. 
5. Allow it to cook till the masala smell is absorbed
6. Add the tomato mix and cook it for a few mts.
7. To this add all powders :turmeric, coriander and chili (While adding chili powder, if you add a bit of oil and then the powder, it will give a rich color)
8. Mix it well along with salt. Add enough water and allow it to cook till oil starts oozing on the sides. You can either make it semi gravy (like Kurma) or like chutney; accordingly remove from fire. 

Serve it hot with Idlis, Dosas, Idiyapam, Rice etc.

NOTE:

• You can use more of green chilies and less of red chili powder to get the typical kurma color (pale green)
• You can make this as semi gravy like kurma or as Chutney (like i did)
• You can adjust the quantity of the masala items based on the flavor you need. I choose to keep it mild.

Green Chilli Chutney

Green Chillies, other than being spicy, are also rich source of Vitamin C (when fresh) and Vitamin A (when they dry). When used moderately, they can be health enablers.

Besides all this, I just love green chillies as they make my food spicy ;) Green chillies are a regular in Indian cooking, and for want of variety and change, I make these chutneys. With some fresh green chillies lying around, I decided to make some spicy chutney that can be had with Idlis, Dosas, Rotis, and even with rice (topped with some til-ka-thel / sesame / gingelly oil).

Ingredients

• Green Chillies : 10 medium to large
• Garlic: 4-5 cloves
• Small Onion (Shallots): 4-5 
• Green Mango Slices: OPTIONAL 2-4 small slices (left over after I made some pickle) 
• Tamarind : a small piece
• Ginger: 1"
• Mustard Seeds: 1/2 tspn
• Sesame Oil : 2-4 tbspn
• Salt: To taste
• Asafoetida (hing) : a pinch

Method

• In a kadai, pour some oil. To this, add the green chillies and cook them with close lids. Cook them till they start looking pale brown and don't deep fry them. Remove them to a plate
• Then, add garlic and onion. Fry them and remove them
• Finally add ginger, mango slices (if any) and tamarind. Leave them for a few seconds and remove

 

• In a mixer, first grind the chillies along with garlic and ginger along with salt. Then add the remaining fried ingredients to a smooth mix along with salt.
• In the same kadai, add the rest of the oil and as it heats up, add the mustard seeds. As they crackle, add hing and some curry leaves. To this, add the ground mix. Cook it for about 2-3 mts and remove from fire.

Serve hot with some sesame oil for idlis, dosas, and also with rice. 

Vada Curry : Dal Vada Curry

"Vada Curry" to me somehow sounded like a non-vegetarian dish (don't ask me why?!) until I got to see and taste it just a year or two ago. This is made of our very own Masala Dal Vadas cooked in gravy, a pure vegetarian dish. Dosas and Idlis are staple breakfast dishes with varieties to it; equally interesting are the accompaniments such as the chutneys, curry etc. One such is this very famous "Vada Curry (Dal Vada Curry)". 

Here is my first attempt tested and passed with decent colors ;)

Ingredients

For making Vadas

• Channa Dal (Split bengal gram dal): 1/2 cup 
• Big Onion: 1 medium
• Garlic : 6 cloves
• Green Chillies: 2 medium
• Ginger: 1"
• Curry Leaves : a few
• Coriander Leaves : a few
• Salt : To Taste (ensure its limited as the vadas will be cooked in a gravy with salt)

For making the Curry

• Big Onion : 1 medium (diced into small pieces)
• Tomatoes: 2 small or 1 medium Diced (if u want it a bit tangy then add accordingly)
• Turmeric powder: 1/2 tspn
• Red Chilli powder: 1.5 tsp (alternatively, you can add 2 big Green Chillies diced)
• Salt : To taste 
• Oil : 2 tbspn
• Water: 1 - 2 cups

DRY MASALA for the Curry (To be ground)

• Cinnamon : 1 small
• Cloves : 2
• Fennel Seeds (Saunf): 1/2 tspn
• Bay Leaf: 1

Method

1. Soak dal for 2-3 hours. If you want to make it instantly, then soak it with hot water for 1 hour at least
2. In a mixer, first add the chillies, garlic and ginger. Grind it first and then add the dal, and rest of the ingredients mentioned under "For making Vadas". Coarsely grind it with very less or no water (at the max 1-2 tspn)
3. Make vadas either by deep frying or steaming it like idlis
4. Next, in a pan, dry roast the ingredients mentioned under "DRY MASALA" (except for bay leaf). Grind it to make a smooth powder (dry)
5. In a pan, add oil. To this add bay leaf and then the onion. Fry it till golden brown (you can add a pinch of salt to quicken this).
6. Then add tomatoes and mash it. As they start cooking, add the dry roast masala. Allow it to cook for a few seconds and then add turmeric powder, and either the green chillies or the red chilli powder with salt.
7. As it starts cooking, add 1 glass of water. As it starts boiling, add the vadas. Allow it to cook in slow- medium flame. 
8. Mash the vadas to make a thick curry (gravy). Ensure that the vadas cook for at least 7-10 mts to soak in all the masalas.
9. Garnish with curry and coriander leaves and remove from fire

Serve hot with Idlis, Dosas etc.

Vegetable Stew : The Kerala Way

Our God's own country not only is a treat to our eyes and soul, but also to our taste budzz both for Veggies and Non-Veggies. What a variety, range of dishes to choose from!

One such simple to make, easy to digest, and divine to taste dish is "Vegetable Stew". We can customize it the way you want but what am sharing here is one that you can cook and serve in a jiffy. The "goodness" is that it is more of boiled preparation and therefore use of no or very less oil.

This one is from my "partner in crime", chef @ Sangeeta Gopakumar who learnt it from her mom. So, purely authentic :))

Vegetable Stew : Kerala's Style for your Taste Buzz!

Ingredients:

• Potatoes                       - 4 medium BOILED and PEELED
• Big Onions                  - 1 sliced thinly length-wise 
• Green Chilies             - 2-4 slit (as spicy as you like it)
• Ginger                         - 1-2" sliced thinly length-wise
• Curry Leaves              - to garnish 
• Salt                             - To taste
• Coconut Milk (Thick)- 1/2 cup : First ground with a glass of water and extracted
• Coconut Milk (Thin)  - 1 cup : After taking the thick extract, you can add more water and grind
• Oil                               - 1 tspn of refined and 1 tsp of coconut

Alternatively, you can use Readily available Coconut Milk or just grind it once with enough water to get 1.5 cups of coconut milk.

Method:

1. Boil and peel the potatoes. 
2. Slice onion, ginger length-wise into thin slices (very thin)
3. Slit the green chilies
4. In a pan, add refined oil. As it heats, add onion. Allow them to just turn transparent (should not be deep fried).  
5. Add the ginger slices, chilies, and water to allow the onion to cook.
6. As the onion cooks (note the color change), add the potatoes. Break them nicely, add salt, curry leaves and the thin coconut milk. Allow it to cook well (5 mts if only potatoes. If more veggies, then 10 mts)
7. After it cooks, add the thick coconut milk. To this add the curry leaves and allow it to cook for 3 mts max. 
8. Add the coconut oil, and remove from fire

This can be served with Idlis, Aapam and ofcourse I like to have it with dosas along with the gun powder :) 

Variations:

• You can add vegetables like Carrot, Beans, Peas etc to this. Just slice them thinly, of the same shape and size and either pre-boil them or allow to cook along with the onion.
• You will find variations to this where they use some basic Masalas