Masal Vada/ Chana Dal Vada

You may ask what's in a name (What's in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet.~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet).... Well, words have meaning, names have power. Names are an important key to what a society values. Cant stop ranting about 'name', but lets have a reality check. Your name does say a lot about you, doesnt it...
Let's get to the recipe. This is not a very healthy recipe, as fried foods contain lot of calories. But this is one snack you wouldnt want to miss while having a south indian meal. :)

Preparation Time:
20 minutes.
2 hours for soaking dal.

Ingredients:
Channa dal/kadali paruppu/cholar dal/shanaga pappu - 2 cups soaked in 3 cups of water for 2 hours
Green Chillies - 8 finely chopped
Onion - 2 medium sized finely chopped
Cumin seeds/jeera - 1 tsp
Ginger - small piece finely chopped or grated
Salt to taste
Oil for Frying

Steps:
1. Drain all the water from the dal. Using a blender/mixie, grind the dal and salt to a coarse paste. You can do 3 pulses if using a mixie. Add very little water if required.
2. Add all the ingredients to the dal and mix well.
3. Heat oil in a pan, make small rounds of the dal mix, flatten it and fry.

Note:
1. You can add very little water if the dal is not getting grounded. If the batter is become too watery and you are finding it difficult to make vadas, add some rice flour.
2. If oil is not heated well, vadas will absorb lot of oil and take a lot of time to cook.

Health quotient:
Nutrition FactsServing Size: 1(120g)
Amount per Serving
Calories 100
Calories from Fat 12

Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 12.6% Carbs 74.0%
Protein 19.2%

The best part is masala vada, it has loads of Vitamin C... which as an antioxidant helps in numerous ways.
Nothing can stop me from eating my fav masala vadai. While I enjoy the rains with vadai n hot cup of coffee.. you can enjoy this blog and leave a comment to improve or just say hi.

Kaju Katli - all time fav sweet

Kaju Katli.. ummm.. soo.. delicious...

Wow, this is one sweet which is a favorite for most of us. This sweet originated in North India, not too sure about the specific place and time.
This is a very simple and easy to make recipe.
Diligence is a good thing, but taking things easy is much more restful - Mark Twain.


Ingredients:
1 cup kaju, cashewnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
ghee or oil to grease

Steps:
1. Use a mixer or blender to grind the cashews to a paste(powder). Make sure the cashews are grounded well, do not add water.
2. In a non-stick pan, add the water and sugar. Keep stirring till you get a one string consistency. To check if you got this desired consistency, take a drop of this mixture and place it between your thumb and index finger and when you release it, you will get one string consistency.
3.Add the powdered cashew nuts and stir till it becomes like a thick paste. The cashews and the sugar syrup should be properly mixed. Switch off the burner and let it cool to become thicker.
4.After 10 minutes knead the mixture like a chappati dough to make a ball and roll it using a butter paper or use ghee to roll it to 1/8" thichness.
5. After an hour, you can cut it in diamond shape or square shape.

Health Quotient:
For all the health conscious people.
Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 piece (1 cubic inch)
Amount per Serving
Calories 58 Calories from Fat 22
Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 38.8%
Carbs 55.4%
Protein 9.7%

Cashews are very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Magnesium, Phosphorus, Copper and Manganese.

Go ahead, try this ez recipe and share your experience with me.

First Blog :)

Yes, this is my first blog!!!!!!!!!! After lot of prodding from my hubby, finally i plunged into the big beautiful world of blogging. Every time he browses thru cooking websites(blogs especially), he comes up with some really smashing blogging ideas. We can say this blog is a result of lots of inspiration from fellow food bloggers, recipes from mom and MIL and little bit of innovation n creativity.

Phew!! This blog is a big relief to me, HD's ideas will be utilized to their fullest extent. :)

Cooking is an art, yes it is, once you cook, you'll believe me. Amateur cook, or naive cook, that's what I am. We all know the trials and triumphs of it. HD has always been supportive and encouraging throughout. Journey with cooking so far, has been really amazing, impressive and challenging. Cooking...., hmmmmm, can say I am a die hard cooking fan like most of my fellow bloggers.

In this blog you will come across Indian recipes, predominantly num Tamil sammaiyal. Most precious years of my life were spent in Maharastra, Maharashtrian cuisine will surely find its way to this blog. Have worked in Bangalore for some years, so Kannada food glimpses can be seen. HD gorges on Kerala food, I just can resist spicy Andhra food. Did I miss something, oops.. Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali,n many more such regional cuisines will be part of it.Let me just sum it up, this blog will cater to all the people who have a little 'India' with them.

Mark Twain said: India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.