Today's recipe is for the letter J, picking up from where I left off for my A to Z Andhra Recipe blogging. Cashew Nut Fritters (or Jeedipappu Pakodi as we say it in Telugu) is an highly addictive, easy vegan snack that can be made in a matter of minutes. Every evening, almost every roadside shop (especially the ones beside booze shops!!) fry up a big batch of munchies like these. Though high in calorie and cost, when eaten in moderation there is nothing as delightful as a crispy cashew pakoda with a cuppa of hot chai. :-)
Learn how to make the softest dosas ever! A typical dosa is a traditional favorite in every South Indian kitchen. Today's recipe, aptly named as Sponge Dosa has been made many many times in ours is a new family favorite. Give it a try and you will enjoy it immensely. :-)
The season of festivities has already begun here in India (Dussehra + Deepavali) and in US (Halloween + Thanksgiving + Christmas). While I was US, October brought two things - lots of snow and the exuberant holiday spirit. It was very hard to give it a miss and not get sucked right into it. I never wore a Halloween costume myself but I have seen many friends who used to start their planning on what to wear and whom to scare with such gusto.
Hoot Owl Cookies
Now that I am staying far far away and terribly missing them, I made a batch of hoot owl cookies, right at the very last minute. I had all these plans to write about a cake recipe today but the nostalgia of celebrating couple of Halloweens with my friends back in US got the better of me. :-)
The hardest part of this super fun cookie recipe is the wait of at least 2 hours for the dough to set a bit. Other than that, it is a real breeze to make these and store in an air tight container. I have been munching all day on these and my 4 month old little nephew got real excited looking at them. Make some and enjoy this year's Halloween with friends and family.
Do I look scaryyyy?
This is Recipe 62 added to 2013 Recipe Archive. Check out the rest of the recipes too.
This is my first recipe of 2013 and I sure wanted it to be a lucky one! Noone has an inkling on how the coming year's gonna be. Good, bad, ugly? All we can do is hope for the best to happen and to have enough courage to face any challenges thrown upon us. :-)
Since way back from Civil war days, eating black eyed peas on New Year is considered to brings loads of luck and prosperity. In the South, serving these beans show humility and thus they say invites good fortune. Whether we choose eat them as a tradition or not, these are a very good source of fiber, iron and low in fat with almost no cholestrol. For last year's New Year, I made a Black eyed Pea Kootu recipe and now, I chose a dish called "Accara" from Senegal cuisine. These immensely flavorful fritters are a very popular street food along with Pastels, tiny empanadas stuffed with fish and onions. When accompanied with a hot sauce, these make a delicious appetizer not just for New Year's but perfect for any time of the year.
Enjoy!
perfectly golden fried fritters!
Black eyed peas - for lots of luck.
{Recipe} Accara (Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)
Loosely Adapted from Saveur Makes around 20-25 fritters (depending on the size)
Ingredients:
1 cup dried black eyed peas
1 tsp baking soda
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
1 fistful of mint, washed, finely chopped
1 tsp green chilli-garlic paste
salt - to taste
oil for frying
Preparation:
1. Wash couple of times and soak the black eyed peas overnight or atleast 8-9 hours. Drain and rinse again.
2. If you wish to remove their outer skins, immerse the peas in water and rub them gently between your palms. The skins will break away from the peas. Let peas sit until skins float to top of water. Slowly drain water from peas, allowing skins to drain with water; add more water if necessary, and repeat rubbing and draining process until all skins are removed from peas. I did this step just once and moved on to next step.
3. In a blender, grind the peas into a coarse paste scraping down sides of blender if necessary. Don't use any water while grinding. Transfer it into a bowl and add finely chopped onion, mint, salt and baking soda.
the batter has to be a coarse paste.
4. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Make small lemon sized balls out of the batter (using hand or two spoons) and working in batches, drop them into hot oil and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes.
5. Transfer fried fritters on to paper towels to drain excess oil and Serve with ketchup, green chilli sauce or any other condiment.
Just pinch me Will ya? I can't believe its been 5 years since I started this little blog of mine. 5? Are you kidding me? that is like half-a-decade!. Every single moment, every single recipe and every single thought I put in here is so worthwhile and so exhilarating & relaxing at the same time. How can such feelings co-exist? Well, I am still figuring that out. :-)
Right now as I look back, its not the numbers that matter to me but the evolution and the experience itself. I got to know an amazing bunch of people through blogging. They inspire me. teach me and be there during my happy times and also at the times of despair. Some live in various parts of the world, many whom I never met but they are just a phone call or an email away!. Wow, can such virtual relationships sustain over time? Apparently yes. I am eternally grateful to God for sending them to me. You know who you are and Thank you for your love and for just being a part of my life.
A birthday is never complete without a cake. Isn't it? But, for today I made few quickJalapeno Corn Bread Muffins served with Vegetarian Chilli. It is a combination I very much miss since we moved back to India, so I thought what better occasion do I need to feature these two recipes on the blog. As a way to say Thank you for your affection and support over all these years, I planned a few exciting giveaways for you all. Enjoy!
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup tightly packed herbs - mint & coriander/cilantro
2 tbsp chopped jalapeno peppers
1 egg
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)
Preparation:
Step 1: Pulse cornmeal until smooth texture. In a mixing bowl, add cornmeal, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix.
Step 2: Add herbs and jalapenos to it.
Step 3: In an another bowl, beat together - egg, olive oil and milk.
Step 4: Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and gently mix everything.
Step 5: Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F. Grease ramekins with olive oil and pour 3/4ths with batter. Top with some chopped jalapenos if desired. Bake for 18-20 mins until a toothpick or skewer when inserted in the center comes out clean. Rest for 10 mins.
Step 6: Run a knife around the edges and carefully unmold. Serve as a side accompaniment with soups, stew or chilli (recipe below). Wrap the rest of the muffins in a plastic cling to prevent from drying out. Microwave for few seconds and they are as good as fresh.
I won this set of ramekins as a giveaway from Divya's blog. :-)
{Recipe} Easy Vegetarian Bean Chilli
Ingredients:
3 cups boiled beans - I used chickpeas, black eyed peas, pinto beans and soya beans.
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups water
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
grated cheese, for topping
Preparation:
1. In a big pot, heat olive oil and saute onion and garlic for few minutes. Add carrot and peppers. Cook until soft.
2. Stir tomatoes and beans. On a low heat, cook for 3-4 minutes. Season with salt, chilli and cumin powder and pepper. Add water and continue cooking by stirring once or twice in the middle for 30-40 minutes.
3. Top with grated cheese and Serve hot with cornbread. Save left overs in refrigerator or freeze.
Now for the fun part. To celebrate the blog-o-anniversary, I have some goodies for you all. Just like before, there are two giveaways. One for Indian readers and other for rest of the world.
"Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over the table."
~ William Powell
Almost everybody love desserts, but hate the extra calories that come with them. Isn't it. I wished there was a way where I can enjoy a general serving of cake or a muffin, without worrying or feeling guilty and particularly without using any artificial sweeteners or other fancy synthetic substitutes. I would rather put some pounds than using such stuff. Trust me.
In short, recipes that are low calorie, high in flavor and nothing less than spectacular always appeal to me. I am sure that is the case with you guys too.
..and for the same, I stumbled upon a perfect cookbook during my quest. Those who love baking are already aware of Nick Malgieri's popular book - "How to Bake" and for the cookbook - Perfect Light Desserts: All Under 300 Calories per generous serving, he teamed up with David Joachim, a health food writer to create lighter desserts that are not high in calories using real butter, sugar, flour and eggs. And they do it by using them in moderation and in perfect combination. Each recipe featured has a nutritional breakdown, perfect for people who are dieting and watching their calories. Today I chose to make these simple "David's Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies" which are super duper delicious and very moist. A keeper recipe.
Enjoy!
{Recipe} Best Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Perfect Light Desserts by Nick Malgieri and David Joachim Makes around 30 cookies Nick's Notes: My co-author David Joachim eats tons of these moist cookies but still stays very thin. What I love about them is the fact that they are reduced in fat and sugar, yet every bit as good as traditional chocolate chip cookies.
Ingredients:
11/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
5 tbsp granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
Preparation:
Step 1: Soften butter to room temparature. Sift flour, baking soda and salt (omit if using salted butter). Set aside.
Step 2: In a mixing bowl beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar, on medium speed for a minute.
Step 3: Add egg, milk and vanilla.
Step 4: Beat with an electric mixer using a spatula to scrape down the mixture from edges.
Step 5: Add flour, 1/2 cup at-a-time and beat on a low-speed.
Step 6: Fold in the chocolate chips.
Step 7: Cover and chill the dough in the bowl for about 15-20 minutes to keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking. I made just half a batch immediately and the rest on next day. Both the times, I had amazing results. Chilling the dough overnight definitely helps to hold their shape better.
Step 8: Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F. Form small balls using two spoons or ice cream scoop and arrange on a cookie sheet or a baking sheet 2 inches apart.
Step 9: Bake for about 8 to 12 minutes until the cookies look dull on the surface, have spread and still quite moist. Cool the cookies on the pans and then on wire racks for 5-10 mins. Slide them off and cool them completely. Keep the cookies between sheets of wax paper in a tin or an air-tight container.
just out of the oven. cooling.
all stacked up
A cookie tastes best when enjoyed with a glass of milk. Now you can have them as many as you want, guilt-free. No one can eat just one as the calorie count per cookie is less than 100 calories. How cool is that! :-)
Best Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies
P.S - this is not a paid or sponsored post. I bought the cookbook, loved the recipes tested, hence decided to feature here on my blog. Stay tuned for more in coming days.
