Pudachi Vadi/ Sambar Vadi

Pudachi vadi was definitely something completely new for me.  This is a deep fried delicacy where the stuffing is primarily made of cilantro. The closest snack which is similar to it would be bakarvadi. I hadn’t heard of it till a couple of years ago. And the way I learnt about it was from a Marathi daily soap (who says watching television isn’t educational, eh!). 

So fast forward to  present day, I was having a conversation with friends and family and this came up. I was  told ‘it tastes great. I used to enjoy eating it.’  So, I thought, why not try making it at home. That is the only practical way for me to taste it. 

This is also known as sambar vadi in Nagpur and supposed to be a speciality from the region (not related in anyway to the lentil based sambar). This is because coriander/cilantro is called sambar in Nagpur. I recently found out that it is also available in Kolhapur.

Of course the challenge with making something you’ve never seen or eaten before is that you don’t know if what you create is the right thing.  But my taster attested that, it had turned out exactly what he had eaten growing up.

It is delicious, the family loved it and I think I’ll be making it again and again.

Ingredients

Stuffing 
2 bunches cilantro - finely chopped, use thin stalks too
2 tsp white poppy seeds/khuskhus
2 tsp sesame seeds/til
1/2 cup dry coconut flakes
4 green chillies
4 large garlic cloves
10-12 green onion leaves
2-3 garlic scapes/leaves if available
1/2 red onion finely chopped
Salt to taste
1 tsp goda masala

For the cover 
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups besan
1 tsp haldi
1 tsp chili powder
Salt to taste
3 tbsp oil

A Paste made of 2 tsp goda masala, 1 tsp tamarind concentrate, 1 tsp sugar, salt to taste

Method

Mix all the ingredients for the cover. Then add little water at a time and knead it into a hard dough (like for a puri). Set aside.

In a pan dry roast khus khus, and sesame seeds. Then dry roast the coconut flakes. Let it cool and the grind to a coarse powder. Grind the chillies and garlic. I used a mortar and pestle to make grind it.

Heat oil in same pan and add the chopped. The Add the garlic chili paste to the onions. Cook well and add the cut onion greens and garlic scapes. Sauté for a few mins and then add the cilantro. Cook for a few minutes then add 1 tsp goda masala. Cook for a few mins to dry out. And let cool. Then add salt to taste and mix well. This stuffing should be fairly dry.

Take a small ball of dough, enough to roll into an oval puri about 3 inches long. Roll small oval puri about 2 mm thick. Not too thin and transparent but more like samosa cover. Then apply a layer of the paste made with goda masala and tamarind.
Then line up about 2-3 tsp of the filling in the center along the length of the oval. Then wrap the two shorter ends together to make a roll. Seal the edges well. Use some water along the edges if needed to make sure that they edges stick. Using your fingers and palm shape the roll into a triangular shape if you like. This is not required but provides a shape to your vadi.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Fry on medium heat like a samosa till very well browned and crispy. They will crisp up further as they cool. On a ceramic electric stove top, I started the process at 7 and then fried it at 5.

Cut into smaller pieces and serve or serve full rolls. These taste amazing even when warm and can be served immediately upon frying.

Can also store in airtight container for 2-3 days or refrigerate for longer storage. Warm up in oven to crisp up if stored for a longer time.

Tips

Wash all the greens and let them dry before cutting. This will minimize the moisture introduced into the stuffing. If the edges are not sealed well, the roll will unravel and the filling will spill into the oil.
You can lightly panfry them with a tsp of oil before frying, to ensure a tight seal, cooking the sealed edge. Make sure that you do not brown the rolls during this pre-cooking process.
If you feel the rolls are not crisp enough after cooling down, then bake them in hot oven heated to 400F for 10 mins. Place them on a cooling rack and then on a baking cookie sheet/tray before placing in the oven for good air circulation and to avoid darkening on one side of the roll because it is in contact with a baking sheet/tin.
If you don’t have goda masala, substitute with dhania-jeera powder (1:1 ratio).

Mysore Pak

I hadn't made this before because everyone said it was too tricky and laborious, but finally decided to give it a try and it turned out great. I was very happy to see the perforations/lattice as well as the color gradations in the Mysore pak.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/2-3/4 cup water, enough to cover the sugar
1 cup besan/chickpea flour
1 cup ghee
1 cup sunflower oil

Method
Grease a deep tin and set it aside. I used a 8x4 bread baking tin.

Pour the sugar into a broad pan and the water, stir them together and heat. Heat this on low- medium heat (3-4 setting on electric stove). Also, in a sauce pan, mix the ghee and oil together and start hearing this mixture at the same low-medium heat setting.

As the sugar syrup is cooked, sieve the besan to remove all lumps. Check the syrup and once it gets sticky but before reaching the single thread consistency, add 1/3rd besan and mix well till lumps are dissolved. Do this in a couple of batches till the besan is completely mixed into the syrup. If they are any lumps, use a sieve or strainer to push the lumps out by pouring the lumpy syrup through it.
Now keep stirring this mixture. After a couple of minutes, you will see bubbles in this mixture as you stir it.  At this stage you are ready to add the ghee oil mixture that is being heated.

Add one ladle at a time and stir it into the besan syrup mixture. Continue this till you reach the stage where the ghee oil mixture is no longer absorbed into the besan. When you are nearing this stage, you will notice that as you add the ghee oil mix into the besan syrup mixture, it starts to froth. Add the last ladle of ghee oil after you see that it is not really getting absorbed and let the froth form. Then pour this mixture into the tin to create a tall slab. My tin was much bigger and so I filled it just halfway (see pic for reference). Gently level the top to make sure not to destroy the lattice structure formed by the frothing. Now let it set for 5 minute and then make the cuts in the Mysore pak to form rectangles. Make sure to cut t through and completely. I didn't cut it entirely and once it was cool it was difficult to separate and cut it out. Now let it cool for a couple of hours, and remove the Mysore pak slices from the pan.

Tips
All the ghee oil mixture didn't get used up. About 1/2 to 3/4 cup remained. Make sure to add the besan before the single thread, so that it doesn't become too dry. The reason to go for a tall thick slab is so that the central part continues to cook at the part of the
Mysore pak exposed to the air and at the bottom of the tin start to cool first. This is needed to create the different shades/color striations in the mithai.

Zwetschgenkuchen- Austrian Plum Cake

I came across this recipe on Milk Street, by Chris Kimball. This is how I made it. The only change I made was to use two eggs instead of 1 large egg and 1 egg yolk. It was absolutely scrumptious and very rich. And we enjoyed it for the entire week.

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp sugar for sprinkling on top
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup salted butter- softened at room temperature and cut into pieces
2 medium eggs (original recipe calls for 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk)
1.5 tsp vanilla essence
5-6 pluots (you can also use plums), cut into 1/8th slices. Discard pits

Method

Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease and dust a springform pan with flour. You can use a regular pan, but since the fruit it on top, you will have to be very careful when removing it from the pan and will have to flip it over again to make sure the fruit is on top.

Whisk the dry ingredients together - flour, baking powder, sugar and salt- till well combined. You can even sieve them a couple of times. Then add the butter one piece at a time and mix till the mixture starts to look sandy. Add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix the batter till it becomes a pale yellow and fluffy.

This is a very thick batter and will not flow. Using a spatula, spoon it out into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Then arrange the pluot/plum slices in two concentric circles. Then sprinkle the 2 tbsp of sugar on top of the fruit and bake for 1 hr 15 mins. Check after one hour has passed and when the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is baked.

Let it cool in the pan for 30 mins on a wire rack and then remove the springform base from the pan.

Tips

If you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.

Guava Jam

I had once found guava jam in the local store and having been deprived of this fruit for many many years, bought a small and expensive jar of jam. The jam wasn't that great, no real guava fragrance or taste. Fast forward a few years, we now have a guava tree and got our first crop of pink guavas. I decided to convert some of the fruit into jam and what a difference! The color is beautiful and it is so fragrant. This is a simple recipe and will perfectly preserve the fruit for us to enjoy it long after the fruiting season ends.

Ingredients 

10 guavas, cut the fruit into tiny pieces. Then push these through a sieve to make pulp and strain the seeds. you can grate it but it will be difficult to remove the seeds
Once you have the guava pulp, weigh it. Then weigh an equal amount of sugar.
Water- to make syrup - 1:1 in volume to sugar 
A pinch of salt- I sprinkled this over the pulp.

Method 
Mix together the sugar and water and heat it. Cook the syrup till it thickens, beyond the two thread stage, and just before the soft ball stage. Then add the guava pulp. Stir and mix well. It will become more fluid. Now cook this mixture till it thickens. To determine if you have the correct consistency, put a spoon of jam onto a plate and pull a finger or the spoon through it. If the pattern stays intact and the jam doesn't flow to fill the path of the finger, then you have the desired consistency.

Take it off the heat and cool completely before storing in a jar. This will take a 5-6 hours.  Refrigerate this jam. Use dry spoons when removing the jam from the jar to extend shelf life. It will be good in the fridge for a few months.

Tips

If the guavas are not ripe and soft, then boil them till they become soft before making the pulp.

Mung Dal Halwa- instant version

I had been wanting to make mug halwa and as it happened, I can across the version of making halwa using dry dal instead of the presoaked one. Well, we had just had dinner and I felt like eating some dessert and decided to make it as it promised to be quick, and it was. And the family liked it so much that I doubled the ingredients and made it again. I made some changed when I doubled the recipe, so I will give both variations below.

Ingredients 
Without milk- half quantity
1/2 cup moong dal, coarsely powdered
1/2 cup jaggery finely cut.
1/4 cup sugar (It wasn't sweet enough with only jaggery, so I added 1/4 cup of sugar after the halwa was cooked. It melted and made the halwa a little fluid, so I cooked it further till I got the appropriate consistency)
3 tbsp ghee - roasted the mung flour in 2 tbsp of ghee and added 1 tbsp after halwa was cooked
1.5 cups water at room temperature
nuts roasted in ghee for garnish - optional

With milk- half, after doubling mung quantity
1 cup moong dal, coarsely powdered
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp ghee - roasted the mung flour in 4 tbsp of ghee and added 2 tbsp after halwa was cooked
1 cup water
1 cup milk warmed for 30 seconds in microwave
nuts roasted in ghee for garnish - optional

Method
Measure out the dal, and then pluse it in the blender till coarsely ground. Heat ghee and dal in a pan and roast it on medium low heat till the color deepens and the dal smells fragrant.  It will take a good 10-15 minutes. Roast dal on low heat if possible, as once it starts to change color it will burn easily. Keep on stirring. Next add sugar or jaggery and stir and let it start to melt for a minute or so . Now add water or the water and milk mixture and stir well. The dal will cook in the liquid and initially look like kheer. It will thicken slowly as the dal absorbs the water. Cook it and keep stirring
Till alll the water is absorbed and thicken it to the texture you prefer. It can be soft or a little dry. Add additional ghee and mix and turn off the heat. Garnish with nuts if using. You can also add cardamom powder. Serve warm.

Tips
I used hot water and warm milk when I made it the second time. It caused the halwa to splatter everywhere and was dangerous. Use room temperature water and milk to avoid this splattering. Adding some ghee during the roasting and topping off with more ghee after cooking allows you to cook the halwa in minimal ghee. You can always use more ghee. 

Vegan, Gluten Free, Sugar Free Chocolate Cake

I recently made two cakes to share at a potluck where several folks had allergies or diet restrictions. The first cake was a banana ragi cake (which will be shared in a separate post) and this chocolate cake.

This cake is very versatile and ingredients can be swapped as provided in the ingredients list below to make it free of a specific allergen or all of them.

This cake is vegan, gluten free, nuts free and sugar free. It is delicious. The ragi and buckwheat with chocolate do give the cake a slightly earthy smell, however you can use wholewheat flour for a cake that only smells of chocolate, if you do not need it to be gluten free.

Ingredients

Cake

1 1/2 cup buckwheat flour or nachni satva (ragi malt) or ragi flour (finger millet) or wholewheat flour (if there is no need to be gluten free)
3/4 to 1 cup date paste- adjust based on sweetness of dates. (12 large mejdool dates, cooked with water in the microwave and puréed). If you do not have dates, then you can use 1 cup sugar.
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp vinegar (white or apple cider)
1/3 cup olive oil (not extra virgin) or any oil that you use for cooking
1 cup cold water

Icing

1 cup chocolate chips (dark chocolate if you want it to be dairy free)

6 tbsp water

Method

Cake

Butter a baking pan (8/9 inch round) and pre heat the oven to 350 F.

Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly. Whisk them or sieve if necessary. The baking soda must be well dispersed through.

Mix wet ingredients together and whisk them together till well mixed.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk together till completely mixed. You will see the baking soda starting to react with the vinegar.

Immediately pour into the baking pan and bake at 350 for about 30 min. Use a toothpick or a knife to check if completely cooked. Pierce the cake in the center and if the toothpick/knife comes out clean, the cake is completely baked.

Icing

Mix the chocolate chips and water together and microwave for 30 seconds intervals (about 1-2 mins) till all the chocolate chips melt and then whisk it well till it looks shiny. Then pour it over your cake.

Tips

Work with the batter quickly. The baking soda and vinegar reaction makes the cake spongy. So put it in the over immediately after mixing the wet and dry ingredients. If you want the cake to be sweeter, then drizzle the cake with honey or maple syrup after it has been baked.