There are various methods of making vangi bath. Eggplant can be cooked in tamarind water or deep fried in oil before combining it with rice and other spices. Some people prefer to add onion and grated coconut to this rice. Sometimes sambhar powder is also added to give it a different flavour. However, I make this rice with puliyodarai paste and puliyodarai powder that I stock in good quantity. Hence, I prepare this rice, when I am short of time. It can be packed in lunch boxes for school going children as an alternative/supplement to curd rice.
Ingredients:
Cooked white rice - 2cups
Bottle eggplant -1
Turmeric powder -1tsp
Puliyodarai paste -2tsps
Puliyodarai powder -4tsps
Salt and oil -As required
For garnishing
Roasted peanuts -1/4cup
Eggplant before rice is added
Method:
Grind the peanuts coarsely. Keep it aside. Cube the eggplant. Dilute the puliyodarai paste with one cup of water. Add the eggplant pieces and turmeric powder. Cook till it is soft. Then, add the puliyodarai powder, little oil and salt. Cook for few seconds. Next, stir in the rice till it is well blended. Garnish with peanut powder. Serve it with any pachadi of you choice.
Note: Adding sesame oil gives a distinct flavour to this rice. Adjust the puliyodarai paste and puliyodarai powder such that the end product is well balanced.
Lentil fritter (moong dal bhajia) is a famous street food of Mumbai. It is served along with green chutney and fried green chillies. It is soft inside and crispy outside. The consistency of the green gram batter used for making it decides its texture. The fritters would turn out hard it the batter is thick. However, a thin batter made of green gram is difficult to handle and would require some binding agents like mashed potatoes. To avoid this, I have added husked black gram to the batter. This results in soft fritters and also helps in easy handling.
Ingredients:
Husked green gram (moong dal) -2cups
Husked black gram (urad dal) -1cup
Finely chopped onions - 1/2 cup
Green chillies -3
Ginger -1/2 inch
Curry leaves - few
Chopped coriander leaves -4tsps
Salt and oil - As required
Method:
Soak the two lentils separately in water for 6 hours. Drain the water and grind the lentils coarsely along with salt, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. Combine the chopped onions and coriander leaves. Divide the batter and make small balls out of it. Deep fry them in small batches over medium heat until crispy and brown. Serve it along with red chutney.
In Southern states of India, Idli is the basic breafast that is had with sambhar and choicest chutneys. Leftover, idli is given a makeover as idli upma or idli fry. Even restaurants serve idli fry. Generally, idli fry is a deep fried food with various spices and condiments added to it. It varies from restaurant to restaurant. Here, I have presented idli chilli fry that is stir fried. It has the zing of chilli flakes, tang of tomato sauce, flavours of capsicum and dosa podi.
Ingredients:
Leftover Idlis -5/6
Onion -1
Capsicum -1/2
Chilli flakes -1tsp
Dosa podi -2tsps
Tomato sauce -2tsps
Chopped coriander leaves -2tsps
Salt and oil -As required
Method:
Cut the idlis into cubes. Smear dosa podi and little oil over them. Chop the onion and capsicum into strips. In a frying pan fry the onions in little oil. When it turns translucent in colour, lower the flame and add the capsicum. Stir for few seconds. Then, add the chilli flakes, idli pieces, tomato sauce and coriander leave. Stir fry for few seconds till everything is blended well.
Bun, bread roll and few cakes can be baked in a cooker. The texture and taste of the baked items is very much similar to the oven baked foods. It is also easy to bake in a cooker because the temperature settings required for an oven is simply absent here.
However, it is important to take note of the following points before attempting to bake in a cooker.
1) Do not use non-stick cookers for baking.
2) Remove the rubber gasket from the lid before baking.
3) Do not use the weight while using the cooker for baking.
4) Place a perforated plate or a steel stand inside the cooker and preheat the cooker.(Do not add water to bottom of the cooker) This is give a gap between the bottom of the cooker and the baking dish.
5) Place the baking dish with the dough on the perforated plate or stand. This helps to prevent the food from burning at the bottom.
6) Preheat the empty cooker in high heat and lower the flame once the baking process starts.
Ingredients:
Dry yeast -2tsps
Warm water -3tblps
Sugar 3tsps
All-purpose flour -3cups
Salt -1tsp
Warm milk -1cup
Oil -4tsps
Butter -5tblps
Method:
Combine yeast, warm water, 1tsp sugar and 1tsp flour. Set it aside to become creamy and frothy.
In another bowl mix the balance flour and butter to the texture of bread crumbs.
In another bowl combine the warm milk, balance sugar, salt and oil. Then, add the yeast mixture. Mix well. Then, slowly add the flour to make dough of sticky consistency. Cover and set it aside it to rise. It will triple in volume. Then, deflate and knead once. Allow it rise for two hours. Deflate and knead again. Then, make small round buns out of this dough and place it in a wide vessel. Place the buns at a distance, so that they do not touch each other when they rise again. Allow it to rise and then place them in the preheated cooker. Bake it till the top of the bun starts changing colour. Remove and allow it cool before cutting it.
Chocolate is everyone’s favourite and when it comes in the form of cups it doubles the happiness. It is a hit with kids when ice cream is served in these edible cups. My son used to enjoy ice creams in these cups as a kid, during the summer holidays. His friends also used to enjoy it, when they came visiting us during the summer holidays. I always stock some chocolate cups in the fridge to surprise my guests.
To make chocolate cups
Ingredients:
Cooking chocolate -800gms
Paper cups -few
paper cups & mould
Method:
Make a small slit on the rim of all the paper cups. Keep it aside. Break the chocolate bar into small pieces. Place it in a small deep bowl. In another big bowl, heat some water. Allow the water to boil. Lower the flame and place the small bowl with broken chocolates on it. See that it does not touch the bottom of the big bowl. Care must be also taken to see that the water does not enter the chocolate bowl. Allow it melt completely. (Take care not to boil the chocolate). Pour the melted chocolate in one cup. Coat the inside of it till the rim. Pour the excess chocolate if any back into the pan. Similarly, coat other cups also. Refrigerate the cups. After 2 hours, remove them from the fridge. Then, slowly peel off the paper cup starting from the slit at the rim. Refrigerate it again until use. Fill them with ice cream or seasonal fruits or nuts before serving. Fruit cups can also be topped with whipped cream before serving.
To make chocolates:
Ingredients:
Silicon mould
Butter for greasing
Method:
Grease the silicon mould with butter. Keep it aside. Melt the chocolate as mentioned above. Using a small spoon fill each of the depressions in the silicon mould. Refrigerate it for 6 hours. Then unmould them and wrap it in colourful toffee papers. Put it back into the fridge for few hours.
Note: I have used my favourite dark chocolate here.
