Boondi Raita

Raitas are made with yogurt. Boondies are small, round, crisply fried droplets made from gram flour and are easily available in indian stores. As the name suggests, boondi raita is made by adding boondi to yogurt.

Here is a recipe for making simple boondi raita.

1 Cup Yogurt
1/2 Cup Boondi
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar (Optional)
1/4th Teaspoon Black Salt, or To Taste
1/2 Teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder
A Pinch Red Chili Powder
A Pinch Black Pepper Powder
Chopped Cilantro for garnishing

Method:
Combine all ingredients except the boondis. Taste to see if you need additional salt. Add boondis and refregerate for atleast 2 hours.
Garnish with cilantro, and serve chilled with Parathas, Jeera rice or Pulav.

Note: You can use regular salt if you don't have black salt.

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Rava Biryani

RAVA BIRYANI

Ingredients
Coarse semolina (jada rava) 1 1/2 cups
French beans, 1/2 inch pieces 10
Carrot, thinly sliced 1 medium
Cauliflower, cut into florets 1/4 small
Green capsicum, 1/2 inch pieces 1 medium
Potatoes, boiled and cubed 1 medium
Ghee 1/2 cup
Green cardamoms 4
Cloves 10-12
Cinnamon 3 one-inch pieces
Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon
Fennel seeds (saunf) 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Yogurt 6 tablespoons
Onions, sliced thinly 3 medium
Ginger paste 1 tablespoon
Garlic paste 1 tablespoon
Coriander powder 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped 2 tablespoons
Fresh mint leaves 1/4 cup
Cashewnuts, halved and fried 10-12
Raisins , fried 2 tablespoons

Method
Heat two tablespoons ghee in a pan. Add green cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds and fennel seeds and sauté till fragrant. Add rava and sauté for four to minutes or till fragrant and lightly browned. Add three cups of boiling water and stir. Add salt and two tablespoons yogurt and mix well. Cover and cook on medium heat.Heat two tablespoons ghee in another pan. Add onions, French beans, carrot, cauliflower and salt and sauté for a minute. Add ginger paste and garlic paste and sauté for another minute. Add half a cup of water and cook. Add coriander powder and red chilli powder and stir. Continue to cook till the vegetables are softened. Add capsicum and stir. Transfer half the mixture into a deep pan. Spread the potato cubes. Sprinkle coriander leaves, some mint leaves. Over that spread half the rava. Sprinkle two tablespoons yogurt, half the raisins and half the cashewnuts. Spread the remaining vegetables and top it up with the remaining rava. Sprinkle the remaining raisins, remaining yogurt, remaining cashewnuts and mint leaves. Cover and cook on medium heat for ten to fifteen minutes. Alternatively you can keep the pan on a hot tava and cook on dum. Serve hot.

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Khichu

Khichu is a gujarati dish made with rice flour. It is the raw material for making rice papads. Here is the recipe for making rice flour khichu.

Ingredients:
2 Cups Rice Flour
5 Cups Water
Salt to taste
4 Green Chilis, Finely Chopped
1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
1/2 Teaspoon Caraway Seeds (Ajwain)
1 Teaspoon Eno Fruit Salt (or 1/2 Teaspoon Soda Bicarbonate)

For Serving
1 Teaspoon Chili Powder (or to Taste)
2 Teaspoon Vegetable Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Cumin-Coriander Powder (Optional)

Method:
Boil 5 cups of water in a heavy bottom pan. Once it comes to a boil, add the cumin seeds, caraway seeds, and chopped chilis. Then add the rice flour slowly. Stir continuously to make sure that no lumps form while the flour is soaking up the water. Once you have even, lump free paste take it off of the stove.
Boil water in a dhokla vessel (a deep vessel). Put a steel cookie cutter in the vesel. Make sure that the water level is not higher than the cookie cutter's upper edge. Transfer the khichu paste to a flat deep thali (plate). Put the plate in the vessel. Cover and cook for 7-10 minutes, or until the paste is not very sticky.

Serving:
Serve the khichu in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Add some oil to it. Sprinkle with some chili powder and coriander cumin powder. Serve hot with hot chai.

Note: Some people add chili powder to the oil. The photo here shows chili powder added to the oil.

Enjoy your khichu.

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Silhouettes DPS's Weekend Challenge

Here are my entries to this weekend’s photography challenge by DPS. The challenge is to take good silhouettes pictures.

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Kanda Bhaji or Onion Pakora

Kanda bhaji is one of the widely available road side snack in Bombay. Thinly sliced onion is mixed with a mixture of gram flour and spices and then deep fried. These pakoras are crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside, and go very well with hot tea.

Usually in Bombay you will find "Chai wala" (Tea Stalls) selling these pakoras along with hot chai. The key to making this pakora is adding very little water to the batter to make them crunchy.

Here is the recipe for making Kanda Bhaji

Ingredients:
1 Medium Red Onion, Thinly Sliced
4 Tablespoon Gram Flour (Besan)
Salt to taste
1/4 Teaspoon Caraway Seeds (optional)
1/2 Teaspoon Chili Powder
Oil for Deep Frying
Water, as need
Chaat Masala (Optional)

Method:
Comine the onion, gram flour, salt, chili powder, and caraway seeds together. Start with 2 tablespoon water, mix well, then add more water if needed. The gram flour should start sticking to the onion now. The batter should not be liquidy at all. Infact, stop adding water as soon as the gram flour coats the onions well. The batter should be a little sticky.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Once the oil is hot, add one teaspoon of the oil to the onion-gram flour batter. Mix well. Test the oil by dropping a small portion of the batter in it. If the batter comes up and floats right away, the oil is ready. Drop several small portions of the batter in the oil. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Remove the bhajis(pakoras) from the oil, and place on an absorbant paper.

Sprinkle with chaat masala (optional) and serve hot with hot chai, or with your choice of chutney.

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