Unni Appam-Sweet rice dumplings

I can bet that almost all the south Indians would swear by the sweet unniappams or kuzhipaniyarams. It is flavorful dish made from rice and jaggery. Its made in almost all the important functions and a sadya is never complete without it. On Krishnashtami or Gokulashtami unniappam along with other sweets are made to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna. My DH and son love it very much and sometimes crave for it. Interestingly, once when we were shopping at the cooperative store, they were selling mini banana cup cakes! I bought them as a eat-in-the-car snack while going back home... within minutes the box of 12 cupcakes was empty, all the while my son telling me "Amma that tastes like the brown round thing you make"... well who would have thought banana cupcakes could substitute for unniappams!!!!!

Yummy all the way!

The traditional method calls for soaking raw rice in water, drying it and then powdering it to make these sweet dumplings. My mom taught me an easy way to make these unniappams. You will also need a Kuzhipaniyaram pan to make these and that is easily available in the Indian shops.

Ingredients

Raw rice flour - 1 cup

Wheat Flour  - 2 tbsp

Banana (very ripe medium size) - 3 nos mashed

Jaggery (molasses) - 1.5 cup

Cardamom - 5-7 pods (remove skin and powder the pod)

Water - Just enough to make a paste not too thick or not too thin.

Oil/ ghee for deep frying

Method

1. Place the jaggery in a pan and add 2-3 tbsp water. Let the jaggery melt. Once melted, switch off the stove and let it cool. Strain the jaggery liquid for any impurities. Set aside. 

2. Take a deep bowl and add rice flour, wheat flour, mashed banana, jaggery water, cardamom powder and mix well for consistency. Add water as required to get to the right consistency. Alternatively you can put all the ingredients into a mixer and add little by little water and bring it up to that consistency.

3. Place the kuzhipaniyaram bowl on the stove top and add oil up to 3/4ths to cover the cups. You can also use half and half of oil and ghee. Ghee will give an unique flavour to the dish.

4. Once the oil heats up fill the cups with the batter. Let it cook on medium heat until the appams cook through and get a brown colour.

5. Pick the cooked appams using a spoon or a long sharp needle (similar to a knitting needle, you can get this too in any Indian shop) and strain the oil. 

Savor these appams hot or cold. They will stay good for upto 2-3 days if you can resist the temptation!! 

Hara- Bhara Kebab

The first time I ate this kebab was at a restaurant in the middle east. My husband ordered this and said its very tasty, lets try it. We wait for 15 min and the appetisers are in front of us. I take a look and say, its looks like a normal cutlet and take a bite. "Ummm..." thats all i was saying for the next 10 minutes between bites. The next thing my husband knew was i was polishing off the shared platter..:))
Well now a days I make it quite frequently as my kiddo too loves to snack on something in the late afternoons after school. To its credit this kebab is very healthy needing very little oil and having as much green veggies as you can find.

I am submitting this to Priya's December roundup of Cooking With Seeds - Peas. This is the first time I am participating in a cooking event and I am very excited about it.

Ingredients
Potatoes - 2 nos cubed and boiled until tender
Green peas (fresh/ frozen) - 1 cup (boiled in salted water)
Spinach (chopped) - 1 cup packed
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
Ginger - 1 tsp (grated)
Green chilly paste - 1 tsp (adjust to taste)
Chaat masala- 2 tsp
Cooking oil - for shallow frying
Cornflour - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method

1. In a kadai add 1 tbsp oil. Add the chopped spinach leaves. Saute for a few minutes until wilted.
2. In a mixer, add the spinach, 2 tbsp boiled green peas, coriander leaves, chilly paste and ginger and grind to a thick paste.
3. In a bowl, add the potatoes and partly mash them. Add the grind green mixture and mix well.
4. Add the rest of the peas, salt and chaat masala, mix well cover and set aside in the refrigerator for an hour.
5. In a pan add some oil for shallow frying. In a separate bowl mix the cornflour in some water to from a thin paste.
6. Make patties out of the peas- potato mixture, dip in cornflour and shallow fry until golden brown.
7. Serve hot with tomato chutney for a that yummy taste.

Medhu vada - Savoury lintel doughnut

Vegetarianism comes with the need to include proteins in the daily diet as a much needed requirement. Lintels satisfy this need and the variety keeps the taste buds tingling and asking for more. Vada is a recipe that uses white lintels or urad dal and is a deep fried snack that is also a comfort food on cold and clammy days.
Amma used to make vada or vadai as it is called in tamil quite frequently. It is also an important festival food such as Saraswati Pooja, Vishu and the like. Also when we go out of town, the morning breakfasts ordered in the restaurants which were usually idly or dosas were always accompanied by crispy vadas. When I was younger, I used to love the spicy vadai paired up with some refrigerated tomato ketchup!!! Now I make it here whenever the craving strikes and my little one loves its crunchy outer texture and the yummy soft inner part of this vadai.

Ingredients
Urad dal (white lintels) - 1 cup soaked for 2 hours
Green chillies - 2 or 3 as per taste chopped med size
Salt to taste
Hing asofeteida - a big pinch
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves- 8 to 10 shredded
Peppercorns 10 to 12 leave as whole if feeding little kids else crush with mortar and pestle.
Water 1/4cup
Oil - For deep frying

 Method

1. Grind the urad dal to a med fine paste* with very little water such that it has a dropping consistency.
2. Combine with the rest of the ingredients and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok for deep frying.
4. Take some water in a small bowl and set aside. Take a zip lock bag and place in your left hand. Dip your right hand in the bowl of water and take a small amount of the dough and place it on the plastic cover. Make a hole in the center of the dough and flip it onto your right hand and drop the dough into hot oil.
5. Make as many as your wok will hold and fry until golden brown.
6. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain.
7. Serve warm with coconut chutney or with tomato sauce for the little ones.

*Note: If your dough gets a little watery after grinding add some roasted rava or sooji which will absorb the water and make the vada more crunchy. Do not add rice powder to the urad dal dough as it will absorb more oil while deep frying.

Thattai - Crispy Rice Crackers

This year for Deepavali I made thattai and omapodi (sev) besides the sweets. I used to enjoy these savoury snacks which my mother used to make very often for a cracking accompaniment to the afternoon tea/coffee. Following is the recipe for this tasty snack which I guarantee you will make time and time again once you have tasted it. These hardly last a couple of days at my home.

Ingredients
Rice flour - 2 cups
Urad Daal flour (lightly fried) - 4 tbsp
Asofeteida (Hing/ Perunkaayam) - 1/4 tsp
Butter (at room temp) -- 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder - 1/4 tsp
Split Dalia (Porikadalai paruppu) - 3 tbsp
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig (about 15 leaves shredded)
Salt to taste
Water as needed
Oil for deep frying.

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients to form a tight dough.
2. Use a plastic sheet for flattening out the daough. Place a ball of dough on the sheet, wet your hand and pat down on the dough to make it flat. Flatten it out as much as possible without breaking it.
3. Heat oil in a wok for deep frying. To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a small piece of the dough into the oil and if it comes up to the surface within a few seconds, then you are good to go.
4. Gently remove the flattened dough by inverting the plastic sheet over the palm of your hand. Deep fry until golden brown.
5. Cool and then its all yours to crack it up.