Brussel Sprouts Spinach Cheela (Vegan Breakfast)

 Cheela or Besan ka cheela is a popular brekfast  in North India made from gramflour known as Besan . There are many variants in making cheela ,can be plain with just basic spices used for flavoring or we can add in some finely chopped veggies and make it a healthier version .

Cheela makes for a very filling breakfast and also a perfect lunch box option.  Gramflour is certainly a magic ingredient which makes the recipe absolutely delicious and tasty . This morning it was raining and chilly making us want to indulge in something that would pep us up for the day and we dint want to have anything deep fried ,so that's how this healthy breakfast was made .

I generally make Tomato Omlettes which are a very popular Street food in Bombay, today this cheela was kind off fusion recipe where I used finely chopped Brussel Sprouts and spinach in the recipe. I used my mini  uttapam pan to make bite sized cheelas just for fun and fancy sake but you can always use the regular dosa pan to make them . If you don't have Brussel sprouts you can also used finely chopped cabbage mixed to the batter.

Brussel sprouts belong to the cabbage family and very popular in western countries.  Brussel sprouts are a good source of vit C and vit K . Exercise medical caution if you are on any kind of medication or blood thinners before using Brussel sprouts . Also,they have a slightly strong odor and turn rubbery when over cooked ,hence donot overcook and keep and eye while cooking 

Preparation Time - 15 mins

Cooking Time - 20 mins

Complexity - simple

Serves - 3 to 4

Ingredients 

2 cups gramflour/besan

2.5 cups water 

2 tsp red chilli powder 

1 tsp crushed ajwain /carom seeds

1 finely chopped green chilli 

1/2 cup Brussel sprouts finely chopped 

1/4 cup spinach finely chopped 

Handful of corriander and mint finely chopped 

Salt as needed

Finely grated ginger 

Pinch of asafoetida 

Oil to roast the cheelas

Method

• In a wide mixing bowl prepare a lump free batter using the gramflour. 
• Add the red chilli powder, salt, asafoetida,ginger, crushed carom seeds, chopped Brussel Sprouts, spinach and the mint + corriander and mix well.
• Adjust salt and spices if needed and let the batter rest for 15 mins . The batter should be of pouring consistency like that of dosa batter. 
• Heat the pan and pour the batter from center and slightly spread it outside.  Keep it slightly thick and don't spread it too thin. 
• Drizzle oil around the cheela and let it cook on medium flame . Gramflour takes a while to cook,so don't rush into flipping it over .
• Once the top side appears dry,carefully flip it over and cook the underside .
• Take it off the pan and serve it with tomato ketchup or green chutney.  You can also grate some cheese or slather some butter when serving it to kids.  

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Urulai Bajji | Aloo Bhajjiya | Aloo Pakoras(Potato Fritters)

 Bajji , Bajjiya or Pakoras have an emotional connect with us Indians.As much as we love and relish snacks from various cuisines, these gram flour based traditional bajjiyas have a special place in our lives. 

Every region across India enjoys these bajjiyas all round the there . We just need a small reason to prepare bajjiyas and enjoy with hot chaai .

There is also a very funny anecdote that " when it rains the veggies are ready to coat themselves in gramflour and dive into hot oil" ,that is how much we love these fritters /bajjiyas.

Bajjis are  prepared in most Tambrahm homes on the eve of Diwali . DIWALI morning starts with a spoon of Diwali Lehiyam followed by piping hot Idli Sambar , Bajji and Coconut Chutney . This is more like a Diwali Day ritual and no one likes to skip on this delicious fare :-) 

 

There may be minor differences in the way the fritters are prepared but the base remains the same , gramflour batter , cut vegetables and oil for deep frying .

Potatoes ,raw banana,onions and special type of chilli known as Bajji Mirchi or Bajji Molaga are the preferred and sought after vegetables used for making bajjiya.  We can also make bajji using spinach leaves , brinjal and carrots too .

Today we will relish some piping hot ,crispy and spicy Aloo Bajjiya or Urulaikizhangu Bhajji as it is called in Tamil. 

Another interesting part is bajji and sojji (bhajiya and sheera ) were mandatory snacks served alongside filter coffee by the bride's family during the bride seeing event in Tamil homes.  The bride's culinary skills were judged by these two items served as it was believed that the bride has prepared them to serve her future family . Now.,things have changed and all these just remain funny anecdotes for us to remnisice and smile . 

Preparation Time - 20 mins 

Frying Time - 15 to 20 mins

Complexity - medium 

Serves - 2 to 3

Ingredients 

2 medium sized potatoes 
1/2 cup gram flour /besan /kadalai maav
2 tbsp rice flour 
1 tsp red chilli powder 
1/2 tsp haldi powder
Salt as needed 
Pinch of asafoetida 
Pinch of baking soda (optional)
Oil for deep frying 

Method

• Peel the potatoes ,wash and soak them in cold water for 5 mins. This helps remove the starch from the potatoes and tastes good while coating the besan and frying .
• In a wide mixing bowl sift the gram flour, rice flour ,chilli powder ,asafoetida and salt.  Add water little by little and make a batter of dropping consistency ,keep aside.  If using ,we will add soda just before we are ready to fry the bajjiyas.
• Using a slicer or knife, cut the potatoes into medium slices and keep the soaked in water for 5 mins .drain the water and spread the potato slices on a kitchen towel or thick tissue to remove excess water .
• Place a kadai with enough oil for deep frying and heat it up . At the same time add soda (if using) to the batter and mix it well . Leaving the batter for a long time after adding soda will soak up more oil while frying, so ensure you don't rest the batter long after adding soda. 
• Dip  each potato slice in the batter and drop into hot oil . Donot crowd the kadai .you can  add about 4 or 5 slices of potato depending on the size of your kadai. 
• Fry on medium flame and occassionally toss the bajjiyas using a ladle . Once the hissing or bubbling of oil stops ,you can carefully drain and remove from the oil . Repeat the same for all slices of potato .
• Serve hot with green chutney, coconut chutney or even tomato sauce and some piping hot filter coffee or masala chai .

You may also want to try out the other most famous and loved Vazhakkai Bajji / Kela Bajjiya .

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Methi na Gota | Methi Pakora | Fenugreek Fritters - Gujurati cuisine

 Methi na Gota / Methi Bajjiya or methi na pakora is a classic winter delicacy and a popular Street food in Gujurat and Bombay. Even though fresh fenugreek is now available all round the year, there is always a special place for the tender and fresh methi available during winters.

Methi na gota doesn't require any fancy ingredients or preparations as we will invariably have the ingredients in our pantry supply . The main ingredients are gram flour/besan and sooji/semolina with added spices and fresh fenugreek leaves .

I have had these amazingly tasty and delicious pakoras many a times since my childhood.  Come winters,  these methi gotas are always a part of the meal or as tea time snack in most gujju homes .  Carrot halwa and methi na gota are inseparable delicacies during winter. 

Crispy from outside and spongy from inside,these fenugreek Fritters are a perfect treat  on chill evenings and makes it an awesome appetiser or party pleaser option for all kinds of parties and holiday get togethers .

You may serve them with Dates Tamarind Chutney and Green chutney or even a cup of piping hot masala tea makes it an enjoyable experience with friends and family .

Preparation Time -15 mins
Frying Time- 20 mins
Complexity - Simple 
Serves - 3 to 4

Ingredients 
1 cup gram flour/ besan
1/4 cup semolina/rava
1/2 cup finely chopped methi Leaves
1/4 cup finely chopped corriander 
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric 
1 tsp red chilli powder 
1 tsp white sesame seeds 
1/4 tsp jeera/cumin
1/2 tsp sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt as needed 
1/4 tsp cooking soda 
Water to make the batter 
Oil to deep fry 

Method 

• In a wide mixing bowl,mix the gram flour,salt,semolina, turmeric and red chilli powder. 
• To this add the freshly chopped corriander, methi ,ginger and sesame seeds .
• Mix it well with a spoon and make a batter of dropping consistency by adding water little by little .whisk it well to form a lump free batter.
• Let the batter rest for 10 mins while you heat up the oil for frying.
• Just before frying add the lemon juice,  soda and sugar . Whisk the batter quickly and drop small balls of batter in the hot oil . Donot over crowd the frying pan.  Fry on medium flame until they turn crispy and golden brown.
• Drain the pakoras carefully and serve hot with chutney and tea.  

Some more must have winter delicacies 

Gajar Halwa / Carrot Halwa 

Doodhi (bottle gourd) Halwa 

Doodhi Muthiyas (steamed)

Cabbage Methi Pakoras 

Methi Pooris 

Methi Dal 

Sev | सेव - Diwali Snack

 Sev and Ghatiya are two quintessential traditional snack made during Diwali in North India . 

Sev is a versatile savory snack made from besan /gram flour.  It can be served as is during tea time, added to Chivdas or used on various chats  like Bhelpuri,  Masala Papad,  Sev Puri for garnish.  I prefer making this thin sev at home and keep a batch ready most of the days so that it is easy when I plan to make chaat for dinner or evening snack.

In Tamil Nadu,we make Omapudi which is same as this sev but flavored with the essence of Ajwain/ Omam/Carom water . 

Requires just the basic ingredients from the pantry and the sev press of murukku maker with the correct mould to press the dough out of the sev press.   If you like you may flavor it with pudina extract , spinach extract or even garlic extract to get the desired flavor sev .

The only tricky part is kneading the dough to the perfect consistency so that it easily slips out of the mould and you can shape the sev very comfortably.  

I donot use cooking soda as many recipes call for it to get the crunchiness ,but my sev turns out crunchy as I use hot melted butter and a tsp of rice flour while kneading the dough.  You can skip butter if you are Following Vegan diet and use hot oil instead

Ingredients
2 cups of gram flour/besan/kadalamaav
2 tbsp rice flour
Salt as needed
1 tsp red chilli powder
1tsp haldi powder 
Asafoetida a pinch
2 tablespoon butter or 2 tbsp hot oil 
Oil to fry

Method

• In a wide mixing bowl, add the flours, salt, asafoetida, red chilli powder and mix it well.
• Now add the melted butter or hot oil and rub it well into the flour to form a crumbly mixture .
• Knead the dough by adding water slowly . In case you feel the dough needs more water , you can sprinkle water to complete kneading.
• The dough has to be soft and pliable . Too hard a dough will make it difficult to press from the sev maker mould. 
• Heat oil in a kadai and same time grease the sev press and plate well with oil.
• Take a small portion of the dough and put into the mould and carefully press it over the hot oil .
•  Flip it over after 2 mins and fry for just 1 more min. Take it off the oil as soon as the hissing sound of the oil stops. Drain it on an absorbent paper or in a colander . 
• Prepare sev from all the dough and keep the dough covered with a moist cloth while you are making the sev.
• Crush the sev/omapudi with your hands and store in an airtight container. 
•  Enjoy with a cup of hot tea or coffee!! 

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Rava Pakoras | Semolina Fritters

 Onset of monsoon is a pleasure in many ways . The weather becomes pleasant, the foliage looks fresh , rivers and dams start overflowing and most of all it is a good opportunity for enjoying family time over a cuppa hot tea , soothing music and some snacks . Deep fried snacks are preferred in most homes as they instantly pep up your mood . 

Last couple of days the city where I live has been experiencing wet spells on and off making it  perfect for enjoying some crispy and soft Rava Pakoras . These rava pakoras are my mom's speciality and she would dish it out for me when I would have sudden cravings for a fried item or when me and my friends came home famished and hungry after our classes .  Amma would add in finely chopped pudina , spinach/palak or even fresh methi/fenugreek leaves to the pakora batter and the taste would be fantastic. 

Rava/ Semolina is a versatile ingredient and is always present in any Indian Kitchen. We can dish out many amazing recipes ,sweets as well as savories using this magical ingredient.  Since rava cooks easily and also tastes delicious, it is the most sought after ingredient for a quick snack .

In today's recipe,  I have used kasuri methi (sun dried fenugreek leaves ) instead of fresh methi which was one of the secret ingredients along with rava given to me by Swaty for our gourmet secret challenge cooking group  .

Rava is not gluten free ,so pls exercise caution if you are allergic to Gluten or following a GF diet . 

Some traditional and classic recipes using Rava / Semolina published on my blog for you all to try and enjoy !! 

Sweets

Kesari  Baath

Sajjige / Sheera

Banana Sheera

Mango Sheera

Rava Payasam/Kheer

Savories

Rava Upma 

Rava Idli 

Rava Dosa 

Tomato Rava Dosa 

Maddur Vade 

As it is monsoon time, we all keep looking for some delicious snacks to munch on  and if you love trying some new recipes, you must look up my friends' Shobha ji and Swaty's blog without fail . These two blogs are a treasure chest of exotic and amazing recipes from world over .

I have bookmarked shobha ji's Rice and dal dhoklas to try soon while Swaty's delicious Ginger  Tea with a host of exotic and therapeutic ingredients is very refreshing for a chill evening. 

Preparation Time - 5 mins
Frying Time - 20 to 25 mina
Complexity - easy 
Serves - 3 to 4 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup fine rava /sooji / semolina 
2 tbsp chick peas flour /besan 
1 tbsp rice flour 
2 tbsp kasuri methi 
Handful of finely chopped corriander 
Pinch of carom seeds/ajwain/omam 
1-2 finely chopped green chillies 
1/2 tsp red chilli powder 
Salt as needed 
Pinch of turmeric 
Water as needed 
Oil for deep frying 

Method 

• In a wide mixing bowl , add all the dry ingredients including the kasuri methi and corriander except for oil and water. 
• With your fingers mix it well so that all ingredients get mixed well .
• Sprinkle water little by little and bring it together to form a dough . Donot add too much water else it will become too watery and the pakoras will absorb oil while frying . 
• If you happen to add extra water by chance, add in some rava to the mixture ,rava will absorb the extra water .
• Heat oil in a kadai , randomly pinch out small portions from the pakora dough and drop it into hot oil carefully .
• Flip it over and fry carefully until the pakoras turn crisp and golden brown. 
• Serve hot with green chutney, tamarind chuney or tomato sauce. 

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Bread Bhajiya | Bread Pakoras

 Bread Pakoras or bread bhajiyas are very famous as street food special across the northern part of India. The snack is filling all by itself that many people have it even as a lunch option if they are pressed for time or have no restaurants close by. 

Bread slices are dipped in gramflour batter which is spiced using red chilli powder , finely chopped chillies and the slices are deep fried in oil.  

Apart from the simple variant, there are many variations like stuffing two slices with potato filling and then deep frying the gram flour coated bread or at times slices are layered with green chutney and sauce and then deep fried

Street food culture basically came into existence to help people especially laborers have some food which can be affordable and they can easily grab a meal as they keep working..but over the time it so happened that Street food became everyone's choice due to various varities , options and tasty choices being made right in front of your eyes and at a pocket friendly price too. 

If you are wondering why am I talking of street food , then let me tell you this week my namesake who blogs at Photowali, suggested we share popular Street food recipes for the 283rd week of FMBH . Priya has shared everyone's favorite Pav Bhaji as part of the theme posting.

Bread or paav is widely used in street foods all over India. Children as well as adults both love to munch on delicacies made using Bread. 

If you are a bread lover like me, then you must definitely check out these special street foods of Bombay which are too hard to resist. 

Mumbai Special Toast sandwich 

Vegetable Cheese Grill Sandwich 

Buttery Paav Bhaji 

The other famous street food delicacies from Mumbai is also on my blog , do try them and I  promise you will be spoilt for choices 😉  . The links are added below here 

Bhelpuri

Pani puri 

Kothimbir Vadi 

Sabudana Vada 

Moong Bhajjiya / Moong Pakoras

Masala Khichiya papad

At home we  like our bread pakoras plain and spicy without any stuffing . I generally make the batter a little spicy by adding some extra chilli powder . The bread slices are either cut into triangles or small squares  , both of them taste equally delicious.  I retain the bread crust and don't cut the edges . These edges when deep fried in oil gives a very nice crunch while we take a bite of the pakora . Sprinkle some chat masala over the bajjiya and serve it with hot masala tea.

Preparation Time- 10 mins

Frying Time - 20 mins

Complexity - simple

Serves - 3 to 4 

Ingredients 

6-7 bread slices 

1 cup gram flour/besan

2 tbsp rice flour

2 tsp red chilli powder 

Salt as needed

1/2 tsp ajwain/carom seeds 

Pinch of asafoetida 

Chat masala to sprinkle.

Oil to deep fry

Method 

• Cut the bread slices in to triangles or small squares the way you like .
• In a wide mixing bowl , add the gram flour , rice flour , salt, chilli powder ,carom seeds and asafoetida with water and make a batter . The batter should be off dropping consistency like that of dosa batter .
• Heat the oil in a deep kadai. 
• Dip these bread slices in the gram flour batter and drop them into the oil carefully. 
• Fry them on medium flame until the oil ceases to sizzle and the bhajiyas are fried to golden brown color and look crisp .
• Drain them on an absorbent paper and serve hot with some green chignrybor tomato sauce with a dash of chat masala sprinkled over .

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