Chana dal vada

It's called Ambode in Kannada and is usually prepared during festivals, without the onions (and with dill along with all the other ingredients mentioned).

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chana dal - soaked for 1-2 hours
1 onion - chopped
3-4 green chillies - chopped
A few curry leaves - chopped
1/4 cup coriander leaves - chopped
1/4 cup coconut - shredded (optional)
1/2 cup dill - chopped (optional)
Salt
2 cups cooking oil - for frying

Preparation time: 20-25 minutes

Preparation:

• Grind soaked chana dal to a coarse paste, adding very little water.
• Add chopped onions, coriander leaves, curry leaves, coconut, dill, green chillies & salt to ground paste and mix well.
• Heat oil in a wok/kadhai for frying.
• Make small flat n round portions of the mix, deep fry them in oil until golden brown.
• Remove from wok, place them on tissue.
  
  

Serve it with chutney or ketchup. It can also be savoured without any sides to go with.

Sagoo

I dislike the Sagoo served in hotels, so far in all of the places that I've tried. The proportion of spices they use is not pleasing to (my) taste buds, so I leave it untouched or even return it. The recipe used to prepare at home is entirely different in its taste from what is served in hotels.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Coconut - shredded or pieces
1 small onion
4-5 Green chillies
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds/Jeera
1 tbsp roasted chana
1 inch Cinnamon stick
3-4 Cloves/Laung
A handful of Coriander leaves
1 cup green beans - diced
1 cup carrot - diced
1 cup potatoes - diced
1 cup green peas
1 tsp ghee (for tadka/seasoning)
Salt

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes

Preparation:

• Boil/steam all the vegetables adding salt.
• Grind coconut, onion, green chillies, cinnamon stick, cloves, roasted chana, salt and jeera to paste.
• Take out the boiled vegetables to a container, add the paste and cook for a couple of minutes (Add water if required & bring it to boil)
• For seasoning - heat ghee, add jeera and let it splutter. Add the seasoning to Sagoo.
  
  

Serve with Set Dosa or Roti/Parathas or Pooris.

Gobi ke Parathe

My favourite dishes of cauliflower are Aloo Gobi, Gobi Manchurian & Gobi Paratha. We should be very thorough in cleaning Gobi for any of the dishes prepared out of it. One of the good ways to wash it is rinse in water, cut it in portions, put in hot water added with salt and turmeric.

Ingredients:
2 cups wheat flour
1/2 of small cauliflower/gobi - washed and grated
1 small onion - finely chopped/grated
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
Salt
Cooking oil

Preparation:

• Mix grated gobi, onion in a container. Take lumps of the mix, squeeze out water by pressing the mix between your palms.
  
• Add chilli powder, salt, jeera powder to gobi and onion, and mix well.
• Add salt to wheat flour and make dough.
• Flatten a portion of dough, fill with a portion of gobi mix & round it up.
• Flatten the filled dough with rolling pin.
• Cook the paratha applying oil, on both sides.

Serve it hot with any side dish/chutney/yogurt.

[Addition:]
With the above measures, can make 7-8 parathas.
Preparation time: 20-30 minutes

The eternal combination - Chai+Pakoda

Yes, it is an eternal combination. And even certain weather is described by it :)

It has been Chai-Pakoda weather for us here all this week. Naturally, one of the best ways to enjoy cloudy/rainy evenings are with Chai & Pakodas.

Like all other recipes, there are variations in ways Pakodas are prepared.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups gram flour/besan
1 onion - chopped
3-4 green chillies - finely chopped
1/4 tsp aesofatida/Heeng
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
2 cups cooking oil - for frying
3-4 tbsp sooji rava
Salt

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a deep pan.
• In a container add besan, chopped onions, chopped green chillies, salt, red chilli powder, heeng, sooji rava & roasted peanuts.
• Add 2-3 tsp of hot oil, mix & then add water and mix well to a thick paste.
  
• Drop clods of mixture in oil pan & deep fry them changing sides.
• Once fried to golden brown, place them on kitchen tissues.

Serve them with tamarind/pudina/green chilli chutney or ketchup. Enjoy them with a cup of tea.

Kadhai Paneer

Sree loves chat-pata dishes, with the right mix of spice and sour. Kadhai Paneer suits his taste buds right. The first time I made Kadhai Paneer, I did have in mind of making it a little spicy, but it turned out so hot that I had to use 2-3 tsp of sugar to soothe the taste! Still, enjoyed it.

Ingredients:
1 red onion - chopped
2 tomatoes - grind to paste/puree
1/2 green pepper - diced
1/2 red pepper - diced
1 inch ginger - finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
10-12 cubes Paneer
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 spoon garam masala
1/2 tsp coriander/dhania powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder/haldi
1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
2 tsp oil
salt
(The above measures serves for 3)

Well, the cherries are not part of the recipe. They are the juicy, farm fresh cherries I couldn't resist buying from Granville Island. They are only there in the pic because I was enjoying eating them while I cooked :)

Preparation:

• Fry Paneer cubes and set them aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and let it splutter.
• Add haldi, finely chopped ginger, garlic, onions and saute.
• Add ground tomato puree, little bit of salt, chilli powder, dhania powder and allow it to cook till the raw smell n taste of tomato and chilli are gone.
• Add little water (if required) to get the paste to desired consistency.
• Add green n red peppers and garam masala, cover the pan witha a lid and allow to cook for couple of minutes.
• Add fried paneer. Mix well and turn off the heat.
  
  

Serve with Roti/Paratha.