Nuchhina Unde Recipe | Nuchinunde Recipe | Steamed Lentil Dumplings [Video]

Nuchchina Unde or Nuchinunde are steamed lentil dumplings from South India. The dumplings are made from mixed lentils and flavored with herbs like curry leaves and dill. The lentil dumplings are vegan and healthy. 

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So, I just read a quote somewhere, "I start my new year resolutions in February, January was just a trial month". I'm beginning to believe in that.

I had so many plans for 2019 and it has been slowly going down the drain. January may have well been my most hectic and tiring month of all time. I had planned to go off sugar, something I've been wanting to do for so long. But I just caved it once the stress rose. Guilty as charged, I am a stress eater and when stressed I crave chocolate, like any other woman on the planet. So yes, I gave in to my chocolate cravings. It also did not help that a colleague of mine got me special candy because I helped him shop last time he was over in India. How does one just ignore such a nice gesture. Very soon 1 candy turned to 20 and I had no control over myself. I had to send the bag over to my sisters. Multiple weddings in January didn't help either. February just started today, let's hope I make this one count.

I had also resolved to blog more. But I've actually been blogging less than ever. It's not that I haven't had the time. It's just been one of those fortnights where I want to crawl into bed and watch reruns of TV shows. Currently hooked on to My Kitchen Rules and Come Dine with Me. 

So what have you been up to recently? How was January? 

So for all the sugar I ate in January, I'm trying to compensate with these healthy steamed lentil dumplings. It suits all sorts of diets - vegan, plant based, high protein, low fat etc. So you really have no excuse not to try it. If you thought just because it fit all those diets, it does not have flavor, think again! Because if you are a dill lover like me, this one is all Dilly. Pun unintended. 

These nucchina unde or lentil dumplings were a breakfast my mom used to make. The first time I tried them I fell in love with them. To make the dumplings, you need to soak mixed lentils for a few hours. You can also leave them soaking overnight. Then drain and grind them coarse. Add in the dill along with coconut, ginger and chilly for added flavor. Shape into dumplings and steam until done. And if you aren't in such a healthy mood, just deep fry them to make Masala Vadas. Tastes great both ways.

No matter how you make it, don't forget to serve it along with spicy Chutney.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Nuchina Unde Recipe

Nuchchina Unde or Nuchinunde are steamed lentil dumplings from South India. The dumplings are made from mixed lentils and flavored with herbs like curry leaves and dill. The lentil dumplings are vegan and healthy.

Recipe Type:  Snacks, Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     4 hours
Cook time:     15 minutes
Total time:     4 Hours 15 Minutes
Yield:                11-12

Ingredients:

0.75 cup Toor Dal or Pigeon Pea lentils
0.5 cup Chana Dal or Split chickpeas
1 cup chopped Dill leaves
1 Green Chilli
0.5 tsp Ginger
5-6 Curry leaves, finely chopped
0.25 cup grated Coconut
A pinch of Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the toor dal and chana dal. Soak the dals in water for 4-6 hours.
2. Drain out the water and coarsely grind the dals without adding any water to the mixer.
3. Remove the dal mixture into a large bowl and add finely chopped green chilli, finely chopped curry leaves, chopped dill leaves, ginger paste, asafoetida (hing) and salt.
4. Mix well until combined and shape into dumplings. If the batter feels watery, add a little besan or chickpea flour.
5. Steam for 10-12 minutes until done.
6. Serve hot with chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Khaman Dhokla

Mixed Dal Handvo

Battalu Kadabu

Read more ...

Sweet Potato Kebabs Recipe | Shakarkand Tikki Recipe [Video]

Sweet Potato Kebabs are shallow fried vegan fritters or tikkis made from boiled sweet potato, nuts, herbs and spices. They are perfect to be served as snacks at tea time. This recipe is vegan and glutenfree.

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SNACKS! It is FRY-day after all.

Sometime last year I posted a poll on Facebook, asking what you would like to see, and snacks got the highest vote. And I knew, you guys are just like me.

Raj loves sweet potatoes, and I'm just kinda okay okay about it. At this time of the year, the markets are flooded with sweet potatoes, well, because it is the season. So while we went out for our regular Sunday night dinner to eat Benne Dose or Butter Dosa, he tricked me into buying a lot of sweet potato from a farmer. Turns out, he wasn't a farmer.

Anyway, with a lot of sweet potatoes in my bag, and knowing that this lazy man won't even boil it for himself to eat, I had to think of something that I could cook and we both could eat.

Sweet Potato Kebabs or Tikkis are delicious and easy finger food, that will just prove to your family, how sweet you really are. Ok, bad jokes aside. They really are delicious and easy to make. Just boil sweet potatoes, add in all the other nice things, roll into shape, any shape you like, and fry it. Coz fry-day. Ok, no more jokes!

I'm keeping this post short for today. CYA on the other side of the weekend. Love you all.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Sweet Potato Kebabs Recipe

Sweet Potato Kebabs are shallow fried vegan fritters or tikkis made from boiled sweet potato, nuts, herbs and spices. They are perfect to be served as snacks at tea time. This recipe is vegan and gluten free.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     30 minutes
Yield:                14-15

Ingredients:

500gms boiled Sweet Potato
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
3-4 Walnuts, chopped
1 Green Chilli
1 large Tomato
2 Tbsp Green Onions or Spring Onion Greens
1 tsp Amchur Powder (dried mango powder)
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
2 Tbsp chopped Coriander Leaves
3 Tbsp Buckwheat Flour (Kuttu ka atta) or any other flour
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
1 tsp Chat Masala (optional)

Method:

1. Mash the boiled sweet potato until smooth.
2. Lightly crush the cumin seeds and add to the sweet potato.
3. Add in finely chopped green chilli, chopped walnuts, chopped green onions, amchur powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, chopped coriander leaves, buckwheat flour and salt to taste.
4. Mix well until combined and shape into kebabs.
5. Heat oil in a pan and fry the kebabs until browned evenly on all sides.
6. Sprinkle with chat masala before serving (optional).

If you liked this, you may also like:

Broccoli Zucchini Fritters

Shalgam Kebab

Banana Blossom Cutlets

Read more ...

Popular Posts of 2018

A compilation of top five most popular recipes of 2018 on One Teaspoon Of Life.

Hi All, Happy New Year to you!!

I hope you had the best holidays ever. Did you spend quality time with family? Did you party hard until you dropped?

Whatever you did, I hope it was fun and it involved a lot of food.

As we start a brand new year, I looked back on the progress I made on the blog over 2018. It was one of my best years, here on One Teaspoon Of Life. My reader base grew, my reach and impressions on social media grew so much, plus, I started my own YouTube Channel. It was a fun filled year here in the kitchens of One Teaspoon Of Life.

In December, I decided to look back and identify what you guys loved. Here are the top 5 posts of 2018 from One Teaspoon Of Life:

5) How to make Tofu

This post showed how to make tofu when you don't have access to nigari. It contained a video with step by step process on making tofu with lime juice and DIY tofu press. It also contains links to make your own Soy Milk. 

4) Lauki Kofta

This recipe is a delicious take on an otherwise boring vegetable. The bottle gourd was mixed with chickpea flour and spices to make a kofta ball that was later simmered in a spicy tomato based masala. This recipe also included a video that gave you step by step instructions to make Lauki Kofta.

3) South Indian Chana Masala

How much this recipe was loved actually surprised me at the time. I've posted various recipes of chana masala or chhole on One Teaspoon Of Life, but this South Indian version was the most appreciated. Unlike the North Indian versions, here the chickpeas are simmered in a masala made with fresh coconut and spices. No video here, but some really good photos.

2) Iyengar Bakery Style Masala Bread Toast

You guys loved this simple local bakery style dish. I love it to. Masala Bread Toast is a simple dish in which spicy sauteed onions are topped on a piece of toasted bread. This post included a video that provided step by step instructions.

and the Number 1 recipe is....

1) Dahi Bread Chaat

I loved this one sooo much. It is such a simple and flavorful dish. Toasted bread topped with whisked yogurt and sweet and spicy chutneys, colorful pomegranate, chickpeas, onions, tomatoes and what not. It was my quick take on a more complicated Dahi Bhalla and it was loved my all of you. This recipe contained step by step photo instructions on how to assemble this plate of beauty.

Special mention...

10 Vegetarian Snacks | 6 Vegan Finger Foods

You guys loved this compilation too, a little more than few of the recipe posts. Hope you have a snackalicious 2019.

Read more ...

Mangalore Buns Recipe | Banana Buns Recipe [Video]

Mangalore Buns or Banana Buns are deep fried slightly sweet puris flavored with ripe bananas.
These Mangalore buns are vegan and are popularly enjoyed as breakfast or tea time snacks.

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Hi Peeps, how are you doing? All set for the holiday season? Plans made with family?

Holidays with family are the best, aren't they? You create so many memories that you can feel nostalgic about in the future. Most of my favorite memories are of vacations with my family. This dish of Mangalore Buns features prominently in one of my childhood vacation memories.

Memories....

Early in the 90's Indian Railways started changing all meter gauge trains to broad gauge and that meant that trains were no longer accessible to the general public. Until then, we always traveled by train to my grandma's house, a tiny village near the city of Mangalore. Then started the days of bus travel. Since the village was so tiny, there was no direct bus from Goa. We had to alight at the closest point and wait for a connecting bus, all at 5am in the morning. While waking up that early was a torture, there was a silver or rather golden lining there. Before the first connecting bus arrived, a small restaurant would open its doors and start selling breakfast and these golden Mangalore Buns were always on the menu. My mom introduced us to these buns, and what an introduction it was. My love affair with these Mangalore Buns started back then!

Till today, when we are around Mangalore, we go in search of tiny restaurants that make fresh buns. If you want to know some of my favorite places, ask me in comments.

What is not to love? The buns are banana flavored and deep fried. They are more like Banana Puris. Mildly sweet with specks of cumin all over, they are just super delicious. Mangalore Buns are one of the only sweet breakfast that I enjoy, otherwise, I'm a savory breakfast girl. Mangalore Buns are commonly served with a simple coconut chutney and a piping hot sambar.

Traditionally, all purpose flour or maida is used to make the Mangalore Buns. But I usually use 50% all purpose flour and 50% wholewheat flour (atta). I've made it also with 100% wholewheat flour and it did not absolutely take away from the flavor, the texture however wasn't as spongy and the bins were slightly flat. I still did not mind that, they still tasted amazing. The dough can be rested overnight if the temperature is lower, else you can rest it in the fridge in warmer weather. These buns are a perfect way to use overripe bananas that you may have discarded otherwise. Ripe to overripe bananas work best in this recipe. Serve the buns with chutney or just plain.

Go ahead, make them this holiday season, and create your own special memories.

Fun fact - No matter whether it is just one bun or multiple, it is always called "buns". 

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Mangalore Buns Recipe | Banana Buns Recipe

Mangalore buns are banana flavored deep fried buns made from either all purpose or whole wheat flour. These vegan buns are a popular breakfast around the city of Mangalore.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     2.5 Hours (includes dough resting time)
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     3 Hours
Yield:                Makes 10-12

Ingredients:

2 ripe Bananas
0.25 cups Curd (Yoghurt)
3 cups All Purpose Flour or Wholewheat Flour
3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
0.25 tsp Salt
A pinch of Baking Soda
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Oil to fry

Method:

1. Mash the bananas with powdered sugar until smooth.
2. Add in the cumin seeds, whisked curd, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
3. Add in the flour and knead into a stiff dough.
4. Apply a little oil on the dough to prevent it from drying. Cover and rest for 2-4 hours. The dough can be rested overnight too. If the weather is warm, rest in the fridge.
5. Dust the kitchen counter with some dry flour.
6. Pull out a ball of dough and roll it out on the dusted counter.
7. Heat oil for deep frying.
8. Carefully drop in the rolled out buns and fry on medium high heat until one side browns.
9. Flip over and fry until the other side browns.
10. Remove from oil and place it onto a absorbent kitchen towel to cool.
11. Serve hot or at room temperature with chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Banana Bread

Cucumber Pakoda

Menthe Pathrode

Read more ...

Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters Recipe | Broccoli Cutlets Recipe [Video]

Broccoli Zucchini Fritters or Tikkis are cutlets made from finely chopped broccoli, grated zucchini, carrots and peas along with some cheese and spices. The fritters are shallow fried in this video. Broccoli Zucchini Fritters are a fun way to eat the healthy vegetables. This recipe is kid-friendly and the perfect dish to sneak in vegetables to your children.

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It's a Fabulous Friday and I'm back with a snack recipe. I realized you can never have enough of those.

These fritters are so DELICIOUS, you won't even know they are made from such healthy ingredients. It has so many vegetables, it is almost a salad! So these fritters are made with one of my favorite veggies - Broccoli. I've been in love with the vegetable since I first tasted it. The taste, the texture, the color, I cannot get enough of it and I find it hard to accept that there are folks out there hating this awesome vegetable. 

You have to try these Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters if you are a Broccoli lover like me, and you have to especially try it if you hate Broccoli. This recipe will CONVERT you! Trust me when I say, you won't even realize that you ate it with all the delicious medley of flavors in there. 

So these cutlets or fritters are not just about the Broccoli, as I mentioned, it is practically a salad, just shaped beautifully and shallow fried, but a salad nevertheless. It has the added goodness of carrots, now all of us love carrots, right? Now tell me you definitely love Zucchini. I totally do. Carrots, eh, not so much, but Zucchini, I can do so much with. Zucchinis are so versatile, use them in Zoodles, use them as a Lasagna sheet, or you can use them in a frittata like I did. Then I just added in some frozen green peas, because I just wasn't satisfied with all the other healthy ingredients... ok, jokes apart, the peas add a slight sweetness and texture that I really really like.

Some points...

• To make these fritters, the veggies are microwaved before mixing in the other ingredients. This helps in reducing the batter getting moist at a later time. You can also lightly saute the veggies or just steam them slightly before using. 
• Soaked and crumbled bread is added to help bind the veggies together. You can use bread crumbs instead. 
• I used Pizza Cheese, which is a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Use any cheese you have. I recommend something that melts easily.
• Deep fry or bake if you desire, I found shallow frying gives it the texture I desired without using too much of oil.

These cutlets are kid friendly and a perfect way to sneak in vegetables to your children.

These Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters are a perfect appetizer to serve for dinners or as a fancy tea time snack. 

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters Recipe

Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters are shallow fried vegetarian cutlets made from broccoli, zucchini, carrots and green peas.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     35 minutes
Yield:                Makes 8 cutlets

Ingredients:

1 cup finely chopped Broccoli
0.25 cup Green Peas
1 Carrot, grated
1 small Zucchini, grated
2 slices Bread
0.5 cup Pizza cheese, grated
2 Tbsp Corn flour (corn starch)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Oil to fry

Method:

1. Add chopped broccoli and green peas to a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes.
2. Squeeze out the water from the zucchini and add to the bowl along with grated carrot.
3. Microwave on high for another 2 minutes.
4. Add grated cheese, cornflour, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix well.
5. Soak the bread in water and squeeze out the water. Crumble the bread and add to the bowl. Mix well.
6. Divide the batter and shape into patties.
7. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the patties in it.
8. Flip when the first side browns.
9. Remove from oil once both sides browns.
10. Serve hot with ketchup.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Curried Rice and Zucchini Fritters

Dahi Kebab

Millet Cutlets

Read more ...

Traditional Chakli Recipe | How to make Chakli [Video]

Chakli is a deep fried savory Indian snack that is popularly made for Diwali. Chakli is a spiral snack made from rice and black lentil (urad dal) flour and can be enjoyed in a gluten free diet. This recipe will show to how to make chakli from scratch along with a video tutorial.

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Soooo.... this post comes almost a month later than what it should have been posted. I had planned to post this Chakli recipe before Diwali, so you guys could try it for Diwali. But I totally missed it. I thought of waiting for next year to post it, but then who has the patience to wait another year. And I figured out, you don't need Diwali around to make Chakli, you can make it anytime you like. With cold weather coming our way, the demand for deep fried goodness is only going to go up. So here's the recipe for the crispy crunchy Chakli.

There are several variations of the Chakli - Palak Chakli, Butter Chakli and what my friend told me recently, there's even an Jalapeno Chakli out there. But this is the recipe for the traditional chakli.

Some background.

It’s been years that I have been planning to cook snacks and sweets for Diwali and restart our old tradition of visiting friends and family and sharing those delicacies with them. But for the last 2 years, I’ve been out of country for Diwali (visiting Bali and Cambodia). So while I made elaborate plans on what to cook and how to box them, it never materialized. But this Diwali was different, I was in country and better yet, I was in Goa. Gee and I split up the dishes and managed to put up two savory and two sweets on the plate. It was such a delight!

I had several ideas for the savory snack and while I had Chakli at the back of my mind, Gee picked it too. Chakli was what my mom made every Diwali when we were little and gave it to everyone in the apartment complex. And this year, I restarted that tradition.

I made Chakli several times in the last one month, I made trial batches and I made more batches for distributing. With all the Chakli making so fresh in my mind, I'm at my best to give you all the tips and tricks required to make the perfect Chakli. There are several small things that impact how your Chakli turns out, and I have included it in the Notes section at the bottom of the recipe. Who knew, that things like humidity and temperature could affect your Chakli?

There are different varieties of Chakli Press available in the market, you can buy:

• Stainless Steel Ones -  
• Brass ones -             
• Wooden ones  from local markets.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Traditional Chakli Recipe

Chakli is a savory deep fried Indian snack that is popularly made for Diwali. Chakli is a crispy spiral snack made from rice and lentil flour. It is a spicy crunchy vegetarian snack.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     10 hours
Cook time:     60 minutes
Total time:     10 hours 40 minutes
Yield:                80-90

Ingredients:

3 cups or 570 gms raw Rice
1 cup or 190 gms Urad Dal
0.75 cup or 75 gms Ghee
0.5 cup Oil
5 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Asafoetida (Hing) (Use gluten free hing to suit a gluten free diet)
2-4 tsp Salt
3-4 cups Water
Oil to fry
Water as required

Method:

To make the Chakli Flour:

1. Wash and drain the rice. Spread it on a dry muslin cloth in a single layer to dry overnight or for 8-10 hours.
2. Once the rice is dry, dry roast it in a kadhai until all the moisture evaporates and the rice turns bright white. Roast on low flame by stirring occassionally. Do not allow the rice to change color or burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. Dry roast the urad dal on low heat until it turns pinkish-brown. The dal will turn fragrant once roasted well. Stir occassionally and do not allow the dal to burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. Once the rice and urad dal have cooled, grind it into a smooth powder in batches. You can either do this at home in a mixer or get it powdered at a mill.
5. Sieve the flour to remove any unpowdered rice or dal.
6. With the quantities used in this recipe, you should get around 750-760gms of chakli flour.

To make the Chakli:

7. Grind 3 tsp of cumin seeds into a coarse powder. Alternately you can use roasted cumin powder.
8. Add the cumin seed powder to the chakli flour.
9. Next add in the red chilli powder, remaining cumin seeds, hing and 2 tsp of salt and mix it roughly. Hing or asafoetida may contain wheat and hence avoid it if making a gluten free version.
10. Add in melted ghee and rub it in the flour.
11. Add hot oil by the spoonfuls and rub it in the flour. Squeeze a bit of the flour in your palms, if it holds the shape, you can stop adding oil. If it crumbles away, add more oil and mix.
12. Once you have added all the oil, add in water slowly and start kneading until you have a smooth dough. Adjust seasoning or spices as you continue to knead.
13. Once you have a smooth dough, cover with a wet cloth and keep aside.
14. Grease the chakli press well.
15. Take a ball of dough and stuff it in the chakli press.
16. Press out the chaklis onto a smooth plastic sheet.
17. Heat oil in a kadhai for deep frying. Add a small piece of flour to test the oil. If the piece floats up, the oil is hot enough.
18. Once the oil is hot, carefully pick up the chakli and add it to the oil. Fry in batches and do not crowd the kadhai.
19. Once you have added the first batch of chaklis, lower the heat to a minimum and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes. Depending on the quantity of oil you have in the kadhai and the stove settings, you may require more or less time than what is mentioned. Try a test batch first to get the time and temperature of the stove correct. See notes for more tips.
20. Remove from oil and place it onto a absorbent kitchen towel to cool.
21. Once cool, store in an airtight box.
22. Serve at room temperature with tea.

Notes:

1. To make the chakli gluten free, do not add hing or asafoetida.
2. To make the chakli vegan, you can replace ghee with oil.
3. To make the chakli richer tasting, the oil can be replaced with ghee or butter. Butter can also be used in place of ghee or oil completely.
4. If you are making chakli for the first time, it is better to make the dough in small batches, so that you can correct the next batch if required. Humidity and temperature in your house may change the amount of ghee/oil required in your recipe, a trial batch will help get that quantity right.
5. If the chaklis start breaking when you try to shape them, then add more water to the dough and try again. The water can be added to small batches of dough as you go along.
6. If the chaklis start breaking in the oil while frying, that means the amount of ghee or oil added to the dough is more than required. Add it a little dry flour and knead again.
7. The chakli flour can be stored for 1-2 months in a dry airtight container.
8. The chakli dough cannot be stored and it is recommended to make chakli with fresh dough.
9. Cooking the chakli is the trickiest part, make sure the oil is hot when you drop in the chaklis, after that set the stove to sim or minimum heat. Cook on a low temperature until crispy. The high temperature gives color to the chakli while the low temperature cooks it all the way through making it crispy. It is recommended to make a few trial batches so that you get the temperature and time required in your environment.
10. Allow the chaklis to cool completely before storing, else they may get soft.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Shankarpole

Nippattu

Baked Papdi

Read more ...

Shalgam Ke Kebab | Vegan Turnip Chops [Video]

Shalgam ke Kebab or Turnip Chops are crumb coated pan fried patties made from fresh seasonal turnips and mashed potatoes, flavored with spices. Perfect for winter evening tea !!

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

It feels so good to eat seasonal!!

I cannot remember the last time I ate turnips. Being seasonal, turnips start coming into the market around this time, and because the demand isn't so high I guess, they tend to be available in very few shops across Bangalore. I'm lucky I found them in my vegetable store. 

I haven't cooked much with turnips in the past. But this year, I've been buying them every week. I made a dry curry with grated turnips, I added them to sambar, I made parathas, and lastly, I made these delicious, crispy kebabs.

Here are the details.

Since, they are called Shalgam ke Kebab, they have to taste of Shalgam (turnips). Turnips are slightly sharp or bitter in taste, but they are much milder than the daikon radish. At the peak of the season, they are actually sweet, which would be the best time to cook with them. You can either boil the turnips and use in this kebab or you can grate them like I did. Boiling them dilutes the flavor slightly as they combine very easily with the other ingredients. I grated them because I wanted the turnip flavor to be dominant in the kebabs. So, peel the turnips and grate them. Make sure you squeeze out as much water as you can from the turnips, this will prevent the kebabs from getting soggy on the inside.

We need binding agents to make the kebabs. And here, we are using two of them - potatoes and gram flour (besan). Use just enough to bind the mixture.

I mildly spiced the kebabs with turmeric powder, red chilli powder and some homemade garam masala. I added coriander leaves, because, well, I add coriander to pretty much everything. I love the freshness it adds. You can skip it or replace it with herbs like dill or parsley. 

In the absence of an egg wash, because I don't eat eggs, I made a simple plain flour slurry. This helps in crumb coating the kebabs. If you want to use eggs, you can.

The crumb coating - I ran out of bread crumbs, which would have been ideal, so I replaced them with coarsely powdered rolled oats. What can I say, it was fantastic. The oats behaved more like panko bread crumbs and they gave the kebab a nice crunchy outer layer. And may be made it feel a little healthier too. 

I shallow fried the kebabs until they were nice and brown. I've never tried baking them, so I don't know if that will work. But if you have already baked something similar, I'd say go ahead and bake them. If you do, leave me a comment so it helps out other readers who may want to bake.

Top the kebabs with some chat masala or squeeze some lime juice on them while eating. 

These Shalgam ke Kebab also go fantastically with green chutney. 

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Video Recipe

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Shalgam ke Kebab Recipe

Shalgam ke Kebab or Turnip Chops are crumb coated pan fried patties made from fresh seasonal turnips and mashed potatoes, flavored with spices.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            North Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Total time:     30 minutes
Yield:                5

Ingredients:

3 small Turnips
1 boiled Potato
2 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
2 Tbsp Gram Flour (Besan)
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
0.5 tsp Garam Masala
2 Tbsp Plain Flour (Maida)
0.5 cup Bread Crumbs or coarsely powdered Oats
Oil to fry
Salt to taste
Water as required

Method:

1. Peel and grate the turnips. Squeeze out as much water from the turnips as possible.
2. Mash the boiled potato and add it to the turnip.
3. Add in ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, chopped coriander leaves, garam masala, gram flour and salt.
4. Mix well until completely combined.
5. Divide the mixture and shape into kebabs or patties.
6. Mix together flour with 2-3 Tbsp of water to make a thick smooth slurry.
7. Dip the kebab into the slurry and coat it fully.
8. Dip the kebab into bread crumbs or powdered oats and coat it completely.
9. In a shallow pan, heat up oil.
10. When the oil is hot, add the kebab. Keep the stove on medium heat.
11. Fry until one side browns, then flip over and continue to fry until the other side browns.
12. Remove from the pan onto paper napkins.
13. Serve hot with chutney or ketchup.
14. Demould and serve hot with chutney or sambhar.
15. All rottis may not puff up completely, but do not worry, they are still cooked.
16. Serve the rottis hot/warm with curry.

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