Crunchy munchy Spring Rolls

Any Crunchy-munchy snack or appetizer is welcome on these cold and holiday season. Here is my delicious and super-easy to make spring roll recipe! The filling is made up of lots of fresh healthy vegetables and is one of the best craved vegetarian appetizers. Get your kids to help with rolling them up – it’s fun to do. But even if you’re making them solo, you’ll find these spring rolls quick and easy to make. Excellent as an appetizer, ENJOY!

• 1 package spring roll wrappers (look for them in the freezer section of your any Asian/Chinese food store)
• 1 Tbsp. oil for stir-frying, + approx. 1 cup canola or other oil for frying
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 red or green chili, minced (optional)
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• ½ cup finely diced celery (optional)
• ½ cup shredded carrots
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. sugar

Spring Roll step by step process

Preparation:

1. Remove Spring roll wrappers from freezer and allow them to thaw while you prepare the filling.
2. Mix  soya sauce and sugar together in a cup. Set aside.
3. Place a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Swirl 1 Tbsp. oil around the pan, then add garlic and chili. Stir-fry 30 seconds to release the fragrance.
4. Add all the veggies and stir-fry for 2 minutes, or until cabbage has softened slightly add soya sauce and sugar mixture and mix them well until the whole mixture is dried up.
5. Peel and separate 3 spring roll wrappers at one time from the package and place on a clean, dry surface. With one of the pointy edges facing you, place about 1 heaping Tbsp. of the stir-fry in the center of the first wrapper.
6. Roll it tightly to cover the filling and Fold the sides of the wrapper over the filling, then roll up from the bottom. Pinch the center (if necessary) to create a round, sausage-like roll (not flat). Secure the end of the roll by brushing on a little water.
7. Continue rolling in this way until all the filling has been used up. As you work, place finished rolls on a plate and cover with a damp cloth to keep them from drying out.
8. Heat oil in a frying pan over med-high heat. Oil should be about 1 inch deep. When oil starts to form thin moving lines across the bottom of the pan, turn down heat slightly.
9. When oil is ready, carefully slide spring rolls in, or place them in oil with tongs. Allow to cook 1 minute (or until golden brown) then use tongs to turn and cook the other side.
10. Place cooked spring rolls on a clean cloth or paper towel to drain.

Serve hot with any Sweet Chili Sauce as a dip. I served these to my kid with ketchup and he loved it.

Spring rolls

Sour Dosa (Pulla Attu)

There are hundreds of varieties of dosas and each has its own unique taste. Dosa in any form are my family favorite. Especially, this sour dosa (Pullattu) has a very prominent place on our table. This recipe came from generations. They are so light, crispy and just right that even kids help themselves with atleast one more serving. I made this today for my 3 ½ boy and when I am done feeding, he came to me opening his mouth not realizing that his portion is done, so I gave him another and he enjoyed it with a great pleasure. This is almost an instant dosa recipeand can be served as breakfast or snack.

Ingredients-

• 1 Cup Rice Flour
• ½ cup Maida
• 1 Cup Sour curd
• 3 Green chilies finely chopped
• 1 carrot shredded
• ½ onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp Cumin / Jeera  (optional)
• Salt according to taste

Spreaded Sour Dosa on the griidle (Left),Sour Dosa Batter(Right)/ Pulla Attu

Directions-

1. Mix all the above ingredients to a pouring consistency and let it sit for atleast 30 min.
2. Heat a flat griddle (Dosa Pan) and scoop one laddle of batter and spread outside in (regular dosas we scoop batter in the middle and spread it inside out, since the batter isin puring consistency, we should pour the batter from outside in). Put some oil on the edges and in the holes that are formed on top of dosa (this dosa may not be perfectly round)
3. Let it cook till it becomes golden brown and crunchy at the edges.
4. After 2 mins reverse to the other side and fry for for 30 sec. Make sure that the heat is on Med flame for these dosas.
5. Serve hot with ginger chutney and they will be eaten in no time.

Sour Dosa (Pulla Attu) served with ginger chutney

Nan_Khatai

Nan khatai is an egg-less light and crispy biscuit that’s loved by all ages and mainly kids.

With the holidays around, my kids day care had a thanks giving feast and I sent these cookies for their class. They came out pretty good and are liked by all. My Whole house smelled so nice. After some heavy cooking, end your cooking by sticking these cookies in the oven, it automatically freshens your house with a nice aroma from the cardamoms. No need of any room fresheners.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup all purpose flour (plain flour or maida)
• 1/3 cup fine sooji or semolina ( Sooji used for making upma will not do good in this recipe, If you use coarse sooji, as you bite into the cookie, you feel the coarse texture of sooji, it is highly recommended to use fine sooji)
• 1/2 cup gram flour (besan)
• Pinch of baking soda (a little less than 1/8 teaspoon)
• 1/4 teaspoon green cardamom seed coarsely powder (elachi)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter ( Do Not Melt)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon coarsely powdered almond

Nan Khatai process

Directions-

1. Pre heat the oven to 375 degree.
2. In a bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, gram flour, sooji, baking soda and cardamom powder and set aside.
3. Let the butter come to room temperature (butter should be soft not melted)
4. Add butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat for two to three minutes until light and fluffy.
5. Add the flour mix to butter and sugar mixture and knead them together to make smooth dough.
6. Divide the dough into equal parts and make them into balls.
7. Press each ball between your palms lightly; every piece should be about 3/4″ in thickness.
8. With a sharp knife softly draw a tic-tac-toe design on the top and put few pieces of almonds and pistachios and press them into the dough gently.
9. Put Nan khatai on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about 13 to 15 minutes or until Nan khatai are lightly gold brown.
10. After they are lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven.  Let the Nan Khatais cool down for two to three minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet.

Nan Khatai (Indian Egg less biscuits)

Chicken puff

Today, I made another batch of chicken 65 and saved little to make chicken puff. An all time favorite for my DH and my elder son.

We are all very familiar with the street corner bakeries and the delicious aroma that will float around that area. One of my favorite items from such bakeries is the Puff. Flaky wrap and spicy filling, it’s a popular bakery food, loved by all ages. They are prepared with puff pastry like dough, and the filling varies- from vegetarian potato, to egg, chicken, kheema, mutton etc.

Thanks for the frozen puff pastry, We can make a great quick turn snack and a sure hit party appetizer.

For filling, I used chicken-65 recipe, you can use low fat chicken fry or any version of chicken fry.

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of Puff Pastry sheet (I used the Pepperidge farm frozen puff pastry)

Making of Chicken Puff

Directions-

1. There are four sheets in one pack, and they were stuck to each other. So I cut them to three strips.
2. Roll each one to a thin rectangle. Divided each strip to 4 equal portions.
3. Place a tablespoon of chicken towards one of the corner of each portion, fold, and baked them at 350°F for about 15 minutes to golden-brown.

Chicken Puff

Grill Cheese sandwich with french fries

As the name says it all, grill cheese sandwich is a simple treat made up of two slices of bread with cheese melted in between. The sandwich may be grilled for a fancier look, but, it is mostly pan fried. Any type of cheese and any type of bread will do.The grilled cheese sandwich is obviously served hot; however its ungrilled counterpart, the cheese sandwich, can be served cold. Often simply a sandwich made from simple bread (sometimes buttered) with cheese set between, the cheese sandwich is a tasty alternative.

Due to its superior melting factor, American cheese is the most popular cheese chosen for a grilled cheese sandwich. Cheddar and Swiss take second and third places. But don’t follow the crowd, follow your taste.

This is one my son favorite breakfast item.

Ingredients-

• 2 slices of Sandwich bread
• 1 American cheese slice (use your choice of cheese)
• 1 tsp of unsalted butter

Directions-

1. Spread butter evenly on one side of each piece of bread.
2. Place American cheese slice(s) on the side without butter. This gets the cheese slice between the 2 breads
3. Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat and place the sandwich with the butter-side out.
4. Cook the sandwich for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until golden and the cheese is melted. Serve hot.

Grilled cheese sandwich goes excellent with potato chips or French fries.

French fries

This is a Kids all time favorite and a great evening snack on cool days.

Ingredients-

• 3 large potatoes cut into strips (russet potatoes are recommended, but i used the red potatoes, came out great)
• Oil for deep frying
• ¼ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp chili powder

French fries

Directions-

1. Cut the potatoes into strips and soak the potato strips in cold water for at least .30 min at room temperature.(Soaking is key—this removes the starch, keeps the potatoes from sticking together, and eliminates the sugars that prevent the potatoes from achieving maximum crispness.) Drain well and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Heat oil in wide pan and fry the potato strips in hot oil until golden brown and tender.
3. Drain the homemade french fries on paper towels then keep warm in the oven while frying remaining batches.
4. Take out all the French fries and season with salt and chili powder. ( alternatively,  you can use fresh ground black pepper also)

Go ahead, make some at home, and munch on them without feeling guilty.

Spicy French Fries with Cheese sandwich

pesarapappu murukku (janthikallu)

As diwali is nearing by, I am busy in my kitchen making different snacks and sweets. I feel like I am cooking for some marathon.

No festival is complete with out savors and sweets. When it comes to savors, Murukulu or janthikallu are always on the top of the list for generations.

This is my great grandmother speciality recipe (my great grand mother who is a wonderful cook, sure has magic in her fingers, anything she makes is utterly finger licking) for making muruku. Instead of roasting the dal and powdering it, she pressure cooks dal and make these murukku that are irresistibly delicious and adored by every one. Best of all no butter or oil while kneading the dough, yet they come out hollow, crunchy and delicious.

A healthy evening snack.

We can use the same recipe for making urad dal muruku or janthikalu.

pesarapappu murukulu (janthikallu)

Ingredients-

• 1 cup Pesara pappu (moongdal)
• 3 cups RiceFlour
• 2 Tbsp sesame seeds (nuvvulu)
• 1 tsp salt  or to taste
• 1 tsp Red chili powder or as to taste

muruku process starting from left top

Directions-

1. Pressure cook, moong dal (pesara pappu) for 4 whistles.
2. Let all the pressure cool off. Open the cooker lid, If you have any left over water in moong dal, drain it into a bowl and save it for kneading.
3. Mash dal with a hand blender or a grinder, into a smooth paste.
4. To this smooth paste, add 3 cups rice flour, salt, sesame seeds and red chili powder. Mix it thoroughly until the mixture turns into a dry powder.
5. Add ¼ cup of warm water( heat water for 30 sec in micro wave or if you have left over water after pressure cooking dal, please use it. Don’t waste the protein!!) and knead the dough to get a soft ball. By the end of the kneading process, the dough should not stick to your hand. (if it is sticking to your hand, you added more water than required, just add little rice flour and adjust it.

If it is too dry to form a ball, just add little more water)

1. Divide the dough into batches so that each batch can be filled into the Muruku press.
2. Heat a wide heavy bottomed vessel with enough oil for deep frying. Take the muruku press and use the disc with a star hole or a medium round hole.
3. Fill the press with the dough and once the oil is hot, reduce to medium flame and using circular motion, press the muruku gun (press) to make good circles. While pressing the dough into the hot oil, you will find the oil froth up in bubbles which will eventually subside as the murukku turn to a golden shade. Remember the frying has to be done on medium flame to achieve that golden color and crispness.
4. While frying a batch of murukku, cover the rest of the dough to prevent it from forming a cake (dry layer)
5. TIP1- When the oil froth subsides down, take a fork and tap the murukku, you will feel the hardness of murukku when tapping, a quick way of knowing that they are well cooked.
6. TIP2-Since the dal is pressure cooked, these murukku will not get dark brown unlike the murukku or janthikallu we make with dry flour. If your murukku turns dark brown then you have over cooked it.
7. When the janthikalu turn a golden color, turn over to the other side and let it also cook to a golden brown. Use a slotted ladle to remove onto an absorbent paper and cool. Repeat the same process till the rest of the dough is done. Cool completely before storing in an air tight container.

pesarapappu murukku

Masala vada

This is an Andhra lip smacking snack and a popular traveling finger food. The weather is gloomy and raining, so, I thought it is a perfect time for this savory snack.  Crunchy munch with a of hot tea is a perfect combo on a rainy day.

Ingredients

• 3 cups Channa dal
• 10 Green chilies
• 1 ½ inch Ginger chopped
• 3 Garlic cloves (optional)
• 3, 1 inch cinnamon stick (optional)
• 4 Cloves (optional)
• 1 medium Onion
• ½ cup Coriander leaves chopped
• Hand full of Curry leaves chopped
• Hand full of mint chopped
• Salt – as required

Masala vada

Directions-

1. Soak channa dal for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Grind it coarsely with green chilies, ginger, garlic, and salt. (grinding in small batches by just sprinkling water gives perfect texture and makes the grinding easy too)
3. Chop onions into small pieces, also chop coriander leaves, mint and curry leaves.
4. Add all the chopped ingredients including cinnamon and cloves to the ground channa dal. Mix all of them together.
5. Heat oil in a deep dish.
6. Take a small amount (size of lemon) of batter and flatten it with your palms on a plastic sheet / wet paper towel .
7. Drop this into oil and fry till golden brown.
8. Serve hot with ketchup, coconut chutney or ginger chutney.

Note- I grinded to a smooth texture for my kids.  Back home, we usually grind it to a coarse texture or some times we will take a handful of soaked channa dal to a side and grind the remaining to a smooth paste and add the seperated soaked channa dal to the this smooth dough to get that more crunchy nice texture.

Gaucamole Dip

Hard to believe something that tastes so rich and creamy is actually a fruit. But what’s really amazing about Avocados from Mexico is that they contain nearly 20 Vitamins, minerals and even phytonutients. Try to use some delicious avocados, at least twice a month and get familiar with the taste. It tastes really awesome. Once you enjoy it I can bet you cannot stop eating it.

The famous Guacamole, you can make from this avocado with tomatoes, chilies and lime is a breath taker snack or appetizer.

Once started, my husband and I cannot stop to put the bowl done, until it is completely finished and we end it with finger licking. This time my younger boy indulged in eating it, he wants more too..he keeps showing his finger to the bowl, wanting to have more. This was one of the best fruit, we can give kids.

I always gave this fruit to my kids when they are infants, since it is the only fruit that has good fat.

Enjoy this Guacamole with Tortilla Scoops, umm..umm…yumm!!!

Gaucamole Cups

Ingredients

2 Ripe Avacados

3 Green Chilies

1 small onion (Shallot) Finley chopped

1 medium Roma Tomato

1 Key Lime (Adjust to taste)

Avocado

How to Cut and Peel an Avocado-

1. Grip the avocado gently on one side with one hand. With a large, sharp knife in the other hand, cut the avocado lengthwise around the seed. Open the two halves to expose the pit.
2. At this point, you can spoon to scoop out the pit.

Directions-

1. Get the meat of the avocado by making slices inside avocado
2. Just squeeze the outer flesh (like you would do to a juicy mango to get the juice out) into a bowl. You will get all the avocado meat out.
3. Squeeze the lime juice, Add green chilies, tomatoes and onion into bowl.
4. Take a fork and mash all of the ingredients together.
5. Avocado meat will be mashed up into a paste.
6. Enjoy this dip with tortillas.  You can also serve it with a dash of sour cream on top.

Gaucamole Scoops

If you have left over Roti, You can even make Avocado Wraps with stuffing the above Guacamole in the Roti and roll the roti. You Got a delicious wrap. For added flavor, you can use diced bell peppers and onions soaked in lime juice overnight. (When ever I use bell pepper and have roti’s in the fridge, I always take a handful of diced bell peppers and store it with little lime juice in the fridge. The acid of the lime juice, cooks the bell pepper leaving it crispier and very refreshing). You can also add a dollop of sour cream for added taste.

Avocado Wrap

Saggubiyam Vada

‘Sabudana’ aka ‘Sagubiyyam’ was one thing I use rarely since, the only recipe I know with this was ‘Payasam’ or ‘Kheer’ until Sandeepa (my friend) called me and said about this vada. It was really tasty to make and as always a quick fix, when planned in advance and soaked sabudana.

The crispy texture is always a favorite to every one.

Sabudana Vada Dough

Here is the recipe-

Ingredients

• 1 cup Sabudana (sago / Saggubiyyam)
• 3/4 cup All purpose flour (Maida)
• 1/2 cup Rice flour
• Salt to taste
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1/2 cup Sour curd (Optional)
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp green chili paste ( 7 green chilies finely chopped)
• Few curry leaves
• Pinch of baking soda
• Oil to fry

Directions-

1. Soak sabudana in a mixture of curd or water for 2-3 hours or till soft.
2. In a Bowl, add soaked soft sabudana (sagubiyyam) and the rest of the ingredients, mix well.
3. Make medium sized balls, flatten them and fry them in hot oil till crisp and well cooked. (Always fry vadas on a medium flame. Cooking vada’s on high flame, makes the outer layer dark but inner portion of the vada stays uncooked)

Serve hot with chutney/sauce.

This recipe has only 3 simple steps which tell you how easy it is to make these vada’s. I Hope you all enjoy them.

Sabudana Vada

One other silly reason i like to do this dish is, i love to cut these thin slices using a knife. It makes me feel better that i can do such a good job. Small things that makes you feel better at home. There are some simple things around you which we can use to make us  feel better for the day.

Plantain Chips (Arati Kaya Chips)

Ingredients

• 1 Raw plantain
• ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Red chilli powder
• Oil to deep fry

Plantain

Plantain Chips

Directions-

1. Wash and peel the skin of plantain.
2. Make thin slices of plantain with the help of a mandolin / slicer or with knife (The thinner the chip, the crispier it will be).
3. Heat oil in a deep skillet (Kadai). Deep fry the chips on both side till they are golden brown. (Be careful not to burn the chips)
4. In a pan dump all these chips. Sprinkle salt, red chilli powder and sauté them on a medium flame till all the chips are coated well with the seasoning. Heating the chips the second time without oil will give that nice crispy texture and the seasoning will stick to every chip. Let it cool before storing in an air tight container.
5. Serve it as a snack or as a side for sambar / Dal or any gravy curry.

Plantain Chips