VADA SAMBHAR

INGREDIENTS:
FOR VADA

• 1/2 cup Urad Daal
• 1/2 cup Moong Daal
• 1 Onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1-2 Green Chilies finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda

FOR SAMBHAR

• 3/4 cup toor dal
• 1/2 cup onion
• 1/4 cup tomato
• 1/4 cup potato
• 1 tea spn sambar powder
• A pinch turmeric
• Oil
• 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
• A pinch asafoetida
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 2-3 strands cilantro leaves
• Salt 

METHOD:

FOR VADA

• Pick, wash and soak daals for 3-4 hours.
• Grind them coarsely in a blender.
• Now add onions,ginger, green chilies salt and baking powder and mix well and set aside for 5 minutes.
• Heat oil in a pan or kadhai and deep fry a spoonful of batter till golden
• Serve with chutney as a breakfast or sambhar or rasam as a meal.

FOR SAMBHAR:

Cook toor dal with turmeric. Cook potato, tomato and onion separately, I mean do not mix them with dal while cooking. (If you have the cooker vessels, use the down one for the dal and the upper one for vegetables. This way the dal cooks faster than the vegetables). Around 3-4 whistles are enough in cooker. (If using microwave, cook both separately one after the other). Mash the dal with a spoon. Add the vegetables to dal and add sufficient water (this sambar tastes good when the dal is cooked well and mashed well). Heat the dal, vegetables mixture. Add salt. When it starts boiling, add the sambar powder (Do not hold the entire packet of sambar powder on boiling sambar. The steam gets into the packet and the powder gets spoiled. So use spoon to take out the powder away from the boiling sambar and then add the powder). Add the chopped coriander leaves and cook for 2-3mins. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add asafoetida and curry leaves (tear the curry leaves into two to increase the aroma). Add this seasoning to Sambar and immediately close the lid.

  

PEANUT-GARLIC CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup dry coconut
• 1/3 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts coarsely ground
• 1 full head of garlic (15-20 cloves)
• 2 dry red chillies
• Salt to taste

METHOD;

• Roast the coconut on a low fire till it begins to turn golden.
• Roast the sesame seeds in the same way.
• Mix all the ingredients except the peanuts together and grind in a food processor.
• When done add the peanuts and mix well. Season with salt.

MINT-CILANTRO CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch fresh mint (approximately 100 gms/ 0.22 lbs)

1 bunch fresh coriander (approximately 100 gms/ 0.22 lbs)

5 cloves garlic

1" piece of ginger

2 green chillies

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

METHOD:

• Cut off roots from the cilantro and any thick stalks from the mint and discard. You should now have enough coriander and mint to loosely fill 1 1/2 to 2 cups with each of them.
• Peel garlic and ginger and remove stalks from green chillies. Wash all these ingredients thoroughly.
• Grind all the ingredients (including the salt which you can add more of later to suit your taste) into a smooth paste in a food processor.
• Chill and serve.

TAMRIND DATE CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS:

• 200 gms tamarind (remove seeds)
• 100 gms dates (pitted)
• 150 gms jaggery
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp fennel
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (roast and grind coarsely)
• 1 tsp salt
• Red chilli powder as per taste

METHOD:

• Put the tamarind, dates, jaggery and water in a saucepan and cook on a medium flame till the dates and tamarind are soft.
• Turn off flame and allow the mixture to cool.
• Use a food processor or hand blender to blend mixture together into a smooth sauce.
• Put sauce back into the saucepan and onto a medium flame and add remaining spice ingredients.
• Bring the sauce to a boil and turn off.
• Allow to cool, then chill and serve.

VADA PAV

INGREDIENTS:

Ingredients:

• 8-10 potatoes boiled, peeled and mashed
• 2 tsps garlic paste
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 3 green chillies
• 1/2 tsp tumeric powder
• 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
• 6-7 curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• 2 cups bengal gram flour
• Vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil for deep frying
• 6 Pav buns (square buns that look like burger buns but are smaller, so you can substitute)
• 1 cup Tamarind Chutney (refer to chutney recipe)
• 1 cup Mint-Coriander Chutney (refer to chutney recipe)
• 1/2 cup Shengdaana Lehsun Chutney (peanut garlic chutney) -refer to chutney recipe

METHOD:

• Mix the gram flour with enough water and salt to taste, to make a thick, smooth paste. Keep aside.
• Mix the ginger and garlic pastes and add the green chillies to them. Grind into a smooth paste in the food processor.
• Mix this paste with the mashed potatoes. Season with salt.
• Heat 2 tbsps of oil in a pan on a medium flame and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and tumeric powder. Fry till the seeds stop spluttering.
• Add this to the potato and mix well.
• Divide the potato mix into portions slighter smaller than a tennis ball. Smoothen by rolling between slightly greased palms.

• Heat the oil for deep frying on a medium flame.
• When the oil is hot, dip one potato ball at a time into the gram flour batter to coat well and then deep fry till golden. Drain on paper towels.
• Take one Pav bun, slit in half (not completely - leave one edge joined) and put a spoonful each of Tamarind Chutney, Mint-Cilantro Chutney and Shengdaana Lehsun Chutney (peanut garlic chutney) each on it. Place a potato ball on the bun and fold over, pressing down gently. Serve while the potato ball is still hot.