Happy Holi - The festival of colors and obviously food!!

It has been hell of a day and I am sure the evening is going to be equally fun. Morning we had a wet holi were water was mixed with colors splashed on each other. Kids running with Pichkari's (pumps used for playing holi), men and women drenched in all possible colors, walking around like monsters pulling out everybody from their houses and applying colors - it was fun watching all that. I knew I could not escape without allowing them to apply wet color on me, so stood for them to do what so ever they wanted to for once and for all. After that I peacefully stood in my balcony watching all the the fun. I am not too keen on playing the wet holi only because of the worry of washing and scrubbing all the colors off my skin. I wait for the evening time when everybody comes out with dry colors to indulge myself into this colorful festival.

When everyone were washing and scrubbing off their deeds of the morning, I was busy cooking (with a motive to finish off all my work and sit and blog everything before we leave for the dry Holi). This Holi I made Dahi Vada, Gujia, Ajwain Poori and Kaala Chana. Enjoy Maalpua from my previous post which is also a Holi speciality. Not much of time left so directly going to the recipes.

DAHI VADA:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup - Urad dal without skin, washed and soaked for 3 hours
• Salt to taste
• 1 pinch - Baking Soda
• 1 generous pinch of Asafoetida powder
• Oil for deep frying
• 200 gms - Curd, chilled and well beaten with required salt(if too thick add some water to loosen it up)
• 1/2 tsp - Red chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp - Jeera powder(dry roasted till it becomes deep brown and powdered)
• Some coriander leaves
  

For Tamarind Chutney:

• 1 marble sized ball of Tamarind
• 1-2 tbsp - Grated Jaggery
• 1/2 cup - water
• 1/2 tsp - Red Chilly powder
• Salt to taste
  

Method:

• Drain the water from urad dal and grind it to make a fine batter. Use as little water as possible while grinding. Transfer into a bowl and add the baking soda and let it ferment for around an hour.
• Mix salt and asafoetida into the fermented batter and mix well.
• For the chutney, mix all the ingredients and let it stand for 30 minutes. Strain the pulp and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Scoop out some batter using your hand and drop the batter into the hot oil little by little to form small dumplings. Fry till golden brown on medium heat. Immerse the fried vadas into a bowl of warm water for 2-3 minutes and squeeze out the water well. Arrange this on a serving dish and let it cool.
  
• For serving the vadas, spread the curd over the vadas. Pour some chutney over it. Now sprinkle the chilly powder, jeera powder and coriander leaves. Served chilled
  

GUJIA:


Ingredients:

For the cover:

• 100 gms - Flour or Maida
• 2 tbsp - Oil or Ghee

For the filling:

• 100 gms - Khoya
• 2-3 - Cardamom, powdered
• 4-5 - Pista, chopped
• 4-5 - Almonds, chopped
• 6 tbsp - Sugar powder or to taste
• Oil or Ghee for deep frying
  

Method:

• Mix the 2 tbsp of oil with the flour. Add required water and knead into a soft but tight dough. Cover with a cloth and set aside for 20 minutes.
• Crumble the khoya and roast it in a thick bottomed pan till it turns light brown. Keep stirring frequently.
• Spread it onto a plate and let it cool. When cool, add the sugar powder, cardamom powder and dry fruits and mix well.
• Divide the dough into marble sized balls and roll each one into a 4" diameter circles. Fill half the circle with the khoya mixture and fold it and seal the edges. Roll the edges inwards and press a fork to make the design on the edges. It would be a lot easier if you were to use a gujia mould. Prepare all the gujias and spread onto a cloth.
  
• Heat ghee or oil in a kadhai and deep fry them till golden brown in color. Drain and remove onto a kitchen napkin to remove excess oil. Store in airtight containers.
  

KAALA CHANA:


Ingredients:

• 1 cup - Kaala Chana(Bengal Gram), washed and soaked overnight
  
• 2 tbsp - Oil
  
• 1/2 tsp - Cumin or Jeera
  
• 1" piece of Cinnamon stick
• 3 - Cloves
• 2 - Cardamom
• 1 - Onion, chopped
• 1 tsp - Ginger Garlic paste
  
• 2 - Tomatoes, chopped
• 2 - Green chillies, chopped
• 1/2 tsp - Red Chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp - Coriander powder
• 1 tsp - Garam Masala powder
• Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves for Garnish
  

Method:

• Pressure cook the soaked chana till nice and soft.
• Heat a kadhai with oil and splutter cumin, cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom.
• Saute the onions and chillies till light brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry them. Saute in the tomatoes too till soft
  
• Add chilly, turmeric and coriander powder. Saute for 2 minutes.
  
• Add the cooked chana and bring to boil. Season with salt and garam masala powder and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add water if required. Pour the lemon juice and turn off the gas
  
• Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with pooris.
  

AJWAIN POORI:

For Poori, mix whole wheat flour (2 cup) with ajwain or carom seeds (1 tsp) and salt and knead into a tight dough. Make small balls and roll into 4" diameter circles and deep fry in oil till golden brown and sieve and put onto a kitchen napkin to drain excess oil. Serve hot with kaala chana.

HAPPY HOLI!!

P.S : Sorry could not vet the post properly 'coz of time constraints. Hope there are not much of mistakes.

This post is going for the Holi Hai event by Purva's Dawat

Maalpua

The courtesy of this dish goes to my hubby, who had spent a good part of his life in Ranchi(earlier part of Bihar) . This delicacy is simple to make and is probably the only mithai which can be made in a jiffy. Maalpua's are prepared predominatly during the holi time. But ever since my hubby made it for me we make it very frequently as I simply cant wait for Holi to come, which apparently happens only once in a year!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup - All purpose Flour
• Milk to make batter
• 1 tbsp - Sugar
• 1/2 tsp - Fennel Seeds(saunf)
• Ghee for frying
• 1 cup - sugar syrup

Method:

• Make a smooth batter of Flour, Milk, Sugar and fennel seeds. The consistency should be of that of a dosa batter
• Heat a non-stick pan and pour ghee just enough for shallow fry. You may do a deep fry too but both of health reasons I prefer shallow fry
• Take a laddle of batter and pour into the pan to make 2" diameter pancakes. Fry the pancakes till they turn golden brown in color.
• Once done immerse the pancakes into the sugar syrup and let it boil till the sugar syrup is thickened.
• Maalpua's are ready and can be served by removing it from the syrup.
• Optional : To garnish sprinkle thinly sliced almond and pista.