Koftas are fried dumplings usually made with vegetables like bottle gourd or paneer or meat and cooked in a rich tomato and cream sauce. Everyone loves the rich creaminess of malai kofta. I wasn’t sure if a vegan version would be good enough. Surprisingly this version got the tick from the family. I don’t favour vegan cheese or vegan cream. I always feel it has a lingering after taste. That’s why in my no cream, no paneer version, I made with cashew nuts and tofu. Trust me, no one would be able to sniff the tofu and will convert even the worst sceptic.
We all love masala vadas and these are my mum’s speciality. I think she makes the best and the smell wafting from the kitchen is very telling of the spice and crunch that is to follow. You can say they are a bit like falafel in the sense that they are made with 2-3 different kinds of lentils. I have tried making these a few times and until now, they were a flop. The trick is to soak for three hours or so, not grind it too much (pulse a few times) and lastly keep the lentils separate. Follow my tips and you can have mouth-watering vadas at home.
Masala vada
INGREDIENTS
1 cup urad dhal
½ cup channa dhal (split chick peas)
½ cup red lentils
2tbsps finely chopped ginger
2-3 red or green chillies
200g onion chopped
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
METHOD
Combine the channa dhal and red lentils. Rinse well and soak for three hours. Rinse the urad dhal well and soak in a separate bowl for three hours.
After soaking, wash well (a sieve works well) and using a food processor, grind the urad dhal with salt. Pulse and try to grind without adding water. If you must add only a spoonful at a time. Remove and set aside.
In the same food processor bowl, grind the channa dhal and lentils along with chillies and ginger. Add salt to taste and pulse. The lentils should be combined and half of them will be left whole and this is okay.
Heat oil to 180 degrees C (or if you add a small piece of lentil, it should spring up to the top immediately) in a kadai or a small sauce pan. Section the urad dhal and lentils mix into three equal portions. In a separate small bowl, combine one section of urad dhal and lentils mix. Mix in a third of your chopped onions.
Masala Vada
Wet the palm of your less dominant hand and shape a small lime sized mix into a patty or vada. You can also use a banana leaf or a plastic sheet instead of your palm. You want them fairly thin – too thick means they will take longer to cook and also won’t be as crunchy. Slide the vada very gently and carefully into the hot oil. Repeat with the remaining. Fry till golden (can take up to two minutes on each side) and serve hot. Makes about 30 medium sized ones.
A lot of people say they don’t like tofu. Ten years back that was me. The thing about tofu is that it has no flavour of its own and happily take on whatever flavour you throw at it. There are several types of tofu – silken, soft, firm, extra firm, marinated, etc.
For this dish, I took inspiration from Adam Liaw’s recipe. This is simple, easy and you can put it together in ten minutes.
Silken tofu
INGREDIENTS
300g silken tofu
75g onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
3tbsps vegetable oil
1tsp sesame oil
2tsps soy sauce
Pinch of sugar
Finely chopped spring onion for garnish
METHOD
Invert the silken tofu onto two or three layers of kitchen paper while you work on the next step.
Put the vegetable oil on medium low heat in a small saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and fry on medium heat for 10 minutes until lightly browned. Mix in the soy sauce and pinch of sugar along with the sesame oil.
Discard the kitchen paper and unmould by inverting the silken tofu onto a serving platter. Spoon the onion mixture on top of the tofu and drizzle the liquid evenly onto the tofu. Garnish with the spring onions and serve at room temperature.
I hadn’t heard of pumpkin soup until I came to this country. In the late 80’s, sometimes pumpkins were given free and even now, thirty years later they are still wallet friendly and have loads of goodness in them.
I didn’t have a clue how to cut a pumpkin and had an accident on my first effort. I still have a scar on my left thumb to remind me how not to do it. If you are pumpkin challenged and you are preparing for soup, stick the piece in the microwave for a couple of minutes to soften the skin. This way peeling is safer!
There are several variations of pumpkin soup and this is a simple one using 4 ingredients and some spices.
Pumpkin soup
INGREDIENTS
1 – 1.2kg crown pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed and cut into 3-4cm chunks
For as long as I remember, after breakfast, my mother or grandmother would forage for greens in our garden or the neighbourhood. We always had to have greens on the menu at lunch time. It is only natural that any edible greens were treated as a bonus and among unusual things my mum cooked, remember radish greens or moringa (drumstick) greens. In the same tradition, I have started using the beet greens – sometimes I cook on their own and smother it with roasted peanuts. This variation is spicy, nourishing (incidentally beet greens are high in iron and other essential vitamins and minerals) and so easy to make.
This dish brings back lots of childhood memories for me. My
parents were good friends with a couple from Kerala who were closer to my
grandparent’s age. We would all go to their place occasionally for the odd
treat. On one such occasion, we were treated to homemade idiyappam and this
potato istew. My mother got the recipe and made it a few times. This recipe is
based from that memory. The idiyappam requires special equipment to make so I
have just used store bought rice vermicelli making this fairly simple and easy
to prepare.
This is a refreshing cold soup to have on a hot day. I was
rummaging my refrigerator and had bits or this and that along with stale sour
dough all of which got converted to this soup.
INGREDIENTS
100g Fennel, diced (white portion only)
75g Hungarian green pepper, seeds discarded and diced
These fritters are so yummy and a huge bonus is that they are gluten free and vegan! I made them a few weekends back and it was a big hit with the family.
A kati roll is a street-food dish originating from Kolkata,
West Bengal. In its original form, it is a skewer-roasted kebab wrapped in a
paratha bread, although over the years many variants have evolved all of which
now go under the generic name of kati roll. There are other names for this like
roti wrap or frankie or even a Bombay Burrito.
My recipe uses amaranth flour for the rotis making it gluten
free and protein rich. The filling is spicy and the combination of mashed chick
peas makes this a complete vegan and gluten free meal.
