Potato ulunthu vadai

Potato ulunthu vadai, is not a traditional vadai, but I think this is a beautiful medley of potato and ulunthu created in my kitchen :) It tasted like ulunthu vadai, no one could say it has potato. But more crispy on the outside still soft inside...flavored with a touch of french fries :)

Whenever I grind for urid dal vadai, I grind more to share some vadai with any one of our friends, as South Indian Vadai is a  popular snack among Indians. Hot coffee or tea with this medhu vadai and chutney is Tamilnadu's signature dish.  On that evening, I had only a handful of vadai mavu (urid dal batter), just enough for us both. But I wanted to stretch it a bit. I used some boiled potatoes , which I had in fridge and the taste was more delicious. I am sure this is one of the best ways to increase the number of vadai. Also adding some vegetables like cabbage (cabbage vadai), also makes a large quantity of vadai using the same amount of urid dal. 

potato ulunthu vadai

Ingredients: (For 12 small size vadai)
cooked potato - 2 (mashed - 1 cup)
Vadai mavu / batter  - 1 cup
Oil (corn oil / canola) - 200 ml
Ginger - finely chopped - 2 tsp
salt - to taste
rice flour - 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:
First pressure cook or boil or microwave required potatoes. Mash / grate finely and knead to get a dough like stage. Add enough salt, chopped ginger.
Then add the ulunthu vadai batter we have as left over batter.
Mix well .If needed add a tbsp of rice flour to get a manageable batter.

Heat the oil in a wok. Reduce the flame to medium.

Wet a plastic sheet or banana leaf (small square). Take a small ball of batter , place it on the sheet, gently flatten it and make a small hole at the center. Put the vadai gently into the oil.

Deep fry the vadai in medium to low heat by flipping till it gets the golden red color. This vadai (unlike the urid dal vadai) gets red quickly. So fry in low heat.

Drain the oil , take out and place on kitchen towel / multi holed basin to drain excess oil.

Potato ulunthu vadai is ready!

Serving suggestions;
Serve with coconut chutney along with hot coffee or tea in the evening.
Also makes a good side dish with Idly, Venn pongal, sarkarai pongal etc.

Paruppu rasam

Paruppu rasam is one more post that has been in my draft for  a very long time. This is my family's favorite meal along with dal and a spicy fry like fish or potato fry. In my hometown it is a habit to serve piping hot rice with rasam along with fried fish for dinner and they would call it as 'simple'... ha ha... but that sounds like feast to me :) 

Enjoy !

Paruppu rasam, rice and fish fry ...one of my most favorites :)

Paruppu rasam

Ingredients:
Thuvaram paruppu (Toor dal) - 1/2 cup (cooked)
tomatoes - 2
Tamarind extract - 2 teaspoon. (from a gooseberry size ball of tamarind)
Red chillies - 2
black pepper - 1 teaspoon
cumin seed- 1/2 tsp
garlic - 3 pearls.
turmeric- a pinch
hing (asafoetida) - a pinch.
Fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) - 1/4 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - 1 sprig
chopped coriander leaves - few
water - 2 cups
jaggery - very small piece (1 tsp, if crushed)
salt - 1 tsp
oil (ghee)- 1 tbsp.

Method: 
I usually reserve some cooked toor dal, while making sambar to prepare this rasam.
Otherwise cook 2 tbsp toor dal in a pressure cooker to 3 whistles. Mash and keep it aside along with the cooked water.

Add hot water to the tamarind and extract the juice. Keep it aside.

Chop the tomatoes finely.

Coarsely grind the pepper, garlic and cumin seeds. Mix turmeric and asafoetida with it and keep aside.

In a pan add little oil/ ghee and put mustard seeds , methi seeds. After hearing the crackling sound of mustard seeds, add red chillies and curry leaves. Immediately add the ground mixture to the pan and fry for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and stir it till the tomato gets cooked completely.
 Add the tamarind extract and the jaggery. Add 2 cups of water , bring to a boil.
Then add the cooked, mashed dal + dal water.
Let it boil vigorously for 2 minutes.
After switching off the flame , add salt and chopped coriander leaves. Always keep the lid closed after adding salt to retain the flavor of rasam.
Paruppu rasam is ready!

Serving suggestions: 
My usual combo is preparing this paruppu rasam along with ketti paruppu (dal tadka), some spicy fry as side dish along with rice.
Or simply serve as dinner with hot rice and paruppu thogayal.