Medu Vada

Medu vada (in Tamil ) literally means soft vada. As my husband was pestering me to make some vada, i decided to make it on a recent festive occassion.

Here are the instructions:

Take some whole urad dal and let it soak in water for half an hour. Meanwhile, you can prepare some delicious coconut chutney (you can also try the vada with sambhar i.e Tamarind gravy / Tomato Sauce combination) to eat along with the vada. Take some whole black peppers, mix with the soaked urad dal and then grind the dal to a thick batter in a food processor.

Depending on your taste, you can even try adding some chopped onions and green chilles. Add curry leaves, coriander , asafoetida and, salt and mix thoroughly.

Take a deep frying pan and heat refined oil. Then wet your palms and take some batter and smoothen into circles of medium thickness. Add the vadas into the oil and fry till they turn crispy brown. Remove the vadas from the oil and serve hot.

Festivals (eatout) / Chhole

eatout :

Festivals (hyderabad) ****
Dinner for two : Rs200-300

"Festivals" is a Vegetarian restaurant on Road No 10, Banjara Hills and its discovery was of that kind called serendipity. But once discovered, its a place worth recommendation.

Its a nice, cozy place to wrap up in and it doesn't have the clutter of "Chutneys". The interiors have a soothing, blended lighting style and one of the walls is done in an innovative way - masts and sails of ships against a white background. The service is prompt and the people very courteous. And the food is the best part of it all. The kebabs are brilliant and the "kathi roll" is a must pick. There are a million different variety of rotis on offer and the sarson-ka-saag, makkki-ki-roti combination would make an ideal dinner order. And all these, without burning a hole in your pocket.

-arundhoti banerjee

***********************

"Chhole"

Ingredients:

• 1 teacup kabuli channas
• 2 chopped onions
• 2 potatoes
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons dhana-jira powder
• 2 tablespoons chilli powder
• 1 tablespoon amchur power
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon soda bi-carb
• ½ teaspoon black pepper powder
• 3 tablespoons ghee
• salt to taste
• Slices of tomatoes and ginger, chopped coriander and a few whole green chillies for decoration.

Procedure:

• Soak the channas for at least 6 hours
• Add ½ teaspoon of soda bi-carb and cook in a pressure cooker
• Cut the potatoes and tomatoes into big pieces
• Heat the ghee in a vessel and fry the potatoes until soft
• Remove the potatoes. In the same ghee add the onions and cook for a little time.
• Add the dhana-jira and chilli powder and fry again.
• Add the boiled channas and salt.
• After 5 minutes, add the garam masala, amchur and black pepper powder and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.
• Decorate with coriander, chillies and slices of tomatoes and ginger.

- foodbuff

Chilled Mint Tea

Lets usher in the summer with some refreshing chilled drink.

How about mint tea !! Now tea to most of us would be that "hot" beverage. But try this chilled version and let me know how your taste buds felt.



Its a very simple method.

• Grab some bunches of mint sprigs.
• Wash them thoroughly and add to a vessel of boiling water.
• Add tea and keep the tea boiling till you catch the nice aroma of the mint leaves.
• (Preferably, you can boil the potion, covered.)
• Then remove from the flame and strain into another vessel and refrigerate it.

Before serving, add required quantities of sugar and perhaps some crushed ice. Decorate the glass with some springs of mint leaves and enjoy!

Very easy process, ain't it ?

-priya varadan som