Dahi Vada

Has to be my fave summer snack ever!

Ingredients:
Urad dal/split black gram - 100g
Adrak/Ginger - about 1/2 inch
Saunf/Fennel seeds or aniseed - 1 tsp
Dahi/Curd) - 300 gm
Imli/Tamarind syrup(sweetened with molasses or sugar)
Jeera/Cumin, roasted then powdered
Dhania-patta/Coriander leaves(optional)
Hari mirch/Green chillies (optional)
Lal mirch/Red chilli powder(optional)
Salt
Water

Process:

For the vadas(dumplings):

• Take about 100g split black gram seeds(urad dal) and soak overnight in about 250 mL water. It should swell up to over twice the original volume.
  
• Drain off excess water, then grind with a little ginger and fennel/aniseed. Some people add a green chilli, deseeded.
  
• Take the batter and shape it into flattish dumplings onto a damp muslin cloth.
• Heat salad oil for deep frying, and one by one dump the dumplings into the hot oil. Preferably, do not hold the dumplings in hand, but just overturn the cloth over the frying pan.
• Fry the dumplings till golden brown, and immediately soak in warm salt water. You can soak these for upto 24 hours, if you refrigerate once they cool down.

For the tamarind syrup:

• Take some ripe tamarind - 100g should do.
• Squish with water to extract a thick, dark juice.
• Squeeze the seeds and peels to get the maximum out of them, then separate the dry pulp from the juice.
  
• Sweeten to taste, preferably with molasses. Sugar will do too.
  

To serve, lift the dumplings out of the salt water and squeeze out the excess. Pour curd over them, then a generous amount of tamarind chutney, and sprinkle cumin powder on top.
Red chilli powder, chopped coriander leaves and green chillies are optional toppings.

I know this pic(courtesy www.manjulaskitchen.com) looks a bit like vanilla icecream with chocolate sauce. Trust me, it tastes different, but equally good! I really liked Manjula's recipes for Dahi Vada, and if you look up the comments on the post, they explore a number of variations on the recipe.

Cross-posted to my blog.

Bananas playing Hide and Seek

This is yoghurt with banana and honey. I have done this post earlier, but toda it is a little different. In this picture you don't see bananas. 'cause they are hiding!
That is how I made my 3 year old son eat his yoghurt the first time. And now he himself askes for it.
"Versteckte Bananen" is how I called it in German, to make it a game for him. I guess in Hindi I would call it " केला खेले छुपन छुपाई".

What is probiotic yoghurt?

A good question (put up by Suki in my previous post): what is probiotic yoghurt?
Well, it is also the yoghurt that you make yourself at home. Yes!
This word is important only for those who buy readymade yoghurt from the market. Because, with the non-probiotic ones which you buy in the market, they do a heat-treatment which kills a large portion of the bacteria, to make their shelf-life longer. The bacteria are still there, but in trace amounts which isn't really as beneficial for the body as the untreated yoghurt. The probiotic ones are a lot of times made with special bacterial strains, which are good for the body, but are commonly found and also present in your yoghurt. I remember that from my practicals we did with home made yoghurt at the university during my Masters.
The word probiotic is used for bacterial starins which are beneficial for the body.
Here is one wikipedia link, if you want to know more.
Another interesting read in daily mail about the real facts about probiotic yoghurt.

Yoghurt with Banana

I think this is the quickest recipe posted here. Yoghurt with banana. I use probiotic yoghurt for this. I slice one banana into one cup (150g) of yoghurt. If needed add some honey and that's it.
For toddlers who still do not have teeth or no molars one can puree any kind of fruit or grate them and mix with yoghurt. Try out first what your child likes. They usually love it.
My son used to love eating plain yoghurt, without anything. But since a couple of weeks he has learned really fast to demand for honey. He has become a big honey fan (anything with sugar is great!) By mistake, I bought vanilla yoghurt this time, which, of course, also has some sugar in it (but it was mildly sweet). He loved it with banana.