WOMEN'S COOKING GUIDE

MASALA VADA Masala Vada, a crispy and savory deep fried fritter made from chana dal and spices, is a popular street food of South Indian cuisine. It is also known as Paruppu Vadai in Tamilnadu. Besides chana dal, the other important ingredient in masala vada which plays a major role for its flavorful taste is onion. However if you want to make it without onion, add fennel seeds for the flavor (*read tips section). Process for making chana dal vada is very simple and takes very less time except for the time required for soaking the chana dal. If you are craving for something crispy and crunchy, then make this vadai and your taste buds will not stop thanking us. Preparation Time: 2 hours 20 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes Serves: 2 servings (8 vadas) Ingredients: 1/2 cup Chana Dal (Bengal gram) 1 medium Onion, finely chopped 1 Green Chilli, seeded and finely chopped 1/2 inch piece of Ginger, finely chopped or grated (optional) 4-5 Curry Leaves, finely chopped 2-3 tablespoons f...

Neer Dosa Recipe    A thin, soft and lacy crepe made from rice better is a popular food item in South India, belongs to Karnataka cuisine. Neer means “water” and the batter of this dosa is very watery hence it is called neer dosa (watery dosa). This lacy dosa is very easy to make at home because it doesn’t require any fermentation process like other dosas. Batter for this dosa is prepared by grinding soaked rice and then adding water to it to get watery consistency. Then the dosa is prepared by pouring the watery batter over hot tawa like making rava dosa and not like making the plain dosa in which the batter is spread. To make the neer dosa at home, follow this recipe with step by step photos and enjoy it with coconut chutney or sambar or vegetable saagu or with the mixture of jaggery and grated fresh coconut. Preparation Time: 4 hours Cooking Time: 20 minutes Serves: 2 servings Ingredients: 3/4 cup Sona Masoori Rice or any Short Grained Rice 3 tablespoons...

Jalebi A spiral shaped crunchy sweet dipped in saffron laced sugar syrup, is the traditional Indian sweet. It is generally prepared on the festivals like Diwali and Ramadan and enjoyed with milk or other Indian snacks. There are two ways to prepare it; Traditional method and Instant method. In traditional method, batter prepared from maida and yogurt is fermented for 24 hours whereas In instant method, the batter is prepared using instant yeast and doesn’t require fermentation. You can make jalebis at home by following any method you desire but Jalebi prepared by traditional method tastes better. There are 3-main steps to make this yummy sweet at home; in first step, a batter is prepared from maida and yogurt either using fermentation method (traditional method) or using instant yeast (instant method), in second step, a sugar syrup is prepared, and in last step, round spirals are made from the batter directly into hot oil and deep fried until crispy and then soaked in warm sugar s...

Kuzhi Paniyaram Recipe Paniyaram, a small round shaped breakfast snack item made from idli batter, is like a shallow fried idli with crisp crust and soft inner. Paniyaram is best way to use leftover idli batter and can be either sweet or savory depending on how its batter is prepared. For sweet paniyaram, jaggery is added and for savory paniyaram, sauteed chilli, onion and curry leaves mixture is added into the batter. This recipe explains how to make savory Masala Paniyaram using a special utensil called Appe Pan or Aebleskiver Pan or Paniyaram Chatti in less than 10 minutes with step by step photos. Note: Paniyaram is known as “Kuzhi Paniyaram” in Tamilnadu, “Paddu” in Karnataka and “Gunta Ponganalu” in Andhra Pradesh. Recipe given below is same for all. Preparation Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes Serves: 2 servings Ingredients: 2 cups Idli Batter 1/2 teaspoon Mustard Seeds 5-7 Curry Leaves 1 medium Onion (or shallots), finely chopped (approx. 1/3 cup) 1-...