Eggless Quinoa Muffins

          It's been a long time time since I had baked some muffins or cakes, in fact I have not been doing much baking because of the hot weather also, but now the temperatures have come done, so might be I'll be baking more. Coming to today's post, I have wanted to use quinoa in baking for a long time, but the first time, I had used uncooked quinoa in baking and the results were not good. After that, for some reason, didn't do it again until now, this time I used cooked quinoa in these Quinoa Muffins and they turned out good and I was very satisfied with them. I have used whole wheat flour/ atta along with the cooked quinoa, and they are not too sweet, so they are perfect for breakfast or snack. I have also added some grated carrots, golden raisins and walnuts and they tasted very good with a nutty texture from the quinoa..

Gujarati Matar Kachoris, Green Peas Kachoris

          Gujarati Matar Kachoris, Peas Kachoris has been on my do list for a long time, I have already made and posted the Bengali Kachoris, which are more like stuffed pooris. For today's matar kachoris, we use maida/ all purpose flour for the outer cover and a simple and delicious peas mixture for the filling. When cooked on low heat, these kachoris have a crispy and flaky outer layer and a delicious soft inner filling and taste very good when served with some green chutney or even some tomato sauce..

Aloo Paneer Tikkis, Potato Cottage Cheese Patties

          I had some paneer left after doing the usual Palak Paneer, it was a small quantity and not enough to make a dish with it alone, so I decided to add some potatoes with it and make these Aloo Paneer Tikkis, Potato Cottage Cheese Patties. I have also added some fresh methi ( fenugreek ) leaves to add some flavor to the tikkis. Tikkis can either be deep fried or shallow fried, I have shallow fried these tikkis. They turned out super delicious, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and tasted great with coriander chutney, you can also serve them with some tomato sauce too..

Methi Muthiya, Wheat Flour & Fenugreek Leaves Dumplings

          Every week I get a bunch of fresh methi ( fenugreek leaves, vendaya keerai ) bunch and sometimes the bunch turns out to be slightly bigger. After having used half of a big bunch for sambar or kootu, I was left with a little more leaves, which I decided to use for making these Methi Muthiya. This is again another healthy and filling Gujarati snack, I have already posted Khandvi and Dhokla and now these Methi Muthiyas join the healthy snack list. As the name suggests, we use methi leaves along with whole wheat flour and besan flour to make them and there are two ways of making them, deep fried version and the steamed version. Today's post is the steamed Methi Muthiyas, and they can be eaten as such or with some spicy chutney or sauce..

Vazhaipoo Vadai, Banana Flower Fritters

          Vazhaipoo Vadai, fritters made with a mixture of ground lentils and banana flower, I have made this a couple of times, but until now, couldn't post it due to some reason or other. Usually I make it the same way as Chana Dal Vadai and I just add some chopped banana flower to the vada batter. But this time I have followed another recipe, I have used tuvar dal in the place of the usual chana dal and have also added some garlic, the vadas turned out really good, serve them as a snack or as a side with some rice and moru kuzhambu..

Eggless Sugar Cookies

       
          I had wanted to try out so many cookies and cakes for this Christmas, but the last couple of weeks had been so busy, that I couldn't make much. So with barely 10 days to Christmas, I thought, I'll try out at least some simple cookies and these Eggless Sugar Cookies falls perfectly in that category. It's the basic cookie that anyone can make and though decorating the cookie is totally optional, I did a little bit of it, just to make it a little more glittery and in mood with the holidays..

Nei Appam, Ghee Appam

          Happy Karthigai Deepam, Festival Of Lights, it falls on 12th December this year, we light our houses with lots of mud lamps and as with any other festival, we make some yummy food too. I have already posted the traditional Pori Urundai that we make on that day, Nei Appam is also another sweet dish that is made on this day. The main ingredient for this is rice and sugar and of course as the name suggests 'nei' or ghee is used for frying these appams and they smell and taste very delicious..

Onion And Potato Bajjis (Fritters)

          Bajjis, it's one of the popular and easiest snack recipes, if it's raining or snowing outside and you are craving for some hot snack, then this is the first one that comes to the mind. I have done it so many times, but because it was mostly in the evenings, I couldn't take pictures and so it never made it to the blog. You can make bajjis with many vegetables, the most common ones used are plantain/ vazhakkai, onions and potatoes but you can make them with eggplant, capsicum and ridge gourd too and they pair so well with a hot cup of tea or coffee..

South Indian Mixture, Madras Mixture

          Today's post is going to be the last snack that I have made for Diwali 2016, in fact I am a little tired of the oil and deep frying, and the final snack is the most favorite South Indian Mixture, Madras Mixture. Though I like other types of mixtures, my favorite will always be this, mainly because of the less masalas and the simple flavors from the asafoetida and curry leaves. This is also my daughter's favorite snack, so I decided to make it this time for Diwali. Making mixture takes a little time, and the major task is making the ompodi/sev and kara boondi. If you want, you can make them the previous day and then fry the remaining ingredients the next day and finally mix everything, but the time and effort is all worth it, so do give it a try..

Kambu Ribbon Pakoda, Bajra (Pearl Millet) Ribbon Pakoda

          This year for Diwali, I wanted to try out snacks with millets, the first one that I made was the Ragi Murukku and the next one in line is this Kambu Ribbon Pakoda or Bajra (Pearl Millet) Ribbon Pakadoa. I have already posted the regular Ribbon Pakoda/Nada/Ola Pakoda made with rice flour, I simply followed that recipe with a few variations. Usually we add cumin or asafoetida for flavor and digestion in these snacks, this time, for a change I have used fennel seeds. The Ribbon Pakoda came out really good with a nice texture and taste, another snack that you can enjoy with your tea..

Garlic Murukku, Poondu Murukku (Chakli)

          As much as we love sweets at home, both the husband and daughter like these crunchy, munchy savory snacks, especially along with the evening coffee or tea. So the next one that I tried for this Diwali is this Garlic Murukku, Poondu Murukku/Chakli. This is again a very easy snack, we don't need any specially prepared flours for it, I have just used store bought organic besan flour and rice flour for these murukkus. They turned out very good with a delicious garlic and curry leaves flavor and we loved it..

Baked Mathri, Whole Wheat Crackers

          As much as we love our sweets and savory snacks, they are all either deep fried or have a good dose of butter or ghee, but it's festival season, so a little bit of this is okay, just that, we have to keep in mind to eat moderately and walk an extra mile or two to burn it away. Coming to today's post, Baked Mathri, it's an easy and healthy version of the fried version. Usually it's made with maida or all purpose flour, but these baked ones are made with whole wheat flour. Of course, the fried ones with all purpose flour will be more tastier than these baked ones, so someday soon I'll be trying out that also, but these baked ones, you can still enjoy, they are crispy and very flavorful and a perfect tea-time snack..

Karasev, Khara Sev, Spicy Sev (Savory Snack)

       
            Karasev has been on my do list for some time, I have made murukku, mixture and other stuff, but until now, for some reason, I haven't tried Karasev. We have a special ladle called 'Karasev Karandi', which is used for squeezing out the dough for this, I didn't have it, so I used the regular ladle with holes that we use for making pooris and other stuff. I have followed the recipe from Mallika Badrinath's cookbook, it's a simple snack and needs just a few ingredients. The karasev came out really good, the texture was perfect and the taste was awesome..

Ragi Murukku, Finger Millet Murukku (Chakli)

          Diwali is in a couple of weeks time, so I thought it's the time to post some goodies, both sweets and savories that we can make during this festival season. Since I have more sweets on my blog than these savory snacks, I am going to post today an easy and tasty murukku with Ragi/Finger Millet Flour, Ragi Murukku or Chakli. It's very simple to make, mixing the ingredients in the correct proportions and then making the murukkus using the murukku maker and deep frying them. The murukku came out super crispy and had the perfect texture and it's a good snack to have along with your evening cup of tea..

Karuppu Ulundu Sundal, Black Gram Sundal

          Happy Navratri to my friends and readers. Today's dish is one more sundal that we make during these nine days, Karuppu Ulundu (Black Gram) Sundal. For those who don't know what a sundal is, it's a healthy snack with whole beans and lentils ( chickpeas, kidney beans, bengal  gram to name a few ). Black Gram has many health benefits, especially for women, this sundal is an easy and healthy way of including it in the diet. We can serve this as a side to any meal or as an healthy and filling evening snack..

Watermelon Dhoklas

          Till a few months back, I never thought that we could do so many dishes with water melon. Till then, apart from eating it as such, the only other thing that I made with it was a juice. But then after making the dosa, I tried out idli, paniyaram and then now these Watermelon Dhoklas. For the idli, dosa and paniyaram, I used the white rind part of the fruit. But for making these dhoklas, I have used the actual fruit. The dhoklas came out too good and they looked so good too with a lovely color, do try this the next time you buy a watermelon..

Ragda Patties, Aloo Tikki Chaat

          Ragda Patties/Pattice, this is one of my favorite chaats, it's basically aloo tikkis/potato patties served with dried white peas gravy, topped with different chutneys, onions and sev. Like most of the chaat dishes, if we have the chutneys ( green and sweet ones ) then making Ragda Patties is not very difficult, we can even make the chutneys a couple of days ahead and refrigerate them. I have adapted the recipe from here, it turned out really good and we loved it..

Vengaya Pakoda, Onion Fritters

          Vengaya Pakoda/Onion Fritters, this is a favorite at home, I have made it so many times, but never got the chance to click it and so it has taken so long to appear here in the blog. It's such an easy snack, the only big work might be slicing the onions, other than that, it's just mixing and deep frying. You can do it two ways, with more onions and less flour, when you do it like this, the pakoda stays crispy only for a short time, might be for 3 to 4 hours. If you do it with more flour and less onion, the pakoda will stay crispy for a couple of days, when stored in an air-tight container. Both ways, it tastes good, today's version is the first one, with more onions and I love this version. The pakodas taste crispy and delicious and goes well with both as a side to a meal or as a snack with some coffee or tea..

Jackfruit Seeds Cutlet, Kathal Bij-Er Chop, Palakottai Cutlets

          The next dish that I had tried this Jackfruit season are these Cutlets With Jackfruit Seeds, Palakottai Cutlets. It's actually a Bengali dish, called as Kathal Bij-Er Chop, we use mashed jackfruit seeds and potatoes along with other spices and crushed peanuts, shape them into cutlets and deep fry them, but I have shallow fried them to keep it a little healthy. These cutlets can be served as a snack along with some tomato sauce, but I am telling you, they tasted so good that we didn't need anything to go with it. You can also serve them as a side to go with any meal, do try this before the jackfruit season ends..

Thayir Vadai, South Indian Dahi Vada, Curd Vada

          Thayir Vadai/Lentil Fritters In Curd. every state in India might have it's own version of this, with a few differences in the spices and ingredients added to the curd/yogurt. This is such a refreshing and delicious snack or accompaniment to a meal, especially during the hot summer days. I love all the different versions of this dish, but the most favorite one will always be this South Indian version. The coconut and spice paste mixed with the curd gives it a wonderful taste and when made perfectly, the soaked vadas/fritters will be so soft and delicious..