Vidhya's Veg Indian Recipes: 2018

Wednesday, 4 April 2018

Stuffed Mirchi Bajji

Step by step procedure with appropriate photos to prepare a mouthwatering snack - Stuffed Mirchi Bajji. Bajji is a very popular South Indian deep fried snack. Best and quick snack for monsoon days. We can make bajji with lot of vegetables especially with potato, raw banana, onion, brinjal/egg plant and also with mirchi, these vegetables dipped in bajji batter and deep fried in oil. Stuffed mirchi bajji is a delicious snacks which goes well with coconut/peanut chutney and also with tomato sauce.

For stuffing I prepared potato masala made with potato, onion, chilli and ginger. The stuffing just lifts up the regular mirchi bajji taste and I can say its double tasty. Now we will see how to prepare a tasty South Indian street food - Stuffed Mirchi Bajji.

Preparation time: 20 min
Cooking time: 5 min
Serves: 15 bajji
Category: Snacks
Recipe by: Vidhya

Ingredients

(1 cup = 250ml)

Green Mirchi/Bajji Milagai - 5 (I used a very long ones which was double the size of regular bajji mirchi) If you are using regular mirchi you can use to about 10 nos.

Stuffing

Potato - 6 small/medium sized potato

Green chilli - 1 finely chopped

Ginger - 1 inch finely chopped

Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Onion - 1 Big finely chopped

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - tbsp

Salt - As per your taste

Bajji Batter

Besan flour/Kadalai maavu - 1 cup

Rice flour/Arisi maavu - 1/4 cup

Chilli powder - 3/4 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Hing/Asafoetida - a generous pinch

Water - to make batter

Salt - As per your taste

Oil - for Deep fry

Method

First we will see how to prepare the stuffing:

Boil/pressure cook the potatoes and it should be soft and easy to smash. Remove the skin, mash the potatoes and keep it ready.
In a kadai/pan, heat a tablespoon of oil. Throw in 1 tsp Jeera, finely chopped ginger, 1 finely chopped chilli. Fry for few seconds, until the ginger thoroughly fried and the raw smell goes off. But be careful not to burn the jeera.
Now add the finely chopped onion and fry for sometime. Do not fry them until it become soft as we need them little bit crunchy.
Add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and salt. Give a stir.
Add the mashed potato, mix to blend the potato with other ingredients.

Now we will see how to prepare the batter:

In a large bowl, add 1 cup besan flour, 1/4 cup rice flour, 3/4 tbsp chilli powder, a generous pinch of hing, 1 tbsp ghee and salt. Adding a tablespoon ghee while preparing batter will help reduce the oil absorbed by bajji during deep frying. This tip was given by a cook and it works very well for me. I feel adding ghee improves the taste as well. You can also add hot oil for the same purpose. Add water little by little and make a thick batter. The batter should be smooth, thick and easy to coat.

Stuffing, Coating and Frying the bajji:

Take the bajji mirchi, wash them thoroughly, slit the mirchi in the middle and remove the seeds gently.
Mirchi I used is bigger then normal ones, so i cut them to make medium sized pieces. Stuff the potato stuffing carefully as you might break the chilli. Do not stuff too much it might be difficult to coat the batter and also while frying the stuffing might ooze out.
Gently dip the stuffed mirchi into the batter and coat them thoroughly.
In the mean time you do stuffing heat the oil. When oil is hot drop in the batter coated mirchi.
Fry until the colour changes to golden brown and remove them on the kitchen towel to get rid of excess oil.
Stuffed Mirchi Bajji is ready. Serve hot bajji with tomato sauce/coconut chutney.

Monday, 26 March 2018

Paneer With Mixed Vegetable Curry

Step by step procedure with appropriate picture to explain how to make Paneer With Mixed Vegetable Curry. This is a dry dish which goes well with roti or phulka. A healthy, nutritious as well as tasty main course recipe. This can be given in lunch box for kids or even for elders, as it won't spill out and also easy to pack. I am a big fan of paneer/cottage cheese and my husband is fan of vegetable curry, so this Paneer With Mixed Vegetable Curry satisfies both of our taste buds. Briefly, we have to cook a whole lot of veggies, spice it up and toss in the paneer cubes. Scroll down to see the full procedure to prepare a tasteful and flavourful main course - Paneer With Mixed Vegetable Curry.

Preparation time: 20 min
Cooking time: 25 min
Serves: 4
Category: Side-dish/Main Course
Recipe by: Vidhya

Ingredients

(1 cup = 250ml)

Paneer/Cottage cheese = 200 grams

Vegetables

All the below vegetables chopped and measured approximately two cup.
Potato -1 Medium sized chopped

Carrot - 1 finely chopped

Beans - 8 nos finely chopped

Sweet Corn - a handful

Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 1 (1/2 portion of red and 1/2 portion of yellow bell pepper)

Apart from above mentioned vegetables I also added,

Onion - 1 Medium sized finely chopped

Tomato - 1 Big finely chopped

Green Chilli - 1 finely chopped

Ginger - 1 tsp finely chopped

Garlic - 1 tsp finely chopped

Spices

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilli Powder - 3/4 tsp/As per your taste

Crushed black pepper - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - As per your taste
Extra Virgin Olive oil - 2 tablespoon

Method

Wash all the vegetables thoroughly and chop. Chop onion, tomato, green chilli, ginger and garlic. And also cube the paneer.

Chopped Vegetables

Chopped Capsicum/Bell Pepper

Onion, chilli, ginger and garlic

Paneer Cubes
Take a pan/kadai, add 2 tbsp of oilve oil, When oil becomes hot add onion, green chilli, ginger and garlic. Fry onion until it becomes golden brown and raw smell from ginger and garlic should go off.
Add the chopped tomato and cook until it comes mushy.
Add all the vegetables except capsicum. Stir it, sprinkle little water to avoid the veggies get burnt. Add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder.
Close the pan with the lid and cook for 12 - 15 min. Stir occasionally. Sprinkle water if needed.
Check whether the veggies are cooked.
Then add the chopped capsicum and cook for a minute.
Add the spices - 3/4 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp garam masala powder, 1/2 tsp coriander powder and salt as per your taste. Give a stir and cook for 5 min.
Now add the paneer cubes, gently stir and close the pan with the lid and cook for another 5 min in low heat.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot the Paneer With Mixed Vegetable Curry with roti/phulka.

Note:

You can add any vegetable of your choice like broccoli, cauliflower. And you can also replace corn with peas.
Here I used fresh corn kernels. You can use even the frozen one.

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Broccoli Paratha

Step by step procedure with clear pictures to make a tasty and healthy paratha - Broccoli Paratha. Very simple to prepare, very delicious yet a very healthy recipe. Broccoli paratha can be served as breakfast or for dinner and it also goes well as lunch box food. Since broccoli veggie has a bland taste, I have included onion and a little amount of masala to enrich the taste of the paratha. I have tried few times making broccoli paratha with different procedures and this one comes out to be the best and hence I am sharing this in my blog. Try the recipe and post your comments. Click the link Broccoli Curry to see how to prepare another tasty broccoli recipe.

Preparation time: 30 min
Cooking time: 5 min for making each paratha
Serves: 7 paratha
Category: Breakfast/lunch box/dinner/paratha
Recipe by: Vidhya

Ingredients

(1 cup = 250ml)

Paratha dough

Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups

Salt - As per your taste

Water - To make dough

Stuffing

Broccoli - 200 grams/ 1 1/2 cups grated

Onion - 1 Medium size finely chopped

Green chilli - 1 finely chopped

Extra virgin olive oil - 1 tablespoon

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Salt - As per your taste

Ghee/butter to make paratha

Method

Prepare dough for paratha as per your normal procedure/prepare dough as we for regular roti. Make firm dough. Knead the dough for at least 5 min to make soft paratha.
To make stuffing, first wash the broccoli florets thoroughly in running water. Grate them and keep it aside.
Finely chop the onion and green chilli.
Now take a kadai/pan, pour a table spoon of oil. I used olive oil. When oil becomes hot throw in the chopped onion and green chilli.
Fry for few seconds. Let onion retains its crispy texture. Add the grated broccoli. Just give a stir and add 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp garam masala and salt as per your taste.
Fry it for a minute and stop cooking. Onion and broccoli should not be fully cooked, both should remain crispy and so the paratha tastes at its best.
Transfer the stuffing into a bowl.

To make Paratha:

Make a medium sized ball out of atta/wheat dough. Roll it to make flat roti of 5 - 6 inch. Fill the roti with stuffing, leaving the edges. When I make paratha, I always put more stuffing as I need an uniform and fullest taste throughout the paratha.
Seal the edges and make a ball again. Dust it and roll it. You can make thin or thick paratha as per your wish.
In a hot tawa, put the prepared paratha. Apply some ghee/butter. Flip to the other side and apply the same and cook until you see some brown spots and the paratha is ready to be served.
Have hot Broccoli paratha with curd/tomato sauce.

Note:

If you are making paratha for kids, you can avoid using green chilli.
You can also add cumin/Jeera seed or roasted jeera powder.

Wednesday, 14 March 2018

Stuffed Peas Poori

Step by step procedure with photos to prepare a delicious and mouthwatering Stuffed Peas Poori. Most of us like poori and in this recipe we are going to make them taste heavenly by stuffing in peas and so it becomes extra tasty.

Pretty simple procedure - poori stuffed with cooked peas, onion, chilli, fresh coriander leaves along with little garam masala and salt. This recipe is tasteful, tempting and totally different from our regular poori. The texture would be - crispy outside while soft and flavourful from the core. This yummy poori doesn't require any side-dish as it taste awesome by itself. Making dough is similar to regular poori but here I have added a tablespoon of jeera(Cumin seeds) to improvise the taste. This is really good as kids lunch box food and also for a simple dinner. This is definitely a no fail recipe and so you can try them when you have guest or for family/friends get-together. Scroll further to see the detailed recipe-Stuffed Peas Poori

Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time: 5-7 min for making each poori
Serves: 10 poori
Category: Dinner/Poori recipe
Recipe by Vidhya

Ingredients

(1 cup = 250ml)

Poori Dough

Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cup

Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Water - to make poori dough

Stuffing

Peas - 3/4 cup fresh/frozen

Onion - 1 big finely chopped

Green chilli - 1 finely chopped

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Coriander leaves - a handful chopped

Salt - as per your taste

Oil - To deep fry poori

Method

Prepare poori dough with the ingredients mentioned in poori dough section. The dough shouldn't be sticky. Make a firm dough to make poori.
Boil 3/4 cup of peas and coarse mash them as shown in the pic below.
Throw in chopped onion, green chilli, Garam masala, chopped coriander and salt.
Mix it well to make stuffing. Taste the stuffing and adjust salt as you wish.
Now make medium sized balls. It should be slightly bigger than regular poori.
Dust the dough and roll it to make a flat round poori.
Fill in 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoon of stuffing leaving the edges.
Now gather the edges and make a ball one more time. Make sure the stuffing is not overfilled and spilling outside.
Once again dust the stuffed dough and make round poori. Repeat the same procedure for all the poori.
Heat the oil in a kadai/frying pan, add the stuffed poori one at a time.
Turn it around and fry for sometime, When poori turns golden brown they are ready to be served. Place the fried poori over the kitchen tissue to remove excess oil.