Desi Fiesta

snacks

Dal vada / Moong dal vada

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Makar Sakranti recipes

In India, every state and every city has it’s own favorite street side food. Moong dal bhaji or Dal Vada’ is a favorite street side food in Gujarat but we rajasthani make these vadas and gulgula( sweet wheat flour appum) for makar sakaranti/pongal. It is a traditional standard recipe made at every mawari home . As a street food its being served along with lightly fried, salted green chilies and salted onion pieces. The taste of hot crisp dal vadas with the chillies and the onions is seriously addictive. You can’t just have one and stop.
So lets look for the ingredients and method for this simple street food and This pongal/ makar sakranti  special at home 🙂 ..

Ingredients

1 cup Moong Dal (yellow spilt moong dal/ split green gram dal without husk )
1 tbsp Chopped Coriander
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
1-2 Green Chillies chopped
1 tsp  Ginger chopped
2 tbsp chopped Onions
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method

  • Soak the moong dal in water for a 2 hours.
  • Grind it coarsely to form a paste if needed sprinkle some water while grinding.
  • Combine it with chopped onions, chillies, corainder, ginger and cumin seed.
  • Check the salt seasoning and divide the batter to equal part you can either make them in masal vada shape or make pakoda shapes.
  • Slide them in hot oil  and deep fry till golden in color.
  • Serve this crispy vadas with green chutney or tomato ketchup.

Vegetable Puffs

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I made all time favorite snack of mine .. yumm  it was really delicious..Vegetable Puffs are a wonderful snack option for the days that you want something substantial and you can’t wait very long for it to be made!!They will take you back to the nostalgic ‘college days’. Relive the memories, at least the good parts with this easy recipe! I made the puff pastry sheets ahead and used them as needed..

 

 

Lets look for ingredients and method to fill in our puff Pastry’s

Ingredients

Home made puff pastry( Eggless ) click here for the recipe
You can even use store bought frozen pastry sheets .. just thaw it for 30 mins and then use  ..
Mixed vegetables – 1 cup (I used carrots, French beans, potato and green peas)
Onions – 2, sliced long
Tomatoes – 2, chopped
Capsicum / green bell pepper – 1/2 cup, chopped
Coriander powder /malli podi – 1 tbsp
Jeera /cumin seeds / jeerakam – 1 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp or to taste
Pav bhaji masala – 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – a few
Oil – 1 tbsp
Sugar – a pinch
Salt – to taste

Method

  • Boil the vegetables until soft and keep aside.
  •  Heat oil and saute the onions until golden brown. Add the curry leaves, coriander powder, chilli powder and jeera. Fry for 30 seconds.
  •  Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute.
  • Now add the tomatoes and capsicum and fry well till its blended well.
  •  Finally add the vegetables and salt and sugar and mix well. Cook on open fire for about 5 mins. Don’t add water at any stage. The filling should be moist yet thick

 

To Assemble Puffs Before Baking:

– Take a rectangular strip of rolled out puff pasty sheet and spoon in some filling on one end, leaving enough space on all sides to ‘seal’ the puff.

– Fold them and seal the corners. The puff pastry can be sealed by pressing the corners using your fingers.

Baking

Bake in a preheated oven at 220 Centigrade for 30 mins until the top is golden brown. You can brush on some milk while still warm out of the oven to make it look prettier and glossier.