[Chitvish]

Peanuts:
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Potato straws;
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Spices mixed;
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Ready to serve:
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[Chitvish]

I ate this in my friend’s house & was stunned, how tasty this dish was, with an occasional bite of ajwain!

Whole cashews - 250 gms

Mix together:

7 level tbsp Besan + 1 tsp ajwain + ½ tsp shahjeera + ½ tsp black sesame seeds+ SALT + a pinch of cooking soda

Add water in teaspoons to get a thick consistency.

Mix in cashews.

Either,
Heat oil & deep fry , dropping in a few handfuls of cashewnutsand half fry.

Semi cool & separate each cashewnut & put them back in the frying pan one by one.

But,
I found it easier to dropthe cashews (smeared), individually, fast.

You can adopt any method, which is convenient to you.

Fry on a low fire till bubbles stop completely.

Remove, cool & store airtight.

[Chitvish]

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[Chitvish]

Ragi flour - 1 cup
Wheat flour - ½ cup
Water - 1 ½ cups
Butter - 1 tbsp
White seasame seeds - 2 tsp Or Jeera - 1 tsp
Salt, hing
Oil - to deep-fry

Mix both flours & keep ready in a vessel.

Boil water & immediately pour it over the mixture adding butter.

Stir very well, adding salt, jeera or seasame seeds.

When cool, knead well with hand & make small chaklis.
Deep fry in hot oil.

Cool & store air-tight.

[Chitvish]

This is a very popular, hot-selling snack in Madurai. Best eaten fresh. Be very careful with salt.

Mix together dry:

Besan - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1/2 cup

Red chilli powder

Cream or rub together, without water:

Big onions, sliced and separated - 300 gms

Pinched mint, curry & coriander leaves - 1 cup

Saunf - 1/4 tsp

Minced (not ground) green chillies+ginger+garlic, to taste

Salt

Keep the two mixtures ready & some cashews & curry leaves to fry & garnish

Heat oil in a kadai.

In a plae, for every batch, mix the two mixtures, drop in oil & deep fry.

Since water is not added, this gets cooked fast; so be careful.

Finally deep fry cashews & curry leaves & garnish.

Serve hot - no sauce or chutney is required.

[Chitvish]

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[Chitvish]

The combinations are endless for this. I have so far tried very simple ones, which I am posting here.
Mixing thoroughly to get the gooey texture uniform is very important.
Keep a tray lined withbutter paper ready & also a greased cup-boyttom to pressit hard, for it o set.
I now find that ADDING 1/2 TSP LIQUID GLUCOSE HELPS IN THICKENING THE MIXTURE & PREVENTS THE CONTENTS FROM FALLING APART.
Wrapping each individually is suggested for easy handling.

1: Keep ready 1 cup oats+1/3 cup wheat germ+1/2 cup peanuts (all these roasted) + 1 cup of chopped nuts- walnut, almond etc, raisins as well, if you prefer

2: simmer in a saucepan 1/4 cup each butter+honey & 1/3 cup brown sugar till a homogenous mixture is formed.

Now mix 1 & 2 together in a large bowl thoroughly so that the entire mixture gets gooey.

Transfer to a greased butter paper in a baking tin, quickly pressing hard to prevent falling off.

Leave for 2-3 hrs minimum & cut, pressing down firmly. Wrap each individually for convenient use & store airtight.

[Chitvish]

Butter - 2 Tbsp
Dark Cooking Chocolate - 100 grams
Oats - 50 grams
Mixture of Nuts ( Walnuts, Almonds,Peanuts) - 50 grams
Wheat Germ, Dessicated Coconut,Rice Crispies - 50 grams.

Melt chocolate and butter on double boiler.

When semi melted, stir in the nuts, wheat germ, dessicated coconut and rice crispies.

Once fully melted, take off the stove, and add in the oats. Stir rigorously. (At this stage, it is optional to add about half a teaspoon of Liquid glucose)

Pour on a layered baking tray and refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

Take them out, make pieces with a sharp knife and refrigerate for another 10 minutes.

Once set, wrap immediately.

[Chitvish]

This uses peanut butter & is chewy.

Simmer to melt in a saucepan,

Peanut butter & brown sugar - each 1/2 cup

Water - 1/3 cup

till a homegeneous mixture is formed.

Remove & add

Oats - 2 1/2 cups

Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup

Proceed as given above in other granola recipes.

[Chitvish]

The ingredients for this are readily available at home. When it starts raining, make this & serve with masala chai - this will vanish before the rain stops !
Rice Flour ½ cup

Besan ½ cup

Fine rawa ½ cup

Maida ½ cup

Atta ½ cup

Onions 2 big or 3 medium

Greenchillies 5-6

Ginger 1” piece-2 no:s

Coriander Leaes ½ cup (finely chopped )

Curry leaves few ( finely chopped )

Raw peanuts ¼ cup ( coarsely chopped )

Seasame seeds 2 tsp

Jeera 1 tsp

Cooking soda ¼ tsp

Hot oil or ghee 2 tbsp

Salt


Oil To deep fry

Finely chop or mince onions, add salt, soda & hot oil (or ghee )

Keep it on a plate & knead it very well, rubbing it on the plate.

This releases a lot of water from the onions which should be used for kneading all the ingredients, without adding water.

Now add all the ingredients & bind together, avoiding addition of water, as far as possible (or if at all, just 2-3 tsp) – this is the secret of crisp vadas .

A food Processor using the mincingblade can be effectively used for this.

Heat the oil on a kadai.

Make small balls with the dough & flatten each into a small disc on an oiled plastic sheet.

In hot oil, drop 4,5 vadas, change the heat to medium & then to lo.
Fry turning the vadas over repeatedly till they get a uniform brown colour on all sides – as we do for samosas.

This will take minimum 5 mts for each batch.( I have the habit of timing so that I will not hurriedly remove them !)

Only then the vadas will be very crisp & retain the crispness even afterwards.
Spread on a kitchen tissue & serve with tomato ketchup.