"Pakodas - The snack for all seasons" is a beautiful
celebration and a thoroughly researched book on this ubiquitous Indian
snack.
Author Sangeeta Khanna has done her master's in Botany
and is a trained microbiologist. She works as a nutrition coach, designs menus
for top notch luxury hotels and wellness retreats and often showcases regional
menus, especially the food of Benaras, her hometown. But beyond everything else
she is known for relentlessly propagating healthy food, desi and videshi - she
talks about ancient and rare to find Indian vegetables with as much as ease and
expertise as she talks about handcrafted pastas or homemade sourdough bread.
At yesterday's book launch Sangeeta dispelled many myths
associated with pakodas. "When you talk about pakodas one usually imagines
deep fried, even 'artery-clogging' food," she said. But this is far from
the truth, she added lamenting that people happily eat cookies daily that are
laden with fat, but abstain from pakodas.
- Firstly, pakodas maybe deep-fried, shallow-fried and even
steamed!
- Secondly, even in the deep-fried variety, there is no fat in
the batter; and when dropped in hot oil the outer surface immediately gets
sealed. Thus oil only clings to the surface and doesn't seep in. When you drain
the pakodas on paper even the surface oil drains out, leaving a plateful of
pakodas with far less fat than an average cookie.
The session included a lot more eye-opening information,
demonstration of a variety of pakodas (recipes below) and finally a lavish high
tea that included an even wider variety of pakodas from different
regions.
The book is not a run-of-the-mill cook book. It
includes anecdotes, explains recipes with logic, nutritional information
and even cultural stories of pakodas made for special occasions and festivals.
It is divided into three sections: Vegetarian (including flowers, leaves,
fruits, seeds), Non-vegetarian and an array of Chutneys (that are also
superfoods, explains Sangeeta).
If you'd like a copy, it is available on Amazon.
RECIPES
Kankauve ka
Pakoda
INGREDIENTS
20-25 Leaves of
Kankauve
200 ml
Mustard/Peanut Oil
For the Batter:
½ cup Besan
3 tsp Rice
flour
½ tsp Turmeric
powder
½ tsp Red
Chilli powder
¼ tsp Dry Mango
powder
3-4 pieces
Paste of Garlic cloves
½ tsp Carom
seeds
½ tsp Salt
¼ cup Water
METHOD
1.
Wash the leaves gently in water and drain.
2.
Mix
all the batter ingredients and whisk thoroughly.
3.
Heat
the oil to medium-hot. Dip the leaves one by one into the batter, wipe off
extra batter and drop them into oil.
4.
The
batter-coated leaves shall puff up immediately.
5.
Keep
turning the pakodas gently to cook evenly until they become crisp and golden
brown on the surface.
6.
Remove
from oil with the help of a slotted spoon and place them on a plate lined with
a kitchen towel.
7.
Serve
with a thin chutney.
Nariyal
Katli ka Pakoda
INGREDIENTS
1 Fresh Coconut, halved and sliced
into ¼ cm- long thick slices
400
ml Mustard/Peanut/Coconut oil
150 gm Besan
100 gm Rice Flour
1 tsp Carom seeds
½ tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Lime juice
1 tsp Salt
METHOD
1.
Mix
the besan, rice flour, spices and salt in a mixing bowl.
2.
Pour
water in a thin stream while whisking the batter thoroughly to get a
medium-thin consistency.
3.
Heat
the oil to medium-hot. Dip slices of coconut katlis into the batter, drain off
extra batter and drop in to the oil.
4.
Fry
the crescent-shaped pakodas until they become golden brown.
5.
Remove
from oil with the help of a slotted spoon and place them on a plate lined with
kitchen towel.
6.
Serve
hot with a chutney of your choice.
Bhaap Ki
Mungodi
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Mung dal, split
1 tsp Coriander seeds, crushed
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Red chilli flakes
½ tsp Turmeric powder
½ tsp Dry Mango powder
Asafoetida to taste
1 tsp Salt
250 gm Mustard oil
METHOD
1.
Soak
the mung dal for an hour. Drain and pound either in a mortar-and-pestle or
blend in a food processor to a crumbly coarse paste.
2.
Add
all the spices and salt, adjust the seasoning, and mix thoroughly.
3.
Whisk
the mungodi batter thoroughly to aerate.
4.
Grease
the steamer plates and drop the mungodi batter in it, either with a piping bag
or with your fingers.
5.
Steam
for 8-10 minutes or until the mungoids come off the steamer plates.
6.
Alternatively,
tie a muslin cloth over a pot of boiling water and drop the mungodis on the
cloth and cover with a dome-shaped lid. Steam for 8-10 minutes and scoop them
off the cloth with a flat spatula.
7.
Serve
hot with a diluted version of Coriander chutney. You can also add a seasoning
of cumin seeds, asafoetida, red chilli powder and some curry leaves.
Arbi Ke
Patton ka Rikwachh
INGREDIENTS
10 Colocasia leaves
2 cups Beasn
1 tsp Garlic paste
2 tsp Red chilli paste
2 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Pepper powder
2 tsp Dry Mango powder
2 tsp Turmeric powder
1.5 tsp Salt
2-3 Large pods of tamarind soaked in ½ cup water for the
extract
100 Mustard oil
METHOD
1. Mix the besan with all the spice
powders, garlic paste and tamarind extract.
2. Add some water and make a sticky paste
that spreads easily.
3. Rinse and wipe the colocasia leaves dry.
Pick out the biggest leaf from the bunch and spread on a clean surface with its
rough side up. Peel off the veins to make the leaf smooth and pliable. Repeat
the process for all the leaves.
4. Drop a tsp of the besan paste over a
leaf and spread evenly. Now place another leaf over it with its smooth side
facing the leaf below and press to make them stick together.
5. Spread some more paste over the second
leaf and repeat the process to layer five leaves.
6. Now roll up the stack of leaves tightly,
folding the sides of the stack to seal both ends of the roll. Secure it with
some more besan paste.
7. Make another roll with the remaining
five leaves and arrange both the rolls over a steamer plate. Steam for 30
minutes on medium heat.
8. Remove from steamer, allow the rolls to
cool and let them rest in the fridge for 24 hours so that the tartness of
tamarind neutralizes the itchiness in the leaves.
9. Shallow-fry the spirals with a drizzle
of mustard oil until crisp and golden brown.
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