CAULIFLOWER FRITTERS / GOBI KE PAKODE

Crunchy and delicious pakoda that I happened to make recently for a evening snack on a weekend. Made south Indian style, these are very flavourful and the entire house fills with an exciting aroma. These are best served hot as they begin to loose the crunch when cooled.

Here the gobi/ cauliflower is marinated with spices first and then dipped in the gram flour batter and fried. These gobi pakora  are crisp in taste and should ideally be eaten hot. If you are having them as snacks then pair them with a cup of hot masala chai or coffee. Today I am going to share cauliflower fritters recipe or cauliflower pakoda recipe with step by step photos. A very tasty, quick and easy to make Indian cauliflower fritters recipe. It is a very easy and tasty recipe to make deep fried snack. You need very few ingredients to make this crispy cauliflower pakoda recipe. These pakodas can be served as a side dish or even as a starter with tomato sauce or pudina chutney or coriander chutney. They can be had plain or with roti or even with bread. My hubby loved to have them with bread.

INGREDIENTS:

 250-300 gms Cauliflower  Florets

2 Sprigs of Curry Leaves

2-3 Green Chillies Chopped

1 teaspoon Ginger-Garlic Paste

1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds

1 teaspoon Carom seeds [ajwain]

1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder [as required]

1 teaspoon Garam Masala

 1 Cup Besan Flour/ Gram Flour

¼ Cup Rice Flour / 2 tablespoon Corn Flour [ for crispyness]

Salt as needed

1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

Salt as required

A pinch of Asafoetida

Water as per needed

Oil for frying

METHOD:

STEP 1 – Cut the cauliflower florets and keep them aside.

STEP 2 -  Keep water for boiling, add salt to it.

Add cauliflower florets to salted hot water and leave for some time. [You can also add some turmeric powder and rock salt to the water to get rid of the worms and pesticides residue.]

STEP 3 – Drain the water and rinse the florets thoroughly under running tap water. Drain in a colander.

Keep them aside.

STEP 4 – Wash curry leaves and chop or tear them. Cut green chillies. Make a fine paste of ginger garlic. We need 2 sprigs of curry leaves,  ginger garlic paste,  ajwain/ vaamu,  red chilli powder,  garam masala. If you like you can also add little chaat masala or amchur powder. Mix all the ingredients and make a marinade.

STEP 4 – Coat the florets with the marinade. Keep them aside.

STEP 5 – Mix besan and  rice flour . You can also substitute 2 tbsp rice flour with 2 tbsp of corn flour. For health reasons I have not used corn flour. Mix together the flours with salt and generous pinch of hing.

Coat the marinated gobi florets well with the mix flours.

STEP 6 - Heat oil in a wide fry pan.

When oil is hot enough, deep fry the florets in small batches until golden on a medium heat. The bubbles in a pan reduce when the florets are fried well.

STEP 7 – Drain the pakodas on a kitchen tissue and serve hot with your favourite chutney.

Repeat the same with remaining mixture. Serve cauliflower pakodas with a hot cup of masala tea or coffee.

Serve hot cauliflower pakodas/ fritters with a hot cup of masala chai or coffee on a rainy day and enjoy with your family or friends.

CRUNCHY PANEER PAKODAS / CRUNCHY PANEER FINGERS

Paneer is fully packed with carbohydrates, calcium, proteins and tastes delicious.  On a rainy day,  Sunday evening I decided to make Paneer Pakora/ Pakoda. But want to make something interesting with a twist. So I tried this recipe and it works. These fingers turns so yummy, crunchy from outside and soft inside with a punch of garlic and red chilli. Infact You could parcel some of these in your kids lunch boxes and also great as a side dish/ starter for any parties in your house.

Paneer is  a versatile ingredient and does well in both savory and sweet avatars. There are numerous Indian snacks recipes that can be prepared using paneer and one such classic appetizing tea time snack or a rainy day treat is paneer pakoda. Just a handful lingredients go into its making with minimal work. You could use homemade paneer or store brought. I have used store brought one. Also have used some spices to further well-groomed up the pakodas with some carom seeds for added taste and flavour. Paneer has benefits similar to milk and rich source of proteins. Paneer cooks faster also it is easily absorbed and digested in our body. Soft, melt in mouth paneer is dipped in spiced chickpeas batter and deep fried to a golden colour. Try this version of mine with a difference, hope you will love it and if so then do not forget to comments in the comment box below the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

250 grms Paneer / Cottage Cheese                                                             

For Stuffing the Paneer:

8-10 Cloves Garlic

1 tablespoon Red Chilli Powder

1 teaspoon Oil

Salt to taste

For Batter:

1 Cup Gram Flour /Besan for batter

1 tablespoon Ginger Paste

1 teaspoon Garlic Paste

1 teaspoon Sesame Seeds

½ teaspoon Carom Seeds

1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds

2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder

½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder

Soda Bicarbonate a pinch

Salt to taste

Water to make the batter

1 Cup Raita Boondi/ Khari Boondi [ for coating the fingers]

METHOD:

STEP 1 – Cut cottage cheese into long fingers/ 2 inch by ½ inch batons.

Slit each baton into half leaving one edge intact for filling.

STEP 2 – Crush boondi with your hands or in mixer pot and keep it aside.

STEP 3 – To make chutney for filling, peel and roast garlic in one teaspoon of oil.

Mix with red chilli with garlic paste and salt.

STEP 4 – Stuff the garlic-red chilli chutney into the slit of each cottage cheese baton.

STEP 5 – To prepare batter, mix gram flour with red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt, sesame seeds, carom seeds, cumin seeds soda bicarbonate and salt.

STEP 6 – Add sufficient water and whisk well to make a batter of a coating consistency.

STEP 7 – Rest the batter for about 10-15 minutes.

STEP 8 – Heat oil in a wide pan.

STEP 9 – Deep the paneer fingers in the batter.

Then roll them in crushed boondi .

STEP 10 – Slide the fingers one-by-one in the hot oil.

STEP 11 - Deep fry the paneer finger in the oil on medium flame till crisp and golden brown.

STEP 12 – Drain on absorbant paper and serve then hot with your favourite chutney.

Serve hot crunchy paneer fingers with hot and spicy green chutney or tomato sauce or any chutney of your choice.  

NOTE: The batter has to be of medium consistency nor too thick nor thin so add water accordingly.

While frying pakodas of any kinds ensure the gas is on low or medium fire else the pakodas won’t cook and may also get burnt.

Instead of red chilli powder you could use green chillies or pepper powder for spicing the pakodas.

AMRAKHAND / MANGO SHRIKHAND

Amrakhand or Mango Shrikhand recipe is a tasty, Marathi dessert prepared with ripe mango puree and hung curd or yogurt. One of the best tasting, fruit based, traditional Indian desserts. Shrikhanda is basically a Maharashtrian sweet . One of the easiest mango dessert recipe that can be made with minimal effort. The only time-consuming part of the recipe is making hung curd. With summer at its peak, coolers and chilled fruit based desserts have become a part of our regular diet. During the hot months, I tend to make more yogurt than I normally do since we slug down ample amount of spiced buttermilk.

 This amrakhand was fluffy, creamy,soft and melted in the mouth, in other words,it was simply out of the world and delicious. Amrakhand recipe calls two flavouring agents, cardamom and saffron.The consistency of hung curd is known as ‘Chakka’ is important for smooth textured amrakhand. Usually, amrakhand is served as a part of a meal with either chapatti or poori. It is also served as a dessert. In fact, in most Marathi homes, mango shrikhand is a regular dessert during the summer season. This is more or less a thick spoonable version of Mango Lassi/ Mango Smoothie.

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ to 2 Cups Ripe Mango Puree

2 Cups Yogurt (fresh, thick curd)

½ teaspoon Cardamom Powder

A few strands of Saffron, soaked in warm milk [I don’t have saffron right now, so not using]

2-3 tablespoon Powdered sugar, heaped

4-5 Pistachios, finely chopped

4-5 Almonds, chopped finely

Ripe mangoes, chopped for garnish

METHOD:

Preparations:

STEP 1 – Use freshly made curd. Homemade is best. If using outside brought curd, then do check the expiry date or don't use much sour curd.

STEP 2 - Place a muslin cloth over a colander/ strainer. Place the yogurt in a muslin cloth and hand it overnight or for 6-7 hours to drain out the whey from the yogurt.

STEP 2 - Bring the four edges od the cloth together and tie one edge tightly around the rest.Keep it in hanging position and remove the whey. Once hung curd is ready keep it in refrigerator and use within 3-4 days.[ use the collected whey in chapatti dough and in pulaos or gravies.]

STEP 3 – Finely chop pistachios and almonds and keep them aside.

STEP 4 - Soak saffron in warm milk.[ I didn't have saffron for this recipe]

After 6 hours, I took the yogurt from the refrigerator and get started for the main procedure:

METHOD:

STEP 1 – In a big bowl, add the strained, hung curd and mix thoroughly with a whisk till smooth and creamy.

STEP 2 - Add powdered sugar and whisk nicely for 5-6 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Shrikhand is all about texture, so mixing well is very important.

STEP 3 - Now add the mango puree,

saffron soaked in milk and cardamom powder

and continue to whisk till all ingredients are well blended, smooth and creamy.

STEP 4 – Add  half of the chopped pistachio and almonds and mix well.

STEP 5 - Keep it in the fridge for an hour. Garnish with chopped pistachio , almonds and mango pieces. This dessert should be served chilled.

Serve the chilled Amrakhand with chapatti or poori or you can serve it as a dessert. It is commonly served as a part of a vegetarian thali.

NOTE:  *Use sweet mangoes only. If you can get alphanso mangoes, do use that. I have used puree of fresh kesar mangoes. Store bought mango pulp can also be used.

            *Chironji [charoli]can also be used along with pistachio for this dessert.

            *You can use fresh flesh/ pulp from fresh mangoes for this recipe.

            *Stays well in refrigerator for 2-3 days.