Vegetable Manchurian

Vegetable Manchurian is a Indo-Chinese variety served as an appetizer. There are 2 methods for this preparation : (1) Dry version which can be served as an appetizer (2) Gravy version which can be served with fried rice as a side dish.
I am posting here the dry version.

Ingredients:
Potato - 1
Carrot -1
Cabbage - 1/2 cup
Capsicum - 1/2 piece
Cauliflower - 1/2
Onion - 1
Green chillies - 3/4
Spring Onions
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1tsp
Cooked rice - 1 bowl ( should be cold)
Olive Oil
Soy sauce - 2/3 tsps
Chilli sauce - 3/4 tsps
Corn flour
Salt
Pepper powder
Ajinamoto - pinch

Method :
1. Grate Potato,carrot,cabbage and finely slice capsicum. ( I didn't have normal carrots, so I used the frozen carrot peas).
2. In a wide pan, take some water and bring it to a boil. Once the water starts bubbling, add all the vegetables to the water and steam cook them for 10-15mins in a medium flame.
3. Meanwhile finely chop the onions, green chillies and spring onions.
4. Once the vegetables are done, take them to a vessel and add salt. Leave it for 5-10mins until it cools down.
5. Meanwhile in a deep frying pan, add oil upto 1 inch and start heating.
6. Now, squeeze the water from the vegetable mixture by crushing with both hands tightly. Keep the liquid aside so that you can use it during the preparation. Make sure the vegetable mixture is totally dry. It should not be moist at all, otherwise you will not be able to make the balls.

NOTE : If the mixture is still moist, add to the muxture a bowl of cooked rice. This will help you make the balls without breaking.

7. Once the oil is hot (make sure it is not too hot), drop the balls one by one slowly and make sure they don't touch each other. Fry the balls until they are equally brown on all sides. Take them aside and place them on a paper towel so that it takes out excess oil.


8. In a saute pan, add 2 tbsps olive oil, add chopped onions, green chillies, ginger garlic paste and saute for few mins until the raw smell of the ginger garlic disappears. Add pinch of turmeic.
9. Add the soy sauce, chilli sauce and ajinamoto and stir for 2mins until the raw smell goes off.
10. Now add the dumplings to the sauce mixture, stir slowly for 1-2mins and turn off the gas. Now sprinkle chopped spring onions when it's still hot.


Few Tips:
1. The above is the dry version. And if anyone wants the gravy version of it, all you have to do is few more additional steps after step 10. Keep the sauce mixture in simmer in low-medium flame. Take a spoonful of cornflour, add water and make a thin paste/liquid mixture. See to it no lumps are formed. Add to the mixture chilli sauce, pepper powder, grated ginger and add this to the simmering sauce and keep stirring it until it becomes thick. Make sure that the flame/heat is low to avoid lumps of the corn flour mixture. Add water if needed and finally add the dumplings.

2. If the mixture is still moist even after mixing it with rice, just dab the balls in bread crumbs before frying. The dumplings will not break by doing so.

[ Bread Crumbs are available in any grocery store. Otherwise, you can toast the bread and crush it with your hand]

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Ponganalu

Ponganalu is a snack item prepared in the south esp in Andhra Pradesh. This snack can be prepared with left over idli batter. All you need is the stand to prepare this one. The stand comes with a wooden or a metal spatula for easu turning of the ponganalu. You can buy the stand in any Indian stores. The one I have, I brought it from India during my last visit. This is the picture of the stand.
Ingredients:
Left over idli batter - 1,2 cups
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Green chillies - 2-3 finely chopped
Curry leaves - 2,3 chopped
Oil

Method:
1.In a mixing bowl, take all the above ingredients(except oil) and mix them so that there are no lumps.Don't add water as the batter has to be thick. No need to add salt also as the idli batter has salt in it.
2. Now, put the stand on the hot and keep it in med heat. Add few drops or oil in each section of the stand, and slowly with a spoon pour the batter into the sections one by one. See to it, that the batter doesn't come out of the rim of each section, or else if will be difficult for you while turning them. Coat with very few drops of oil on the top of each dumpling.3. Wait for few min's, and with the spatula, turn them around and wait for few more min's.
4. Remove them using the spatula and serve them hot with chutney of your choice.
Ponganalu with tomato-coriander chutney.

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Tomato and Aratikai ( raw plantain) Bajji

It's snowing here yesterday and my husband wanted to eat something very hot. He wanted to have some hot hot pakodas and that is when i decided to make this yummy tomato bajji. I fell in love with this tomato bajji when i was in Bhimavaram, a small town in Andhra Pradesh. These bajji's are very famous there and i decided to try them. It's very simple way of preparation, hardly takes 20mins to prepare. All that you need is good tomatoes.

Ingredients :
Tomatoes - 2 ( remember for this the tomatoes should be hard when you touch them. If they are soft, they tend to soften and break when we deep fry them)
Gram flour - 2-3 cups
Rice flour - 2-3 tsps
Salt - 1-2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Water - 1-11/2 cup
Oil - 2-3 cups

Preparation :
Take the gram flour,salt,chilli powder in a mixing bowl. Add very little water and mix all the ingredients without forming any lumps. Remember the batter should be thicker than the ordinary bajji mix. It should not be a thin batter. It should be thick.

Now take the tomatoes, wash them, wipe them with paper towel or a cloth and dip the tomatoes in the batter. See to it the batter spreads evenly to all sides of tomato. Meanwhile, in a deep frying pan, take oil ( oil level should be in such a way that the tomatoes should be immersed in oil).

When the oil is hot, put the tomatoes one by one dipped in the gram flour batter. Keep the stove in medium flame, and fry the tomatoes until the outer layer(gram flour layer) turns golden brown. This takes 10-15mins approximately. Once done, take them to a plate and let them cool for sometime.

Meanwhile you can prepare the filling for the bajji's.

For the filling :

Ingredients :
Puffed rice ( maramaralu, murmura) - 1 cup
Onions - 1 finely chopped
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Chat masala( optional) - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Lemon - 1 tsp

Preparation :
Take the puffed rice, chopped onions in a bowl. Add all the spices one by one and mix them. You can also add chopped coriander leaves. I did not have coriander yesterday and did not add them.

Final Preparation :
Take the flour dipped and fried tomatoes and cut them to 1/2. Remember you have to be very delicate in handling the tomato now as its cooked inside. when you handle it hard, it might even break. Cut the tomato into 1/2 and scoop out all the puree inside the two halves of the tomato. Add the scooped tomato puree to the puffed rice mixture. Repeat the same for all the tomatoes.

Now again mix the puffed rice mixture with the tomato puree( if you want, you can add extra chopped tomato also). Mix well with your hand in such a way that the tomato juice, and all the spices stick well to the puffed rice).

With this, you are 90% done with the preparation. Finally stuff in the filling into the scooped tomatoes and serve.

This preparation is so yummy, you can feel the crispness of the besan mixture deep fried outside the bajji and inside you have this spicy-sour puffed rice mixture. Though the procedure looks complicated, when you start making, you would be surprised that its so quick in preparation. For those, who never tried this, you should give it a try.

My husband absolutely loved this.

I had some left-over besan batter and made plantain bajji with it.

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