Batter for All Pakoras
Mixed vegetables pakoras are one of the most popular of all finger-food snacks. At home, they are not only a late-afternoon favorite at Tiffin time, but are also frequently served on entertainment menus, from holidays to wedding buffets. If you are frying several types of vegetables with one batter, here is a good choice. Made with chickpea flour, ground spices and ice water, the batter puts a crisp crust on fried foods. If you...
Golden Pastry Chips
In Bengal, this snack is sold everywhere, from shops and roadside hand-pushed carts to vendors carrying baskets on their heads and wandering from place to place. They are seasoned with one of three spice seeds: caraway, fennel or kalonji. Preparation time (after assembling ingredients): 30 minutes Ingredients • Unbleached white flour – 1 ½ cups (175 g) • Salt...
Buttered Steamed rice
Though rice is generally steamed in a tightly closed pan over direct heat, in this recipe I recommend a “double-steamed” procedure. Measure rice and water rest in a closed pan which rests in a larger steamer pan. Steam surrounds the entire closed rice pan, producing very soft, evenly cooked rice with well- separated, unsplit grains. My spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, was expert in all kitchen matters and...
Crisp & Soft Mixed vegetable Croquettes
This is a unique croquette dish, for it is neither bound with cream sauce nor breaded in crumbs, as are most. Instead, these croquettes are a combination of three starch vegetables: potatoes, plantains and colocasia or arbi. They are cooked individually until soft, mashed or shredded, and blended with little more than salt, pepper, chilies and herbs. Known as Ekadasee croquettes, they are made with out the addition of any form...
Creamy Potato Salad Surprise
Global potato salad variations take many directions: warm and chilled, sweet ‘n’ sour, mustardy, rich and unadorned. The surprise in this “American-in-Delhi” salad is the addition of crunchy bits of fried moong dal badi, sold at most Indian grocery stores. This potato salad with a Punjabi twist is worth taking on any outing. Preparation and cooking time (after assembling ingredients): about...