Kadi Pakoda

Ingredients:

Oil-1 cooking spoon

Cumin seeds-1 tspCloves(Loung)-2
Black pepper- 2
Salt- About 1 spoon
Tumeric(Haldi)- 1 spoon
Coriander leaves

Besan mixture

Curd(dahi)- 500ml
Gram flour(besan)- 3 cooking spoons
Asafoetida (hing)- 1-2 pinch
Water- about 2 -3 litre

Masala mixture

Onion-1
Tomotoes- 2-3
Green chilly- 1-2
Red chilly powder- 1 spoon
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tablespoon

( One can use grated onion and tomatoes if mixer is unavailable)

Tadka

Oil-1 spoon
Dry Red Chilly-3-4

Curry leaves(Kadi pata)-5-6

Pakoras

Besan -according to need.
Fennel seeds(Sauf)- few
Baking soda-2-3 pinch( more baking soda means it quenches more oil)
Ginger garlic paste- 1 teaspoon

Salt- a pinch
1 spoon oil in besan
1/2 tsp red chilly powderWater
Oil-for frying

Recipee

Kadi -

1. Take about 500 ml of curd and blend it well using a fork. Put the besan in it and blend it well so that no lumps are formed. Put the hing in it and blend well by adding some water.

2.Take all the masala ingredients and blend it well in a mixer.

3. Take oil in a cooker and put cumin seeds, loung and black pepper and then put the blended mixture. Put haldi and cinnamon stick (darchini) and a bit of salt for the mixture to cook nicely. Let the mixture cook nicely till it let out oil.
4. Put the blended besan mixture into the cooker followed by 2 litre of water. If the mixture seems thick you can add 1 more litre. Stir it properly and keep stirring till it comes to boil. The flame should be high till boiled.

5. Once boiled, Add the salt. Cover the cooker and let it let out around 2 whistles. At this time the flame should high and then bring the flame to lowest after the whistles. Let the kadi cook for about 20 more minutes and then close the flame.

6. Once the cooker had let out all the steam stir the kadi nicely with the cooking spoon and add salt if less..

Tadka.

1. Heat some oil in a pan. Break the dry red chilly and take out the seeds from inside and then put them in the oil. Also put some curry leaves.

2.Once the red chilly break out, put the whole mixture in the cooker. If you want you can put some kadi in the pan let it cook a bit and then put it back in the cooker.

Pakoras
1.Blend the pakoras ingredients with water so no lumps are formed and a good consistency is reached. Add some sauf to it. Add 1 desert spoon of baking soda just 5 minutes before making them or else they flatten the pakoras. Add salt and bit of red chilly powder if you like.

2. Take some oil in a kadai and heat it. Then make some mixture and put it in the oil to make some pakoras. Fry them nicely and take out and put them directly in the kadi.

3. Decorate the kadi with some fresh coriander leaves.

The home cooked Mom special Kadi pakoras are ready. One can serve them with rice to make a hearty meal of kadi chawal.

Note: To have a layered top in cold kadai, put the hot kadi in the bowl, cool it and then store in the fridge. Also avoid re heating kadi or it becomes thinner.

Home Made Curd!

Ingredients-

1 gallon whole milk - you can use 2% or skim milk
1 cup starter culture - plain yogurt at room temperature

I made curd of around 300 ml milk and used 1 tbsp of culture.

Method #1

1. Bring milk to just a boil and then set aside to cool. One can use partially hot milk (boiled before)in summers and boiled milk in winters. Discard any "skin" that may have formed on the milk. Heating the milk to boiling kills any undesirable bacteria that might be present and also changes the properties of the milk protein so that it gives the yogurt a firmer body and texture.

2. Cool the milk by using two vessels to blend it. The higher you take milk to cool it the more air enters it and more nicely curd come out. Just cool enough or until luke warm to touch. - about 110 degrees F . Never put it hot or the milk will break off.

3. Spread the starter culture into the container that you are going to make the yogurt in. Blend it nicely so it goes to all corner of the container. Pour the warm milk into it with one hand and keep mixing the milk with another. Don't stop mixing till the milk is poured. Mix well but gently. Do not incorporate too much air. If too much air is mixed in, the starter culture will grow slowly. Cover with a couple of towels top and bottom to maintain an even temperature. I set curd in a small thick bowl (mud make) and covered it tightly(2 knots) with a thick cloth and then covered it with a woolen cloth nicely. I used a hot case with a thick hot thing holding cloth inside and then cover it with 2 containers. I kept it in portion below the gas.

4.Keep covered at room temperature for 3-4 hours(summers). If we want a bit sweet yogurt one can mix half a teaspoon of sugar and set.

Yogurt containers can be kept warm in a gas oven with pilot light and electric bulb, or an electric oven with light bulb of sufficient wattage - approximately 100 watts. Wide-mouth thermos bottles, heating pads, and sunny windows also have been used. Do not stir the yogurt during this period. It takes more hours in winter and I usualy set them at night and its done by morning. Around 6 hours.

Refrigerate for 8 hours before serving. To store, keep in refrigerator. The yogurt will keep well, a week or two.


Method #2

1.Boil the milk and allow it to cool well. Use preferably whole milk to get a thick consistency of the yogurt.

2.Pour the milk to another vessel because, it might have remnants that we don't want.

3.Add cultured buttermilk 2-3 tablespoons.

4.Cover it & Place it in the oven and set oven to 350 degrees for 2-3 minutes.

5.Now switch off the oven!! Let the milk be in the oven overnight. Next morning you will have a rich thick yogurt !. Remove it from the oven and place it in the fridge.

Lauki Raita!

Ingredients

Lauki(Bottle guard)-1

Curd-500 ml

Ginger garlic paste-1/2 teaspoon

Jeera powder(Cumin seeds)- 1/2 teaspoon

Red chilly powder-1/4 teaspoon

Black salt-1 teaspoon

Water

Recipe:-

1. Wash lauki and peel off it skin and then grate it.

2. Put the lauki in cooker and add water enough for boiling and then close the lid . It will be done in 2 whistles.

3. Blend the curd nicely with a fork and add ginger garlic paste, jeera powder, red chilly powder and black salt.

4. Add the boiled lauki in it and keep it in fridge for some time.

Amazing lauki raita is ready.

Variation

1. One can also use grated cucumber instead of lauki for raita. We don't need to boil cucumber for the raita.

Dahi Baigan(Patlajan)!

Ingredients

Egg Plant(Baigan)-1 Large

Oil-1 Large spoon

Curd-2-3 cups

Masala

Ginger Garlic Paste-1 teaspoon

Red Chilly powder-1/2 teaspoon

Tumeric powder-1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Recipe:-

1. Take all ingredients of the masala in a bowl and mix them.

2. Wash the baigan and cut it in thin circular shapes.

3. Put the masala on the baigan and mix it nicely over it.

4. Take oil in a kadai and deep fry the baigan pieces nicely.

5. Take the baigan out and keep it aside in the serving bowl.

6. Take curd in a bowl and blend it nicely with the fork.

7. Pour the curd over the baigan according to consistency and mix them proper.

8. Add more salt if needed.

Dahi baigan are ready to be eaten as a side dish.

Note/tip : If curd causes you to get sick or its rainy season then one can give tadka to dahi and it becomes harmless. Take about 1-2 tbsp of oil and put 1/2 tsp jeera and a pinch of hing to it and then put this mixture to the seasoned curd. Add this mixture after you have blended curd and added whatever masala you wanted to add.