Wish you all a very happy raksha bandhan .
Raksha bandhan is a Hindu festival, signifying the love between brothers and sisters. On this day, sister tie Rakhee to brother and in return brother promises to look after her. He also gives gifts to sister. More about this festival here .
As few of you know, I have an elder brother. So this festival always had a special meaning. He is kind of a second parent and mentor for me. Since I am a pampered younger kid at home, I had a hard time when I went for college for my bachelors. My brother was also doing his bachelors in Belgaum, he used to take care of my immediate needs. Then when I went to Bangalore, he arranged for all my stay and also helped me get my first job. Though we quarrel all the time when we are together, he has a very special meaning in my life. Now with an amazingly sweet and caring sister-in-law, this relation has only grown stronger.
As far as this blog is concerned, my brother does a lot of proof reading whenever he gets time. He keeps correcting the grammatical mistakes that I keep making. He takes pictures of many rare dishes that aayi cooks(which cannot be cooked here because of lack of many ingredients).
Though my brother does not like any sweets, I thought of posting this on the occasion of this festival, mainly because none of Hindu festivals are complete without any sweets. This sweet is a very unusual one. My aayi had prepared it during my brother’s recent trip to my native, he took pictures and sent it to me.
Ingredients: 4 bread slices(sugarless) 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder A pinch food color(optional) Oil
Method: Cut the bread into rings using cookie cutter or a round small bowl. Keep them aside.
Mix water and sugar in a pan and boil for about 5mins. Remove from heat, add color(optional) and cardamom powder.
Heat oil and deep fry the bread rings on a low flame.
Take out and dip them in the ready sugar syrup. Keep them in syrup for a minute and remove.
Serve them hot.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 10mins
Kando or piyyav are the Konkani names for onion and EeruLLi/NeeruLLi is the Kannada name for it. I didn’t know much about this vadi before this comment from my dear reader Purnima . Luckily, aayi knew this recipe and she agreed to make it for me immediately. I say luckily because, this turned out to be one of the best vadis .
These vadis are made of rice, so they become super crispy and light when deep fried or microwaved. Loads of onion pieces are added to it, which give a very nice flavor and aroma to them. They are pretty easy to make and dry up very fast under hot sun. So in all, these were a big hit at home, a must try for all those onion overs.
Ingredients: 1 cup rice 4 cups water 1 cup finely chopped onion 3 tea spns chili powder Salt
Method: Soak rice overnight. Grind to a very smooth paste using enough water. Add remaining water (total should be min 4cups including the water used for grinding). Heat the mixture with chili powder and salt on a medium flame till the paste is cooked.
If required add more water. The batter should be of dosa batter consistency. Take off the heat.
Cool it to room temperature, the batter thickens when it cools down. Now add the chopped onion and mix well.
Mix 1 tea spn of oil in 1 cup water. Spread a plastic paper under sun. Sprinkle a handful of oiled water on the paper and spread it. Now spread the vadis .
Dry them for 2-3 days until they are well dried and crispy. Cool down to room temperature and store in air tight container. When required deep fry them in hot oil (or microwave in a single layer for 1min) and serve.PS: When these vadis are dried, they shrink considerably. So be very careful while adding salt. It is better to add less salt to the mixture than what you would have normally added.
