AMU'S RECIPES: August 2012

Alu vadi has a very important place in traditional Maharashtrian cuisine. It is a popular snack prepared during traditional functions. It also makes for a good evening snack. Alu vadi is made from special Colocasia leaves that are mostly available during monsoons (during Chaaturmaas - especially Shravan) in India. The tempering that I have done towards the end, is typically used by the Gujarati community while making Patra. In the traditional Maharashtrian method, the vadis are deep fried and not tempered.

Special thanks to my mom for teaching me this recipe.

Servings:
Approx. 10 pieces

Ingredients :

3 large Colocasia leaves (Aluchi Paaney)

For the paste :
1 cup Chickpea flour (Besan)
1 & 1/2 tspn Red chilly powder
2 tspns Coriander-Cumin powder
1/2 tspn Asafoetida (Hing)
2 tspns Jaggery (grated)
6-7 tbspns Tamarind juice
Water as required
Salt to taste

For Tempering :
3 tbspns Oil
1 tspn Mustard seeds
1/4 tspn Asafoetida (Hing)
1 tspn Cumin seeds (Jeera)
2 tspns Seasme seeds
6-7 curry leaves

For Garnishing :
Scrapped Coconut
Chopped fresh Coriander leaves

Method :

To make paste :

Take chickpea flour in a mixing bowl. Add red chilly powder, corriander-cumin powder, salt, asafoetida, jaggery, tamarind juice and mix well. Then, add water as required to make batter of medium consistency (Pakoda batter consistency). Adjust spices / seasoning as per your taste.

For tempering :

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds to it. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering, add asafoetida, cumin seeds, seasme seeds and curry leaves. Let it cool.

To make Alu Vadi :

Wash and pat dry the Colocasia leaves. Remove the base stalk from the leaves. Also remove the other excess stalks on the leaves. Now run a rolling pin over the leaves to evenly flatten the leaves.

Now take the largest leaf at the base. Ensure that the dark side of the leaf is kept at the bottom. Place the leaf over a flat surface. Apply thin layer of the paste over the leaf. Now take another leaf and place it such that its pointed side does not match with the pointed side of the leaf below (refer photo). Apply the paste over it. Repeat the process for all the three colocasia leaves.

Now fold the leaves lengthwise from all sides (refer photo) and keep applying the paste before making the next fold. Make sure that you make a tight roll. Now steam it in a steamer for 20-30 minutes.

After steaming, allow it to cool. Then cut it into 1/2 inch pieces. Pour tempering over it before serving. Garnish it with fresh scrapped coconut and coriander leaves.

Notes :

1. In traditional Maharashtrian cuisine, the Alu-vadi is deep fried. However, you may shallow fry it to avoid excess oil.

2. Avoid using more than three leaves for the roll as it will make it difficult to fold the leaves.

Stepwise Pictures :

After a short break from blogging, I saw this wonderful award from Ashwini. I sincerely thank her for passing this award to me.

Rules for receiving award:

1) Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2) Answer the questions the tagger has set for you.
3) Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4) Create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
5) Go to their page and tell them.
6) Remember, no tag back.

Rule 1: Post 11 things about yourself

A foodie since childhood. My mom tells that when I was interviewed for Playgroup, I was asked to identify a ‘Brinjal (Aubergine)’. I not only identified that, but also elaborated the recipe of making ‘Baingan ka Bharta’ to the interviewer.
Cooking is my hobby, my passion, my time-pass and everything for me. I can vouch that even if somebody wakes me up during the mid-night and asks me to cook, I will merrily do that.
I love serving new dishes and my creations to my guests and friends. I love playing the host and use my culinary skills to make people happy.
I am a hard-core fan of Yash Chopra films. I love dreamy romantic films, where the heroine wearing a white dress is running on a green lawn. My distant dream is to write, direct, choreograph and produce a Romantic Yash Chopra style film.
Every other day I decide to lose weight and my resolution remains firm only till I find some good dish. Then again I decide to diet and the vicious cycle continues :-)
A week-end blogger. Usually I do not get time for blogging on weekdays, but I make it a point to visit my blog at least during week-ends.
I love photography and love to click photographs on family events and functions. People tell me that my pics come out well.. :-)
I am an Aquarian (Moon sign). But my friends say that I hardly have traits of an Aquarian. I have traits of a Taurian (Again Vrushabh raashi in Marathi). Taurians are generally fun loving and happy-go-lucky people and you can find these traits in me!
When I meet strangers, I generally take some time to open up quickly.
I have few select friends.. but they are friends for life.
Lastly, I always listen to my heart and dont believe in judgment or evaluation.

Answers to Questions by Ash

1) Reason behind your blogging?

As I said earlier, there was no specific reason to blog. I had some free time and just a thought clicked in my mind to start a blog. And this way it started.

2) What do you do when you are free?

Whenever I get free time, I watch Food Food, TLC and NDTV Good-times.

3) What kind of movies do you enjoy?

Yash Chopra’s romantic films are my favorite. Then come large, multi-starrer movies that are shot in Switzerland, European countries. I hate movies that are realistic.

4) What kind of people you like?

Hmnnnn.. very difficult question to answer. But I like people who are honest and sincere.

5) What kind of food you like?

‘Vada-Pav’ is my all time favorite. And I love Gujarati food. My current favorite is Thai cuisine. I also like to try other international cuisines.

6) Why do you follow a blog?

Because I want the other person also to follow my blog.

7) What motivates you to comment on certain blog posts?

When I like a recipe, I can’t resist to tell that person.. Hence I comment.

8) Who is the role model in your life?

My Grandmother

9) What is your favorite blog post and why?

There are many…

10) What blog post you thought would receive most comments and were you disappointed when It did not?

Kashmiri Pulao. I made lots of efforts to make it.

11) What is your take on being inspired? like Plagiarism in covers?

It starts from name of my blog itself. It was inspired from Aaiys Recipes. To be honest, most of my posts are either traditional Maharashtrian recipes or dishes that I have tried somewhere.

But yes, I feel merely copy-pasting somebody’s work is not acceptable. Morally one should not adopt such means.

Rule 2: Answer the question :

Who inspire you for creating such a wonderful food blog and what you think about Indulge blog? Any suggestions for Ash?

I had a habit of surfing blogs and I was a regular reader of Shilpa’s blog – Aaiy’s Recipes. As I said, I do not think much before doing anything, one day I had some free time. Suddenly, a thought struck me – why not start my own blog? And immediately I created this blog. Regarding the name, since I was a keen follower of Aaiy’s recipes, I copied the idea and named by blog – Amu’s Recipes.

And what do I say about Indulge. It’s a colourful blog with yummilicious images and delicious recipes.. A perrrfect blog.

Rule 3: Choose 11 people and link them in your post

I would like to pass on this award to my fellow blogger friends :

Chitra Hegde of http://wwwchitranna.blogspot.in/

Amy of http://foodssrilanka.blogspot.in/

Manasi of http://acookatheart.blogspot.in/

http://khaugiri.blogspot.in/

Deepa of http://hamareerasoi.blogspot.in/

Anjali of http://anjali-cooklog.blogspot.in/

Anjana Chaturvedi of http://maayeka.blogspot.in/

Santosh Bangar of http://santoshbangar.blogspot.in/

Shobha of http://foodmazaa.blogspot.in/