Tomato Fritters (टोमॅटोची भजी)

As soon as Monsoons arrive, we start craving for some spicy and crunchy food items to munch on and Fritters also known as Bhaji, Bhajiya, Pakora, etc is the most preferred snack. Different regions from India have unique types of fritters. Tomato Fritters is a popular street food snack from Surat region of Gujarat. These bhajiyas are easy to prepare and incredibly delicious. A juicy red tomato paired with fresh coriander & Mint chutney with a golden brown outer coating is something that no one can ever resist.

Servings: Approx.15 pieces

Approx. Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients:

Basic Ingredients:

3 to 4 medium sized Tomatoes

For Chutney

2 cups chopped fresh Coriander leaves
½ cup fresh Mint leaves
3 tbspns roasted Peanuts (without skin)
5-6 Green Chillies
1 inch Ginger piece
8-10 Garlic cloves (optional)
1 tbspn Lemon juice
½ tspn Black Salt
Salt to taste

Ingredients for Batter

2 cups Gram flour (Besan)
3 tbspns Rice flour
½ tspn Asafetida (Hing)
½ tspn Turmeric Powder (Haldi)
1 tspn Carom Seeds (Ajwain / Owa)
2 tspn Salt
1 tspn red Chilli flakes
½ cup fresh Coriander leaves
¼ tspn Baking Soda
½ tspn Lemon juice
1-2 tbspn hot Oil
Water
 
Vegetable Oil for frying

To serve with
Chickpea Chutney (Besan Chutney)

Method:

Combine all the Green Chutney ingredients i.e. fresh coriander leaves, mint leaves, roasted peanuts, green chillies, ginger, garlic cloves, lemon juice, black salt and regular salt in a mixer jar and grind it into a coarse chutney. Avoid adding water while grinding as the chutney needs to be dry and thick.

Slice the Tomatoes into medium roundels of approx. one centimeter each. Pat the slices dry with paper towels. Take a teaspoon of green chutney and apply it evenly over the tomato slice. Repeat the process for all slices and keep it aside.

To make batter, combine all the batter ingredients i.e. Chickpea flour, rice flour, Asafetida, turmeric powder, carom seeds, salt, red chilli flakes, coriander leaves in a deep mixing bowl. Gradually start adding water to the mixture and whisk it nicely. Prepare a batter of smooth consistency. Just before frying, add eating Soda (or fruit salt) and lemon juice to the mixture and whisk. Adding lemon juice does not make fritters oily.

Heat the Oil in a deep wok or frying pan. Drop a small portion of the batter to check if the oil is hot. If the oil is hot enough, the dough rises after few seconds. Now add one to two tablespoons of hot oil to the Besan batter. Dip each piece of chutney coated tomato in the batter and gently place it in hot oil. The chutney side should be on the top. Deep fry the fritters on a medium flame till it gets a golden brown colour on both the sides. Once done, drain it on a kitchen paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Repeat the process and fry all the fritters.  Serve hot with Besan Chutney.

Notes:

·      In the green Chutney, you may replace roasted peanuts with fried Besan Sev or Bhujia

·   For making the batter, you can also mix small quantity of rice flour and/or semolina and/or Corn flour with the gram flour. But fritters taste great when only Gram flour is used.

·     Jain version can be made by substituting Ginger & Garlic with Asafoetida powder (Hing)

·   You may also add chopped Curry leaves or mint leaves or Kasuri Methi (Dry methi) to change the flavor.

Stepwise Pictures:

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Dalimbi Usal

Field Beans (or Bitter Beans) Sprouts Curry is popularly known as Dalimbi Usal or Valachi Usal or Birde in Maharashtra. Even though the names sound similar, its method of making differs from region to region and from castes to sub-castes. Renowned marathi author Durga Bhagwat has rightly stated in her marathi book 'Khamang' that she believes in casteism when it comes to cooking and the taste differentials based on it is the glory of our country ("...पाकक्रियेच्या बाबतीत मी जातीभेद आवश्य मानते व तो सुसंस्कृतपणाचा एक भाग आहे, असंही मानते. ही रुचिभिन्नता या देशाचं वैभव आहे...").

Dalimbi Usal is a traditional accompaniment to rice and rotis. It is often included in traditional Maharashtrian wedding menu also. The method given here is a fusion method of Konkanastha Brahmins and Karhade Brahmins which is a complete  'no onion- no garlic' method. I will post another method of making this curry subsequently.

Approx. Time: 30 minutes (excluding pre-preparation)

Yield: 2 Servings

Ingredients:

1 cup Field Beans (or Bitter Beans) sprouts (Dalimbi)
1 cup Water
1 tbspn Spice Mixture
1 tspn Jaggery
1/4 cup freshly scrapped Coconut
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Cilantro
Salt to taste

For spice mixture:
1/3 cup dried Coconut (grated)
1 tspn Cumin seeds
3-4 Dried red chillies


For Tempering:

1 tbspn Oil 
1/2 tspn Mustard Seeds
1/2 tspn Cumin seeds
A pinch of Asafoetida Powder
5-6 Curry leaves

For Garnishing:

Freshly scrapped Coconut
Finely chopped fresh Cilantro (Coriander leaves)

Method:
Pre-preparation:

(Soaking of 1/2 a cup of dried Field Beans will yield approx. 1 cup of Dalimbi)
Soak the Field beans overnight in water for 10 to 12 hours. After soaking, it will be swollen and puffed up. Drain water and rinse the beans. Transfer the soaked Field beans in a muslin cloth. Fold all the edges of the muslin cloth together and give it a twist. Tie a firm knot to the cloth. Then keep it aside for sprouting for nearly 6-7 hours. The field beans will get white sprouts. Remove the sprouted Field Beans from the cloth. Then take some lukewarm water in a container and add the  sprouts in it. Allow it to remain in the lukewarm water for nearly an hour so that the peel can be removed easily. Remove the peel individually. These beans are very delicate and hence need to be handled with care to avoid breaking. The peeled off Field Beans are called - Dalimbi or Birde. 

To make Spice Mixture:
Heat a saucepan. Add the grated dried Coconut and dry roast it over medium heat until it starts releasing aroma and turns brown in colour. Transfer it in a bowl. Then dry roast the Cumin seeds till it starts releasing aroma and starts changing its colour. Transfer it in a bowl. Lastly dry roast the dried Red Chillies for 2-3 minutes. (Alternatively, the dried chillies can be roasted in a teaspoon of Oil also) Allow all the ingredients to cool down. Then grind the mixture coarsely to make Spice powder.

To make Dalimbi Usal:
Heat a saucepan and add Oil to it. Once the Oil is hot, add the Mustard Seeds and let it splutter. Then add the Cumin Seeds, Asafoetida powder, Turmeric Powder and Curry leaves. Then add the peeled Field Beans and give it a gentle stir. Add a cup of water. Cover the pan with a lid and cook it for 10-15 minutes. Once the Field beans are cooked (nearly 75-80%) add the Jaggery, Salt and Spice powder (Coconut-Cumin and Chilly Powder). Cover the mixture and further cook it for few minutes. Test the beans with nail. If it breaks easily, then it is cooked. At the end add freshly scrapped Coconut and finely chopped Cilantro. This will soak some water and thicken the consistency of Curry. 

Finally, garnish it with freshly scrapped Coconut and finely chopped Cilantro. Serve hot with steamed rice or Roti.

Notes:

1. The consistency of this curry may either be thick, medium or watery as per the preference. Hence quantity of water may be adjusted accordingly. 

2. Do not cook the Field beans in pressure cooker as the beans are delicate and may get overcooked in few minutes. Also, try to stir the Filed Beans as gently as possible as they are delicate and may break if not handled carefully.
3. Jaggery should be added at semi-cooked stage (at 75-80%) because if it is added in the beginning, then the beans may turn hard and may remain uncooked. whereas adding Jaggery at semi-cooked stage makes the cooked beans firm and prevent it from breaking. 

Stepwise Pictures:

Bora (बोरं)

Wishing the followers and readers a very Happy and prosperous Diwali from Amu’s Recipes. This time I am posting a lost recipe from Konkan region called – Bora, which was commonly made during Diwali in Konkan.

Bora is a recipe from Konkan region of Maharashtra. These are made during Diwali in rural areas of Konkan. As narrated by my grandmother, in olden days, while Diwali faraal was made for home consumption , Bora were made for distributing to under-privileged people who used to visit home for alms.  Even though these were made for distribution, children at home used to love this snack like anything.  The children while going out for playing used to fill up their pockets with Bora and eat these between breaks. 

Serving:  40-45 Pieces

Approx. Time:  30-40 minutes 

Ingredients

1 cup Rice Flour

1 tbspn Sesame Seeds

½ cup scrapped fresh Coconut

¼ tspn Cardamom Powder

A pinch of Salt

1 tbpsn Ghee (for Moan)

¾ cup Jaggery

¼ cup Hot Water (Approx.)

Oil / Ghee for frying

Method

To make Jaggery Syrup:

Heat some water till it starts boiling. Turn off the flame. Then take Jaggery in a mixing bowl and add approximately quarter cup of hot water in it. Jaggery starts melting. Stir the mixture to make Jaggery Syrup. Set it aside for cooling to be used while kneading the dough. 

To make Bora:

Take Sesame Seeds in a pan and dry roast it for 2-3 minutes on medium flame. Transfer it in a bowl. Similarly dry roast Rice flour for approximately 3-4 minutes on medium flame and transfer it in a separate bowl. Also dry roast scrapped Coconut on medium flame till it becomes dry and starts releasing aroma. Set it aside for cooling. 

Take a mixing bowl and add the dry roasted Rice flour, dry roasted Sesame seeds, dry roasted scrapped Coconut, Cardamom Powder and Salt.  Mix it well. Simultaneously heat Ghee in a pan and pour it on the mixture. Again mix well. Now start adding  Jaggery Syrup to the mixture. Knead it into a dough of medium  to hard consistency. Rest the dough for 20-30 minutes. Then make tiny balls of the dough with the help of palms of your hand. 

Heat Oil or Ghee in a frying pan. Once the oil/ghee is hot, turn the flame to low and deep fry the balls till it changes the colour to golden brown. Transfer the balls on an absorbent paper. Store it in an air-tight container. It has a shelf life for 1-2 weeks. 

Notes

1. In an alternate method, equal quantity of Rice flour and wheat flour is used to make this recipe instead of using only the Rice flour.
2. Instead of making Jaggery Syrup, you may add grated Jaggery to the mixture. However in this case you may have to use warm water to knead the dough.
3. Moan of Oil may be used instead of Ghee. 
4. Few people also skip usage of Coconut. Instead an additional teaspoon of roasted Sesame Seeds is used. 

Stepwise Pictures