Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Tapala Chekkalu/Biyapu Chekalu

This is my attempt to recreate what I ate as a child at my grandmothers house in the village. I googled for the recipe but did not find one which was the same. Here is the recipe

Rice Flour - 1 cup
Curry leaves - a few
Chana Dal - 4 tbsp (soaked)
Onions - 1/4 cup finely chopped
green chillies - 2-3 depending on the spice level finely chopped
cumin - 1 tbsp
salt - as needed

Boil some water separately. To the rice flour add salt, onions, cumin, chana dal, curry leaves and mix. To this add the hot water slowly and mix it with a spoon. Add enough water to make a dough. The consistency should be of that of chapati dough, make sure you don't add too much water. After mixing with the spoon and after the mixture is cooled a bit to handle, mix with hand to make a smooth dough.


Take a ziploc bag and then oil your hands and also the bag. Make small dough balls and press it on the ziploc bag with your fingers to form a flat patty about 1/4 inch thick. Too thick and you will not be able to cook it thoroughly too thin you will brown it too soon.


Heat oil in a pan to deep fry these patties. Slowly drop these into the hot oil and wait until the bubbles subside and then turn the chekkalu.




Once they are golden brown, remove and enjoy!!!!




It brought back sweet memories from my childhood and hope it will bring back yours too.


Saturday, February 20, 2010

Desi Frittata



Well I call this Desi Frittata coz I add my own twist and desi ingredients to the original frittata recipe by my favorite cook Alton Brown. Here is his original recipe at Food Network.com (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/frittata-recipe/index.html)

I followed the same except added ginger-garlic paste.
6 eggs, beaten
1-ounce mixed cheese
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon oil
1 cup Fajita frozen mix vegetables
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
pinch of chilli powder


Directions
Preheat oven to broil setting.

In medium size bowl, using a fork, blend together eggs, cheese, ginger-garlic, chilli powder, pepper, and salt. Heat a non-stick, oven safe saute pan over medium high heat. Add oil to pan. Add the fajita vegetables and saute for 2-3 minutes. Pour egg mixture into pan and stir with rubber spatula. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until the egg mixture has set on the bottom and begins to set up on top.

Place pan into oven and broil for 3 to 4 minutes, until lightly browned and fluffy. Remove from pan and cut into portions. Serve immediately.

You could use any kind of vegetables, I just had a bag of frozen fajita mix and I think I really love the taste of peppers and onions in it.

Please feel free to leave comments by clicking on the comments link below each recipe. I'd love to hear from you.