Hello friends,

When it finally starts raining after a scorching hot summer season and drop in temperature gives you goosebumps and chills, all you want (if you are like most Indians) is to have a cup of steaming hot tea and some crispy fried snack. While there are several options here that suit the occasion like Jodhpuri Pyaaz/Onion Kachori, Poha Cutlet or Indori Patties but you definitely want to keep trying different thing every other time. So to add one more option in your list of your “rainy-day” recipes, today I present a very popular, super tasty and crunchy Chai-time snack – “Moong Daal Vada” a.k.a. “Mongode” or “Moong Bhajji”. The recipe is pretty easy but the result is very satisfying. So, next time when you extend your hand out of your balcony to feel the rain-drops on your palm, try this delicious “Moongode” to give the monsoon a warm hot and crispy welcome!!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups- Whole moong daal (khadi moong daal)  Note:- This moong daal is overnight soaked and washed.
• 7 to 8- Garlic Cloves (Lehsun) (optional)
• 1 inch- Ginger (Adrak)
• 1 to 2- Green chilies ( Hari mirch)
• 1½ tablespoons- Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1½ tablespoons- Rice flour (Chawal ka aata)
• ½ teaspoon- Asafoetida (Hing)
• ¼ cup- Chopped onion (Barik kati hui pyaaz) (optional)
• Salt (as required)
• Oil for frying

Method:

• Take ½ cup whole moong daal in grinder, ginger root, garlic cloves, green chilies, ½ table spoon cumin seeds, salt and 1 or 2 table spoon water (don’t take too much water). Grind it into a fine paste. Take out this paste in a big bowl.
• Now take all the remaining whole moong in the grinder and grind it coarsely (You can take a little amount of water if required).
• Now take out coarsely grinded moong into the same bowl, mix it with the previous paste to make a batter. Now add rice flour, remaining cumin seeds, chopped onion and asafoetida into the batter (At this stage you can add more salt if required). Mix everything well..
• Heat oil in a kadhai/deep pan on high flame, take small portions of the moong daal batter with your fingers and drop vadas into hot oil (you can use spoon as well for dropping batter). Slow down the flame and let them fry on low flame for 2 to 3 minutes (this will help vadas to cook from inside) now put flame on high till the vadas are brown in color.
• Take out these deep fried vadas in a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Repeat the above process with remaining batter to make vadas.
• Serve hot with tea and green chutney/ garlic chutney/ sweet and sour chutney.

Pyaaz kachori finds its roots in Jodhpur city of Rajasthan state (India). This is a very popular snack and available in many Rajasthani snack/food joints in India. Steaming hot spicy Pyaaz Kachori, with rounded shape is a burst of flavors. Usually these joints serve these kachoris with khatti-meethi (sweet-sour) chatneys but I am adding a twist and serving them as ”Pyaaz Kachori Chaat”. So go ahead and give your chaat craving taste buds another reason to be delighted. The best thing is that the Ingredients used in the recipe are commonly available in every Indian kitchen and doesn’t need any preparations in advance.

Ingredients:

Ingredients for Dough:

• 1-1/2 Cups- All-purpose flour (Maida)
• 2 tablespoons- Clarified butter (Ghee) or Oil
• 2 teaspoons- Carom seeds (Ajwain)
• 1 teaspoon-Salt or as per taste

Ingredients for Filling and Frying:

• 1 Cup- Chopped onion (kate hue pyaaz)
• 2 tablespoons- Gram flour (Besan)
• 1- Boiled potato small (Ubla hua aalo)
• 2 to 3 – Finely chopped Green chilli (Barik kati hui hari Mirch)
• 2 teaspoons- Ginger paste (Adrak ka paste)
• 1 tablespoon- Fennel seeds (Saunf)
• ½ tablespoon- Coriander seeds (Khada Dhaniya)
• 1 tablespoon- Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 teaspoon- Red Chili powder (Lal Mirch powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Turmeric powder (Haldi powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
• 2 teaspoons- Dry Mango Powder (Amchoor powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon – Asafoetida (Hing)
• 1 to 2 tea spoons- Sugar (Shakkar)
• ¼ cup- Finely chopped coriander (Barik Kata hua Hara dhaniya)
• Salt as per taste
• Oil for filling and frying.

Ingredients for garnishing:

• 2 tablespoons- yogurt/ Curd (Dahi )
• 2 teaspoons- sugar (Shakkar)
• 1/4 cup- water (Pani)
• Tamarind and date chutney
• Mint-coriander chutney
• Chat Masala
• Nylon sev

Method:

The entire cooking process for Pyaaz Kachori, is divided into following four steps:

1. Dough Preparation:

• Take all-purpose flour, Carom seeds (crushed between palms) and salt (½ teaspoon or as per your taste) in a bowl and mix well.
• Now add ghee in flour and mix with your fingertips until you get crumbling texture.
• Add water in parts and knead a soft dough.
• Let the dough rest while covered for at least 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Filling Preparation:

• Heat a pan and dry roast Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds and fennel seeds . Once roasted, coarsely grind in a grinder and keep the spice mix aside.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan. Add spice mix, asafoetida, ginger paste, chopped green chilies. Roast everything for a minute.
• Add chopped onion and salt in masala mix. Give it a good mix and cook it for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Now add coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chili powder. Mix everything and cook for another minute.
• Now add gram flour, mash boiled potato and sugar in the filling mixture for 2 more minutes, add dry mango powder and sprinkle chopped Coriander, mix and keep it aside to let it cool down.

3. Stuffing and Frying:

• Smooth the dough and divide it into equally small sized balls.
• Take a ball and flatten with your fingertips or roll it into a shape of “Poori” with the help of rolling pin. Keep the edges thin.
• Now place the small amount (approximately a tablespoon or according to the size of your Poori) of stuffing mixture on the flattened dough. Bring the edges of the dough together and join it (Remove or pinch off the excess dough). Press the stuffed Kachori gently with the help of palms.
• Make all the Kachoris as the process mentioned in the previous step. Keep Kachoris covered to avoid getting cracks from being dried.
• Heat oil in a deep pan/Kadhaai for frying. Keep the heat on low. When the oil is hot enough for frying (to check whether the oil is perfectly hot, first drop a pinch of dough).
• Carefully slide the Kachoris one by one into the frying pan. Once the Kachoris start puffing and the color changes to slightly golden from the one side then gently flip them over.
• Fry the Kachoris until they become golden and crispy from both sides. Turn them often and regulate temperature from low to low-medium as required to get even color and crispy texture.
• Take out Kachoris on kitchen towel/absorbent paper to remove excess oil.
• Fry all Kachoris as per the process explained above.

4. Garnishing & Serving:

• Take yogurt in a bowl add 1 to 2 tea spoons of sugar and water. Mix it with the help of whisk into a smooth batter like consistency.
• Take a serving plate/bowl, crack the top of the kachori , now top it with yogurt, tamarind-date chutney, mint-coriander chutney and sev. Sprinkle some chat masala over it and serve hot.

Note: You can also enjoy these Kachoris without toppings as a tea-time snack.

Today’s recipe ‘Poha Cutlet’ is an interesting variation of usual cutlets. It uses ‘Poha’ as one of the main ingredients and gives a deliciously different flavour from the usual taste. It can be used both as an evening snack or an appetizer. You can either shallow fry with little oil or you can use an air fryer for a healthier cooking. The ingredients are easily available and the cooking method is quite straightforward. Optionally, you can also add other vegetables of your choice like peas, beans, corn etc. So here it goes…

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup- Thick Poha
• Medium sized boiled and mashed potatoes (Aloo)
• ½ Cup- Finely chopped onion (Barik Kati Hui Pyaz)
• ¼ Cup- Finely chopped capsicum (Barik Kati Hui Shimla Mirch)
• ¼ Cup- Grated carrots (Kisi Hui Gajar)
• ½ Cup- Finely chopped coriander leaves (Hara Dhaniya)
• 1 tablespoons- Garlic and ginger paste (Adrak- lehsun paste)
• 2- Chopped green chillies ( Barik Kati Hui Hari Mirch)
• 1 teaspoon- Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 teaspoon- Red chilli powder ( Lal Mirch powder)
• ¼ teaspoon- Turmeric powder (Haldi)
• 1 teaspoon- Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Cumin powder (Jeera powder)
• ½ teaspoon- Black pepper powder (Kali Mirch powder)
• 1 teaspoons- Black salt (Kala Namak)
• 2 teaspoons- Chat masala
• ½ Cup- Breadcrumbs
• 1½ tablespoons- Oil
• Salt (as per taste)

Method :

• Wash poha two to three times with clean water. Leave it in water for a minute and then drain excess water and keep it aside for 5 minutes. After this process poha will become very soft.
• Take a big bowl, add soaked poha, mashed potatoes, finely chopped onion, capsicum, grated carrots, chopped coriander leaves, chopped green chillies, garlic-ginger paste, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, chat masala, black pepper, black salt, turmeric powder and salt.
• Mix everything altogether very well. Taste the mix; you can add more salt and spices as per your taste.
• Take a small portion of a mix and give it a shape as you want.
• Coat your cutlets with breadcrumbs.

Now, you are ready to fry your cutlets. You can either shallow fry it or use an air fryer. Process for both frying methods are given below:

1 – Using pan or griddle:

• Take a pan or griddle, brush it with some oil and let it heat.
• Place the poha cutlets on the pan or griddle, cook for 2-3 minutes on the low Medium flame.
• Brush some oil on the cutlets and flip the cutlets upside-down once they turn slightly golden, repeat the process until it cooks completely (becomes golden brown and crispy) from both the sides
• Once cooked, take the cutlets out on a kitchen paper towels/absorbent paper.
• Serve poha cutlet hot with mint-coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.
• Refer pictures in top strip of below picture (Poha Cutlets – Frying Methods) for reference.

2 – Using air-fryer:

• Brush oil on each side of breadcrumbs coated cutlets and place them in air-fryer.
• Set air-fryer at 320°F (160°C) for 10 minutes.
• Once fried open it and flip the cutlets and again fry them for 8 more minutes at the same temperature.
• Serve poha cutlet hot with mint-coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.
• Refer pictures in bottom strip of above picture (Poha Cutlets – Frying Methods) for reference.

Please post your experience or any feedback in comments section. Thanks.