Onion Fritters

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes 

Servings: 2

Introduction: My monsoon evenings are incomplete without a cup of tea and a plate of onion fritters. Onion fritters are one of the most popular street-foods in India. They have different names, such as ‘Kanda Bhaji’, ‘Ulli Vada’, ‘Pyaj ke Pakode’, in different parts of India. 

Onion fritters usually served with hot tea, fried green chilies, or ketchup. The main ingredients of this recipe are onions, gram flour, and oil. There are several variants of this mouth-watering recipe available.

You can make crispy onion fritters within a short period of time. Here is my recipe for onion fritters. Try this recipe and enjoy hot and crispy onion fritters at home.

Ingredients:

• 2 sliced onions
• 2 roughly chopped green chilies
• 3/4 cup of gram flour
• 1  teaspoon of rice flour
• 1 teaspoon of ajwain seeds
• 1½ teaspoons of turmeric powder
• A pinch of baking soda
• Salt, as required
• Oil, for deep frying

Procedure:

Step 1: In a bowl, add sliced onions, chopped green chilies, ajwain seeds, turmeric powder, and salt. Add gram flour, rice flour, and baking soda to it. Mix well and keep it aside for 10 minutes. 

Step 2: In a deep-bottomed pan, heat oil. 

Note: To check whether oil is hot, add a pinch of the mixture to it. The mixture will float on oil if the oil is sufficiently hot. 

Step 3: Add the mixture to oil in small portions. Fry the one side of fritters for about 2-3 minutes on medium flame. Turn fritters upside down and fry them for about 2-3 minutes on medium flame. This process helps fritters to cook from inside. 

Step 4: Fry fritters on medium to high flame for about 4-7 minutes. In this step, you need to keep turning the sides of fritters using a slotted spoon. This process makes fritters golden-brown and crispy.

Precaution: In step 4, you need to maintain the temperature of the oil. Overheating of oil may burn the fritters. 

Step 5: Remove fritters from oil and place them on kitchen napkins in a plate for 1-2 minutes. 

Step 6: Transfer them to the serving plate and serve hot. 

Cheese Chili Toast

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 2

Introduction: Cheese Chilli Toast, as its name suggests, is made up of the three main ingredients cheese, chili, and toast. It is one of the most popular street foods in India. It is served as an evening snack. To taste variations of this simple recipe, you need to roam around different ‘Khau Gallies’ of India. 

Here is my recipe for Cheese Chilli Toast.

Ingredients:

• 3 cubes of cheese (grated)
• 4 slices of wheat bread
• 3-4 teaspoons of finely chopped capsicum
• 2-3 tablespoons of boiled corns
• 1½ tablespoons of red chili flakes
• 1 tablespoon of mixed herbs
• 1 tablespoon of black pepper powder
• Butter, as required
• Salt, as required

Procedure:

Step 1: Apply a ½ teaspoon of butter to the top of all the bread slices.

Step 2: To toast the bread slices, grill them in a preheated oven at 210⁰c  for about 4-5 minutes. The top of the bread slices turns brown and crispy. Keep them aside. 

Step 3: In a bowl, mix grated cheese, finely chopped capsicum, and boiled corns. To this, add red chili flakes, black pepper powder, mixed herbs and a pinch of salt. Mix it well.

Precaution: Carefully add salt to the mixture as the cheese and butter already contains some salt.

Step 4: Flip the sides of the bread, so that the brown and crispy side of the bread slices faces down. Apply a ½ teaspoon of butter to the top of each slice of the bread.

Step 5: Apply the cheese topping on the toasted bread slices. 

Step 6: Grill it in the preheated oven at 210⁰c for about 4-5 minutes and serve hot.

Okra in Yogurt Curry

Preparation time: 15 minutes
 
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings: 2

Introduction: Okra in yogurt curry is a traditional Maharashtrian recipe and is also called 'Taakatali Bhendi' in Maharashtra. In this recipe, okra is shallow fried with some spices. Then it is cooked in the yogurt-gram flour curry. 

I learned this recipe from grandmother. I love its sour and spicy taste. Let's learn the procedure of making Okra in yogurt curry.

Ingredients:

• 200 grams okra
• 150 grams yogurt
• 2 teaspoons of gram flour
• 2 tablespoons refined oil
• 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds 
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon of asafoetida/hing
• ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon of red chili powder
• 5-6 curry leaves               
• 3-4 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 2-3 green chilies
• ½ teaspoon of sugar (optional)
• Salt, to taste
• water, as required

Pre-Preparation:

Wash okra and dry it completely using a cloth. Trim tops and tails, and cut it into 2-inch pieces. Make a slit in the middle of each piece without breaking it into two halves.

Procedure:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves, green chilies and crushed garlic cloves to it. Mix it well and toss it for a minute on medium flame.

Step 2: Add okra in the above tempering. Add turmeric powder and red chili powder, and mix it well. Shallow fry it till the okra gets fully cooked.

Step 3: Add two tablespoons of gram flour to the yogurt and mix it well. Add a half cup of water to it while stirring. Do not allow to form lumps of gram flour in the batter.

Step 4: Add this batter to shallow fried okra. Add salt to it. If the yogurt is too sour, you can add ½ teaspoon of sugar. Boil it for 5 to 6 minutes on medium flame.

Step 5: Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves. Serve it with rice or any kind of Indian bread.