Onion Pakora / Ullipaya Pakodi / Onion Fritters

Summer is slowing descending & we are feeling chillness in the weather. It's time to welcome fall & to enjoy evenings with hot beverages & snacks.Try this yummy pakoras for your chilled eve's.

2 Servings 
Ingredients
1 Medium onion sliced
1 Cup besan
1&1/2 Tsp. chili powder
1/2 Tsp. jeera powder
1 Tsp. salt ( adjust )
Few curry leaves
6 Tbs. water

- Mix the ingredients other than onion in to a thick smooth paste.

- Mix onions with the batter as shown above. Heat a pan with oil in medium heat. 

- Now take a spoonful of bater & slowly add it to the oil. Cook it thoroughly on both sides till they turn brown as shown above. 

- Remove them on to a tissue & repeat the same with rest of the batter. 
- Serve warm with ketchup or green chutney.

Note: 
- For a crispier snack you can add 1/2 besan & 1/2 rice flour. 
- To check on whether the oil is hot or not you have to drop in a little batter in to oil & it should immediately lift & float on top of the oil as shown above.

Pesarapappu Atlu | Mung Bean Kimchi Pancakes | Moong Dal Pancakes

South Korea, my first international destination to this beautiful country left lots of good memories in my life. Being a vegetarian I never had a chance of experimenting Korean food. But some where in my deep mind I wanted to taste it badly.

Lately I have been exploring on World Wide Web for korean vegan recipes & came across many delightful blogs who are purely vegan & now it’s my chance to experience them.

I chose to make a simple pancake made of mung beans & kimchi. A little intro about Kimchi is that it's a traditional korean side dish made of napa cabbage as main ingredient. 

Kimchi has a fish sauce as one of the ingredients, but I replaced it with a vegan kimchi, which I bought from whole foods store. I served it with a Indian green chutney & it tasted yum. 

I got this delicious recipes from Beyond Kimchi blog & made little changes to it. 
Yields : 10 pancakes 

Ingredients
1/2 Cup moong dal 

2 Tbs. rice 

2 Tbs. scallions / spring onions 

1/2 Cup chopped kimchee (Store bought)

1 Tsp. soy sauce 

1&1/2 Tsp. red chili powder 

Salt for taste

2 Tbs. sesame oil

- Soak moong dal & rice for minimum 8hrs to 24hrs in refrigerator. Grind them coarsely & keep aside. 
- Now to the ground batter add scallions, kimchee, soy sauce, salt & chili powder. Mix them well.

- Heat pan with oil & add the batter as shown. You can make 3pancakes at a time depending on the pan width.

- Close it with a lid allowing it to cook completely. Now reverse the pancakes & cook them crisp on both sides.

- Once they are done crisp & cooked both sides remove them & repeat the same with other batch. 

- Serve them warm with a sauce or chutney. I served it with cilantro chutney. 

Note: 
- The recipe I followed asked to refrigerate the soaked dal & rice.
- You can replace kimchee with other veggies like onion, ginger, corn & etc. 

Nan Khatai - Indian Eggless Cookies

Nan Khatai, the Indian eggless cookie is a perfect treat for any occasion. I saw this recipe going around in many blogs & was just waiting for the perfect moment to make them. 

This is one of those recipes, which requires very few ingredients & can just get a perfect cookie. There are many variations for this recipe that I have come across & I tried the simple one as a beginner. 

Yields : 8 Nan Khatai's 

Ingredients

½ Cup All-purpose flour

1/4 Cup ghee/butter

¼ Cup powdered sugar (Adjust Acc.)

½ Tsp. cardmon powder

Crushed pista & almonds for garnish

- Preheat oven @ 200 degrees. Layer your baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Take all the ingredients other than garnishing ones. Mix them well to a round dough.

- As shown above make little balls as shown above. They make 8 to 9 balls.
- Pat the ball into a flat round & roll it in pistachio & almond mixture & place it on the baking sheet.
- Repeat same with rest of the balls. 

- Bake them @ 200 degrees for 20 mins.
- Remove them from oven & allow them to cool for 10mins on wire rack before you serve. 

Serve with tea, coffee & milk.

Note: 
- Add another 2 Tbs.butter if needed.
- Garnish the cookies as you wish.
- Don't over bake them for more then the time needed. They become hard on the outside. ( Own experience) 
- Once you have rolled the dough check if you need to do any sugar adjustments.