"Phodshi (Kuli/Mulshi)~Onion~Cabbage Ambado (Vada/Fries/ Fritters)" ... Delicious ambados that tastes great when served hot as side dish with Dalitoy-Rice .... Yummilicious ….
** Cabbage and Piyava ambado is a traditional Konkani Saraswat dish that is prepared almost in every home and almost all love it. The same can be prepared with addition of ground masala or with just addition of flours and masala powder. I have almost stopped following the traditional method as it is somewhat time consuming and yields more Ambado/fritters and is always in excess in my home. For decades now I have switched over to the besan/gram flour and rice flour method which I can prepare in smaller quantities. But last year, I did prepare the same and post in the Blog so that all of you who wanted to follow that method could find the same in easy access. I will share a common link below to the recipe and you can check out the same. “Phodshi/ Kuli/ Mulshi” is a leafy veggie available in plenty during monsoon in Mumbai in small bundles. I have no knowledge of its English name whatsoever. It resembles spring onions or garlic springs, but has a blade like stiff leaves of about 8 inches in all and sometimes they are a little bitter too. I have attached a picture of the bundle as we get them here, do check it out.
** Bhaji or Vadas are generally prepared with these leaves in Maharashtra. They taste great when added to chana dal / tuvar dal ground to a coarse paste or rice and prepared as croquettes. Chana dal Vada / Croquettes/khotto with Phodshi is a superb which I have added in the blog before. The leaves on itself do not impart any taste as such but is believed to be very good for health and people here believe it should be consumed during rains. In all a lovely dish that incorporates the goodness of the pulses and leafy vegetable together. They remain good in fridge if kept well. I had already prepared and posted sanna khotto a spicy sort of Idly prepared in jackfruit leaves baskets a few days below. I have still some leaves of the same leftover, so today decided to prepare ambado out of the same. I still have some more left which I will be using for some other dish in a day of two. This one is a simple ambado/fritters where in I have used just flours and added on onion and cabbage finely chopped too. The ambados turned out delicious, do try these delicious fritters/ambados if these leaves are available in your vicinity.
** Here is my simple method of preparing "Phodshi (Kuli/Mulshi)~Onion~Cabbage Ambado (Vada/ Fries/ Fritters)" … My Style …
** Wash the Phodshi/Kuli/Mulshi leaves well under running water taking care to see that you remove the mud particles or dirt stuck to it. During monsoon leafy vegetables must be wash properly first before cutting them as there is hidden dirt in them. Let the water drain off well, then trim off slightly the edge white portion of the end of the leafy vegetable Phodshi, that’s the bitter part. Discard it. Finely chop the green portion and keep this aside ready. You should have about 1 cup of finely chopped pieces.
** Peel off the skin of one large sized onion and finely chop it and keep it also ready aside. Similarly chop cabbage to finely, say about one cup of it and keep it also ready. Basically you should take approximately all three of these in equal quantities. You can keep phodshi a little bit less in quantity.
** Add all the three finely chopped veggies into a wide stainless steel bowl. Add in 1.5 cups of besan/gram flour, 3 tblsp of rice flour. 2 tblsp of red chilly powder, 1 tsp of hing (asfoetida) powder, 1 tsp of tamarind paste or prepared tamarind water by soaking it in warm water, salt to taste and finally 3 tblsp of coriander seeds.
** Add approximately one cup of water and mix all the ingredients well. Keep sprinkling water till you get a well kneaded consistency of a soft dough. You should be able to prepare ambado / balls out of it without cracks appearing on it. Keep it covered aside for 10 minutes. Mix the mixture properly once again.
** Now take a large tablespoon or a lemon sized ball size full of mixture in hand and roll it to form a ball, flatten it a bit by pressing gently and keep it on a plate. Prepare a few more similar ambados / fritters and keep them ready along with the remaining mixture before frying procedure is started.
** Add sufficient oil for deep frying in a thick bottomed kadai. Put it on high heat to bring it to full heat / smoking point. Reduce the heat to medium and wait for 5 minutes. Check the temperature by adding a pinch bit of mixture in the hot oil carefully. If the mixture comes up within a few seconds without being burnt, it means the oil is hot and ready for frying.
** Now add in one by one prepared ambados/fritters into the hot oil carefully. Do not overcrowd the kadai, there should be enough space left for the ambados/ fritters to get deep fried properly. Let it fry for 4-5 minutes on even heat. Now flip them over gently with a slotted spatula and when they are lightly browned, keep turning them properly so that they get browned evenly all over.
** Once they are fried to golden brown remove and keep in an absorbent paper for the excess oil to drain off. Continue with the remaining mixture in similar pattern by preparing the ambados and then frying them in batches till all the mixture has been done and the fritters are fried. Do not at any stage allow the ambados / fritters prepared and kept to dry out much lest they break apart on deep frying.
** "Phodshi (Kuli/Mulshi)~Onion~Cabbage Ambado (Vada/ Fries/ Fritters)" is done and ready to be served. Always serve Ambados/ Fritters hot for best taste with Dalitoy (spiced dal) with rice and other dishes as accompaniment. We Konkani Saraswat always serve them mostly for lunch with dal-chawal and some curries along with. It is an excellent combination to be prepared when you have guests for lunch / dinner, do try it out.
** Note : In case the mixture prepared is more and you do not need to fry them all at one time, just put them in an stainless steel box with tight lid and put it in the fridge. It remains good for almost 2 days provided you put it as soon as ground. You just need to remove it out say about 15 minutes before you need to deep fry them, tastes equally good.
** Note : You can increase or decrease the red chilly powder as per your spice requirement in your family. You can even add on some if need be at later stage too and mix well after checking out the same. that way it safe and you will not end up with too much spice level if you do not like it.
** Note : Keep addition of water to sparing level as we need the texture of the mixture to come to a balling consistency without breaking up or being too runny. You can always sprinkle as you keep mixing to avoid the mixture thinning out.
** Sharing below a common link to “Ambado” posted before in my Blog, you can check out the same for reference or try them out too.
** For the traditional Konkani Saraswat recipe of "Cabbage Onion Ambado", Please follow the link given below …..
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