“Takla- Kothimbir Vadi/ Cassia Tora Leaves- Corainder Leaves Fritters” … Kothimbir Vadi is a delicious crisp snack from Maharashtrian cuisine served as a teatime snack … there are plenty of variations to this savory and each home has their own way of preparing it … this time, I tried out these vadi's by mixing takla leaves and kothimbir leaves … the herb- flavored crispy tava fried vadi’s/ fritters tasted excellent dunked in coriander coconut chutney … Yummilicious ....
** Almost all foodies must have come across kothimbir vadi a delicious crisp snack from Maharashtrian cuisine usually served as a teatime snack. I came across it 3 decades back and have relished it often in my friends, neighbors home, bought from stores and at times prepared at home. Though the most famous of all time is preparing the vadi with coriander leaves, the same can be prepared with any leafy veggies like methi, radish leaves, drumstick leaves, colocasia leaves etc.
** The basic method of preparing is with addition of besan (bengal gram flour), rice flour along with addition of spices. There are then two ways of preparing it for steaming, you can either prepare it as a dough and roll it to a log shape or pat it onto a bowl/ plate. After steaming it is allowed to cool, then cut into squares and again either deep fried or tava fried. Lastly it is tempered with curry leaves, rai etc. and garnished with coconut- dhania and served with coconut chutney or any other chutney of your choice.
** It is interesting to note that despite there being many communities in our country most of the dishes prepared in homes are similar with slight variations. It's lovely to see the harmony our country Bharat has in food habits. I somehow relate these Vadis to our amchi saraswat dish of patrade panna muddo and my next take would surely be to fry them sliced when prepared though usli is something we always have tried. The addition of spices etc. vary from home to home so also addition of jaggery and flours.
** There are plenty of recipes on net to experiment with and I came up with my own adaption by following some of which my maid had taught me decades back and a few variations of my own. In all a fantastic outcome of herby flavored snack that we enjoyed with chutney to hearts content. Eagerly waiting to experiment on more herbs, flours in combination, till then do try this one out, its fantastic. It is always a delight to share a recipe that is sure to win hearts, so do give it a try and enjoy it with family.
** Here is my own recipe for “Takla- Kothimbir Vadi/ Cassia Tora Leaves- Corainder Leaves Fritters” … my style ….
** Ingredients :
Takla/ Taikilo/ Cassia Tora Leaves : 3 cups
Kothimbir/ Dhania/ Coriander leaves : 1 cup
Besan/ Chane Peeta/ Bengal Gram Flour : 1.5 cups (approx)
Tandul Atta/ Tandla Pitti/ Rice flour : ½- ¾ cup (approx)
Ginger/ Adrak/ Alle’ : 1 inch
Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 4-5 cloves
Green Chilly/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 4-5
Jeera Powder : 1 tsp
Garam Masal Powder : 1 tsp
Mirchi Tikkat/ Mirsange Pitti/ Chilly Powder : 1 tsp
Haldi/ Turmeric Powder : ½ tsp
Hing/ Asafoetida Powder : 1 tsp
Amchur/ Dried Raw Mango Powder : ½- 1 tsp
Jaggery powder/ Godda pitti/ Gud : 2 tblsp
White Sesame/ Tilu/ Til : 2 tsp
Ajwain/ Vonvo/ Bishop sees : ½ tsp
Coconut Oil/ Nariyal Tel/ Narlel Tela : 1 tsp
Eno Fruit Salt : ½ tsp
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
** Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 2-3 tblsp for tava frying the Vadi.
** For Tempering/ Seasoning/ Tadka/ Pannaka :
Coconut Oil/ Nariyal Tel/ Narlel Tela : 1 tblsp
Mustard Seeds/ Sasam/ Rai : 1 tsp
Urad Dal/ Black Gram Dal : 1 tsp
Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 8-10 fresh ones.
** For Garnishing/ Topping :
Kothimbir/ Dhania/ Coriander leaves : 2 tblsp finely chopped
Soyi/ Nariyal/ Coconut : 2 tblsp finely grated
** Wash, clean, scrap skin of ginger and cut to small pieces. Wash and cut green chillies to pieces. Peel off the skin and cut garlic into small pieces. Add all three into a mixer grinder and grind to a fine paste adding little water if required.
** Pick, clean and wash taikilo/ takla leaves and dhania/ coriander leaves in colander. Keep it aside to allow drain off the excess water completely. If required pat it dry on a thick towel. Now chop it finely and keep it ready aside.
** Add chopped taikilo, dhania into a wide bowl along with ginger- garlic- green chilly paste, besan, rice flour, jeera powder, garam masala powder, mirchi powder, haldi powder, hing powder, amchur powder, jaggery powder and mix well.
** Slightly crush ajwain with palm and add to the above mixture along with salt to taste, oil and half of white sesame seeds (1 tsp). Mix all ingredients together adding water only as required until you get a soft smooth dough/ batter consistency.
** Now there are two methods of steaming that can be followed, you can either roll the dough into log shaped roll on pat it onto a deep plate/ bowl. Here I have used 2 bowls, though you can check out on previous posts where I have rolled it.
** Place the steaming vessel/ pedavan with required amount of water for heating. I have used our Idly steaming vessel here though you can even try out in a kadai, by filling with water, placing a ring on it and then cover with dome lid.
** The last step is of adding eno salt. Add it on top of the prepared batter and pour a tsp of water above it. The soda in it will sizzle up, immediately mix well and pour it into prepared greased bowls, say in about just 1 inch thickness.
** Note : Do grease/ apply coconut oil from within the bowls prior to adding the batter and keep it ready before you begin the preparations.
** Now sprinkle the remaining white sesame til evenly on the surface in a thin layer without overcrowding the same. Slightly press the til with the back of oil greased spoon to press it slightly within the surface of the batter.
** Now immediately place the bowls into whichever steaming vessel you want to use, cover it a tight lid and steam on full heat for 5 minutes. Then lower the heat to medium and continue cooking for another 15- 20 minutes.
** Note : I have prepared them in two equal sized cake tins. If using single you can place in steamer on top of separator and if using two or three (as per your requirement) tins then use a separator plate between the same for proper steaming.
** When done, open the lid immediately and remove the bowls and allow it to cool down for 15-20 minutes. Run a blunt knife through the inner rim side of the bowl and invert the same and flip it out. The vadi will come out in one go.
** Place it on slicing board and allow to cool if still hot. You can now slice them with a sharp knife into required number of pieces. You can check out the pictures shared in the collage shared above for the same.
** Heat a tava and apply oil all over evenly spreading it into an layer. Now gently place each piece on the tava and add few drops of oil above the pieces too. Raise the heat to high, fry for 2 minutes, lower the heat and fry till crisp on the bottom.
** Gently flip over each piece with the help of tongs and fry until crisp on the other side too. Remove and keep aside on an absorbent paper for excess oil to be taken care off. If you have more pieces to be fried do so repeating same process.
** When all are fried and done place them in a wide bowl or try or plate that will hold them all. This will help in giving tempering/ tadka and garnishing to the vadi equally all over. You can also use a large stainless steel dabba for the purpose.
** For Tempering/ Seasoning/ Tadka/ Pannaka : Heat oil in a small pan, add urad dal, when the color changes lightly add mustard seeds, when they begin to splutter add in the fresh curry leaves and fry for a few seconds.
** Remove and pour over tava fried vadi pieces distributing the seasoning equally all over them. I have used coconut oil, you can use any oil you desire though I recommend coconut oil for the aroma and taste it imparts to the vadi.
** Garnish the seasoned vadi’s immediately with finely chopped coriander leaves/ dhania and freshly grated coconut/ soyi. Just before serving them toss them all well and add a dash of lemon juice only if required.
** Note : You can squeeze in some fresh lemon juice just before serving, I have done so in my previous posts. However, here I have added enough quantity amchur powder for that tangy taste, so skipped the same, you may if desired.
** “Takla- Kothimbir Vadi/ Cassia Tora Leaves- Corainder Leaves Fritters” is done and ready to be served. Tastes best served during teatime as a snack with Coriander Coconut Chutney, though you can serve it with any other chutney of your choice. Enjoy these tasty herb flavored crispy vadi’s with your family and friends as snack at party time or get together, it tastes excellent and sure to be loved by all.
** A few points to remember while preparing these Vadi’s :
** Remember to use fresh leaves and chop as finely as possible, it is unpleasant to have them come in between the teeth while eating.
** Remember to keep the ratio of leaves to flours as 2:1 ie all flours added together should be half the quantity of the leaves combined.
** You can add besan only, however rice flour adds crispness to the vadi and for extra crispy texture you can always add little bit of rava if desired.
** Do not add exces water while preparing the dough/ batter. The right consisteny is it should form into a lose ball when you roll on hand.
** Boil water in steamer before placing the vadi bowl and steam on high flame for 5 minutes then on medium for 15-20 minutes for perfect cooking.
** You can deep fry the vadi’s as well as shallow fry them. However to cut down on oil and perfect textured fries use tava frying method.
** Remember to fry the vadi to crisp golden texture on both sides for best of taste. Just adjust the heat accordingly for perfect fries.
** The Vadi tastes best served with Coriander Coconut Chutney, though you can serve with any chutney of your choice too.
** Do Temper/ Season/ Tadka/ Panna the Vadi and garnish it, it tastes wonderful when done so by enhancing the taste to a different level all together.
** You can steam and keep the Vadi ready before hand and fry them as and when needed as they taste best when served hot.
** You can also prepare it the previous day if you are short of time and store it in fridge in a air tight box for 12 hours or so.
** If cassia tora leaves are not available or not in season, you can prepare with just coriander leaves only, the traditional way.
** For the "Coriander Chutney" Recipe, You can check the following link for the same….
** You can check out the recipe of “Methi Leaves Vadi” in the link shared below ….
** You can check out the recipe of “Tava fried Coriander and Radish Leaves Vadi” in the link shared below ….
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks.