fresh coconut | ashstylegourmet's Blog

Kothimbir Wadi or Sambar Vadi: We call it Sambar Vadi in my household. All of those who are familiar with this snack would know how tasty it is and eating one wadi is never enough, we always eat more than one. I remember mother used to buy 1-2 kgs of the green coriander, patiently clean the bundles, wash the leaves, dry them and then finely chop them. The dry coconut needed to be grated. The onions needed to be finely chopped. Uff, that was too much of work to do. These were my thoughts in childhood and I had made up plans then that I will never ever attempt to make this, I never ate the inside coriander filling during childhood so it was beyond me to understand the trouble mom undertook to make this. But things do change over a period of time as we grow, the eating preferences to some extent for me. A foodie does go the extra length to satiate the taste buds, provided it is something that one likes a lot. I am sure you all would agree that the taste of the food cooked by mothers always stays with us forever.

Growing up in a big family with specific recipes associated with particular festivals, time or season remain as fond memories. With ever shrinking family size, one might not indulge making certain dishes. The company of elders make us relive those eating moments, mom’s visit allowed me this privilege. The month gave me the opportunity to not only be under her loving care but also allowed me to meet the woman she is, whom I have always admired. The experiences and rigors of life transforms lives and make them what they become. It was overwhelming to see my mom, even at age 77, so full of enthusiasm and abundance of energy to enjoy each days moments. Her zeal for adventure, the spirit to explore and learn, to still keep caring and loving and giving, even now, when she should be the one receiving it, to still be so positive in spite of the situations and above all to lead a life that still makes a difference in other people’s lives makes me salute her, and I feel it is a blessing to be her daughter. Her strong persona gives strength in life’s weak moments. I loved each moment being with this amazing woman, my mother. I just wonder whether at her age I would be that active and zealous, I know not. But I would do my best because Yeah, I owe it to her.

Now it is time to start cooking this yummy snack from the state of Maharashtra in India. Reading the recipe you would come to know that it is not an instant dish, but does need some pre-preparation and a bit of efforts to make. But trust me, it is definitely worth trying and eating. We do get this ready-made in snack shops, on menus in hotels, but I can say the homemade ones are always the best. Though I make this every winter season or even otherwise when the taste buds crave, but I have to mention that my mom’s Sambar Vadi is the best for me. I have tried to make it as much like hers, but due to unavailability of some essential ingredient I have not added that. The post is essentially posted with the intent that the recipe needs to be saved for the next generation kids of my family. Happy cooking 😃!!!

KOTHIMBIR VADI:

INGRIEDIENTS:

Green Coriander: 400 gm (in weight after cleaning and chopping)

Onion: 1 Big

Green chilies: 4-5 nu. (finely chopped)

Fresh Coconut (grated): 1/2 to 3/4 of a fresh one or 150-200 g if dried one used. (one could use the dry grated coconut too instead of fresh)

Cumin: 1 Tsp.

Carom Seeds: 1 Tsp

Garam Masala: 1 Tbsp

Gram Flour: 250 gm

Rice powder: 1 Tbsp

Oil: For frying

Turmeric: 1 Tsp

Red Chili Powder: 1 Tsp

Salt: To taste

METHOD: Prepare the ingredients. Clean the coriander bunch, wash thoroughly, then dry the leaves and then finely chop the green coriander. Grate the coconut and keep ready for use. Chop the chilies, onion and keep ready.

Cleaned, washed, dried and then finely chopped green coriander.

Heat the pan, put half the quantity of the chopped coriander and give it toss or two and remove from the pan and keep in a bowl. This is just done for a minute or so, to remove the raw taste.

In the heated pan add 1 Tbsp cooking oil, then add cumin, chopped chilies and fry. Then add the chopped onion and cook till they are pinkish in color and are cooked. Once done then empty it on a plate and let it cool.

Once the heated coriander cools, add to it the remaining chopped coriander that is raw. Add the cooked onion and chili to this mix. Add the turmeric, grated coconut, salt, and 2 Tsp of garam masala powder. Mix all these ingredients well so that the spices are evenly coated. (For more spice one can add red chili powder as per taste) This mixture is the filling.

In a bowl take the gram flour, 1 tbsp rice powder, add salt as per taste, carom seeds, 1 Tsp red chili powder, and 2 Tsp oil and add water to make a tight or stiff dough. Cover and keep it for sometime and then knead well. Make even- sized small balls and roll out puri’s. Apply garam masala paste (mix the garam masala powder with little water) on the puri and then put 1-2 Tbsp of filling in the center. Fold the sides and seal the ends. Little water can use used to seal the sides, if required. The ends should not open while frying in oil.

Make the puris and place the coriander filling.

Heat oil for frying in karahi. Fry the rolls until they become crisp and then remove and drain on a tissue roll. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

These were the only pictures that I could click, the wadis had a very crispy outer coat (adding more oil to the gram flour results in the outer coating becoming very crisp), but mom liked them. I wish you all to give it a try if you are fond of making something new.

Enjoy! Happy Wednesday.

ashu.

The fondness for greens once made me incorporate fresh fenugreek leaves into the chicken gravy and the taste lingered on. Since then I started making use of fresh leaves in some of my non vegetarian dishes. This particular recipe is a favourite at home and something that I loved creating the first time round. Whenever a dry chicken dish is desired, this is one of the recipes the kids too love. The fenugreek leaves impart the dish a light bitter taste, and the onions give it the sweet taste, hence a bitter sweet experience.

Brown Sesame Chicken:

Adding sesame to the dish lends it the desired nutty taste, as well as the crunch. It acts as a source of fibre too. Sprinkling dry roasted sesame on the dish, as garnish, gives it a more appealing and desirable look. Food that is appealing to the eye results in tingling the taste buds. Eating home cooked food that is made using the fresh herbs is always a satisfying experience. Go ahead, try making this recipe and find out if it holds true for you too!

Lets get cooking my Brown Sesame Chicken recipe:

Ingredients:

Chicken- 800 g (washed and coated with little turmeric)

Onion- 2-3 medium sized

Fresh coconut- 1/2 grated (approximately 50 g)

Garlic- 5-6 cloves

Dry Kashmir chilli- 2 (It imparts a nice red colour.)

Red Chilli powder- 1 tbsp.

Garam masala (ground whole spices) – 1 tsp.

Salt- as per taste

Oil- 2 tbsp.

Fresh fenugreek leaves- 1 bowl (50 g)

Sesame – 50 g (Dry roasted)

Fresh green Coriander- finely chopped for garnish

Method:

The onions are chopped roughly and sautéed in pan with 1 tsp. oil till they are almost brownish in colour. The chilli should also be sautéed along with the onions in the pan. The fresh coconut too is cooked in pan till it is almost brownish in colour, taking care not to burn it.

These ingredients- coconut, garlic, red chilli and onion should be ground to a fine paste, little water can be used to get the fine paste.

Heat oil in pan on medium flame, add half the quantity of roasted sesame seeds, and then the finely ground masala paste. Cook it for 5-7 min on slow flame, add the red chilli powder and salt, and keep for 1 more minute. The oil should leave the ends of the fried masala, then add the cleaned washed chicken to which turmeric was coated. Mix all the ingredients and let the chicken cook on slow flame, no water should be added. When the chicken is almost done, add the finely chopped fresh fenugreek leaves and mix so that it gets nicely coated with the chicken and the masala. The leaves need to cooked only till the raw taste is gone, hence should not be cooked for too long. They should be visible, as well as green in appearance. Put off the gas flame, then sprinkle the garam masala on the cooked chicken and mix.