Dahi Vada

This is a tasty and healthy accompaniment to meals and quite easy to make :)

You need:
urad dal - 1 cup
salt - to taste
Thick curd - 4 cups
Buttermilk - optional - 2 cups
Oil for frying

To garnish
Sweet and sour tamarind chutney
Green coriander chutney
Fresh coriander leaves
red chilly pwder
roasted cumin powder
salt

How to:
Soak urad dal in water 2 hours in advance. Drain the water and grind the dal to a thick paste adding minimal water. Beat this paste with your hands till fluffy.

Heat oil in a pan. Add salt to the dal paste. Fry the dal paste as small round balls (vada) in the hot oil till golden brown. Remove from flame and dip in a bowl of buttermilk. If you don't have buttermilk, dip the vada in warm water.

Once the vada is thouroughly soaked, press it to remove excess water/ buttermilk.

To serve, keep 2 vadas in a bowl, top it generously with thick curd. Garnish with all the garnish ingredients listed above.

Quick fix sandwich

This is a variant of a snack that my roomie used to make for us... and I love it! Easy no nonsense healthy snack.. sometimes good enough for lunch :)

You need:

• 4 Slices of brown bread


• 2 thin slices of fresh paneer (cottage cheese) slightly smaller than the bread slices. Make sure the paneer is fresh and elastic and does not crumble


• 4 tbsp of thick dahi (curd)


• 1 green chilly - finely chopped (optional)


• 1 cup of finely chopped capsicum, onion and tomato


• red chilly powder - 1 tsp


• mustard powder - 1 tsp (alternatively use mustard sauce)


• salt to taste


• Butter to toast

How to:

• Put the curd, red chilly powder, mustard powder, salt in a small plate with edges and mix well.


• Marinate the vegetables and paneer in this mix for 30 minutes


• Take a slice of bread and place the marinated paneer on it. Add some vegetables from the marinate and cover with the second slice. Press lightly to seal it


• Heat a griddle and add some butter. Place the sandwich on the griddle and toast till golden brown. Turn to the other side and toast again.


• Repeat with the other 2 slices and the leftover mixture


• Serve hot with ketchup