Be My Guest Vardhini : Urad Dal Fritters

So, its another episode for the Series ''Be My Guest'' and my guest of honor this Month is Vardhini. Vardhini has not been that old on the block, but looking at her wonderful Space, you can never guess. It’s just an year she is here and is already one of those we look up to for good recipes and inviting clicks. A software professional by career and a wonderful cook by choice, she is basically from Chennai and currently staying in US. Her blog ‘’Cooks Joy’’ represents her inner joy while cooking and also the desire to make it a joyful place for the people who share similar thoughts. 


As it goes for almost all of us, she started blogging just to document the recipes she tried and now this has grown into her Passion and love. She says she has been giving generous time to Blogging lately and the feedback and comments from her readers keep her driven and motivated. Her favourite cuisine is Indian ( off course ! ) and when I asked her to pick some of her favourites from her own blog, she got all jumbled up (Well, so did I when I went through her posts )and lastly picked these few:

Low fat Dahi Vada
Simple Spinach Dal
Kuzhi Paniyaram
Tamarind Rice

When I asked for any message for the readers, she was spirited enough to advise on sticking to your hobbies, never say ‘’ no time’’ since we have to create time sometimes.. Well Said dear !!
It was a tough job going through her recipes and selecting those which fits all the parameters equally, in terms of inviting pictures, perfectly turned out recipes and innovative attempts keeping the tradition alive. Pheww !! Almost every recipe I went through depicts all the above things inone or other ways, but somehow I managed to get through the enormous task and finally listed down the five recipes I loved most from her. Highly recommended from me , do give them a go.. Well, I will !


Buttermilk Biscuits. Look at the wonderfully described step by step recipe
Eggplant Parmesan I always wanted to bake this, amazing clicks
Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread.. Wow !! The lovely colorful bites
Badam Halwa .. making me drool over and those clicks.. are just soo inviting
Masala Vadai .. Cant believe these tempting bites could be amazingly healthy

Over to Vardhini now:


When Nupur asked me to be part of her "Be My Guest" series, I gladly accepted. She has a wonderful blog with interesting recipes. Thanks Nupur for having me as your guest. I chose this snack that is loved by kids and adults and is also easy to make.

I normally try a low fat version of any snack using the kuzhi paniyaram pan and did the same for bonda too. But, though the bonda was cooked properly it did not puff up. So I stuck with the deep fried version. The kids loved it and I had a hard time clicking the pictures because they were standing right next to me asking for bondas :). They were glad when I announced that the photos were done and the next minute the bowl was empty. The best accompaniment to bonda is coconut chutney. Off to the recipe.






Ingredients

• 1 cup urad dal (Ulutham paruppu)
• Salt
• A pinch of baking soda (optional)
• 1 green chilly thinly sliced
• 1/4 tsp peppercorns (slightly crushed)
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• Oil to deep fry

Method:


Soak urad dal for 2 hours
.

Grind using very little water. (Just enough water for the grinder stone to move.) You can also use a mixie to grind.                    






To the ground batter, add salt.              




Add a pinch of baking soda if using.         
 



Add green chillies and pepper corns.          




Add rice flour. Mix.           




Heat oil and take small portions of the batter and drop in oil. Shape does not matter.



When they have a nice brown color, they are done.            
 



Bondas were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. They were all gone in a matter of minutes.



Enjoy!