Sunday, November 11, 2007

Karnataka snacks

(NB: Do not adjust your computer screen/ glasses - this picture is blurry!)
At our recent Eid party, we had ordered and served aambode ( pronounced aam-bo-day) with the drinks and they were quite a hit. We also packed and sent some off to a family friend in Aligarh who is a great foodie. She immediately wanted to know how to make them, and what they were and all that, so this post is specially meant for Mrs. Ahmed.

At my parents home, aambode is typically made on festival days - either Dussehra, Deepavali or Ganesh Chathurthi. It is served along with the main meal, as an accompaniment to the saaru-anna or the vangi-bhath. Its flavour blends wonderfully with Karnataka kadhi ( majjige huli), and sometimes I like to dunk these in the kadhi or even saaru ahead of time, so the vadas have softened and absorbed the flavour of the gravy. But they are also great as snacks, and a big advantage is that they stay crisp and taste good even when at room temperature so they can be made ahead of time and stored.

Ingredients:
1 cup chana dal, soaked for 15 minutes
Handful fresh coconut, grated finely
1 inch ginger
1 tsp heeng ( asafoetida)
Handful curry leaves
2-3 Dried red chillies
Salt to taste

Coarsely grind all the ingredients together, with as little water as possible. One way to do it is to use the dry grinder instead of the wet one. The old-fashioned stone grinder works really well, if you want to make the effort and have one lying around. The less water you add, the crisper the vadas turn out. The ground dough should have some of the chana dal left whole ( as you can see from the blurry picture).

Form the aambode dough into patties about 2 inches in diameter. Pat them flat - my sister and I like to make them thin so they turn out crisper but traditionally they should be about 3/4 cm to 1 cm thick in the middle.

Heat oil in a wok. Deep fry the patties until nicely browned.

Serve hot or cold with dhania chutney or tomato chutney as a snack.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good One :) Love ambodes on Ugadi day.

KayKat said...

Yummy blurry picture :)

Love this kind of vadai.

FH said...

YUM!! I made Kadlebele vade for Deepavali too. Hing is new, I will try next time. I add crushed Coriander seeds, gives them nice flavor and crunch!:)

Seema Bhat said...

Oh I love these vades. As kids myself along with my cousins used to visit this small gudangadi which used to serve excellent chattam vades(thats how we call it). Delicious.

Shella said...

This is quite like the mallu paripu vada. A hot fav.

bird's eye view said...

Seema,

These old recipes still stir the tastebuds, huh?

Shella - you must blog about the paruppu vadas sometime.

Abhishek said...

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Indulge in the best of cuisines in "Aromas of Karnataka”. This is a food fest showcasing some of the best known gastronomical delights from across Karnataka, at a single location for audiences to appreciate and savour.

Aromas of Karnataka will have individually designed stalls from the six distinctive regions of Karnataka, serving the most delectable time-honored dishes. The stalls will be decorated thematically in keeping with the cultural heritage of each region.

For Details Visit: https://www.facebook.com/BengaluruGaneshUtsava/app_274392992668644

Abhishek said...
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