Tag: snack

Kid Friendly Recipes. · No Need of Onions!!! · Snacks & Tiffin Items

Yummy Mango Slices sprinkled with niceness!!!! – Street Foods & Snacks.

Shoba19 Comments

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I really dont know whats with me and mangoes. I find gazillion ways and including mangoes in my dishes now and then. I remember, as a child in our earlier home in Chennai. my dad had planted a mango sapling when I was a baby!. By the time I was in high school, the mango tree used to give lovely green mangoes in the summer. They were not the greatest variety or the best tasting, but there is a certain pride in going in to your own backyard and plucking mangoes from a tree laden with them. There is an aroma to this freshness – the mango perfect and tight, with the milk oozing from the stalk, at the point where it has been severed from the tree. Amma used to make Avakkai pickle, Maavadus from the little ones and of course the regular Mangaa Curry. Summers in Chennai….beyond the heat, had so many memories for me…

One such recurring memory is the regular shopping visits to Nalli, Kumaran Silks etc in T.Nagar. All these store, entice you with their innumerable lovely breathtakingly woven silk sarees, but the mango vendors outside these stores, enticed me to go shopping!!! Amma would give me a firm look as if to say, “Come on, we`ve come all this way to finish Diwali shopping in such short time, and all you can think about is mangoes???” The shopping would be over and we would rejoice and run to the vendors. They would cut the mangoes in to lovely slim long slices right in front of your eyes and then cut out little patters on top to resemble a little crown made of sticks…..the mangoes would be so tender, they would bend in his arms. He would then roughly pull out a newspaper, dash a little of his secret-ingredient spice powder, and then swathe the mangoes over the powder and hand over the paper to us. Ditto treatment for the pineapple slices. There cannot be a word to describe the taste of those mangoes, wrapped in spice powder,shared with cousins, standing spell bound, in a crowded shopping area……

My effort to recreate the T.Nagar magic was pretty limited, although it does take me on those trips some times. The ingredients are simple and clear – loads of mangoes…

INGREDIENTS:

2 Mangoes cut in to thin slices.

1 spoon salt

1 spoon red chilli powder

A dash of hing

PREPARATION:

  • Combine the powders and set aside. Please alter the red chilli powder levels, if you think its soo spicy.
  • Arrange the sliced mangoes on a plate.
  • Sprinkle as desired and serve fresh.

Spiced Mango Slices are an anytime snack over at my place. Picnics are always a fun place to make them since they are so easy to assemble. They serve as a very simple yet novel starter snack, favourite among the kids and the adults alike…. Its our favourite movie time snack!!!

ENJOY!!!

Sending yummy mango to Shaheen`s favourite snack food event at her blogsite @ www.funandfoodcafe.com.

Reposting for this event.


Easy LunchBox Series. · Kid Friendly Recipes. · Snacks & Tiffin Items

Colourful Stuffed Dosa Rolls.

Shoba5 Comments
Colourful Stuffed Dosa Rolls served with Tomato Carrot Chutney.
Colourful Stuffed Dosa Rolls served with Tomato Carrot Chutney.

Dosas are always a pleasure to have at anytime. My daughter and husband, would nt mind dosa everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It`s also possible to variate the dosa with so many different sides like Tangy Tomato Gravy,  Tomato Carrot Chutney, Coconut Chutney etc..Many times, I would like to supplement dosa along with some thing a little more healthier. Dosa for lunch becomes a problem as it gets very dry and brittle, and is hardly filling. Stuffed Dosas are a great lunch idea, as they are lined  with a healthy chutney and layered with a stuffing that is hearty and filling,  making them into bite size pieces.It`s filling,  healthy, non-messy and non-fussy!!! Try it and you will love it!

INGREDIENTS:

Dosa Batter

Tomato Carrot Chutney.

Potatoes,Carrot,Onions & Peas filling.

PREPARATION:

  • Make soft dosas on the tava and set them aside in a casserole so they remain warm. It`s essential that the dosas for this preparation are SOFT and not brittle.
  • Place a dosa on your work surface. Line it with the prepared  Tomato Carrot Chutney. This forms as a layer for the filling to stick, and also to keep the dosa moisturised.
Dosa lined with chutney and vegetable filling.
Dosa lined with chutney and vegetable filling.
  • Spoon out enough filling to cover the top of the dosa. Do not spread near the corners of the dosa as this may spill out when you roll them.
  • Place a second dosa on the filling. If the dosa is warm, it will immediately stick to the filling.
  • Carefully roll this and slice it diagonally in to little cartwheels.
  • Serve with a side of Chutney or a little cup of curd.
  • This a great picnic snack as well as a travel snack!
Stuffed Dosa Rolls.
Stuffed Dosa Rolls.

NOTES:

  1. The filling could be anything that you have. Depending on the kind of filling, you could make the sauce.
  2. If you have leftovers of a dry subzi, from the morning, you could line the dosa with pudina chutney or sweet tamarind chutney and serve with a cup of  curd garnished with chat masala and cilantro.
Naivedhyams/ Festival Offerings.

Ribbon Pakoda – Any time snack.

Shoba14 Comments

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Ahhh…the most loved anytime snack  – the ribbon pakoda is a family favourite. Ribbon Pakodas are an inclusion to all festivals and occasions  Those days Madurai amma would make a whole large aluminum tin, full of this delicious crunchy snack. Somehow, all of us cousins would invent reasons to visit the kitchen frequently and be extremely accommodating to the elders if they wanted us to get pickle or salt from the kitchen as it pronounced a chance to snack on the pakodas with a rock solid alibi!!!

These days, as is the family tradition, I also include it as a part of the “Bakshanam” for any festival, specially Deepavali. It`s a great snack to have on long drives or simply when the family gets together for a movie or a chat…My daughter loves it a lot, and I am sure you would too…

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups Store Bought Rice Flour, sieved

1 Cup Besan, sieved.

2 Tsp  Urad Flour.

1 and 3/4 Cups (approx) Water.

1 Heaped Tsp Chilli Powder.

2 Tsp Salt.

1/4 Tsp Hing .

1.5  Tbsp Butter.

PREPARATION:

  • Take a heavy flat bottomed vessel and pour in canola or refined oil and switch on the stove on medium low.
  • In a mixing bowl, add the butter, hing, red chilli powder and  salt and cream/mix  it together with your hands. This is the base of this snack so make sure that its creamed and mixed well.
  • If you overdo the butter, it gets too greasy that it does not get pressed out as ribbons. They would all fall out in little pieces…So more is not always good!
  • Measure out the flours and add them to the bowl of creamed spices. Mix it in dry for a couple seconds.
  • Add the water little by little and knead the dough in to a soft homogenous ball.
  • The ball should slightly soft and  moist.
  • Dole out a big piece on to the hand press and when the oil is hot enough, slowly press out the dough on to the oil in to a circle.
  • Try to press them in to a flattened circle taking care not to clump them up at any time.
  • When one side is a done to a golden yellowish brown,  turn over to fry the other side and place on a soft tissue to allow the excess oil to drain.
  • Store in an air tight container and enjoy lazy afternoons with hot coffee or chai!!!

HINTS:

  • The main hint for this snack is that it should be crisp but melt in the mouth.
  • One the oil needs to be hot when you put in the item to be fried. Keep your flame on medium high and put in the Ribbon Pakoda. When one side is well done, turn it over and fry on the other side too. Between putting the next bunch of ribbon pakoda to be fried, allow the oil to get heated again.
  • When you finish one bunch, drain it on a collander, allow it to come to room temperature, taste it, adjust salt, spice levels  etc and then proceed to store it in an air tight container.
  • In case the  “Acchu” has a thicker hole,  allow it to cook well. but not brown. It is preferable to have thin crisp Ribbon Pakodas.

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