Palak Pakodis with Hot and Sweet Hari Chutney (green chutney)

I am very happy to contribute this recipe for JFI greens hosted by Indira of Mahanandi and
Nandita of Saffron Trail .

I had lot of recipes in mind. I wanted to make something with Gongura which is a famous green leafy vegetable in Andhra but it comes in stores only during the mid summers. When JFI greens was announced I bought almost all the greens from my near by Subzi mundi not sure what I might want to make.

The greens I used in Palak Pakodis are Palak, Curry leaves, and Kasuri methi.

The greens I used in Hari chutney are Mint and Cilantro. Now this is called maximum utilization of greens.

Ingredients for Palak Pakodis

1 cup Chopped Palak

1 cup Curry leaves (chopped or whole)

2tsp Kasuri methi

2 cups Gram flour (Besan)

1 cup chopped onions

1tsp Carom seeds (Ajwain)

Chilli powder

Salt

Water

Oil for frying

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients in water to make a thick batter, as it is usually done for Bajjis and pakodis. drop the mix very carefully with a spoon or hands in to hot oil so that they don’t fall apart and deep fry them until golden brown. Spoon was easy for me. Crispy, crunchy, pakodis are ready to go. The aroma of kasuri methi and Ajwain from the hot fried pakodis are divine.

Hari Chutney (green chutney)

Ingredients

2 cups mint

2 cups Cilantro

2-3 green chillies

Salt

Sugar or Jaggery

½ cup tamarind water

Preparation

Grind all the ingredients together. Depending on how thick or watery you want your chutney to be you can increase the amount of tamarind water. It’s the same with Jaggery or sugar. Lovely green chutney with breath taking aroma is ready.

Hot crispy pakodis dipped in this tangy green chutney is a great treat to go with tea.

My Green Photography!!

Taro Cutlets

Arbi (Hindi), Chama dumpa in(Telugu)
This is a very simple recipe to make and I enjoy having these crispy cutlets with rasam and rice. It goes really well with tangy rasam and plain rice.

Ingredients

Boiled Taro roots
Bread crumbs
Salt
Chilli powder
Oil

Preparation

Combine the bread crumbs with salt and chilli powder. I used Italian style bread crumbs which we get in stores. This has got all the seasonings. If that is not available you can add garam masala to plain bread crumbs. I pressure cooked the taro roots, you can also boil them in a vessel to make sure they don't get over cooked. Pressure cook them for two whistles. Coat the taro roots in the bread crumbs completely and then press them down flat into patty shapes so that they dont stick to your hands. Add oil to a flat frying pan or tava and place them gently in medium heat. Let them get crisp for 30 minutes on both sides. Add more oil to each side if required.
My mom used to make these for me. Taro roots cause a little itching in the throat, so if combined with tamarind rasam, this itching can be avoided. These crispy and crunchy cutlets are my childhood favorite.

Pineapple Flower Cups!!

I am reposting this recipe as requested by Monisha for the SHF Event .

To be frank, I am making this recipe for the first time. Most of the recipes in this blog like the laddus, Sandesh and cutlets are all trial and success recipes. So one more added to the list are these beautiful flowers filled with pinapple chunks, topped with whipped cream, honey and strawberry syrup.
This one is for the AFAM- a fruit a month by Maheswari, which is pineapple.
Like the other recipes of mine this too takes very less time to make.


Ingredients
Phyllo dough
2 cups chopped pineapple
Whipped cream
Honey
Strawberry syrup

Preparation

Phyllo sheets can be easily obtained in the frozen section of any grocery stores.
Layer 3 sheets evenly above each other and cut them with knife or cookie cutter into round shapes. I used wide mouthed glass and knife to cut out rounds. Place them in muffin baking trays and bake them for 7 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F.
They bake into beautiful golden brown, crisp flowers. Remove from oven and let it cool.

Remove the cups gently and place them in a platter. Spoon the pineapple chunks into the cups and top them with whipped cream and drizzle up with honey and strawberry syrup.


This recipe is inspired from Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network.