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Monsoon recipes: Crispy pakore for a rainy day

 

Readers share their favourite rainy day recipes with us. You can too!

We invited Get Ahead readers to share rainy-day recipes with us -- every kind of tasty preparation that has you smacking your lips on those cold, rainy afternoons. We've received several responses and as part of an ongoing series, present three that you can make the most of this season.

First up is Rupa Choudhury's recipe for Dal aur Pyaaz ke Pakore:

Cuisine: Indian

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red lentils (masoor dal), made into a paste
• 1 cup, thinly sliced onions
• 2 tsp finely chopped green chillies
• 1/2 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
• 2 tbsp gram flour (besan)
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• A pinch of baking powder (optional)
• 1/2 tsp amchur (dried raw mango powder)
• Salt to taste
• Oil

Preparation:

• Mix all the ingredients well, adding 1 tsp oil and little water as necessary. The batter shouldn't be too runny or too thick.
• Made small dumplings (pakore) and fry in hot oil till golden brown.
• Serve with tomato ktechup or mint chutney and some piping hot tea. Ideal for a rainy monsoon evening snack!

Tip: You can add boiled cauliflower florets, potato roundlets, spinach leaves to the batter to make pakore of your choice. To make non-vegetarian pakore use the same batter (without the dal) to coat boiled egg slices, prawns, boneless chicken and fish of your choice.

Next Pradeep Suresh Pai shares his mother's recipe for Dalitoy:

Cuisine: Konkani (Mangalorean)

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup toor dal (pigeon pea)
• 4 green chillies
• A pinch of asafoetida
• Coriander leaves
• Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2-3 pieces red chilly
• 8-10 curry leaves (kadipatta)
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
• 1 tbsp ghee/oil

Preparation:

• Pressure cook the toor dal.
• Slit the green chillies lengthwise, dissolve the asafoetida in water and keep aside.
• Add required quantity of water to the cooked dal and bring to a pouring consistency (slightly thick).
• Add the asafoetida solution and salt and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
• When boiled (about 5-8 minutes), add the chillies and coriander leaves and close with lid.
• Melt the ghee in a pan, sputter the mustard and saute cut red chillies, asafoetida powder and curry leaves.
• Add to the dish and and cover once again.
• Serve hot with rice.

And here Anuradha shares this age-old Maharashtrian recipe for crisp Kanda Bhajji:

Cuisine: Maharashtrian

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 large onions
• 1 cup besan (gram flour)
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Preparation

• Heat oil in a wok.
• While the oil heats up, peel and cut the onions into thin slices.
• Put the onions into a large bowl, add salt to taste, red chilli powder and coriander powder and mix well, separating the onion strips.
• Add in the flours and mix.
• Add 1 tsp heated oil to this mixture and add some water to make a semi dry batter.
• Drop bhajjis (dumplings) of this batter in the hot oil and fry till golden brown and crisp. Enjoy with a cuppa.

Tip: Don't try to make balls of the batter. Smooth round balls of dough won't make crisp bhajis.

Want to share your monsoon recipe with us? Click here!