I love my mom’s Khao Suey/Khow suey recipe. Khao Suey is always on the list of things she has to make for us when either me or my brother are visiting. I am not sure how authentic my mom’s Khao suey recipe is, so I wont make any claims on its authenticity and let you be the judge of it. What I can guarantee is that if you like curried chicken with noodles in a coconut broth, you will love this dish.
My mom got this recipe from our neighbours when we were staying at Hindan Air Force Station, close to twenty years back, and since then she has made it several times with her own tweaks for us and for our guests. Now, I do know a few people who cringe when they hear a khao suey recipe with besan/gram flour in it. My mom’s recipe is made using gram flour. If you are a food snob and believe gram flour has no place in khao suey, then call this dish something else but definitely do make it.
To be very honest, on receiving the American Heart Association Healthy Fats, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook, I was not very excited about cooking from it. I love and actually look forward to pictures in my cookbooks and this had none except for the cover photo. If you are more of a visual person, like me, then this book will leave you a little disappointed. Having no pictures to get tempted and cook a particular recipe, I did have some difficulty in choosing something to make.
I do appreciate the idea behind the book though but having being spoilt for choice by Food Network’s the Best and the Lightest (which I have reviewed here), I think my expectations were high. I am sure the book has some good recipes and the one I am sharing today- polenta with vegetables, was one that my mom and I enjoyed for our dinner. V unfortunately isn’t a fan of this type of cooking or the cuisine and prefers more spicy (read Indian and the occasional thai and chinese) food, so it was a nay from his side. And that’s why although I like the idea of this book, and did find a few interesting recipes for healthy appetizers and salads, this cookbook will not have much of a place in our kitchen.
I had cooked the Tuscan style chicken recipe as well from the book and that recipe is something that I would not be visiting again. To be fair having grown on butter chicken and spicy chicken curries, the tuscan slow cooker fell a little flat. I used the leftovers to make sandwiches, which were good though.
What I did like about this cookbook was the information in the starting few pages and I found their section of healthy hints pretty helpful and informative. Overall though, this cookbook did not speak too much to me.
Soft and fluffy Dahi Bhallas dunked in yogurt and topped with chutneys. Tips and techniques to get super fluffy and light dahi bhallas.
When my dad was posted to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, we got acquainted with this amazing family, who coincidentally shared the same surname as ours. The daughter, Pallavi, became a close friend of mine in spite of the age difference we shared. I was in college during my dad’s tenure in Jaisalmer but whenever I visited, she and I would get together and although there wasn’t much to do in the city, my stay was always memorable. Her parents too would make sure that I had a good stay while I was visiting mom and dad.
Pallavi’s mom, Swati aunty, used to make the most amazing Dahi bhallas- light and airy bhallas that melt in your mouth. The first time I ate them I chowed down 4-5 in one sitting and got a to-go box of more back home with me. My mom took the recipe from aunty when we left Jaisalmer because all of us agreed that they were the best bhallas we had ever eaten.While my mom made an honest effort later to make them and they always turned out good, they were never like aunty’s. Aunty maintained the secret to the light and fluffy vadas lay in beating the heck out of the batter, but I think she just had magic in her hands.
As mentioned in a previous post, my mom is in town visiting, which means I am getting some respite from cooking. The other day she made dahi bhallas, her quick channa masala and bhaturas. I could not be more grateful for that meal. It was so good, and the bhallas actually turned out exactly the way Swati aunty made them- soft and airy. Today I am sharing her recipe for dahi bhallas/ vadas.
Dahi bhalla is a popular indian dish made with deep fried lentil dumplings (bhallas or vadas) that are served in yogurt (dahi) and topped with roasted cumin powder, red chilli powder, date-tamarind chutney and/or mint chutney.
Generally these vadas or bhallas as we call them are made from urad dal/ split black lentils. In UP though they sometimes make vadas from moong dal. While dahi bhalla/dahi vada is a popular way to have these urad dal dumplings, in south India, another popular way to serve the vadas is with sambhar or some use them to make bonda soup.
The recipe listed below makes quite a few vadas, and generally my mom freezes extra vadas. I took her suggestion and kept 10 vadas to serve immediately and the rest I wrapped in ziploc bags with 8 each in a single bag. I froze three such ziploc bags. If you choose to freeze the extra vadas, when you are ready to use them for dahi bhallas, just defrost the vadas for a bit and then let them soak in boiled water for 15-20 minutes, before using them to make dahi bhalla.
, I was not very excited about cooking from it. I love and actually look forward to pictures in my cookbooks and this had none except for the cover photo. If you are more of a visual person, like me, then this book will leave you a little disappointed. Having no pictures to get tempted and cook a particular recipe, I did have some difficulty in choosing something to make.
