Dahi Vada

 Makes around 30 to 35 Vadas

Ingredients :

1.  Urad Daal (Black lentil) 1 cup

2.  Mung Daal (Split green gram) 1/3 cup (optional)

3.  Curd 1 litre 

4.  Salt

5.  Sugar

6.  Refine oil, to fry the vadas

7.  Powdered Jeera (Cumin), Dhania (coriander), Black pepper, Chilly

Method :

Soak both lentils separately for around 3 hours.

Grind adding little water keeping lentil little coarse to get soft vadas. 

Mix well adding more water if necessary. Make sure the consistency is not watery. Keep aside for around half an hour. 

Add salt to a bowl of water and keep. Heat oil and deep fry the vadas in medium to low heat. 

When done drain them from oil and soak in the salted water of the bowl for 3 to 4 minutes. Fry the next batch of vadas. Squeeze the water out of the soaked vadas and arrange them on a platter.  

Add water, salt and sugar to curd and stir well. Pour the curd over vadas, let them soak in the curd for an hour.  

Ingredients for sweet-sour sauce :

1. Eemli (Tamarind) 

2. Goor (Jaggery)

3. Salt 

4. Refine oil

5. Curry leaves

6. Whole dry red chilly

7. Panchforan (fennel seeds+mustard seeds+fenugreek seeds+onion seeds+cumin seeds)

8. Powdered Jeera (Cumin), Dhania (coriander), Chilly

Method :
Soak Eemli in water, squeeze and strain the water. Scrape Jaggery, mix in water and strain through a fine muslin cloth. 

Now mix both eemli and jaggery water and cook on low flame. Keep stirring, add salt. Should not be too watery.

Heat oil, put panchforan, curry leaves, dry red whole chilly and let splutter for a minute. Pour in the eemli sauce. Add jeera+dhania+chilly powder. Stir well, check salt and spice. 

Serve Vadas sprinkled with powdered Jeera (Cumin), Dhania (coriander), Black pepper, Chilly. Pour a tsp full of the eemli sauce 

Vegetable Pie

Learnt this recipe from a friend. I use different seasonal vegetables to make this Pie. Veg Pie is one of my family's favourite. This is a vegetarian recipe, but can add an egg if you prefer.
Ingredients : This amount serves 5 to 6 portions

                           150 g paneer (cottage cheese), crumbled with hand

                           4 potatoes, boiled and mashed with salt+pepper powder+
                           2 cubes of cheese

                           4 cups mixed vegetables chopped/shelled (peas, carrot, cauliflower,
                           broccoli, bean, mushroom, capsicum), per boiled

                           1 tomato, cut into roundels 

                           1 onion grated

                           1 tbsp paste of ginger+garlic (can be used chopped fine)

                           50 g butter

                           2 cubes cheese

                           25 g mozzarella cheese

                           salt+pepper powder, to taste

                           1 egg (optional), beaten 

Method : Heat butter, leaving some aside. Fry onion, ginger+garlic paste. Put in vegetables, salt, pepper powder and grated cheese cubes. Mix and fry well, keep aside. 

Take a baking dish and butter it. Go on spreading the ingredients in the pie dish.
1st layer : mashed potato
2nd layer : lay the tomato roundels sprinkled with salt and pepper powder
3rd layer : crumbled paneer
4th layer : a few blobs of butter
5th layer : mixed vegetables (press with hand as you spread this layer)
6th layer : paneer again
7th layer : egg (optional)
8th layer : grate mozzarella cheese covering the dish (see above picture)

Heat oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or till the top of the pie turns golden.