Kanjeepuram Idlis -Spicy cupcakes the South Indian way

I learnt about Kanjeevaram Idli from my grandma(dad's mom), who hails from Tiruvarur. She is one terrific cook! My mom also makes this at times, when we get bored of the regular idlis. The best part is that, these can be eaten as such (being spicy), without any side dish to go with. However I love mine with Puli Inji, a thickish sauce made with Ginger and Tamarind juice.

Kanjeepuram Idlis - Served with Puli Inji

Makes  ~ 12 Idlis

Ingredients -

Set A :
Idli Rice (short grain) - 1 and 1/2 cups
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Channa Dal - 1/2 cup


Set B:
Ghee - 2 to 3 tsp
Cumin /Jeera - 1 tsp
Black pepper corns/ powder  - 1 tsp
Ginger (finely chopped ) - 1 tbsp
Hing / Asafoetida - a few drizzles
Curry leaves  - a few
Salt - to taste


Optional add-ons

Carrot (shredded )- 1/4 cup
Ghee-roasted cashews - a handful

Method -

Soak the rice and dals in set A for atleast 2 hours and then blend a bit coarsely into a batter, adding water as necessary.  Let ferment overnight (10 hours min).


I used half brown rice and half regular Idli rice and made them into Brown Rice Kanjeevaram Idlis.

Kanjeepuram Idli - basic batter

Fry the list in set B in ghee and then add to the batter and mix well. If adding carrots, add them without frying.

Pour into Idli moulds and steam as usual. You can also steam them into a single piece of a large Idli Cake (like we do for Dhoklas) and then cut them into squares.

Remember to grease the idli moulds with some ghee! Yummmy! :-)

Note to Beginners :  If you're using pressure cooker, don't use weight/whistle.

Hot from the steamer!   Kanjeevaram Idlis with Puli Inji

Give them to those who don't quite relish regular idlis which are bland on their own and I'm sure, they would like this  variation!  This also goes well with the tangy Tomato Thokku :-)

If you have the batter ready, it's just a matter of steaming the idlis and all it takes is about 15 minutes. Great for breakfast! :-)

Maddur Vada - Karnataka specialty

Maddur Vade/Vada is a popular Karnataka specialty and you'd have definitely had it if you have ever been on the Bangalore-Mysore train route. This one is a crispy crunchy snack that adults and kids alike will love to munch on! I had the opportunity to discover Kalyani's blog as part of my participation in Blog Hop Wednesdays event. I picked this recipe as I wanted to try a dish unique to a particular region. Kalyani has a beautiful blog with diverse recipes and tempting food pictures and I found her stories prior to every recipe to be very interesting!

I made Maddur Vade in about 30 minutes and it was finger-lickin' good! :)

Maddur Vade

You 'll Need -

Maida - 1 cup

Semolina / Rawa - 1/2 cup

Rice flour - 2 tbsp

Onion, finely chopped - 1/2 cup

Fresh coriander and some curry leaves, chopped  - 1/4 cup

Green chillies-  2 nos (or adjust to suit your taste)

Salt - to taste

Hot oil - 1/4 cup (to make the dough)

Water (preferably warm)- 2 tbsp (approx) - to make the dough

Some more oil - to deep fry the vadas

How To -

• Mix Maida, rawa and rice flour together in a bowl. Add chopped onions and salt and sprinkle little water to get some moisture. 
• After 5 mins, add chopped coriander, curry leaves, green chillies and pour hot oil and mix well to get a soft, pliable dough. Be careful and DONT use your hand because its HOT OIL (I burnt my fingers the first time I made Maa Laadu and learnt the lesson!) Use a stainless steel spoon instead!
•  Add warm water, a few drops at a time to get the dough done. Let sit for 10 minutes.
•  Grease your hands with oil (or use a baking sheet as suggested by Kalyani) and flatten a small ball (roughly of 1 inch diameter or slightly more) of the dough and make a disc (approx 3 inch dia).
• This is now ready to be deep-fried in pre-heated oil and then the Vada is ready to be devoured!

Simply use your palm! That's mehendi design on my hands, btw!

• Repeat the same step of making (kinda thick) discs with the dough and deep fry in batches of 2 or 3 depending on the capacity of your frying pan. I could fry just one at a time, as I used very little oil and the smallest pan I had (this is to reduce left-over oil that remains to be re-used!)
• Check for temperature of oil before frying, by dropping 1/2 tsp of mustard or jeera into it; they should pop up and sizzle. If the oil is not hot enough, the vadas will absorb more oil than necessary and will be soggy! 
• Keep in medium flame and fry the vadas, to ensure the dough gets cooked sufficiently. High flame will blacken the outside and leave the inside uncooked!
• Flip sides when it turns slightly golden colored and let the other side get crisp.

• Drain excess oil on kitchen tissues and enjoy these lovely Maddur Vadas with a cuppa hot masala chai! :-)

Crispy Maddur Vadas

Crispy Maddur Vadas on their way to BHW event!

And to MidWeek Fiesta @FoodCorner

Spanish Potatoes - A quick appetizer!

If you want to astound your family/ guests with great food, start with the best appetizer! Who doesn't love potatoes? How about oven-roasted potatoes? You know where I'm coming to...:)

Spanish Potatoes

This Is All You Need -

2 Potatoes
1 Green Bellpepper/Capsicum
1 tbsp Tabasco sauce (you could increase/reduce this to suit your palate!)
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp Olive oil
Some Salt and Pepper to taste

Tabasco sauce with Garlic

How To -

• Cook potatoes for exactly 10 minutes (so that they don't get over-cooked) in a pot with water to cover them.

• Peel potatoes cooked al-dente and cube them into uniform size.

• Chop capcicum/bell pepper into fairly large squares.

• Take a bowl, pour olive oil, add the veggies, sprinkle cinnamon and cumin powder and mix well. Pour the Tabasco sauce and mix (I used Tabasco sauce with garlic in it, so omitted the fresh garlic; You could mince garlic fine and add at this stage). Season with salt and pepper.

Olive oil, Potatoes , cinnamon and cumin powder

Added capsicum, salt and pepper

Mix once and pour Tabasco sauce and mix again

• Bake for about 10-15 minutes at 180 deg Celsius until potatoes are reddish-brown and well-roasted.

Ready to go in, place each cube separately to get well-roasted

Enjoy while still warm from the oven, just like you relish potato wedges or fries. This one, being baked is infact better!

For kids who find this too hot n spicy, serve with tomato ketch-up :)

This is my entry to Bake-Fest #2 conducted by Sangeetha.

And to Healthy Cooking Challenge - Movie Time Snacks hosted by Vidhya and Rekha.