CONGRESS KADLEKAI

TIPS TO MAKE BEST CONGRESS KADLEKAI

Roast the peanuts on low flame else it will not be crunchy .Also it might get a some odour and it would taste bad after few days.
Removing the skin is key to how the congress kadlekai tastes, but its ok to have little bit of skin left.
Adjust spices according to your choice. While making the tempering, make sure the heat is in low. If not the spices will burn.
Adding sugar in the spiced kadlekai recipe is completely optional but store brought congress kadlekai has little sugar in them.
You have to wait until the peanuts cools down completely before you store it in an airtight container.The Congress kadlekai stays good for a month if stored well.
Peanuts can be roasted on stove top or microwave.In microwave safe bowl add peanuts and micro on high for 3-4 minutes, tossing them over every minute until they roasted well.
If you already have roasted and de-skinned peanuts at home, this can be under 5 minutes.


Ingredients:
Raw peanuts or ground nuts or kadlekai or shenga
oil
red chili powder
black pepper powder
turmeric powder(haldi)
asafoetida(hing)
curry leaves
powdered sugar (optional)
Salt


HOW TO MAKE CONGRESS KADLEKAI RECIPE STEP BY STEP

In a thick bottomed pan/kadai, dry roast the raw peanuts until light brown under medium low flame. Peanuts will also start crackling. Take care not to burn the peanuts.

Cool the roasted peanuts and remove the skin by rubbing your hands between the peanuts ,if not all. Little bit of skin on the peanuts is ok and then halve the peanuts.

Place a kadai/pan in low flame.  Heat the oil and add in curry leaves and fry until crisp.
Next add all the spice powders like red chili powder, pepper powder, asafoetida and turmeric powder.Give a quick stir.Make sure not to burn the spices.

Immediately add in deskinned and halved peanuts , salt and sugar for taste.Adding sugar is optional but I highly recommend it.

Mix well for a minute under very low flame .The masala has to coat the peanuts well.switch off the stove and keep it aside.

Once it is cool enough to mix with hand, crush the curry leaves well using hands. Doing this will help in blending the curry leaves well with the peanuts.

Serve the spiced congress kadlekai recipe with some tea or top it on churmuri ,tomato slice chaat or any chat.

Uddina Vade/ Medhu Vadai

Ingredients

1 Cup Urad Dal 1 Cup - 250ml
2 tsp Raw Rice
2 Green Chili
1 inch Ginger
1 tsp Salt (adjust to your taste)
Few Curry leaves
2 Cups Oil For Deep Frying

Instructions

Soak the Urad Dal and rice in water for 2-3 hour

Grinding the Dal
Strain the Urad Dal and grind it along with green chilli and salt in a grinder by adding 1 handful of water. Grind it till it is smooth without any lumps.

If we grind it in mixer, just add water little by little at a time and grind it till the batter is smooth. Do not add more water then we can’t shape the vadas. Sprinkle water only if necessary.

How to check the right consistency of the dough ?
Take it from grinder after the Urad Dal is ground properly. If you take the flour in your wet hands, it should roll like a ball. If we drop a pinch of batter in water, it should float it in water. If the batter gets sunk, then we need to grind it more. This is the right stage to remove from the grinder. If we are grinding in mixer, then take out the smooth vada batter and beat it nicely for 3-5 minutes using a whisk or ladle. This will aerate the batter. This step is very important and not to be skipped, we if are grinding batter in mixer, otherwise, the vadas will be harder.

Add the finely chopped ginger,curry leaves and mix well

Frying the Vadai

Wet your palm and add small ball of batter, pat it and make a small hole in center and drop it in oil.
Add 4-5 vada  to oil. Slowly flip the vadai to other side to cook properly on both sides
Once the vadai becomes golden brown color, remove from flame.

BLUEBERRY YOGURT CAKE

My friend Brinda discovered this simply superb and delicious recipe (https://www.pumpkinnspice.com/blueberry-yogurt-cake/) and made the cake for us on our camping trip. It stayed well and super super moist even after few days and everybody loved it. So, I had to give it a try too and turned out to be super duper delicious. This has become one of our favorites now and I'll be making this again and again for many years to come. 😋

Ingredients

2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter softened
2 cups white sugar
2 egg yolks
1 egg white
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1½ (5.3 ounce) containers blueberry Greek yogurt
½ pint fresh blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.Set aside.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer with a fitted attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Beat in the eggs and egg white, one at a time. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla extract.
5. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and yogurt until thoroughly combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.
6. Bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool for 20 minutes in pan, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

1. Cake will keep in an airtight container for up to five days, due to the moisture from the yogurt.
2. For less blueberry flavor, feel free to use plain or vanilla Greek yogurt instead of blueberry yogurt.

Bassaru

This bassaru or bas saaru is prepared using toor dal and dill leaves. It can be prepared with green beans, green gram, palak leaves or any other dry beans soaked in water overnight. Bassaru or bas saaru is is a two in one gravy and curry (sabji) recipe served as an accompaniment with ragi mudde (ragi balls) or rice.

Main Ingredients: (measuring cup used = 240ml)

1 bunch leaves or 250gm vegetables (any leaves except methi (fenugreek leaves) and any vegetable like cabbage, beans or ridgegourd)
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup green gram or any other gram (optional - if not using increase toor dal by 1/4 cup)
A big pinch of turmeric powder
Salt as per your taste

Ingredients for gravy or rasam: (measuring cup used = 240ml)
2 - 4 red chilies (this recipe is supposed to be very spicy)
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
4 - 5 seeds black pepper
1 onion chopped
10 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
1 tomato chopped
1/2 gooseberry sized tamarind
1/4 cup grated coconut
Salt as per your taste

Ingredients for tempering the gravy or rasam:
1 red chilli
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
5 - 6 curry leaves
2 tsp cooking oil

Ingredients for curry:
1 red chilli
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp gram dal or chana dal
5 - 6 curry leaves
1 onion finely chopped
1 - 2 green chilli (optional)
2 tbsp grated coconut
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
2 tsp cooking oil

Instructions for making bassaru or bas saaru:

• Take leaves or vegetables of your choice, rinse and finely chop them. I have used 3 bunches of sabsige soppu (dill leaves) and few beans.
• Take toor dal in a vessel, add turmeric and water and boil till 3/4th coked.
• Add in chopped green leaves or vegetables. Also add in salt. Add in required water. 
• Wait until the leaves and vegetables are cooked, Turn off the stove and let it cool a bit, drain the vegetable and lentils stock (water from cooked veggies) completely and keep it aside.

• Meantime, in a frying pan add in a tsp of oil and fry red chilies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black pepper.
• Add in chopped onion and garlic. Fry them until raw smell is gone.
• Next to the same pan add in chopped tomato. Fry them until soft
• At the end add in grated coconut and tamarind extract. Fry for a minute and switch off the stove.

• Now add in 2 tbsp of cooked veggies to the fried ingredients and grind until smooth paste.
• Next take this ground paste and the vegetable stock (drained water from cooked veggies) in a container.
• Add in water as per your desired consistency, adjust the salt level and bring it to boil.
• Temper it with oil, red chili, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Bassaru gravy portion is ready. Let us proceed to the curry preparation.

• Now to prepare curry, heat a frying pan and prepare tempering using oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, gram dal, red chili, green chili and curry leaves.
• Add in chopped onion and fry until soft
• Add in cooked vegetable, leaves and lentils mixture. Mix well
• Adjust salt. Add in grated coconut and coriander leaves. Mix well and Serve bassaru or bas saaru (gravy) and palya (curry) along with rice or ragi mudde. Enjoy the healthy and droolworthy food.

Swany Aunty's Simple and Best Plantain Curry (Balekayi Palya)

Ingredients:

Raw Plantain - 2
Onion - 1 medium
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp
Tomato - 2 small
Red Chilli Pd - 1tsp
Dhaniya Pd - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Cilantro
Salt as needed

For tempering:
Oil - 2-3 tbsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 inch
Chana Dal -  1tbsp
Curry Leaves - few

Method:

Peel the skin and chop plantain into small pieces.

Heat oil in a kadai and start the tempering with the ingredients mentioned under tempering.
(Aunty's Tip: You can fry chana dal first and keep it aside and add it to the curry at the end for a crispy texture)

Add onion and fry. Once translucent, add ginger & garlic paste. Fry till the raw smell goes.

Add Tomato and fry till mushy.

Add Salt, Chilli Pd, Turmeric and Dhaniya Pd.and simmer for 5 mins.

Add chopped Plantain, 1/4 cup water, Check the salt and mix and cook till plantain is soft.

Sprinkle chopped Cilantro.

Goes well with chapathis.