Dangar / Seafood(clams/oysters/shrimp) Cutlets

Last few weeks have been very hectic as we were busy packing and moving from west coast to east coast of Canada to a new city. Just settling down in our new home here in Toronto.

Today I am posting a recipe for seafood cutlets called as Dangar in konkani.
Dangar is nothing but a simple seafood cutlet mainly using shell fish like clams(tisryo/khube) or oysters(kaalva) or shrimp.

I make these oyster dangar quite often specially when I have guests over for dinner.
I get huuuuuuuuuge oysters(palm size) here in Canada or I just chop them into small pieces and then use them.

Ingredients
1 cup chopped oysters,
1/2 onion chopped fine,
1 medium sized tomato , chopped fine,
1-2 green chillies, chopped fine,
6-7 tbsp chickpea flour/besan
4 tbsp rava,
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves,
2 tbsp grated coconut,
salt to taste,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi powder,
1/2 tsp garam masala.
oil for shallow frying.


Method.

• Mix all the ingredients except the oil.


• Heat a skillet on medium high heat and drizzle a tea spoon of oil, not too much.


• Pour 2 tbsp of batter and spread slightly to make a small pancake like round shape.


• Fill the skillet with these cutlets (according to how many you can fit on the pan).


• Drizzle a couple of teas spoons of oil around the cutlets.


• After 4 minutes use a spatula to flip the cutlet on the other side.


• Cook for 2 minutes, then take off heat.


• Dangar ready to be dunked in ketchup or to accompany a typical Goan meal of rice, dal/fish curry.

Note.

Adjust the besan and rava to get the desired consistency. Omit rava for a gluten free version.

Add more green chillies for a fiery version.

Once the ingredients are mixed together, prepare and fry the cutlets immediately or else the whole mixture turns into a pulp as the tomatoes and onions release water.

Besan Badam Ladoo / Chickpea Flour Almond Sweetballs.

We Indians prepare an array of sweets and circular ladoos make it to the top list. There are soooooooo many varieties of ladoos one can prepare. The basic method of preparation is pretty simple -- heat ghee-roast flour(any)-take off heat-add sugar/cardamom powder/chopped nuts-mix-cool slightly and then rolls into 1-2 inch diameter balls..........voila, ladoos all ready to be devoured.
Besan Ladoo is a favorite in my house, my hubby n kids love it but I cannot say the same for myself though. I am more of a rava coconut, motichoor, wheatflour ladoos kind of a person, I prefer these ladoos over besan ones any day :-)
But I do make besan ladoos very often to satisfy my family's love for these yellow golden sweet morsels.
My kids are very fussy when it comes to eating nuts in ladoos, so to get them to eat the healthy nuts I thought why not disguise the nut in a powder form and add to the ladoo.
The verdict is..........my kids ate the ladoos without a fuss or complain about nuts and the almond powder did not overpower the besan flavor of the final product.

Ingredients
2 cups besan/chickpea flour,
1/2 cup ghee,
1 and 3/4 cup fine sugar(adjust sugar according to taste),
1/2 cup ground almond/badam powder,
1 tsp cardamom powder/elaichi powder,
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg/jaiphal powder,
pinch cinnamon powder/tikhi powder.


Method.

• Heat ghee in a pan and roast besan on low flame till the raw smell disappears and nice aroma starts developing to the besan, about 25-30 minutes.
• Add the ground almonds during the last 10 minutes and let the whole mixture roast well for 10 minutes.
• Keep stirring during the whole process or else the mixture will burn. (The color of the besan should be a dark yellow and now brown)
• Switch the heat off and add fine sugar, cardamom powder, grated nutmeg and cinnamon powder.
• Mix well and keep aside for about 8-10 minutes.
• When cool enough to handle with bare hands take 2 tbsp of the mixture at a time and press and squeeze and roll into 2 inch diameter balls.
• The above quantity yielded 30 ladoos(medium sized).

Note.

Add some chopped nuts and raisins if desired. I did not add any nuts as I added ground almonds to the mixture.

Can grind the sugar to fine powder and then add to the ladoo mixture, I prefer a crunch to the ladoo so I added fine sugar that we get here, (the texture of the sugar is like chiroti rava).

Adjust the sugar according to your taste. I added slightly less sugar as I do not like ladoos too overly sweet. But the usual formula says equal parts flour and sugar.

Tavsali / Goan Style Cucumber Cake

Tavsali is a healthy, egg less, low fat (or fat free if ghee is omitted) Goan Style Cucumber Cake.
I love the beautiful green specks of grated cucumber (skin n all)distributed all over the light brown colored cake.
Tavsali is prepared using cucumber/kakdi that are called "taushe" in konkani.

I remember my mom had made this cake for me when she had come to the US to help me during my first pregnancy.

My grandma and mom used to prepare this cake without any oven. A tava or thick bottomed skillet was kept on a stove, then the cake pan was kept over the skillet. Next a lid was kept on the cake pan and the lid was covered with a layer of hot coals. Thus creating an oven kind of condition for the cake to "bake".

This cake can be prepared in 2 ways either using rava/semolina or using goan rice powder, each gives a different taste and texture to the end result.

Goan rice is called "ukade tandol" or rosematta rice in US & Canada. The rice is dry roasted then ground to a fine powder and used instead of rava.

The tavsali made using the ukade tandol powder tastes better then the rava one but still both are equally delicious.

This is a simple egg less cake not overly sweet with dominant flavours of cucumber, coconut, cumin and peanuts.

No, it is not a typo, indeed jeera/ cumin seeds are used to make this sweet. In fact many Goan konkani sweets are flavoured with jeera powder like tavsali, poss, and some varieties of kheers.

Ingredients

2 cups grated cucumber/kakdi,

1 and 1/2 cups grated jaggery or brown sugar,

1 and 1/4 cup rava/suji/cream of wheat/semolina,

1 cup grated coconut,

2 tsp jeera /cumin seeds (unroasted and ground to a fine powder),

4 tbsp chopped roasted peanuts,

2 tbsp chopped raisins,

1/2 tsp cardamom powder/ elaichi,

2 tbsp sesame seeds,

pinch of salt.

Method.

• Roast rava (dry or in 1 tsp butter/ghee) and cool.
• Mix all the rest of the ingredients and pour the batter in a 8 x 8inch baking pan.
• Preheat oven to 350 F and bake the cake in the oven for 30 minutes till cooked through.(prick a toothpick in the cake and check to see if it comes out clean).
• Broil the cake for 5 minutes so that the top also gets a nice golden color.
• Take out of the oven cool, cut and serve.

Note.

I sometimes add 2 tbsp oats flour and 2 tbsp flax seed meal to the batter for additional nutrition.

Usually this cake is prepared the previous night and the flavors allowed to blend well and it is served for breakfast the next day.

This cake can be refrigerated for up to a week. To serve just reheat in the microwave for a minute or 2 and enjoy warm cucumber cake.

Add almonds & cashew nuts if desired.

Rajma Tikki / Red Kidney Beans Cutlet

Rajma tikki is one easy scrumptious snack to make as long as u have some cooked beans on hand. I usually make these for after school snack for my son, specially on cold winter days.
Nothing like a protein loaded, warm tikki/cutlet dunked in ketchup or chutney.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked rajma,

2 bread slices,

1 tbsp ginger, minced,

1 tbsp garlic, minced,

1 tsp amchur powder,

1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi,

1 tsp garam masala,

3 tbsp chopped parsley or coriander leaves,

salt to taste.

Method.

• In a food processor add bread slices and make bread crumbs, add rajma and pulse a few more times, than add the rest of the ingredients and pulse again.
• Take out in a bowl.
• Make small balls and flatten slightly to make discs or long strips.
• Shallow fry in a hot skillet using little oil on medium heat.

Note.

Add minced green chilly for a more spicy tasting cutlet.

Happy Mother's Day !!

Happy Mother's day to all mom's out there.

I am a mom of two lovely kids, so being a mother myself, now I understand all the things my mother did for me.
I am truly grateful and thankful to my mom for everything she did for me n more.
Mother's Day is a very emotional day for me coz 4 years ago I lost my Ma (just 2 days before mother's day). An even after 4 years I have still not been able to accept my loss.
So every year when Mother's Day is round the corner, I feel very happy seeing the excitement in my kids eyes for their mom(me), but at the same time I feel very sad that my mom is not around for me to show her how much I care about her.
Every time my kids surround me and hug me, I just feel that wish I could do one thing and that is to give my mom a nice big hug too..........just to show her how much I love and appreciate her.

I miss my mom everyday specially living in a foreign country on the other side of the world away from my homeland. But I miss her the most on Mother's Day.
One thing is surely true though that no one can replace a mom's love and affection.

So, Ma, wherever you are and if you are seeing me then, I just want to say "Thank you for everything"