Recipe world

I rarely prepare deep fried items at home. Dishes like Poori, Bajji, Bonda are always tempting. But as far as possible, we want to avoid eating food thats too oily. But I can't avoid making Chaklis when there's huge demand from my daughter!

Months back, I had eaten Chakli at one of my Aunt's home. They were so tasty and I was surprised to hear that she had used Curd for making those Chaklis! Then one fine day, again on daughter's demand, I tried Chaklis using my own selection of ingredients along with curd. They turned out so crunchy and yum! This recipe looks very handy and easy for me now. Here is my easy peasy Chakli recipe for you all..

Preparation time: 2 hours

Difficulty level: Medium

Yield: 60 challis (varies depending on the size)

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 4 cups
Roasted bengal gram dal / Pottu Kadalai - 1/2 cup
Butter - lemon size
Salt - for taste
Sugar - 1 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp or to taste
Carom seeds / Ajwain - 1 tsp
Till seeds - 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curd - 1/2 cup
Water (approx) - 2 1/4 cup

Method:

Combine roasted bengal gram dal, carom seeds, till seeds and cumin seeds and make a fine powder.
Mix it with rice flour, salt, sugar and red chilli powder in a large bowl.
Add heated butter to the flour mixture and mix it well with your hands.
To this, add 1/2 cup of curd and mix well.
Add water little by little and make a soft, non sticky dough like chapathi dough.
Fill the prepared dough in Chakli Press (Chakli Maker). Press the dough and make them into spiral shapes.
Heat the oil in a wide pan and deep fry these spirals till they turn crispy.
Enjoy crispy, delicious Chaklis anytime!

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When it comes to the habit of healthy eating, eating more vegetables is always recommended. Being born and brought up in South India, we prefer Rice for our lunch and dinner most of the time. So, I try to include salads, veg stir fries, lentil based curries and yogurt in our daily food to make sure we won't miss the required nutrients.

I try to mix and match the vegetables for my curries and stir fries just to make it attractive for my daughter to eat! Beans is one of those vegetables which goes well with most other vegetables to make delicious dishes. I am sharing with you all a healthy and delicious stir fry using Beans and Lilva Beans. For this recipe, you can use either fresh or frozen Lilva Beans. I have used the frozen ones here..

Preparation time: 20 - 25 minutes

Serves - 3

Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

Fresh beans - 200 gm
Silva Beans / Hitikida Avarekalu (Fresh or frozen) - 1/2 cup (can add more if you like)
Salt to taste
Amchur powder - 2/3 tsp or to taste
Grated coconut (optional) - 2 tbsp)

For Seasoning:

Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
Dry red chilli - quarter piece
Urid dal - 1 tsp
Asafoetida / Hing - a big pinch
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Green chilli - 1 (according to spiciness needed)
Curry leaves - 8 to 10 leaves

Method:

Wash the beans thoroughly in water, remove the stem and fibre, if any. Chop the beans into as thin roundels as possible.
Heat oil in a heavy pan. Add red chilli piece, urid dal, asafoetida and mustard seeds. When mustard seeds start crackling, add turmeric powder, slit green chilli and curry leaves. Saute for a minute.
Add the chopped beans to the seasoning and mix it well. Close the lid tightly and cook it for 5 - 6 minutes. Sauté it once in between to ensure even cooking.
Mix in the Lilva Beans along with the half cooked beans and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add grated coconut, salt and amchur powder for taste. Mix everything well and cook for 5 minutes or till done.
Serve this delicious stir fry as a side dish with rice.

Tips:

Don't add any water while cooking. Water content in the beans will be sufficient for cooking them.

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