• Raw Banana/Aratikaya/ Vazhaikai – ½ kg
• Dry red chillies – 6-8
• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Pepper powder to taste, optional
• Asafoetida a pinch, optional
• Curry leaves – 4 sprigs
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Preparation method

1. Cut the raw banana into thin round slices.
2. Grind the dry red chillies, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt to a smooth paste.
3.  Apply the paste over the raw banana slices. Ensure it has been coated well on all the slices.
4. Sun dry for a while so that the moisture goes off quickly, so that the absorption of oil will be less during deep fry.(This step can be skipped)
5. Let it be for half an hour.
6. Heat oil in a deep frying pan and fry curry leaves crisp with the stem & keep it in aside.
7. Put the slices in the hot oil.
8. Fry till it has become golden brown and drain from the oil.
9. Keep it in a kitchen towel so that the excess oil is absorbed.
10. Remove the stem from the curry leaves and spread on the fried chips.
11. Sprinkle pepper powder at this stage if needed.
12. Store it in air-tight containers once it has been cooled.

• Potatoes – 2 big
• Onions – 2, medium size, finely chopped
• Carrots – 2, medium size, grated
• Beetroot – 1, medium size, grated
• Shelled peas – ¼ cup
• Bread crumbs – ½ cup
• Maida – 2 tbsps
• Green chillies – 4,finely chopped
• Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
• Garam masala powder – ¼ tsp
• Oil for frying
• Salt to taste

Preparation Method

1. Pressure cook the potatoes, grated carrot, beetroot and peas.
2. Heat oil in a deep frying pan, add onions, green chillies and fry till it becomes transparent.
3. Mash the boiled potatoes and add to the frying onions.
4. Then add the boiled carrot, beetroot and peas.
5. Fry in high flame till the moisture is absorbed.
6. Add the red chilli powder, garam masala powder and salt to taste.
7. Mix well and switch off the stove.
8. Let it cool down completely.
9. Meantime, take a bowl with little water, add maida and make into paste. Keep it aside.
10. Make a lemon sized balls from fries vegetable mixture.
11. Dip it in maida paste and roll on bread crumbs to coat it well.
12. Shape as you like or cut it with a cookie cutter to get uniform shapes.
13. Heat a tawa and arrange 3 to 4 cutlets on top.
14. Pour oil around and fry till brown on both sides by turning it once.
15. Serve hot with tomato ketchup and Mint chutney.

Variations

Rusk powder can be used instead of bread crumbs.

• Onion – 3, big size, sliced
• Semiya / Vermicelli – 1 cup, fried in ghee
• Potato – 1, medium size, boild
• Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tsp
• Green chillies – 8, finely chopped
• Senaga pindi / Besan – ¾ cup
• Rice flour – 1 tbsp
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander Leaves – 1 tbsp, chopped
• Pudina – 1 tbsp
• Cashew nuts – 10-15 no’s
• Oil for frying
• Salt to taste

Preparation Method    

1. Boil the semiya in hot water till it has become soft.
2. Drain the water and add cold water. Drain again and keep aside.
3. Mash the boiled potato and mix with the cooked semiya.
4. Now add the remaining ingredients, ginger-garlic paste, onion, green chillies, red chilli powder rice flour, besan, chopped coriander leaves, pudina, cashew nuts and salt to taste.
5. Add a tablespoon of oil and mix all the ingredients thoroughly without adding water.
6. Heat the oil a deep frying pan, dip your hand in water and sprinkle some water in the mixture.
7. Once the oil is hot, reduce it to medium flame.
8. Take a handful of pakodi mixture and drop it in the oil like sprinkling.
9. Fry till it turns golden brown, remove from oil and drain the excess oil in absorbent paper.
10. Serve as a tea time snack.

• Suriya Gummadikaya / Yellow Pumpkin – 1 slice, medium size
• Pesara pappu / Moong dal – ¼ cup
• Bombay Rava – 2 tbsp
• Coconut gratings – 4 tbsps
• Green chillies – 6 or to taste
• Ginger – 1 “pieces
• Asafoetida / Hing – ¼ tsp
• Oil for frying
• Salt to taste

 Preparation Method

1. Soak the moong dal for half an hour.
2.  Peel the skin of pumpkin and cut into cubes.
3. Cook with ½ cup of water. Remove when it’s half-cooked.
4. Grind the ginger, green chillies, shredded coconut, moong dal, salt and hingua into a paste.
5. Add rava to this and make batter of Bajji consistency.(Not too loose or not too thick)
6. Let it stand for an hour.
7. Heat oil in a kadai, dip the pumpkin pieces in the batter and drop in the hot oil.
8. Keep the flame in medium and fry all the pumpkin cubes.
9. A hot and sweet pumpkin tikka is ready.
10. Serve with tomato ketchup/chutney.

Corn  – 1

Maida – ½ cup, sifted

Egg – 1, beaten

Milk – ¼ cup

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Butter – 1 tbsp, melted

Sugar a pinch

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Preparation Method

Boil the corn in its inner skin to preserve the nutrients, for five minutes.

Peel away the skin and slice off the kernels with a knife.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Beat together milk, butter and the egg.

Stir into maida mixture.

Mix in the corn kernels.

Heat oil a deep frying pan, drop the fritter batter by spoonfuls into the hot oil, and fry until golden.

Drain on paper towel.

Serve as evening snacks for kids.

Variation

Add a tablespoon of corn flour/ rice flour to make the fritters crispier.

Ingredients

Senaga pappu / Bengal gram / Channa dal – ½  kg

Cashew nuts – 25 gms

Red chilli powder or

Pepper powder – 2 tbsps or to taste

Ghee – 1tbsp

Curry leaves – 4 sprigs

Oil + ghee for frying

Salt to taste

Preparation Method

Clean and wash the bengal gram & soak overnight or you can soak in the morning and fry it in the evening.

Drain the water and spread the dal in a white cloth.

The excess water will get absorbed by the cloth.

Meanwhile heat the oil+ghee (or only ghee) in a deep frying pan.

Take a handful of dal and put in the oil.

Fry, till the dal comes up in the oil and frying sound fades off.

Remove the dal from oil & spread it in a tissue paper.

Repeat the same process for the remaining dals also.

Heat ghee in a pan and fry the cashew nuts & curry leaves.

Sprinkle the chilli powder or pepper powder and salt.

Mix well along with the cashew nuts & curry leaves.

Serve as a snack along with tea/coffee.

Ingredients

• Maida – 1 cup
• Sour Curd – ½ cup
• Onion – 1, large size
• Green chillies – 4 no’s
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Coriander leaves – 2 sprigs
• Cooking soda a pinch
• Salt to taste

Preparation Method

Mix maida and curd with little water if needed for min of 2 to 3 hrs.

Finely chop the onion, green chillies, curry and coriander leaves.

Add chopped onion, coriander leaves, curry leaves, salt, cooking soda and green chillies to the maida batter and mix well.

The batter must be a thick paste. It should not be watery.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan.

Take a table spoon amount of batter in hand and make a ball shaped & drop immediately in the hot oil.

You can fry 3-4 at a time based on your pan size.

Remove from oil once it turns into golden brown color and keep it in the kitchen towel to drain any excess oil.

Serve hot with tomato sauce/ tomato chutney / coconut chutney.

Ingredients

• Senaga pindi / Gram flour/ Besan – 1 cup
• Biyyam pindi / Rice flour- 1 tbsp
• Red Chilli powder – 2 tsps
• Garlic- 6-8 cloves, Crushed with skin
• Pallilu/ Raw Peanut- 1/4 cup, optional
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying
• Water as required

Preparation Method

Mix gram flour, rice flour, chilli powder and salt in a vessel.

Add 1to 2 cups of water slowly in the flour mixture and mix without any lumps. The batter should be little watery and not too thick.

Heat ½ tbsp of oil in a frying pan and add garlic, curry leaves and peanuts, fry till peanuts turn into brown in color. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan on medium flame and pour the batter over the ladle with small round holes and rub it with another ladle which makes the batter to fall through the ladle holes even round balls.

Fry till it turns crispy.

Drain boondhi from oil and repeat the same for the remaining batter.

Now mix the boondhi with fried garlic, peanuts & curry leaves and adjust salt.

Once cooled completely store it in an air tight container.

Serve as tea time snack, use for boondhi raita etc.

Ingredients

• Senaga pindi/ Bengal gram /Besan flour – 1 cup
• Biyyam pindi / Rice flour – 2 tbsps
• Vamu /Ajwain – 1 tbsp
• Baking soda – a pinch
• Red chilli powder – 1 tbsp, optional
• Jeera / Cumin powder – 1 tsp, optional
• Ghee /Butter – 1 tbsps,
• Asafoetida powder – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying
• Water as required

Preparation Method

Mix gram flour, rice flour, baking soda, chilli powder, ajwain and salt with hot oil.

Add water slowly to make soft and smooth dough.

Take oil in a deep wide frying pan.

Take the janthikalu maker/ squeezing mould and fix the small holes disc.

Apply little amount of oil inside the press.

Apply oil in your hand, take a handful of dough & fill in the janthikalu maker, so that the dough won’t stick in your hands.

To test the hotness of the oil, drop a little amount dough in the oil. When the dough immediately comes up, then the oil is hot enough to start making the karapusa.

Now, reduce the stove to medium flame and start pressing the mould in a circular fashion in the oil so that you cover the oil fully in the pan.

Turn the karapusa to the other side with a slotted ladle.

When it turns golden in color on both the sides and the bubbles in the oil subsides, remove from oil and allow it to drain on a paper towel.
Repeat the same process till all the dough is done.

Once it has been cooled completely store in an air tight container.

Variations

Ginger garlic paste can be mixed the dough, if you like the flavor.

If you want to make crispy karapusa, increase the quantity of rice flour used.

You can reduce the red chillies and add green chillies. Grind ginger & chillies with water, filter and mix in the dough.

Word of Caution

The dough should not be watery; it should be soft and sticky, so that you can press the karapusa easily in the janthikalu maker.

To make Puri’s

• Maida – 1 cup
• Rava/sooji- 1 cup
• Oil for frying
• Baking powder a pinch
• Salt to taste
• Water as required

To make Sweet Chutney

• Dates-10, deseeded
• Tamarind paste- 2tbsps
• Jaggery- 2 tbsps, powdered
• Jeera/cumin powder- 1 tbsp
• Garam masala- ½ tsp, optional
• Pepper powder or
• Red chilli powder – 1tsp
• Water as required
• Salt to taste

To make Green Chutney

• Kothamir/ Coriander leaves – 1cup
• Pudina/ Mint leaves- 1cup
• Green chillies- 4
• Ginger- 1” piece, chopped
• Pani puri masala powder- 1 tbsps
• Jeera/Cumin powder- ½ tsp
• Lime juice- 1 tbsps
• Salt to taste
• Water as required

For Stuffing

• Potato- 2, medium size
• Nalla Senagalu/Black channa      - 1 cup
• Onion – 1, medium size, finely chopped, optional

Preparation Method

Sweet Chutney

Wash and soak the dates in warm water for about half an hour. Grind it to a paste and Strain through the sieve.

Take vessel and mix jaggery with water and add the grind dates, tamarind paste.

Add the jeera powder, pepper or chilli powder and salt.

Cook for about 5 minutes till they blend well. Cool it.

Sweet Chutney is ready.

Spicy/Green Chutney

Grind all the ingredients together in a mixer. Add required amount of water and lime juice.

Don’t make it too watery. Spicy green chutney is ready.

Adjust the ingredients in the both the chutneys according to your taste.

Puri

Mix maida and rava with little salt using water.

Knead the flour into smooth dough.

Cover the dough with a wet cloth and keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

Make a small size balls using the dough and roll into circles evenly.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan and fry the puri’s till they are crisp and golden brown. Press the puri to puff up with a ladle.

Make as much as you want and store it in an air tight container once they are cooled.

Puri’s and chutney’s are ready to serve.

Serving Pani Puri

Soak the channa overnight or minimum 6-8 hrs.

Meanwhile, clean and cook the potato and the channa in pressure cooker for 2-3 whistles.

Peel the skin and cut the potato into small pieces, sprinkle salt and keep it in a bowl.

Keep the cooked channa with salt sprinkled over in a bowl.

Take the poori, tap at the center and make a hole in it.

Stuff 2 or 3 potato pieces and little channa.

Keep ready this for 10-15 poori’s and then start serving.

Add the desired quantities of chutneys in the stuffed poori and Serve immediately in a small cup.

Variations

1. If you don’t have enough time to make puri’s at home you can buy the readymade puri’s which are available in the market.
2. Stuffing options are boiled peas (Battani), green gram (pesarapappu), Sev. To make it more healthy use sprouted legumes.
3. The Pani can be made by mixing the both the ingredients of the sweet chutney and green chutney together also. The separate chutney making method helps to have either spicier or less spicy.