Crispy Cuts (Diamond Cuts - Shankar Pole)

Crispy cuts are made with maida (bread flour or all purpose flour). It is called as diamond cuts, because of the cuts or the shapes while it got cut. We also call it as shankar pole I have no idea why this dish is called Shankara Pole. May be these cuts are used to be prepared with sugar - Shakkar , and it might have got the name shakkar pole and later turned as Shankar pole. Pole must any fried dish. This is simply my thought. Anyways there is a change and different place has different name for the same dish.

This Shankar Pole is a namkeen (salty dish), It can be your one the preparation for Deepavali. It is easy to prepare, does not take much of your time, like other fried dish. It stays crunchy and crispy for a long time, at least for two weeks if it is not get over. (very tempting I can say). Perfect for kids party and kitty party, tea party and traveling. You can also pack it for kids snack box.
Once in while or festival mood or in a party mood you can enjoy this Diamond cuts.
I have used maida, millet flour (jolada hittu), little hot oil and some spices. Just tried adding millet flour to maida and tried it. It turned it very crispy and yummy. So the recipe is here. You can try this and enjoy Shankar Pole.

Things Needed :

Maida (All Purpose flour) 1 Cup
Millet flour (Jolada hittu): 1 /2 Cup
Hot oil :(to add) : 2 Tablespoon
Red chilly powder : 2 Teaspoons
Jeera/Cumin Seeds : 1 Teaspoon
Ingh : a pinch
Salt : As required
Oil (Any brand) ; 1 Cup

Method :

1. Take a big bowl and add maida, millet flour, chilly powder, salt, and jeera. Mix it nicely.

2. Keep a pan and heat 2 tablespoons of oil (piping hot). Add this hot oil to the flour and leave it for 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Now mix it nicely and add required water (little by little) and prepare the dough.

4. Divide the dough in to small portion.
5. Just turn the small portion of the dough as ball shape, and roll as chapati. (You can use flour or oil to roll, a drop of oil will do).

6,\Prick it on the rolled chapati with a knife edge or spoon edge. (It helps the cuts not to fluff up).
7. Cut them in to small bits giving a diamond shape. \
9. Keep a pan and put oil and heat. When the oil turns hot, leave the cut pieces of chapati slowly in to hot oil.
10. Fry them on both side.(Let the flame be low and medium).

11.When they turn golden brown remove from the pan and put them on a kitchen tissue. It helps to absorb extra oil.

12. Repeat the same and prepare remaining dough.
13. Let it cool Put them in a airtight box or bottle.

14. Serve it with cup of coffee or tea or any time you wish.

Note : 

Always Try with the small quantity. Adding hot oil helps to get the diamond cuts crispy. Do not add water immediately after pouring hot oil. Shankar pole may turn soft and it might take more oil. Adding more spice is optional. Do not put more energy while rolling as chapti. It may tare. Roll it softly and slowly. Adding more oil to fry is also optional. You may fry them fast. (more quantity). No Need to rest the dough or adding any cooking soda. (I have not added).
Time : 30 minutes. (Total)
Serves : As required . You can get a bowl full of Diamond cuts as shown in the pic.

Sev (Deepavali special )

 Deepavali is nearing and the preparation of sweets and savoury starts. So I thought of preparing Sev and here is a recipe for you. Believe me it is easy, quick and yummy. This sev can be prepared and served with the sweet dish of your choice. Here is a recipe of medium thick variety of sev recipe.

Sev/Om pudi (as we call in Kannada ) is a savoury dish and we can munch them any time of the day. (People like me who are fond of fried  items ). It can be prepared using different flours. For example we can use chickpea/gram flour or rice flour and chick pea flour or only roasted channa (hurikadale) and rice flour or even maida flour or even boiled potatoes are also used for preparing sev.
Here I have used 3 portions of chikpea/channa/gram flour/besan and one portion of rice flour. Some spices like chilly powder, jeera are used. I have used butter and no cooking soda added to the flour .
Lets us see the recipe now.

Things Needed :

Besam/Gram/Besan flour : 3 Cups
Rice flour : 1 Cup
Jeera powder : 1 Teaspoon
Red chilly powder : 1 Teaspoon
Salt : as required
Butter : 2 Tablespoons
Oil : 2 Cups (Any brand )
Sev Mould.

Method :

1. Put Chick Pea flour, Rice flour, butter, salt, jeera and red chilly powder in a big bowl.
2. Mix it nicely so that butter and other ingredients mixes well with flour.

3. Add required water slowly (little by little ) and form a dough. (thicker than chapati dough).
4. Kneed the dough well. and divide them in to small portion. (not very small).

5. Now just apply little oil around the inner layer of the mould and put prepared sev dough inside.
6. Keep a pan on the fire and put oil. Heat it.
7. Now close the lid of the mould and press straight to the hot oil.  Let it turn slightly golden brown.

8. Turn the other side and cook for a minute and remove from the pan. Put it on a kitchen tissue. Let the extra oil absorb by the towel.
9. Repeat the same with remaining dough and prepare sev.

10 Sev is ready to serve.

Note :

The dough should not be watery or too thick. Watery dough may absorb more oil and the thick (hard) dough can not be squeezed out easily. Adding more butter may soften the dough and it might take more oil.  For the above said measurement only 2 tablespoons of butter will be perfect. You can also try using hot oil instead of butter. Adding more/less chilly powder is optional. Adding whole jeera might block the holes of the mould. So roast and powder jeera and then use it. ( I just crushed it a little and added ).
Time : 30 to 40 minutes
Servings : according to your requirement.

Oats, Corn Flakes & Almond Laddu : Deepavali Special

Oats, Cornflakes & Almonds Laddu is a sweet dish and we can munch them any time of the day. Deepavali is nearing and the preparation of sweets and savoury starts. Oats & Cornflakes, Almond Laddus are healthy and perfect for festival celebration. It is easy to prepare and can be kept for at least 10 to 15 days. It is my own creation and I am very happy to say Oats, cornflakes & Almond Laddu is delicious to eat and not worry much because there is not much of ghee and no coconut is used in this recipe. One more good thing is that instead of sugar, jaggery is used and you must be knowing the benefits of having jaggery instead of sugar. It contain loads of healthy benefits.

Lets see some benefits of having jaggery in our diet.
Jaggery helps to cleanse our body and act as digestive agent. It provides good amounts of minerals. It adds sweet to the dish in a healthy way. It is always better to use jaggery. It prevents constipation and good for people who suffer from anemia. It has excellent source of Iron and produce good amount of haemoglobin. It helps to detoxify our liver by flushing harmful toxins from our body. It is also good for cough and cold.
I have used Oats, cornflakes and Almonds, a few cashew nuts and raisins.
Oats, cornflakes & Almonds Laddu can be prepared for festivals, kitty parties, kids parties and even you can box them and give it as sweet packs.
Lets see the recipe now.

Ingredients :

Oats : 1 Bowl
Corn flakes : (any brand ) : 1 Bowl
Almonds : 1 Small cup
Raisins : 1/2 Cup
Cashew nuts : 1 Handful or as you wish
Ghee : 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Jaggery :  5 to 6 Tablespoons (Grated ) or 1 small bowl.

Method :

1. Keep a pan on the fire and dry roast oats on low flame for  2 to 3 minutes and keep it aside. Let it cool.

2. Now add cornflakes to the same pan and add 1 teaspoon of ghee. Fry them nicely and remove from the pan .(2 minutes).

3. Fry almonds in the same pan for one to two minutes and remove from the pan. Let it cool.
4. Now fry cashew nuts and raisins till they turn golden brown and remove from the pan. Keep them aside.

5. Dry grind all the roasted or fried ingredients and keep is separately. ( Dry grind them one by one). (Except cashews and raisins).

6. Keep a bigger pan on the fire. Add powdered or grated jaggery and add 1/4 of water to it.
7. Let jaggery melt nicely. It starts to boil. Let the jaggery syrup get one string consistency.

8.Now add powdered cornflakes, oats and almonds. Mix it well. Add fried cashews and raisins. Mix it thoroughly. Put off the fire and    shift the mixed ingredients to a big bowl.

9. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of ghee and mix it well.
10. Take a small portion of well mixed laddu mixture and form a laddu. Press it nicely between the palm and fingers and give a ball shape.Prepare the same with all the ingredients,

11. Oats, cornflakes and almond laddus are ready to serve.

12. You can pack them in a box and give it to your near dear ones.

Note :

Frying cornflakes in ghee gives good aroma to laddu. It is better to dry roast oats as we dry grind it. Adding more almonds adds taste to the laddu. Raisins help to add sweet taste. Adding more cashew adds to the taste. Just take care while preparing jaggery syrup. When it melts completely, it starts to bubble. Let it boil for 1 to 2 minutes. Then add the ground powder of ingredients and mix it well. Adding coconut is optional. I have not added.If you are not able to form a ball shape and the mixture is bit dry, sprinkle some hot milk and then prepare laddu. Hot milk helps the mixture to hold it. You can use dates instead of jaggery. (10 to 15 dates should be dry ground and add it to the mixture and then prepare laddu).
Time : 30 minutes.
Serving : 20 Laddu can be prepared.

Corn Flakes Laddoo - Simple Cooking - Adige

Banana + Rice Flour Poori

Banana Rice Poori is a sweet dish and easy to prepare. This is also called as " Banana -appa " in our native Udupi  Dakshina Kannada and Malenaadu surroundings. It is one of the munching eatable in the evenings of a rainy day. A very good snack with evening coffee or tea. Nice to eat when you are watching some T. V. Programme. Good for your kid's munch box. (break time ). You can even prepare and take it for picnics and long distance travel.  Good for kitty parties and kids parties. You can munch Banana -Rice flour Poori at any time of the day.
We can prepare this banana appa for Prasadam (neivedyam) during pooja .

This Banana Poori is very easy to prepare. Bananas, jaggery, coconut, rice flour  all these ingredients are normally can be found in the kitchen. There is no need to soak rice. So lets see how to prepare this Banana Rice flour Poori

Things Needed :

Ripe Banana : 1
Jaggery :1/2 cup
Coconut : Fresh and grated : 1/2 Cup
Cardamom :  4 to 5 Pods
Rice flour :  2 Cups
Salt : a pinch
Oil : 1 Cup

Method :

1. Grate coconut and remove the seeds from cardamom.

2. Now grind coconut, banana and cardamom with little water.
3. Add jaggery and grind it nicely and remove from the liquidizer and put it in a big bowl.

4. Add rice flour and salt to the ground mixture and mix it nicely and prepare thick dough.

4. Keep a pan on the fire and put oil. Heat.
5. Take a small portion of the rice flour mixture and flatten on your palm.

6. Prepare a small size of pooi and fry in hot oil. Let the flame be medium.

 
7. Fry till it turn brown and turn other side of the poori and fry for 10 seconds . 

 8. Remove from the oil and place on kitchen tissue. ( Tissue helps to absorb extra oil)

9. Repeat the same with the remaining dough and fry poori one by one.
10.  Banana Rice flour Poori is ready to serve. Serve it with a cup of coffee or tea.

Note : 

You can use more bananas and more jaggery .
Make sure the rice flour is fresh and fine. (very nicely milled).
You can soak rice and grind it along with coconut. Remember the dough should be like chapati dough . ( Do not use much water while grinding, Add little dry rice flour , if the dough turn watery.). Or it may absorb more oil.
You can also fry these banana appa in ghee to make it more rich and tasty.
Do not add any ghee or oil while preparing the dough. 
Adding salt is optional.
Time : 30 minutes
Serves : 5 to 6