Mung dal bites - Healthful Indian snacks

I have been sporadic in posting on this blog this past month. That is because I have been planning my sojourn to India, packing and arriving first at New Delhi and then at Chennai. I have many interesting stories to relate, but I first need to get this off my chest: Indian restaurants and eateries have exploded in numbers in both the cities I am visiting. There are all kinds of eating joints: small roadside carts (with dubious hygiene, so please avoid if you visit India), small restaurants (again, eat at your own risk), medium sized ones (a definite yes, you may find a gem), large, opulent, Maharajah style restaurants complete with turbaned waiters running to fulfill your every command, starched lily white tablecloths and napkins, wonderfully cooked meals, fabulous menus....India has become a gourmet delight in all respects.

Leaving aside all those eating places, my vote for the best eating place is at the place I am staying while in Chennai. It is at the home of a friend who has a full-time cook. The cook is a young woman called Ammu, who keeps complete control of the household kitchen. She comes in each morning to whip up delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Ammu's cooking has the guests and family members charging in unseemly haste to the dining table in eager anticipation of every meal. Every dish that she makes is a gourmet delicacy that leaves one feeling completely content, replete and prosperous.

In the next few posts I plan to post some of her recipes. Here is a recipe from Ammu - a very healthy snack made of ground and roasted Mung beans. This is very easy to make and is absolutely delicious. Try it - it stores well unrefrigerated for over a week and is a great snack for your school going child.

Here is what you need:
3.5 cups green Mung beans with skin (great if you can get Mung flour, otherwise, powder the beans as fine as possible in your blender)
3 tbsp brown rice flour
1.5 cups powdered sugar (white or brown, your preference)
Scant 1 cup Ghee or olive oil
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup raisins
7 cardomoms (remove peel and powder fine)
pinch salt

Here is how you make this:
Heat and pan and dry roast the Mung flour and rice flour for about 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool. Heat the pan again and add 5 tbsp ghee or oil. Fry the cashews golden brown and drain on a kitchen towel. Now add the raisins in the same oil. Fry until golden brown and set aside. Cool the cashews and raisins. Chop the fried cashews into small bite-sized pieces. Cut fried raisins in half.

To the roasted Mung flour, add the powdered sugar, powdered cardomom, salt, fried raisins and cashews. Mix thoroughly.

Heat the rest of the ghee or oil in a pan until slightly warm. Pour in a little at the time in the flour mix. Mix and shape into small balls. Set aside. Add more oil or ghee as needed and make the Mung bites until all the flour is used up.

Makes 50-60 Mung bites. Store in a tightly closed container for upto a week.

Spicy Okra in yogurt sauce - Cooking on a Shoestring Budget

The great city of Chennai, in Southern India, has its own very unique culture. Chennai has a churning, roiling, ebbing and flowing mass of humanity, which manages to co-exist in relative peace. Like every other large metropolitan city in the world, Chennai too has its class divide between the rich and the poor. In addition, it has a unique class divide that is not based on economic strata. This class divide is based on India's ancient culture of caste system. However, I like to think that the caste system boundaries have slowly eroded and no longer do people identify themselves as belonging to a certain caste.

Despite all that, there is one way of identifying people of a certain caste: their eating habits. Based on whether they are Hindus, Muslims or Christians, people in India have varying dietary habits. And amongst the Hindus, various castes have different methods of cooking, utilizing spices, and different favorite foods. The distinction is so great, that sometimes, the Chennai-ites refer to people of a certain community by the name of their favorite dish! This is usually done with friendly banter and in a teasing manner. The targets of the banter also take it in the spirit it is meant and do not mind being referred to by the name of a dish!

And so it was, that when I lived in Chennai, I was fondly referred to as "Thair Sadam" or Yogurt rice by my friends. I belong to a community which HAS to end its 3-course meal with Thair sadam. Yogurt is such an integral part of the meal that it is considered a panacea for all illnesses. It is a ubiquitous, favorite food. And any dish made with yogurt is a hot favorite.

Here is one such dish - so very easy to make, so yummy and such a fabulous accompaniment with any main dish - rice or chapathi. The recipe for Spicy Okra in yogurt sauce is one of the series of Cooking on a Shoestring budget. You will see just how easy this dish is on your wallet. Enjoy!

Here is what you need:
10 fresh Okra pods (washed and chopped in about 1/2" pieces)
1 cup fresh homemade yogurt (if you cannot make yogurt at home, buy Stonyfield low fat or whole milk yogurt)
1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder (reduce as necessary)
1 tbsp olive oil

Here is how you make this:
Heat a pan and add olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the chopped Okra, salt, turmeric and red chili powder. Stir fry on high heat until the Okra is fried crisp and nearly blackened. Remove from the stove and cool.

In a dish, lightly beat yogurt with a fork. If you are using Stonyfield yogurt, add half cup of water to the yogurt and then beat with a fork. Add the fried Okra into the yogurt.

Serve with Rice, chapathi, or Edamame and Green Onion Rice Pilaf.


Cost:
Okra: $0.50
Yogurt: $0.90 (for Stonyfield yogurt. If you are using homemade yogurt, it will probably cost $0.15)
Spices: $0.10
Oil : $0.10
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Total : $1.60 - Serves 4
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