Rasam Vada/Crisp lentil dumplings in a spiced tomato soup

This has been in my drafts folder forever. Not sure why it never made it out the door, well at least not until now. Guess I was waiting for the right moment. Talking about the right moment, these crispy dumplings soaked in the spicy soup is just perfect while you wait in the comfort of your home for that first snow, not that it ever snows here in south Florida. This dish hails from southern India but has come to be popular in all parts of the country of course with the details varying on how its done every couple hundred miles. Here I present how I like to do them. Hubs is a big fan of this and when I pulled out this recipe from my drafts, I did get to hear a mouthful on how I haven't made these for him in a while. When you take a spoonful into your mouth, while you enjoy the crispiness from the dumplings, the spicy soup kicks in and makes it just a delightful mix of flavors on your palate. The recipe is not too tricky either. It uses simple ingredients including the Rasam powder that are easily available in any Indian grocery store. And yes, if you cannot get the  donut shape right, it is perfectly okay to just shape the dumplings as regular dough balls.

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Mung Dal Paneer Samosa/Lentil and Paneer Stuffed Pastries

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amosa or Singhada (as we call them where I come from) always makes me nostalgic. I remember buying and treating on hot samosa from school and college canteen (which to me still is the best I have eaten till date) almost every other day. For the time when I was enjoying these crispy goodies - atleast for sometime - it would help me forget the dread of science and math classes! When at home, I remember when guests would visit during evening tea, serving samosa with tea was almost a given. My brother (a well known samosa fanatic) would keep waiting and dropping hints on what a great idea it would be to get some hot samosas. Papa, pretending to catch the hint, would hand him a ten rupee note. He would run over to the halwai shop at the corner of the street and get a dozen fresh out of the fryer for everyone ~ ahh! Can you believe samosas were 75 paise each back then!

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Blackeye Pea & Potato Curry/Lobia Aloo

hildhood memories are always fun and sometimes they have a thing or two to teach us too. You probably wonder why I say this for a humble curry. Growing up, my mom always made this curry. It was not my favorite but I did like it. However every time mom made it, I would give her a hard time. I would pick another dish that I liked better and asked her to make that instead saying I did not like lobia very much. More often than not, she did. Now I actually crave for it sometimes. I sit back and think about all those times with mom and get up and make it for myself. Watching hubby and my little princess eat this and enjoy always brings a smile to my face.

The exotic combination of spices and other ingredients gives the humble lobia a grand makeover. You can enjoy it with roti, paratha or simple steamed white rice. It is a great way for vegetarians to get their fix of protein too.

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Daal- baati

This is one of my mom's most amazing dishes and is the most sought after by family and friends alike. She has made this dish for as long as I can remember. She has even gotten compliments from some guests who were even the natives of that state to which this dish belongs.
Daal baati is a very popular dish from the state of Rajasthan, a wholesome power packed delicious meal. Dal, or lentil curry, is made of several kind of lentils which are cooked along with the masalas to make a tasty dal or curry. Baati, a rounded ball of dough that's baked in a charcoal fire or oven. Baati is made out of wheat, gram flour, millet or a mix of maize flour served dunked in the delicious daal with loads of ghee, tastes heavenly mouthwatering!
Mom did tweak the original recipe a little. The original recipe does not have veggies in the daal and the baati is made with plain flour. The addition of veggies, I believe, makes an already great daal even better. Addition of spices in the baati flour makes it even tastier. Mom used to make it on a gas grill. My touch to this is just to make it in a regular oven. It is not as high on the list of favorites on hubby's list so I do not come around to make this dish very often. Guess I could not wait any more :)
I got a few recipes from my mom written down in a notebook that I brought with me to the US after I got married. It is hands-down the best cookbook among tons of others that I own. I had this one bookmarked in the notebook for a real long time and only finally got around to it. From hubby's reaction it appears it climbed up a few steps in his charts :)
Don't be deterred by the long list of ingredients. You find most in a typical indian spice rack. Once you have them together, the method is really simple.
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