Going Back to roots.... & a sneak peek.!!

Tapioca Fritters - A vegan and gluten-free dish

Did I tell you that I like to cook as well.. Yes, apart from daily cooking I do enjoy cooking as a hobby. My favorite hobbies are reading, cooking and of course crochet (arranged chronologically by the time I picked up those hobbies..!!).. 

Books were introduced to me by my father when I was very young and could read on my own, he used to buy me “Chandoba”, a classic Indian monthly magazine for children. It used to have all sorts of mythological and mystical stories that ran for years and I used to wait for the issue eagerly. Good old days..!! But that was the beginning and I never looked  back since then, I grab every opportunity I find to read (now a days I get very less opportunities though.. sigh..!). So little time and so many things to do, but this is for some other day to discuss.!!

So coming back to cooking, cooking was introduced to me by my maternal aunt, I used to fondly call her “Aatu”, she taught me the basics of cooking and various family recipes & her secret recipes. When I was in college (High school in other part of the world), I used to cook every Sunday (Rest day for Mum..) and this tradition followed till I got married i.e. for more than 12 years I cooked every Sunday something special. !! And after my marriage, I have been cooking almost every day.  But you know what they say, when you do something regularly, that thing tend to lose its charm and the same thing happened with my cooking. I do my daily cooking but it lacks innovation (sadly), I hardly get any time, when I am home my little boy does not let me do anything (I don’t blame him, he hardly gets to spend any time with me, that’s the disadvantage of working full time, anyways enough of my cribbing.😃.   

Too often we underestimate the power of simple things such as cooking simple, homemade, vegan dish that will not only satisfy your hunger but will satisfy your soul as well.  So when I get a day off, unexpectedly, thanks to incessant monsoon rains, I go back to the roots and create something long forgotten simple dish “Tapioca Fritters” or “Sabudana Vada”.

 Ingredient List:

1 Cup Tapioca pearls

3/4 cup roasted ground nuts

3-4 green chilies

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp cumin powder

2 medium sized potatoes, boiled and chopped roughly

1 tbsp barnyard millet flour, Or Rice flour (This variety of millet is consumed in India during fasting and here it is known as "Sama" or "Bhagar" or "Vari"). This is my secret ingredient, it keeps the fritters crisp on the outside and soft inside.

Sugar as per taste

Salt as per taste

Oil for frying and shaping fritters (Is possible, use cold pressed ground nut oil).

Instructions:

1. Soak Tapioca Pearls in the water for around 40-45 minutes, drain the water and keep the pearls with a dash water sprayed overnight.

2. Keep aside 1/3 of the roasted ground nuts aside, take 2/3 of ground nuts, chilies and cumin seeds and grind this mixture coarsely. 

3. Mix together soaked tapioca pearls, boiled potatoes, mixture prepared in the step 2, cumin powder, barnyard millet powder, ground nuts, sugar and salt.

4. Grease your hands with some oil and prepare round shaped fritters and keep aside.

5. Keep the frying pan on a medium heat, pour the sufficient oil for frying in the pan and fry the fritters till golden brown on outside. Keep the heat on medium otherwise fritters will be golden on the outside and raw in the middle. It takes around 7-8 minutes on each side on medium heat.

6. Once done, remove from the pan and keep on the paper napkin. If you keep the fried fritters in the frying pan, it will soak up the oil and you don't want to eat oily fritters, do you?

7. Serve with a dollop of yogurt.

Enjoy..!!

I am not very good at writing a recipe but thought of sharing this simple and delicious recipe. I will be posting some regional and family recipes too, in between crochet related posts. And that is because I want to preserve these family recipes and pass it on in the unknown to get known.

I also wanted to share a sneak peek of my upcoming design, an Eight_Petal_Lotus doily - an extension to the coaster design that goes by the same name, published in my earlier post.

Time for today's WoW (World Of Wisdom), Be graceful in everything you do..!!

Love,

Life is worth living, it's about being happy anyways...!!!

Happy Crocheting. Happy Reading. Happy Cooking.