Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

I don't eat to live. I live to eat.

Indian

Medu Vada

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I’ve been meaning to show you guys some more traditional South Indian recipes, so here’s one to save in your bookmarks. This here is called Medu Vada and the best way I can describe it is that it’s kinda like a fluffy savory doughnut that’s served with different chutneys and a lentil soup called sambhar.

And it’s absolutely delicious.

The vada only requires a handful of ingredients – it’s basically made out of lentils grinded up to form a batter and flavored with some aromatics – I used ginger, curry leaves, onion, serrano pepper, cumin seeds.

My mom showed me the trick to getting a fluffy vada is to aerate it – basically you stir the vada batter vigorously to introduce air for several minutes. I wonder if you could do this in the kitchenaid mixer (I haven’t tried it but if it works I’ll let you know).

A test you can do to see if the vada is aerated enough is to take a tiny amount of the batter and see if it floats in water. If it does, you’re good to go.

What makes medu vada different from other vadas is its classic doughnut shape with the hole in the center.  Unlike regular sweet doughnuts where you roll the dough out and cut the shape out, with medu vada you shape it with your hands. Meaning you take your thumb and press into the center of the vada to form a hole. Pretty neat!

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Medu Vada

Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 cup split urad daal (white)
  • 1/4-1/3 cup water (reserved from soaking daal)
  • 1 Tbsp rice flour
  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • 1 serrano pepper
  • 1 handful cilantro
  • 1.5 tsp ginger (freshly grated)
  • 7 curry leaves (chopped)
  • 3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1 pinch of asafoetida (hing)
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

  1. Wash your lentils (urad daal) really well under cold water. Soak in a bowl with water overnight (about 8 hours).

  2. The next day, drain out the water (reserving some of it for grinding). In a high-power blender, grind the daal in batches with a little bit of water at a time until you form a batter. The batter should resemble banana bread batter in thickness.

  3. Empty the batter out into a bowl. Now using your hand or a spoon, stir the vada batter in a clockwise fashion for several minutes. This technique will introduce air into the batter allowing for a fluffy vada.

  4. To test if your vada has been well aerated, take a tiny amount of the batter and drop it into a small bowl of water. If the batter is able to float, then it's good to go.

  5. Now add in the remaining ingredients – rice flour, salt, black pepper, asafoetida, onion, serrano pepper, curry leaves, ginger, cilantro. Combine gently.

  6. Now to form the vada. Have your oil in your pan ready to go. You will shape them as you fry them. Using wet hands, take a small scoop of the batter and flatten it onto your palms. Now using your thumb, form a hole in the center so it looks like a doughnut. Gently drop it directly into the oil. (This step can take a bit of practice.)

  7. Make sure your oil is not too hot or else the vada will be raw in the center. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve with your favorite chutneys and sambhar.

Serve these hot with a coconut chutney and some sambhar. Yum!

Shrimp Biryani

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Shrimp Biryani is one of my favorite types of biryanis and a great weeknight dish when you want biryani but don’t have the time it takes to cook a chicken or lamb biryani which often requires you to marinate your meat overnight.

Biryani is mostly about getting ratios right – there needs to be the right amount of rice to masala, the correct amount of spices, yogurt, ghee, and fried onions. Too much or too little of anything can throw the whole dish off.

For the shrimp biryani, I start off by sauteeing the shrimp in the same pot I fried my biryani onions in along with some chili powder and turmeric. I then made a paste with some ginger, garlic, and serrano chilies (allows more of the heat and flavor of the chilies to come through) and added it to the shrimp with some salt, yogurt, garam masala and biryani masala. Some people also like to add tomatoes but I do not add any to my shrimp biryani.  

The rice is pretty standard – I parboil it and add all the typical aromatics – cardamom, cloves, mace, peppercorn,  shahzeera, fennel powder (except cinnamon which I feel is too strong for shrimp biryani but works great in a lamb biryani).

I then layer the shrimp biryani in the following order – rice, shrimp, fried onions, cilantro, another layer of rice, fried onions, lime juice, saffron, butter. Cover.

If you are using an oven – cook at 350 F for about 20-25 minutes or so. If you are using your stove-top, cook for about 5 minutes on high-heat and 8-10 minutes on low heat. As you can see it comes together very quickly!

I didn’t post many pictures showing the step-by-step process because I did in fact make a Tik Tok video for it. Follow me at fatimasfabkitchen.

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Shrimp Biryani

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 5-7 Tbsp butter and or/oil (divided plus more for frying onions)
  • 1 2/3 cup sliced onion (to fry)
  • 1 lb shrimp
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 large piece of ginger
  • 4-5 serrano chilies (divided)
  • 2/3 cup yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp garam masala
  • 3 Tbsp biryani masala
  • salt or to taste
  • 2/3 cup cilantro (chopped)
  • 4-5 mint leaves
  • lime juice (to taste)
  • 3-4 saffron strands (optional)

Rice

  • 2 1/4 cup basmati rice
  • 1 mace
  • 3 cardamom
  • 2 clove
  • 1 tsp shahzeera
  • 1 tsp fennel powder
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 Tbsp salt (to salt the water)

Instructions

Biryani Onions

  1. In a pot, add a couple tablespoons of oil. Add your sliced onions and stir on high heat for a few minutes. Then turn the heat down to medium low and fry until golden brown. Be careful not to burn the onions! Set the onions aside.

Shrimp Masala

  1. In the same pot you fried your onions, add some more butter or oil (if necessary). Now add in your peeled and de-veined shrimp.

  2. Add a teaspoon of chili powder and turmeric each. Stir and cook until shrimp is pink.

  3. Now take your ginger, garlic, and a couple of serrano chilies and form a paste by grinding the ingredients together in a blender. Add to the shrimp. Cook for five minutes.

  4. Now add in your salt, yogurt, garam masala, and biryani masala. You can add some whole serrano chilies (add some slits) too. Add a couple tablespoons of water and cook down for several minutes. At the end, the gravy should be mostly dry.

  5. Toss in some chopped cilantro and mint. Set aside.

Rice and Assembly

  1. Wash and rinse your basmati rice very well. Soak the rice in cold water for about 30 minutes or so.

  2. In the meantime, fill a pot with water and add your aromatics -bay leaves, shahzeera, fennel powder, cardamom, mace, cloves and a tablespoon or so of salt. Bring to a ferocious boil.

  3. Once your rice soaking in water turns translucent, add it to the boiling water. Cook for a couple of minutes or until almost al-dente. The basmati rice shouldn't be about 80% of the way cooked through.

  4. In your assembly pan or pot add a layer of rice. Then your shrimp. Then cilantro, half of your fried onions, then another layer of rice, more fried onions, butter, and saffron (make sure to soak the strands in a few tablespoons of warm milk).

  5. If you are baking in the oven, make sure to cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake at 375 F for about 25 minutes. If you are using the stove, cover your pot with foil and top with the lid so that no steam escapes. Cook on high-heat for 5 minutes, then turn the stove to low-heat and cook for another 8 minutes or so.

Pav Bhaji

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I highly recommend making Pav Bhaji while we’re on quarantine because –

 1. It’s an easy one-pot item

2. It’s a great way to use up extra produce you have lying around in your fridge before your next grocery trip

 3. It’s mind-blowingly delicious

Pav Bhaji is an Indian street food that consists of mashed veggies cooked in copious amounts of butter and served with a fluffy bun or pav.

I used the following vegetables – potato, cauliflower, peas, tomato, bell pepper, serrano chilies, onion, carrots. But the only veggies I’d say are essential are the potatoes, onions, tomatoes, maybe the cauliflower? Everything else you can substitute with whatever you have on hand.

In general I am okay with using store-bought masala mixes for many of my favorite Indian foods but for some reason I have yet to stumble upon a pav bhaji mix that I actually like. In fact, the first time I used a pre-made pav bhaji mix for pav bhaji, it was so strange-tasting that I ended up having to throw the whole thing out. (Yeah it was that bad).

The spices I use for my homemade masala include – dried red chillies, cumin, coriander, fennel, cinnamon, amchur, red chilli powder, turmeric, and kasuri methi. If you notice I didn’t add any cloves or cardamom – I like it to be a little less garam masala-ish because I think when you have those warmer spices, it can become a too overpowering in a vegetarian dish.  

I used brioche buns because they are buttery and rich and wonderful, but again don’t feel like you have to go to the grocery store for that. You can use hamburger buns or make your own little dinner rolls from scratch with ease.

This is a fabulous quarantine week-night quarantine recipe if you’re craving Indian food but are sick of daal and rice.

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Pav Bhaji

Servings 3 people

Ingredients

  • 10-12 small buns

Vegetables (yield 6-7 cups chopped)

  • 1 potato (large)
  • 1 onion (medium-sized)
  • 1/2 bell pepper
  • 1 tomato (may substitute with puree)
  • 2 serrano or jalapeno peppers
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 1/4 cup cauliflower (chopped into florets)
  • 1/4 cup peas
  • 5-6 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1.5-2 tsp salt or to taste
  • 2 cups water

Pav Bhaji Masala

  • 1 dried red chilli
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1/4 cinnamon stick
  • 1 tsp amchur powder
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 3/4 tsp turmeric
  • 2 tsp kasuri methi

Garnish

  • 1/4 cup chopped red onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 lime (cut into wedges)

Instructions

  1. Make your pav bhaji masala mix. Toast your dried red chilies, fennel, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon. Allow to cool and then grind. Add in the powdered spices – amchur, turmeric, chili powder, and kasuri methi. Mix well. Set aside.

  2. Chop all your veggies. In a hot pan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter (or to taste).

  3. Dump in all your veggies and sautee for a few minutes. Add in your ginger-garlic paste and allow it to cook through.

  4. Now add in your salt and water. Partially cover with the lid. And turn the flame to medium-low heat. Allow everything to cook down.

  5. Once the potatoes are fork-tender and most of the water has evaporated. Mash veggies with a potato-masher or with a wooden-spoon.

  6. Now add in your pav bhaji masala. Feel free to adjust the consistency by adding more water or cooking down further.

  7. Taste and adjust for seasonings. (Please note that if you are using a boxed masala, you may need to add less salt as most of them contain salt.) Garnish with cilantro, onion, and lime juice. Serve with toasted and buttered buns.