Shankarpali / Tukdi / Namakpare

Savoury crackers called as Shankarpali/Shankarpalya in Marathi and Konkani. Also known as Tukdi in Konkani. My Dear Mom's easy recipe for Diwali Faraal or Diwali Khaan.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour/Maida - 1 cup

Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1/4 cup

Cayenne Pepper/Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Salt

Oil

How to prepare Shankarpali:

In a mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, semolina, cayenne pepper, sugar and salt. Mix all the ingredients well. Add water little by little and knead into a firm dough. I used about 1/2 cup water. Add 1/2 tsp oil and knead well again.
Divide the dough into 4 round balls depending on how big your rolling board is. Roll each one very thin dusting some flour. Use a Shankarpali or Karanji cutter (see the second picture) and cut it into diamond shape pieces. (I got this cutter in the baking section here in US.) You can use a pizza cutter or a knife too.

Deep fry these diamonds in batches in hot oil, until golden brown and crisp. Do not overcrowd the kadhai/frying pan.
Store the Savoury Shankarapali in an air tight container after cooling.

Naval Kol Bhaji / Kohlrabi Stir-fry

Green Kohlrabi called as Navalkol in Marathi and Navilkosu in Kannada, belongs to the cabbage family. My Mom used to make this stir fry very often. Just like cabbage, this vegetable in available in two colors - green and purple. I was quite hesitant about the purple one, as I haven't seen that back in India. Anyway, I picked the green bulbs and Navalkohl Bhaji with Chana Dal was part of our healthy vegetarian meal today.

Indian Dal / Lentils

Lentils, known as Dal are a staple in an Indian diet, especially vegetarian. For me, dal is comfort food. 5 different dal varieties - Toor, Moong, Chana, Masoor and Urad are commonly used in Indian sweet and savory delicacies. You can cook dal with just one kind or a mix of two or more. I generally cook dal with 1:1 Toor and Moong dals. But then, we like Panchmel or Panchratna Dal too, which is made of all five. Most dal recipes have Toor dal as the primary ingredient. It is also known as Toovar or Arhar dal or Split Pigeon Peas . Some of our family favorite dal recipes are Dalitoy (Konkani Dal) Tadka Dal Among all lentils, moong dal and masoor dal take lesser time to cook. Moong dal is also known as Split Green Gram or Split Mung Bean . Moong dal is also used in making sweet dishes like Mung Dal Kheer Mung Dal Puranpoli Chana dal is also known as Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas . Chana Dal takes a little more time to cook as compared to toor dal....

Whole Wheat (Atta) Veg Samosa

Samosa, the most loved Indian appetizer with a crisp crust and savory potato stuffing. When you make such fried fast food at home, you get to make some changes to make it healthy. Here are some Whole Wheat Aloo Matar Samosas for you to try at home and savor them as much as we did. Ingredients: Whole Wheat Flour/Atta - 1 cup Carom Seeds/Ajwain/Owa - 1 tsp Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1/2 tbsp (optional) Olive Oil or any other Oil - 1/2 tbsp Potatoes (Russet) - 2 medium Green Peas/Matar - 1/2 cup Coriander/Dhania Powder - 1/2 tsp Cumin/Jeera Powder - 1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp Ginger (grated) - 1/4 tsp Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Green Chilli - 1 Coriander/Cilantro Leaves - few sprigs Salt Oil for frying How to make Indian Samosa: Making Samosa Crust: In a mixing bowl, add whole wheat flour, carom seeds and little salt. Heat ghee and olive oil in a small pan. Add this hot (not warm) ghee and oil to the wheat flour and mix...

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