Red Chili … as the name sounds it’s hot. In northern part of India, red chili is available during the winter season and mostly used to make the pickle (achar in hindi). I had been searching for this kind of chili here and finally found in Walmart store. Although this is not exactly the same type which is generally used however pretty close. I have seen my grand mother and mother making this pickle during my childhood. I am really glad to share this traditional recipe from my Mom. This pickle is made from mixture of various spices and mustard oil. Mustard oil give a authentic taste to the Pickles. There are certain important steps in making this pickle, one is that red chili needs to be dried up in sun light for at least 3-4 hrs. so that the moisture contents goes away and once again after preparing the pickle it needs to be left in sunlight for at least a week in a glass container. This pickle could be little spicy however goes very well with Paratha or side of any meal especially rice and yellow daal or khichadi. Hope you would enjoy this pickle as part of your meal. 
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Peas Masala
Peas masala is a very famous curry in Northern part of India. Usually, peas masala is made for chaats like aloo tikki chaat, papdi chaat, samosa chaat, ragda pattice or so on. This is a very simple recipe which is made using basic ingredients like dry green peas, onion, tomato, ginger-garlic and is flavored with spices. It tastes good when it is little spicy and tangy. Peas masala can also be used as curry and goes well with jeera rice or chapatti.
Maddur Vada
Maddur Vada is a very popular spicy, crispy and mouthwatering snack. The name is based on a place called Maddur in Karnataka which is situated between Bangalore and Mysore. It was one of our favorite snacks while travelling by train between Bangalore and Mysore. Basically, Maddur vada has mainly three ingredients rice flour, fine rava and all purpose flour. The dough is flavored with onion, ginger, curry leaves, hing (asafoetida) and green chili. The beauty of this vada is that it’s crust is very crispy however it is soft inside. Generally, the Vada has round shape, however I tried some experiment with shape and it really looked very nice. I used cookie cutter to give it star and heart shape. You can always customize it’s size of the Vada and spiciness based on your choice. Maddur vada tastes great when served with coconut chutney along with a cup of tea or coffee. I am thankful to my friend Savitha Matad who taught this recipe to me. We had this Vada at her place after long time and it brought back the old memories and I thought of adding it to my recipe blog. Hope you all would enjoy this recipe!
Pomegranate Quinoa Dhokla
Dhokla is a savory steamed tangy, spicy and sweet Gujarati snack which is famous all over India. Dhokla is all time our favorite Snack. There are many dhokla recipe, like a, Khaman Dhokla, Rava Dhokla, Veg Sandwich Dhokla, Green Moong Daal Dhokla, Spinach Dhokla and so on.This dhokla recipe is little different with a slight twist to traditional one. Pomegranate Quinoa Dhokla prepared using Quinoa, fresh pomegranate juice with some spices which makes it more healthy with unique taste and beautiful color. Pomegranate juice gives a tangy-sweet taste to the dhokla. Delicious Dhokla can be served with meal or as an evening snack.
Baked Bhakarwadi
Bhakarwadi is a tea time snacks item which is traditionally a spicy Maharashtrian snacks prepared using hot spices and deep fried in oil. In this recipe instead of deep frying, I have baked it in oven however both of them tastes similar. The fillings for the Bhakarwadi can be customized to your taste. Generally it has sweet and sour taste and nice aroma of spices. The outer crust is made either from all purpose flour or a mixture of besan and regular wheat flour. If you don’t like the baked one, you can just deep fry instead of baking. Bhakarwadi can be store in a air-tight container for weeks and goes well with cup of tea.
Chane Ki Kachori
Khasta Chane ki kachori is a mouthwatering snacks item famous in northern part of India. There are variety of Kachories like Moong daal Kachori, Matter ki Kachori, Sattu ki Kachori and so on an it all depends on the stuffing. Chane ki Kachori is made with spicy kala chana fillings in Kachori which is very Khasta & tasty. Kachori’s are nice tea time snacks and are made to the occasions as well. Kachori’s are served with coriander & mint chutney or date & tamarind chutney. One can make Chana kachori chaat by adding sweet yogurt and khatti meethi chutney. To make it easier at last minute, you can prepared the kachori balls in advance and roll and fry when you plan to serve.
Tomato Rasam
Rasam is a traditional south Indian soup which is prepared using rasam powder, tomato and tamarind juice. Rasam is comforting food in south India, without rasam the meal is not complete. There are many kinds of rasam like lentil rasam, tamarind rasam and many more. This recipe is made from tomato, tamarind, freshly blended aromatic Indian spices, homemade rasam powder and tempered with curry leaves, chili and mustard seeds. Added little beetroot for darker color. You can use store bought rasam powder which is easily available in Indian grocery store but homemade rasam powder gives a wonderful aroma and taste to the rasam. This recipe is mild but you can adjust the spiciness as per your taste. You can find homemade rasam powder here.
Homemade Rasam Powder
Rasam is a south Indian lentil soup flavoured with tamarind, tomatoes and rasam powder. Rasam can be served as a soup or as a side for white rice. Rasam powder is easily available in Indian grocery store however fresh homemade rasam powder gives a wonderful taste and aroma to your rasam. The rasam powder is made with blend of Indian dry roasted spices. In southern part of India, people make rasam powder or any spices mix in a bulk and it comes in various varieties. You can adjust the spiciness by adding chili & black pepper corn in this recipe as per your choice.