All-day sandwich

                                All-day sandwich

 

ingredients

any kind of bread                                4 slices

cheddar cheese slices                        2

butter                                                   1 stick (salter or unsalted)

egg                                                      2

fried bacon                                          4 pieces or as desired

 method

 

bring the butter to room temperature and spread it on both sides of the bread slices. toast till medium crisp. heat some butter in a skillet and cook the eggs, preferably with the yolk medium cooked (the egg can be in whichever form you want). now take one slice of the toast and keep the egg over it, followed by the bacon and one slice of cheese. cover with the other slice of toast and keep it over the skillet, pressing with something heavy. once the cheese melts, remove. repeat on the other bread slices as well.

Parippu Vada

It was an unusually chilly evening, with the sky overcast. It was the perfect time to have a piping hot tea and some snacks. I decided to raid my kitchen to find out what I could concoct fast. Though my kitchen was well-stocked and I could make anything, parippu vada won hands down. Though easy, I generally refrain from making parippu vada, as it suits none of our stomachs, and tend to cause bloating and stomach aches. But that evening was so rare and perfect that I threw all cautions to the wind. We were all prepared to starve that night, if need be. And so I ventured into vada-making after quite a long time.

Ingredients

Toor dal                                     3/4 cup

Chana dal                                   ¼ cup

Shallots chopped fine                  a handful

Green chilli chopped                   2 or more as desired

Ginger chopped fine                    1 tsp

Asafoetida powder                      ¼ tsp

Red chilli powder                        1 tsp or as desired

Turmeric powder                         a pinch

Curry leaves crushed                   1 sprig

Salt                                             to taste

Oil                                               for deep frying

Method

Soak toor dal and chana dal in water for a minimum of 2 hours. Drain out the water completely. Add salt, asafoetida, chilli powder, turmeric powder, and grind lightly in a mixer, so that a portion of it is ground to a coarse paste and the rest half-ground. Make sure you do not add any water. Transfer it to a bowl and add shallots,green chilli, ginger and curry leaves and mix well. Heat oil in a pan. Make small balls out of the dal mixture and flatten it to small discs. Deep fry till golden. Serve hot. 

The next day I made a very spicy and tangy rasam and soaked the left-over vadas in it for about 4 hours. That made a fantastic appetizer for dinner.