Vegetable Pakoras

I recently discovered the great flavors of Indian food when my husband brought home an assortment from a new Indian food truck parked by his work.  We tried a few different dishes each week and loved the fresh flavors, the dishes were full of fresh veggies and herbs and nicely spiced.  But when we were just getting into it the truck was gone!  My husband found out someone bought it and it was going to be used in the city for catering parties.  My new love was gone, just like that :( :(   We will have to explore some Indian restaurants now.  But in the meantime I recreated one of the dishes at home.  It is like a fritter - chock full of vegetables and mixed with chickpea flour then deep fried.  It's so good!   I made this one with cauliflower and spinach, but you can try different combos.

 Recipe
1 cup chickpea flour 
2 tsp oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 potato
1 small cauliflower chopped
1/2 of a 10 oz package frozen spinach - thawed and drained well, or fresh spinach leaves chopped
1 onion chopped
vegetable oil for frying

Boil the potato until just tender, then peel and chop.  Mix flour, oil cumin, salt and water in a food processor for about 3 minutes to incorporate air.  Remove this batter transfer to a large bowl and let rest about 1/2 hour.   In the food processor process the cilantro, potato, cauliflower, spinach and onion until a finely chopped consistency.  Mix the vegetables into the batter until well blended.  Fill a heavy saucepan with vegetable oil about 1 1/2 inches deep, set to medium heat.  While the oil is heating form the batter into small round "meatballs" or patties.   Use a candy thermometer attached to saucepan and when temp reaches 375 degrees start dropping in the pakoras several at a time.  Deep fry until a deep golden brown, let remove and drain on paper towels, continue until all pakoras are fried.  

Serve immediately with a desired dipping sauce.  When we got it from the truck they had some type of cilantro sauce.  I used Harry and David relishes I had:  Charred Pineapple Relish with Candied Peppers and Chunky Mango Relish with Candied Peppers - they are sweet and spicy and went really nicely with these.

I hope to try some more Indian dishes and share them with you :)

Fresh Apple Bundt Cake

One of the great things about fall is apples!  They're everywhere now and I think I love every dessert possible that involves them ~ like Apple Pie, Apple Pop Tarts, Apple Strudel, Apple Upside Down Cake, Apple Fritters, Candied Apples and this cake.  This cake is a moist bundt cake that is layered with lots of cinnamon sugar coated apples, then topped with a spiced glaze.  My farm stand had lots of varieties - I used a combination of gala and granny smith for this cake - they are both good baking apples.  It tastes like fall, so comforting and appley!  

Mini Bundts

Full size bundt

Recipe

4 med-large apples, peeled and sliced thin - gala and/or granny are good choices

2 cups sugar, plus 4 1/2 Tbsp - divided

4 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1/4 cup orange juice

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Glaze:  1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp melted butter, 4-5 Tbsp milk, 1/3 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg - or use 1/2 tsp apple pie spice- spice it to your liking :)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray large bundt pan with baking spray. In a large bowl combine the apple slices with 4 1/2 Tbsp sugar and the cinnamon, toss to coat all apples and set aside.

Sift the flour, remaining sugar, baking powder and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer.  Make a large well in the center of this mixture and pour in the oil, eggs, oj and vanilla.  Mix with a paddle attachment until well blended - batter will be thick.  Spoon 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan.  Layer 1/2 the apples in a ring over the batter.  Spoon another 1/3 of the batter over the apples and gently spread.  Layer the remaining half of apples over.  Spoon remaining batter over the apples and gently spread.  Bake for about 1 hour, until deep golden and a toothpick comes out clean.  My big cake came a wee bit too dark, cooked it a little over - but still yummy.  Adjust cooking times if making mini bundts. 

When cake is cool, prepare the glaze.  In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, butter and spice, add milk one Tbsp at a time until smooth and of drizzling consistency.  Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.

This recipe was adapted from a recipe found in Newsday in Sylvia Carter's column

Layering the apples - 1st layer

 

I used the large bundt pan in this set, available in my store here:
http://astore.amazon.com/rosscoubak-20/detail/B00004W4UX

Enjoy!