When I think of my hometown Bangalore, the most memorable things regarding food that comes to mind is the Iyengar Bakery near my home, the vade bonda shop, which opens only in the evenings, Janata Hotel and Veena stores and the little roadside chat corners in Malleswaram. Even after being away from home for almost 10 years, the nostalgia only keeps growing! I am always trying to make the dishes just the way we get in these places! Never the same though, I keep going with the philosophy “something is better than nothing”!! Growing up, not a single day would have gone by when I didnt visit one of these shops. The closest one being the bakery, everyday in the afternoon, we were treated to this wonderful aroma from all the baking, tempting us to go get it straight from the oven. Most of the time, they would say “cant cut the bread, its too hot! ” Who cares?? All we need is the bread, cut or not! I had lots of favorites from this bakery, one of them being the Vegetable puffs!

I know there are 100s of recipes on the net with the potato filling. But, this bakery never put the potato filling in it. So, I kept searching and kept thinking….finally, just going by my hunch and trying to recollect the stuffing from “my bakery” ;-), I came up with this recipe.

Ingredients:

Pepperidge farm puff pastry sheets
Onions – 1 big
tomatoes – 3 med
1 carrot , grated
green chillies – 6
1/4 tsp jeera for seasoning
coriander leaves for garnish
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil, add jeera and then add the onions and saute till the raw smell goes.
Then add green chillies, finely chopped tomatoes and grated carrots.
Saute for about 5 mins, or until everything is cooked and comes together.
Garnish with coriander leaves.
Take off the heat and let cool.

Roll out the pastry sheets and cut them into small rectangles. (about 2 inch x 2inch size, approx)
Slightly roll them little bigger.
Take a tbsp of the prepared filling and cover all sides by smearing a little water and pressing.
Finally, give them a butter wash (or egg wash for egg eaters).
Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 mins at 350 deg, until golden brown.

Who doesnt like a warm deep fried snack on a day you get a foot of snow?? As soon as my daughter came back from school, we went sledding and making snow angels and snow balls and after all the fun, we were dying to eat something warm. Thinking back, at my home in Bangalore, on a rainy or cold day, my dad or my sister would always walk to the nearby Vade-Bonda shop, and get them right out of the Tawa for all of us to enjoy! Talk about Nostalgia!!! So, I thought what could fit the bill more perfectly than Alu Bonda? And thats exactly what I did!

Ingredients

For the batter:
Besan(Kadale maavu) – 1 cup
Rice flour -2tbsp
Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Soda – A pinch

Potato – 3 med
Onion – 1 med
Fresh green peas – 1/2 cup
Green chillies 6-8
Ginger – 1/2 inch finely minced
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Oil – 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves – 2tbsp
Oil for deep frying.

For seasoning:
Mustard, Jeera

Method

Filling:
Boil the potatoes till soft, peel skin, mash coarsely and keep aside.
Heat oil, add seasoning.
Add onions and green peas and saute until soft.
Add salt, turmeric powder.
Remove from heat.
Add the mashed potatoes and coriander leaves and mix well.

Mix the ingredients for the batter to a nice thick dosa flour consistency.
Make small balls of the filling and dip them in the batter and immediately drop them in hot oil.
Deep fry until golden.
Serve plain or with mint chutney or any chutney of choice.
Enjoy your evening snack!