Kiwi Gee's Recipes From Down Under - Peanut-corn vadas

Deficient in iron? Love peanuts? Love sweetcorn? If you answer "yes" to any or all of these questions, then this recipe from Kiwi Gee is for you. She says: "Got this recipe from some cookbook in my previous life when I actually had time to pore over such things. Just as well that I remember how to make it, coz I have no idea where that cookbook is now…".

Well, that's the advantage of having a blog - now this recipe need never be forgotten! These are the tastiest vadas I've ever had and it was difficult to stop at just one or two. Good thing the kids were home with one of their friends who's adventurous (food-wise) for his age, with a typical teenager's appetite! Iron-rich though these vadas are, thanks to the peanuts, they are not for the extreme diet-conscious. But once in a while, especially if it's a rainy cold day, they're awesome. Especially when had hot.

Recipe for: KiwiGee's Peanut corn vadas



Ingredients:

Raw peanuts – 200 gms (about a cup)
Corn kernels (fresh or tinned or frozen) – 200 gms
Fresh green chillies – 2-4, depending on chilli tolerance
Corn flour – 2 to 4 tbsp
Rice flour - 1/3 cup (my addition)
Onion – 1 large, chopped
Coriander leaves – a handful
Curry leaves – a handful
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Salt – as per taste
Oil to fry

Method:

1. Soak peanuts in water for half an hour. If corn is frozen, make sure it is thawed completely.



2. Then grind corn and peanuts coarsely along with the green chillies.



3. In the last run of the grinding, add the saunf (fennel) and jeera (cumin) seeds, onion, coriander and curry leaves, as well as the salt.



4. Grind the mixture using no or very little water. It has to be roughly the consistency that can be patted into a flat, round shape that won’t come apart when you fry it – this is a bit of a hit-and-miss, but practice makes perfect.

5. To the ground mixture, add the corn flour and rice flour and mix well (add more flour if necessary, and adjust seasoning). If you have added too much water to your mixture while grinding, then you may need to add some extra flour to thicken the mixture – don’t worry, you can’t go wrong with the flour.



6. Take a small ball of the mixture (size of a plum) and flatten it on an oiled surface (your palm or a plate or whatever) to make a flat round disc of max 1 cm depth.

7. Meanwhile, heat the oil. When the oil is at the right temperature, drop the discs in slowly one by one. Fry till then are a dark golden brown, then drain - and then the best bit – eat hot. Note that because of the peanuts, the vada will be much darker than the normal vada.