Vella Dosai / Jaggery Pancake

Vella Dosai is a sweet dosai made with wheat and jaggery. This dosai requires no side dish and tastes best when served hot or warm. Serve this for breakfast or a quick tiffin. It is delicious and so kid friendly. It becomes dull and rubbery once it gets cold. This is also done during Karthigai. It is a quick dosa and can be done in less than 30 minutes. This recipe will make 12 dosas.

Vegetable Momos–Sikkim Cuisine

Sikkim is a North Eastern state of India which is located in the Himalayan Mountains. Sikkim is surrounded by Nepal to the west, China's Tibet to the North and East and West Bengal in the South. Sikkim is the second smallest state in India and is the least populated state in the Country. Another interesting fact about Sikkim is that it has 11 official languages. Coming to the Sikkim cuisine, dishes like thupka, chowmein and momos are popular here. From wiki - "Noodle-based dishes such as thukpa, chowmein, thanthuk, fakthu, gyathuk and wonton are common in Sikkim. Momos – steamed dumplings filled with vegetables, buffalo meat or pork and served with soup – are a popular snack.[105] Beer, whiskey, rum and brandy are widely consumed in Sikkim,[106] as is tongba, a millet-based alcoholic beverage which is also popular in Nepal and Darjeeling. Sikkim has the third-highest per capita alcoholism rate amongst all Indian states, behind Punjab and Haryana." Today I have chosen Momos with a vegetarian filling. You could use this same filling for making spring rolls also. These Momos are addictive and you cannot stop with one.. This is definitely a healthy snack which has lots of veggies, very less oil and also this dish is steamed. I served these delicious Momos with Spicy Garlic Tomato Chutney..  I got this recipe from here and made few changes.. This recipe yields 12 momos

 

Spicy Asian Slaw–Meghalaya

After Manipur, let us travel to Meghalaya. Megha means “cloud”, aalayam means “place”, that is how the name Meghalaya should have been derived. Like the other North Eastern states, Meghalaya is also largely forested and Tribal people make up most of the population. And like the other North Eastern states, I had a tough time searching for a vegetarian recipe of the state as non-vegetarian was quite predominant. It was a breather when I found this simple salad on Sify from here. From Wiki – “The name means "the abode of clouds" in Sanskrit. The capital is Shillong, known as the "Scotland of the East". Meghalayan cuisine is unique and different from other northeastern Indian states.[83] Spiced meat is common, from goats, pigs, fowl, ducks, and cows. In the Khasi and Jaintia Hills districts, common foods include jadoh, ki kpu, tung-rymbai, and pickled bamboo shoots. Other common foods in Meghalaya include minil songa (steamed sticky rice), sakkin gata, and momo dumplings. Like other tribes in the northeast, the Garos ferment rice beer, which they consume in religious rites and secular celebrations”. After doing so many elaborate dishes for this BM, I wanted to do a simple one which is also easy and light on the stomach.. So I chose this delicious spicy salad which was very light and quite easy to make.. No cooking required and makes a great side. Have it with bread or soup for a light meal.

Vegetarian Thupka - Arunachal Pradesh

Today we are travelling to the North Eastern part of India – Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal translates to “Aruna” is the one of the names of Sun god. Arunachal Pradesh translates to “Land of dawn lit mountains”. Some states were very hard to find recipes and Arunachal Pradesh is one among them.. I was hardly able to get any vegetarian recipes that are authentic to this state. Most of the recipes had dried fish in them.. This thupka was finally a breather.

Veg Hakka Noodles

A very delicious and spicy noodles. Noodles and fried rice and so dear to kids and teens. They are also very popular among adults and Indo Chinese food is the next popular food on the menu after the Indian food in restaurants. Before pizza and burgers came to fame in India, it was the Chinese food that became part of the restaurant menu.  I do not know if in China there is anything like this, but in India, Indo Chinese noodles, rice are very popular. Adjust the spice according to taste.