Mahanandi

I have seen cookbooks on lentils, rice and on vegetables but never a cookbook dedicated to flours. I am glad that Santhi of Me and My Kitchen, the host of Jihva for Ingredients for August chose a topic covering all types of grain flours to feature for Jihva.

Like Linda, I also had several ideas for JFI, but decided to go with old classic crunchy snack – Janthikalu (murukulu). For us, the best snack foods are made at home, so for our vacation trip last week and to munch during our travel, I had prepared janthikalu (murukulu), using rice flour, gram flour (besan) and moong dal flour. For seasoning I have added salt, chilli powder, cumin, ajwan (carom seeds), sesame seeds and mashed potato. Deep-fried in peanut oil (I find that peanut oil works best for deep-frying and tastes delicious) in batches, janthikalu are our favorite snack item and my entry to JFI~Flour.

Thanks Santhi for hosting JFI and looking forward to reading the recap.

Recipe in detail – Here.

Ingredients for janthikalu and cookie press with different discs to prepare janthikalu

Dough is ready for placing in cookie press and for deep frying

Deep frying janthikalu in peanut oil

Janthikalu – for JFI~Flour

Tiranga

August is the month in 1947 when leeches left our country in search of fresh blood. If you ever suffer from blood loss, you would know how difficult and slow process it is to recover from anemia. Constant fatigue, weakness, listlessness are the norm. Our country has been going through this recovery process, still remained strong and united without going into a chaotic, oppressive dictatorship. By keeping a peaceful, nourishing atmosphere, mother India has provided us a safe shelter to grow and thrive without placing restrictions on us. Needless to say food has an important role in recovery process. In this month of India’s Independence, let’s whip up our culinary skills to salute mother India. Join and let’s do a food parade from all states. I want classic recipes, colorful photos and charging words that would look like rose petals sprinkled on a parade route. In this time of war and destruction unleashed by mutant evil leeches, we need hope and a reason to celebrate. Lets make this Independence Day food parade fun and grand.

Parade Submission Guidelines:

1 Write about traditional(proper) meal of your region or an entry(recipe)/essay/poem/drawing related to food from India, between now and August 14th. Publish it on your blog.

2 Email me (mailmahanandi@gmail.com) your entry by August 14th, with these details.

Entry name – both in English and in Regional Indian language and URL
Recipe Origin – Region, State and the title of that state
(Ex: from Nandyala, the land of Nandis or/and from Andhra Pradesh, the Rice Bowl of India)
Your name and your blog’s name and URL
Colorful, beautiful photo of your recipe in 455:280 pixel size.

Parade procession of all the entries in gorgeous food colors of India will be on Independence Day ~ August 15th.