Laddu - India

Laddu is an Indian sweet that is traditionally served to celebrate weddings.

They remind me of little ball shaped cookies. I checked out the ingredients and nothing looked "surprising" (ie. expecting sweet and getting spicy) - so I thought these would be tasty.

I didn't let them defrost before microwaving them, which may have been the reason that they kind of exploded when I cooked them for about 2 min on high. The instructions did say to let them come to room temperature first - but of course I'm not one to always follow instructions - especially when I'm in a hurry.

I loved the laddu!!!!!!!!!! Good as any "regular" cookie type treat I've had. Sweet and a bit chewy and buttery - no "weird" spicy flavor.

The kids did not like it! Weird! Strange! How could they not like it?? There are quite a few in the package and I only cooked up a few, so I'm going to try having the kids taste them again some time. They both agreed that it was sweet.

You can tell from the grease on the napkin that these were NOT low fat - that part looks pretty disgusting.

Ingredients were: basen flour, sugar, butter, cashew nut, raisins, cardamom. Only thing objectionable from their point of view could have been the cardamom. I've used that spice before and they were not too thrilled.

Samosa - Indian Snack

Well I've tried a few Indian foods thus far and I've come to the conclusion that I don't care for it.

I like the hot spiciness of it - but the mix of spices I'm not crazy about. And the smell - it has a very distinct smell and I don't like it.

Samosa are like little fried dumplings. They are a popular snack in South Asia.

The package said, "Spicy Indian Snack with Green Gram, Cashew Nuts & Raisins". It sounded quite tasty - a nice combination of spicy and sweet (so I thought). Ingredients are: refined wheat flour, peanut oil, split green gram pulse, cashew nuts, raisins, sugar, salt, red chili, aniseed, black pepper, coriander powder, cardamom, mango powder and cumin powder.

Inside crumbly mixture of spices and cashews

Incidentally, it seems like so many of these foreign packages have the tiniest print ever - especially the ingredients.

The outside of the samosa is a flaky, crisp pastry like pie dough...inside there is a dried mixture of nuts/raisins and spices. It was not sweet at all - which was a disappointment - I was thinking the cashew nuts & raisins combo would be kind of trail mixish. But it wasn't. I actually could not taste any raisins in there at all. Actually I just cracked open another one and I did not see any raisins in there.

If you'd like to try making your own - here is a recipe.

Neither of the kids liked the samosa "too spicy".

Now speaking of India...growing up there were a lot of "East Indians" living in our city. When I got to the USA - I was told they were not referred to as "East Indians" but just Indians. To me Indians meant "Native Americans" or "Aboriginals" (as called in Canada in these politically correct days).

So my question is - are Indians (from India) just referred to as Indians? Is the term "East Indian" just something people around us made up in order to distinguish them from the large Aboriginal Indian population? Just curious...

Mendu Vada - Lentil Fritters

Mendu Vada are "Crispy Golden Lental Fritters" reads the box it came in. We purchased them frozen - $1.99 for a box of 6. On the package they look like deep fat fried cake donuts...don't be deceived!

The fritters are a savory dish. Ingredients are: urad dal, water, coconut, green chili, salt, coriander leaves, curry leaves, spices, coriander seeds.

Urad dal is a lentil like bean.

A serving size of just two of these fritters will set you back 204 calories - half of them in fat!

I did like the fritters - they were better after adding some salt. I think if you dipped them in ketchup - it would almost be like you were eating fat onion rings (minus the onions).

They were quite hot spicy.

Dd said "Not bad - like a spicy egg roll...very, very, very spicy."

Ds said "I don't know what to say about it - it just tastes weird." He said he had 3 BIG bites...I'd say probably three little nibbles. I try to tell them they won't get a proper taste unless it's a big bite. But I understand how apprehensive they are - b/c I feel that way too!

Kappalandi Masala (Spicy Peanuts)

Kappalandi Masala is a snack food from India.

Kappalandi, I believe - means ground nut or peanut. The masala is "Spices, herbs and other seasonings mixed and pounded. If liquid is added, in the form of water, yoghurt or vinegar, it is referred to as a wet masala. Garam masala applies to a dry mixture."

So translated into English - I'd just call them Spicy Peanuts. And spicy they are!

Daughter tasted it and exclaimed "My tongue hurts - spicy! My tongue hurts really bad!" The boy said "Tastes like Japanese Peanuts"...almost burns your tongue off." If you like heat in your food - then these spicy nuts are for you. I think I might choke if I popped a handful into my mouth. If you like a little less heat - just mix these in with a jar of salted peanuts.



For a 8.75 oz package of these nuts, it cost $1.99.

The ingredients include: chickpea flour, rice flour, coriander, tumeric, chili powder, black pepper, salt, curry leaves, fenugreek, dry ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, cloves, peanuts, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmace.

Dosakai / Dosegai – Indian Cucumber

Now these interesting fellas, took me on quite an investigation.

I purchased them thinking that once I got home, I could do a google search and come up with photos and information on what exactly it was and how to prepare it.

No such luck. Dosegai????

Two searches came up – all the words were foreign.

I posted a search on a helpful board I came across – a wild and exotic food forum. They were very helpful - but with the limited info I gave, no one came up with a name.

So I did what I should have done originally – would have saved me a lot of time – I called the store. The woman who answered didn’t know and passed me on to produce. “It’s an Indian cucumber – except sour”. I inquired as to whether or not their was an alternative name spelling or name – “nope”.

So I began searching under “cucumber” and “Indian vegetables” and came across it. Though none of the spellings were the same as what was on the label of mine. I came up with names like: dosakai, dosakaya, vellarika.






We cut open the “cucumber” and it did taste like a sour cucumber. The consistency and flavor reminded me of a melon. Once we took out the seeds (I wasn’t sure if they were edible) there wasn’t much of it left to prepare. We were not so crazy about it plain – so I fixed it like we fix our cucumbers….sliced up, shake on some salt n pepper and add enough vinegar to cover them. My grandma used to do that with regular cucumbers and sometimes she would add some finely cut up green onion. Great!