Of cold weather and fried food

Phew! What a long day it has been today! I was in school till 8:30 pm. Today I walked home. On days I don't go to the gym, I try to walk home. Its a 3 mile walk and its not too bad. I feel very irritable when I don't sleep well. Yesterday was one such day and was too groggy to write. But, worry not, I did have a culinary adventure. Catherine is my friend from Kenya. When she started talking about Indian food being a part of their staple diet, it was very surprising to me. Then it dawned on that a lot of Indians went and settled in Africa for trade purposes and apparently some of our food got absorbed into African culture. It is good fun talking to Catherine. Sometimes the African pronunciation is slightly different from the way we say it and it does make me smile. So day before yesterday, Catherine was very keen to make 'Bhajias' and her enthusiasm to make bhajias rubbed off on me. This is a fried snack food. These feel best on a cold rainy day with a hot cup of tea. Daywise, yesterday was perfect...cold rainy day. This is how you make it

Batter
1 cup chick pea flour ( can buy it from the Indian store)
salt to taste
chilli powder to taste
1/2 tsp Coriander seed powder
1/4 tsp Cumin powder
water

make a paste which is neither too watery nor too firm, roughly the consistency of a smoothie

Chop
potatoes into thin slices
Onion slices
cawliflower ( I used frozen)
A lot of different vegetables can be dipped in the batter

Take enough oil for deep frying.
Heat the oil. ( Test the heat before you fry by adding a few drops of the batter- if it splutters and rises to the top, then its done)
Dip the veggies in the batter and gently place them in the hot oil.
Fry till both the top and bottom are golden brown.
Remove from oil onto paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Let it cool so that you can bite into it. This goes best with chai tea.

Me and my friends made it during the winter chill in North India. We'd make this and wrap ourselves in blankets and drink ginger tea.

Okay, this is not the healthiest stuff around. But I must have made a deep fried food after at least 10 years. So I did not feel too bad.
I'm so glad that the Kroger close to my house has newly started this set up like in upscale grocery stores- where you can pick what nuts you want and how much you want. I like it better than picking bagged nuts.

I feel like doing a spices glossary on my blog. I will do it one of these days.

Its 12:11 am right now. I gotta sleep before I start typing gibberish.

Good night and sweet dreams people!