Suralichi Wadi (As traditional as it gets)

This one is completely dedicated to my mother. An hour back I had no idea how to prepare these wadis. One phone call back home and lo and behold my dish is prepared ,served and ready to eat. And its all thanks to that one superwoman ,my Aai. I had all kinds of apprehensions in my mind about this dish. I have eaten it umpteen times made by her at home but never dared to make it myself ,but today in a matter of minutes she had me convinced that I could make it and also gave me the perfect recipe there and then. She assured me again and again that it was not as difficult as it seems and I must give it a try. She had more confidence in my cooking skills that I had myself.

So I tied my apron and started off with still some doubts at the back of my mind. I followed the steps meticulously and to my absolute delight I could do it. You are simply amazing Aai !! Had you not encouraged me I would never have made them.

Now a little about the dish. Its a traditional maharashtrian snack which was initially mostly made at home but has now found its way on restaurant menus and is also a popular item at weddings and other dos. Those who have eaten it will vouch for its delicious taste and texture. Its healthy too as the main ingredients are steamed.

Now lets get down to the recipe:

Ingredients:

For the outer roll:

1 cup chick pea flour (besan),

1.5 tspn plain flour,

1 cup buttermilk,

1 cup water,

6 to 7 cloves garlic,

3 green chillies,

1 tspn salt,

1/4 tspn turmeric powder

For the filling:

3/4 cup grated fresh coconut,

3/4 cup fresh coriander finely chopped,

1tspn powdered sugar,

salt to taste

For the tempering:

3 tblspns oil,

1 tspn mustard seeds,

1/2 tspn asafoetida,

7 to 8 curry leaves

Procedure :

1. In a grinder crush the garlic ,chillies and salt together.

2. In a mixing bowl mix the besan,plain flour, water ,buttermilk, and the crushed garlic-chilli paste very well. Give it a taste to check if you need more salt or chilly.

3. Strain this mixture as we need a smooth batter .

4. Cook the batter in a pressure cooker for upto 3 whistles or for as long as it takes you to cook rice and dal in your pressure cooker.(Every pressure cooker differs a bit here and there)

5. In the meanwhile prepare the filling by mixing the grated coconut and coriander, sugar and salt and keep ready. Also keep 5 steel or melamine plates at hand to spread the batter.

6. To the cooked batter add about 3 tblspns of hot water to loosen it up a bit and give it a brisk stir.

7 Immediately while the batter it still hot start spreading it evenly onto the plates like shown in the pic below. Keep your strokes in one direction only to get it evenly done. This needs to be done very fast.

8.After finishing all the batter mark out rows with a knife or a pizza cutter,

9.Now spread the coconut filling on the batter on the marked rows .

10.And now comes the best part. Start rolling the wadis like shown in the pic below. They roll beautifully. Please do not oil the plates initially. Place all the wadis vertically close to each other in a container.

11.For the tempering heat the oil in a small wok or kadhai.

12.Add the mustard ,asafoetida and curry leaves.

13.Spoon the tempering into each of the vertically placed wadis.

To serve garnish them with some of the coconut and coriander mixture and spoon any left tempering all over.

So what do you think? Are you game?

This is also my entry to Nupur's event RCI Maharashtrian cuisine.