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My grandma’s place will be surrounded by Drumstick and Neem trees. Each neighboring house will have at least 3-4 trees in their backyard. I grew up literally surrounded by them and the drumstick leaves makes a presence daily in the menu in one form or the other. Of all the recipes I looked forward to gorging on the bondas that she makes with the drumstick leaves. The aroma will be so good that it will make you feel faint with hunger. Pity I do no get fresh drumstick leaves quite often now-a-days. I used Arai keerai but if you can get hold of Murungai keerai try this recipe with that and you will not be disappointed.
Keerai Bonda
You’ll need:
Keerai / Spinach – 1 bunch
Chick pea flour / kadalai maavu – 1 cup (heaped)
Corn flour – 1/2 cup
Onion – 1/2 cup
Ginger – 1/2 inch piece
Green chilies – 2 tbsp
Fennel seeds / Sombu – 1 tsp
Cooking Soda – 1 pinch (optional)
Chaat masala powder – 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt – to taste
Oil – to deep fry
Method:
Pick, clean, wash the greens / keerai well. Chop them finely. The onions and green chilies have to be finely chopped as well. Grate the ginger.
In a big bowl place the chopped greens, onions, green chilies, grated ginger. Sprinkle the chick pea flour and corn flour, cooking soda, if using and salt on top. Mix well with your hands. The flours would absorb the moisture if any and the mixture would look dry and crumbly.
Scoop a handful of water and sprinkle on top and mix well with your hands. The mixture would come together like a dough. Make small balls and arrange on a plate.
Heat oil in a big kadai / wok. When sufficiently hot drop the balls one after the other from the sides of the kadai into the hot oil. Cook over medium flame till the sizzling sound of the oil stops and the balls get cooked to golden brown. Drain on an absorbent paper.
Sprinkle chaat masala powder over the bondas and shake well to get coated. Serve hot with coconut chutney.
Notes:
- I used Arai keerai / Amaranth leaves to make this bonda. Siru keerai will also suit well.
- While picking the greens make sure you use only the leaf and discard the stems.
- You can also add finely chopped garlic pods along with ginger.
- Sprinkling chaat masala in the end is optional. Skip it if you do not like it but tastes good on hot bondas.
This is off to Let’s Cook – Greens and to Only South Indian
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Sailaja
March 31, 2012 at 9:05 amLove the spinach vada.. Too good. Nice presentation
radha
March 31, 2012 at 10:10 amThese look great. I have only made spinach pakoda. Will attempt this soon
Priya Sreeram
March 31, 2012 at 10:19 ammy mom makes somethg similar & often- got nostalgic
Pushpa
March 31, 2012 at 11:00 amI can relate to those memories,bondas look yummy.
Kaveri Venkatesh
March 31, 2012 at 2:37 pmBondas look really delicious…very tempting
the mad
March 31, 2012 at 4:33 pmThese are yummy. Great way to include greens in our diet.Thanks.
Priti
March 31, 2012 at 5:12 pmLooks so perfect …yum …I guess I know your next post 🙂
Kanan
March 31, 2012 at 7:14 pmthis vada looks so delicious and cute. love it
Shobha
March 31, 2012 at 7:50 pmNice keerai bondas..so inviting.
Hema
March 31, 2012 at 8:38 pmThe keerai bondas look too good, feeling faint with hunger..
hemalata
March 31, 2012 at 8:59 pmInnovative bondas looks so yummy n mouthwatering presentation.
Sumee
March 31, 2012 at 10:57 pmThose look just DELICIOUS!!!! umm umm ummmmmmm
Maayeka
March 31, 2012 at 11:15 pmCrispy,delicious and with so nice and bright colour ,different way of making spinach vada..loved the recipe.
Anjana
GEETHA ACHAL
April 1, 2012 at 4:30 amwow…Tempting and delicious bonda…pass me some here…
Follow foodie
April 1, 2012 at 7:31 amVery tempting bondas
http://followfoodie.blogspot.com/
Vimitha Anand
April 1, 2012 at 6:57 pmWould love it with hot tea… Nice one
Hemavathi Murari
April 2, 2012 at 10:10 amperfect wanted to make this but finally went on with spinach-oats mocktail.
Check out my blog: Hema’s Adugemane
Pari
April 3, 2012 at 10:29 amHi. Nice bonda with greens. Pls update the logo and let me know. Thanks for linking.
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Anonymous
October 6, 2012 at 10:35 pmRadhika its so nice to see this recipe ,we are stuck in uk and all that bonda,vadai,bajji,murruku and so many things to eat from our land ,never mind ,i’ll try to make this bonda i hope it comes good .thank you for your good work
prabhu