EGGLESS FRUIT&NUT CAKE BALLS/POPS/TRUFFLES

How I came up with these?? :)
I had made Eggless fruit & nut cake and the cake got stuck to the pan. I was feeling bad and wanted to do something with the cake as the taste was great. While browsing I saw cake balls recipe. I bought cream cheese frosting, Milk chocolate, Butter Scotch and semi sweet chocolate chips to experiment. It took me 5 hours to make these cake balls and then coat them with chocolate layer and it involves refrigeration. They taste so great that it'll be worth the effort.
I made these for my hubby's b'day. He doesn't like sweets/chocolates but he loved these. I treated my friends to these and they all loved it so much that they all wanted the recipe ;). Try them!!
Note: You can even use condensed milk instead of frosting.
Recipe Reference: http://www.bakerella.com
Ingredients:
Eggless Fruit & Nut cake - 2 - you can use any cake
Frosting - I used store bought Duncan hines cream cheese flavor - 16 oz whole box - use lesser if using just one cake
Milk - 1/4 Cup [ Optional ]
Baking chocolate or chocolate chips of your choice. I used Hersheys Milk, Butter scotch and semi sweet Chocolate flavor.

Method Of Preparation:
Crumble the cake once its cool. You can refrigerate the crumbled mix until frosting is ready. This step is optional. I did it as I had to go to the store to buy the ingredients :)

Mix frosting to the crumbled cake and mix well until its moist. I added milk too. Now make balls according to the size you need. Refrigerate the balls at least for 20 - 30 mins. I left them overnight.

Melt the chocolate on low heat and dip the cake balls in it to coat. Refrigerate the balls for at least 2 hours. I used 3 varieties and
Milk chocolate: It was very difficult to melt and hardened easily. When it was soft, I used hands to coat the chocolate and make balls.
Chocolate: It melted easily and I just had to dip the cake balls to get chocolate coating.
Butter scotch : It melted easily and I just had to dip the cake balls to get the coating.

CHANA DAL VADA/CHATTAMBADE/KADLE BELE VADA

Ingredients:
Chana Dal/Split Black Gram/Kadale bele - 1.5 Cups
Onion - 1/2
Green Chillies - 4-5 [According to spice level]
Chopped Coriander leaves - 2 Tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 Strand
Grated Ginger - 1 Tbsp
Salt - 1.5 tsp
Ajwain/Carom seeds/om kalu - 1 tsp
Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
hing - a pinch
Rice flour - 1 Tbsp
Note: Finely chopped Sabsige Soppu/Fresh dill leaves can also be added. It is widely used in these vadas because of the flavor they induce.

Method Of Preparation:
Wash Dal well. Soak overnight or at least for 6 hours.
Grind dal into a fine/coarse paste according to your choice without adding much water.
Finely chop onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Grate ginger. Crush carom and cumin seeds. Add everything together and mix well. Adjust salt and spice level.

Note: I added onions when I was ready to fry the vadas. Onions tend to leave water which will make the batter watery.  I kept mixing the batter before dropping the vadas in oil for each batch.

Keep oil in a pan for frying on High. When its hot, take batter in hand and drop them slowly. Increase the batter amount according to the vada size you want. I got around 34 vadas.
Let the vadas get fried properly and turn brownish. It took around 6-7 minutes for each batch.
Vadas turned out crunchy on the outside and soft inside. They tasted great. Try them.

CHEESE WAFERS/BISCUITS

I came across these while browsing and wanted to try them as the recipe looked very very easy with minimal ingredients. There were two variations of these, I tweaked my recipe to suit our taste buds. End product was a flaky biscuit/wafer/cookie. But I would go easy on the salt next time as after baking the saltiness from the cheese makes it saltier!!

Recipe Source: Cheese wafer and cheese biscuits

Ingredients:

Maida - 2 Cups

Cheddar cheese - 1 Cup

Salt - 1/4 -1/2 tsp [ Adjust]

Chilli powder - 1 Tbsp [ according to spice level]

Butter - 1 stick or 1/2 Cup

Chat masala - 1/2 tsp [Optional]

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Milk - 1/4 - 1/2 Cup

You can try adding

Chillies

Coriander leaves

Garlic powder

Method Of Preparation:

Pre-heat oven @400F.

Mix everything except milk and make a crumbly mix. Now add milk as required to form a dough. 

make small balls and press them gently. Bake at 400F for 15-17 minutes. I baked them for 20 minutes. Let them cool and enjoy salty snack.

GOLI KADUBU MASALA

Find the recipe for Goli Kadubu here.

Ingredients:
Coconut - 1 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Jeera/ Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 - 2 tsp
Green chillies - 2-3
Onion - 1/2
Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch
Tamarind - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 Tbsp

Method of Preparation:
Grind all the ingredients together except for mustard seeds and oil.
Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds when its hot. Now, add the ground masala and fry till the raw smell disappears. It will be done in around 15 mins.
Now, add the kadubus and mix well. Let it cook for 5-10 minutes. Serve!

GOLI KADUBU

I really don't know what they call these.  They look like small pebbles, known as 'GOLI' in kannada, so the name 'GOLI' kadubu :). The method of making these kadubus is the same as Unde Kadubu just that they are smaller. These kadubus take some time to prepare because of their size.
Kadubus are mixed in masala gravy and eaten. Find the recipe for the gravy here.

Ingredients:
Idli Rava - 1 cup [ use store bought or else you can make this rava by dry grinding Rice]
Salt - 1 tsp
Water - 2 cups

Method of Preparation:
Boil the water. Add salt and the idli rava. Mix well till it thickens and cook for at least 10 mins on low flame.
When it is warm enough to handle make small balls out of it.
Once all the dough is over, keep the balls in a vessel and steam cook for at least 15 mins.
Kadubus are ready!