Drumstick Leaves Fritters Recipe (Mashinga Palle Ambado)

Drumstick Leaves Fritters Recipe (Mashinga Palle Ambado)

I gotta admit Konkani’s are huge fans of deep fried stuff! We have a huge list of fritters in our Konkani cuisine repertoire. They’re called ambado in Konkani. Konkani cuisine’s famous for:

Tora Leaves Fritters - Taikile Ambado in Konkani

Colocasia leaves ambado - delicious marvala panna ambado in Konkani.

Drumstick leaves fritters - mashinga palle ambado in Konkani

Ivy gourd leaves ambado - tendle panna ambado

Sauropus androgynus leaves fritters - Vitamin palle ambado

Amarnath leaves ambado (green, dhavi bhajji ambado)

Looking at the above list I can’t hep but think such nutritious leaves are deep fried and we are in turn derived from their health benefits. But, that’s beside the point of this post. Most of you are thinking 'to hell with nutrition’? I know, I know these fritters are delicious. They’re crispy, crunchy & spicy. They are served as starters or as a side for lunch, dinner. You could even have them along with your cup of tea/coffee as your evening snack. 

And if you are a health freak please do look for other healthy ways to cook these leaves & make delicious dishes using them on this website. But I also suggest you do give these fritters a try, they’re deliciously delicious!! :)

We also adore these fritters. Enjoy them with as your tea time snack:

Cabbage And Onion Fritters (Cabbage Ambado)

Channa Dal Vada (Chattambade)

Spiced Potato Dumplings (Batate Ambado/Ambade)

Split Black Gram Fritters (Biscuit Ambado)

Here's the recipe to make crispy fritters using drumstick leaves. They're crispy, crunchy, spicy & delicious. Serve them as a starter for lunch, dinner or as a side. You could also enjoy them with your cup of evening tea, coffee. Here goes the recipe for you.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup drumstick leaves
  • 1 cup rice - any medium grained rice
  • 1/2 cup urad dal (split black lentil)
  • 6-8 dried red chillies
  • 1 lemon sized tamarind
  • Salt to taste
  • A small pinch of crystal asafoetida
  • Oil for deep frying

Serves: 2-4

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Passive Time - Soaking Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Preparation Method:

  1. Soak rice grains for a minimum of 30 minutes.
  2. Soak crystal asafoetida in a tablespoon of water so that it melts in water completely.
  3. Meanwhile, fry urad dal in a frying pan until they start to brown. Saute for uniform frying. Urad dal is used for added taste. You can fry them using oil or without using oil. Then let them cool down completely.
  4. Meanwhile, also, separate out drumstick leaves from its branches and then separate out thick stalks if there are any amidst the leaves. Tiny, thin, tender stalks shouldn't be a problem. Separating them out too can be tedious, so leave them out. You'll hardly notice them on cooking.   
  5. Give the leaves a good wash, drain out all the water completely using a strainer. And keep the leaves aside. 
  6. After 30 minutes of soaking, wash rice grains well. Drain out all the water. 
  7. Grind rice grains along with fried urad dal, tamarind, dried red chillies, salt, crystal asafoetida dissolved in water into a dry, little coarse paste using as little water as possible.
  8. We need a very dry batter or else fritters will absorb in a lot of oil in the end or may not hold shape when deep fried.
  9. We need a little coarse batter, we need a mixture of well powdered & semolina sized (Bombay rava sized) rice grains & urad dal. Then you’ll get crispy, crunchy fritters (ambado). If the batter gets too smooth then you’ll get soft fritters that aren’t very crispy. If they are very big in size & aren't broken down enough, then you get very hard, very crunchy fritters in the end. 
  10. Getting the batter right is the key to making perfect fritters (ambado). 
  11. Transfer the ground batter into a bowl.
  12. If it is a little watery then add in gram flour & mix well. Gram flour helps thicken the batter. 
  13. Make sure drumstick leaves have no water content & add them to the batter. Any excess water present in them, will make the batter watery.        
  14. Check & adjust salt. Heat up oil for deep frying.
  15. Make lemon sized balls of the batter. Flatten them a little using your fingers. 
  16. Drop a pinch of batter into rolling hot oil to check if it’s hot enough. If the batter rises to the top instantly, that means the oil  is ready to be used.
  17. Set the heat to medium & deep fry these fritters in batches of 4-6. Overturn them every 2 minutes to ensure they cook through uniformly. 
  18. Frying these fritters on medium heat is important. If the flame's high then it’ll overcook these fritters on the outside & they’ll be raw on the inside. If the flame’s set on low, then they'll absorb more oil.
  19. Fry these fritters until they are completely cooked, uniformly on all sides & remove them from oil. You know they’re cooked from the change in colour.
  20. Transfer them to a paper town to drain excess oil.
  21. Serve these fritters hot as a starter or side dish for lunch, dinner.
  22. These fritters are crispy, crunchy while they’re hot. With time, they get soft & soggy. So, enjoy them while they’re freshly made.

Drumstick leaves are super nutritious. Include them in your diet through:

A healthy stir fry (mashinga palle upakari in Konkani)

Or make delicious, spicy dosas using drumstick leaves (mashinga palle sanna polo in Konkani).

Tags: Fritters, ambado, mashinga pallo, mashinga palle ambado, ambade, starter, vegetarian, vegan, side dish, GSB Konkani cooking, GSB Konkani recipe, GSB Konkani cuisine, Konkani food, nugge soppu, nugge soppu ambade.

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