Kriya Gangiahs’ recipes will enlighten your festive season

Some mouth-watering recipes for your festive season from Kriya Gangiah, a jack of all trades, that many know as the star of radio that enlightens your dull day, and television personality at the same time.

Gangiah also runs the successful digital agency Kri8tive Media and is also a massive foodie fundi. In fact, Gangiah’s social media accounts are often laced with content of her whipping up some exciting new recipe.

Now, ahead of the festive season, she has been trying out some Indian-inspired recipes ahead of the celebrations and she’s shared three must-try recipes that are bound to impress your guests this festive season.
If you’re looking for some culinary inspiration ahead of the festive season, Gangiah shares her favourite recipes:

Vada

Ingredients:

2 cups/500ml yellow lentils
2 medium onions finely chopped
6 dry chillies soaked in warm water
8 green chillies finely chopped
2 tbsp ground cumin
½ cup chopped fresh coriander
½ cup chopped spring onion
2 tsp salt
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Method:

1. Soak the split peas overnight
2. The next day, rinse the split peas a few times and drain all the excess water
3. Place the split peas in a food processor and pulse until it resembles a fine paste. It should not be runny
4. Take a little paste and roll it into a ball, if it rolls easily then it is ground to the right consistency
5. Transfer the split peas to a large bowl and mix in all the other ingredients. Ensure it is mixed well. The ingredients should stick to the ground split peas, that also confirms the consistency is correct
6. Take a small quantity of the mixture and roll into a ball. Flatten in your palms and make a small indent in the centre
7. Place the circle on a spoon and gently place in the heated oil. Fry on medium heat. The insides will not cook if it browns too quickly. Flip over when the bottom is brown. Do not attempt to flip it over if it is not fully brown as it will crack
8. Remove with a slotted spoon, draining the excess oil. Place in a bowl lined with paper towels
9. Serve hot

Lamb curry

Ingredients:

1 kg lamb on the bone (cut into bite-sized pieces)
2 large onions (finely sliced)
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
1 tomato (chopped into small cubes or grated)
1 sachet tomato paste
¼ cup cooking oil
3 – 4 medium sized potatoes
1 tsp ginger/garlic paste
salt to taste
1 ½ to 2 teaspoons chilli powder (or more)
2 teaspoons curry powder (add more if you prefer a stronger/pungent curry)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
2 green chillies (slit)
1 sprig curry leaves
¼ bunch chopped coriander (to garnish)

Method:

1. Braise onion in oil until golden brown.
2. Add ginger/garlic paste and stir. Then add washed and drained meat.
3. Add chilli powder, curry powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Toss until meat is well coated.
4. Add salt and allow to ‘fry’ on a low heat for at least 10 minutes, tossing at intervals.
5. Add tomatoes and tomato paste and allow to cook until tomatoes are softened. Then add potatoes and a bit of water
(½ cup or more) and allow to cook on medium to low heat until potatoes are cooked.

Burfee

Ingredients:

500 gram powdered milk
1 cup fresh cream
290 gram Nestlé dessert and cooking cream
1¼ cup icing sugar
¼ cup butter
2 tbsp ground almond
1 tspn cardamom
¼ tspn rose essence

Method:

1. Add fresh cream, Nestlé cream, butter and icing sugar to a large saucepan and heat on low to medium heat.
2. Use a whisk and mix well. Once mixture starts bubbling remove from heat.
3. Sift the powdered milk and add to the cream mixture. Use a whisk and mix well. Ensure that there are no lumps.
4. Mix in the cardamom, rose essence and ground almond.
5. You can pat the mixture into a square dish lined with cling wrap and refrigerate and cut into squares after two hours or transfer the mixture into a bowl, refrigerate for two hours and then mould into desired shapes.