Wheat Flour Rava Dosa

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. When you realise on a weekend that you have no breakfast plans , it can be quite annoying.  At least, today I was a little alert despite being groggy on a lazy Saturday morning to think of a rava dosa variation. I added wheat flour instead of the refined maida, cut down amounts of the semolina and rice flour.  Added a bit of buttermilk and what I got was a nice tasty, a golden brown, healthier version of the original.

Ingredients
Whole wheat flour ( atta) - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 3/4 cup
Semolina ( Upma Rava) - 1/2 cup
Finely chopped onion - 1 small
Finely chopped green chilie - 1-2 nos
Coriander leaves - few
Buttermilk - 1/2 cup (optional)
Salt to taste

Take the ingredients in a bowl.  Make a thin batter ( like that of pancake) with water and buttermilk or just water.  I did not even keep it for half hour as I normally would and it made no difference

Seasoning -
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Cumin (jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Black gram dal (urad) - 1/2 tsp

Heat oil, add the jeera, mustard - allow to splutter and add the urad dal.  Allow it to brown slightly and add to the batter.  Mix well.

Heat a dosa pan.
Smear oil.
When hot - keep on a medium flame - test with water or a drop of batter - it should set immediately
Take a ladle of batter and drop in a circle from a height.  You will get a nice lace pattern as the batter comes in contact with the hot surface
Put some oil along the edges of the dosa.
As it browns it will come off the sides.  Turn over and keep for a short while.
Turn it over the first side till it becomes crisp.  Remove and serve with chutney or pickle.

( The dosa here has been made with as little oil on a non-stick pan)

Gongura Pappu - Dal with sorrel leaves

Don't go by the picture.  It quite looks like any other dal.  But this is different.  Gongura leaves are very, very Andhra - like their Avakayya pickle.  And non-vegetarians in this part of the world will swear that Gongura Mutton cannot be matched.  And what about the gongura pickle?  For now, we stick to the dal preparation.  Gongura leaves have an inherent sourness.  And the need to add any other souring agent is optional and in most  cases not necessary.

A colleague got some nice fresh gongura leaves plucked off a farm.  And all it took was a call to my friend K who gave me the recipe.

Ingredients:

Red gram dal - Tuvar - 1/2 cup - pressure cook till soft

Gongura leaves - remove from stem, wash well, chop fine - 1 1/2 cup

Garlic pods - 4-5 - chopped fine, or leave whole

Onion - 1 medium - sliced

Green chilies - 2 nos - finely chopped

Chilie powder - 1/2 - 1  tbsp ( as per spice tolerance)

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder  - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - generous pinch

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Black gram dal - 1 tsp

Curry leaves 

Oil for seasoning - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Take a wok.

Heat the oil. Add the mustard, cummin - allow to splutter

Add the black gram (urad) dal, asafoetida and the curry leaves

Now add the onion, garlic, green chilies -  sauté

Add the chopped gongura leaves, and the turmeric, coriander, chilie powder

Sprinkle a little water if required - and keep covered for about 5 minutes.  This also gets rid of the sliminess of the leaf.

Now add the cooked dal and salt.  Bring to required consistency with water.

Simmer.

Serve.  The tangy taste of the dal is really nice.

Cabbage Vada

Saw this at Rak's Kitchen.  It has been a long time since we had vada for breakfast and I thought today was a good day to make it with this variation.  I have made cabbage vada with  tuvar dal but not with urad dal.  And this would be a nice dish to make when you want to make it on an 'onion-less' day.  It tastes as good or even better.

Ingredients:

Black gram dal (Urad) - 3/4 cup

Cabbage finely chopped - 1 cup or even little more- it may seem a lot - but it isn't!!

Green chilies - 2 finely chopped

Ginger - 1/4" finely chopped

Coriander leaves - few - chop

Curry leaves - few - shred coarsely

Asafoetida - large pinch

Salt to taste

Soak the urad dal overnight. (If making for an evening snack, soaking for 4 hours will do)

Grind with very little water to a fine paste with salt

Add the chopped ingredients, coriander and curry leaves, asafoetida 

Blend well.

Take a small ball of batter make a hole in the center ( in other words - the vada)

Slip into medium hot oil and fry to a golden brown that will be crisp to bite in.

Have with chutney, pickle or sambar / or all of them

Sautéd Potato with Fresh Spice Powder

Another recipe from Tasty Palate.  This is a variation to the usual shallow fried potato curry that I make generally with rasam and hot rice.  The freshly made spice powder adds to the taste.

Ingredients:
Boiled potatoes - 4 medium
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Spice Powder - roast and grind to a coarse powder 
Black gram dal  (urad) - 1/2 tsp
Bengal gram dal - (chana) - 1/2 tsp
Coriander (dhania) seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilies - 4

Seasoning
Oil - 2-3 tbsp
Curry leaves - few
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - large pinch
Cumin ( jeera ) - 1/2 tsp

Heat oil in a wok
Add the mustard, allow to splutter, add cumin, asafoetida and curry leaves
And then the potatoes, turmeric, spice powder, salt
Toss till well coated.
Fry for a while till the potatoes get a golden crust

Chettinad Thakkali Kozhambu

This recipe is from Tickling Palates.  I guess it was the picture of the dish that had me planning to make it the very day that I came across the post. I thought I had made note of all the ingredients that were required and started off to make it, when I realised that I had forgotten to pick up the shallots from the supermarket.  I decided to go ahead with the dish anyway and I think that ingredient might have added heaps of flavour to the prepared dish.  Despite that, the dish was appreciated. It had the hint of cinamon, a touch of coconut, the subtle flavour of fennel. A Hyderabad tomato salan with a chettinad twist?

( the dish did not have the brilliant red colour of Tasty Palate - a bit of Kashmiri Mirch could have done the trick )

Ingredients:
Tomatoes – 4 medium - chop to small pieces
Garlic - 8 pods - chop fine
Cinnamon - 1" 
Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp - taste and add a little more if required
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - for garnish
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 - 3 tbsp


Paste - 1
Shallots - 15 nos ( I used ordinary onions - 2 medium) - try and stick to the shallots


Paste - 2
Coconut - fresh - 3-4 tbsp
Fennel seeds ( saunf) - 1/2 tsp
Corriander (dhania ) seeds - 1 tsp
Chilie powder - to taste - approx 2 tsp
Cashewnuts - 7-8


Proceed with the making of the dish 
1. Onion paste - sauté the onions till they are slightly brown and grind to a fine paste and keep aside
2. Roast the coriander, fenel.  Grind along with fresh coconut, cashew and chilie powder with a little water. Keep aside


3. Heat oil, add cumin allow to brown slightly
4. Add the cinnamon, and chopped garlic, sauté, and the curry leaves.
5. Add the coconut paste, sauté
6. Add the onion paste - continue to sauté
7. Now add the tomato and simmer till they soften
8. Add the tamaring paste and salt. 
9. Simmer for about 10 minutes
10 Remove from heat, garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Ginger Pickle

My neighbour  gave me some lovely andhra ginger pickle.  This has been a favourite at home and I always bought the Priya pickle which is extremely good.  But the freshly made pickle had a special taste of its own.  I asked her for the recipe and she immediately went into her store and got out an old diary which had recipes that her mother had written.  She also had a traditional cup measure that she used for the ingredients and I just substituted it with some approximate measures.  And the brilliant red colour of her pickle was due to Byadgi chilie powder (that I did not have). Nevertheless, I was ready to experiment, but in small quatities.  I picked up 100 gms of ginger which resulted in half a bottle of the finished product.  Nothing like home made pickle....

Mrs NCM's recipe -

Ingredients:

Ginger - 250 gms
Tamarind - 250 gms
Garlic - 100 gms - peel - keep about 1/4 of this for seasoning
Oil - 250 gms ( part of this to be used for seasoning)
Chilie powder - 100 gms *
Sugar - 100 gms **
Salt - to taste
Methi powder - 1/2 tsp ( roasted and ground)

Seasoning:
Oil
Bengal gram dal (Chana) - 1 tsp
Black gram dal (Urad ) - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - one sprig
Peeled garlic cloves


If you are using raw tamarind.  Wash well.
Heat water. Cool. Soak tamarind for a few hours.
I used tamarind paste - it said on the packet - 1 tsp equiv. to 1 lime sized piece of tamarind. I took that as 20 gms approximately.

Wash ginger well - peel and then chop into small pieces
Blend to fine paste
Add the softened tamarind after squeezing out all the water.
And sugar, garlic, salt
Grind to smooth paste.

Remove.

Take the oil, heat, add the mustard, dals.  When mustard splutters add garlic and a little later the curry leaves.  Cool and then add to the ginger paste. Add the remaining oil as well.

Put in clean bottle with a well fitting lid.

* Chilie powder quantity will vary according to the pungency.
** Jaggery is traditionally added. But one has to be careful to see that there are no impurities.
You will need to check the taste sometime to see if it needs a little more salt, chilie or sugar.  And that is not an easy job if you do it periodically like I did :-)

Thepla

I have prepared methi roti before but it never tasted like the readymade Theplas that I would buy at the supermarket.  And the pictures at Rak's Kitchen  looked so tempting that I decided I would give it a try.  Mitho Limdo also had a recipe and I sort of combined the two and made the roti and I think I shall never buy them again at the store. I can very well make them at home if they taste as good. Right?

Ingredients: ( Makes 8 medium size rotis)


Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Chick pea flour (Besan) - 1-2 tbsp
Methi- 1 bunch ( I usually use the large leaf variety)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Coriander (dhania) powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilie powder - 1 tsp ( varies according to taste) - you can substitute with finely chopped green chilies
Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida - a very large pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
And more when making the rotis

Wash methi leaves well and chop fine
Take a little oil in a wok, heat, and sauté till the leaves wilt and the room is filled with a delicious aroma
Keep aside

In a mixing bowl add the wheat flour, besan, jeera, all the powders, asafoetida, sugar, salt, oil and the methi leaves.

Add water and mix to form a soft dough.

Keep for a while

Then make balls of the dough and dust in a little wheat flour and roll into thin rotis

Toast on a flat 'tawa'.  Smear both sides with oil till brown dots appear on the surface.

Serve theplas with raitha, chutney, pickle or even jam.  They taste good with anything.