Tomato Adai

Ingredients:
Idly Rice + Raw Rice - 3/4 cup
Thur Dhal + Channa Dhal - 3/4 cup
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Red Chillies - 1
Green Chilli - 1
Salt
Tomato - 2
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Jeera - 1.5 tsp
Coriander leaves and curry leaves to garnish

Method:
Soak the dhals and rice together for 2 hours.
Rinse. Add chopped tomatoes, red chilli, green chilli, salt, hing and coconut.
Grind in a mixer or grinder adding water little by little to a coarse batter.
The mixture should be thick like idly/dosa batter.
Add jeera, coriander leaves and curry leaves and mix.
Heat a griddle. When hot, pour a ladle full of batter and spread in a circular motion.
Drizzle a drop of coconut oil and few drops of cooking oil around the corners.
When one side turns golden brown, flip and cook the other side. It takes at least 2 minutes to cook on each side.
Serve hot with idly podi or avial.

Note: For regular adai, skip the tomatoes.

Idli Upma

Here's a quick and simple tiffin made with left over idlis. Picture quality is not up to the mark. I used a different camera this time.

Ingredients:
Left over idlis - 4
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urud dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Idli powder (Milagai podi) - 2 to 3 tsp
Coconut - 2 tsp

Method:
Cool the idlis. Crumble into a coarse mixture and set aside.
Heat oil in a pan.
Add mustard seeds and urud dal.
When urud dal turns brown, add curry leaves, hing and crumbled idli.
Add idli powder and coconut and mix well.
Serve hot with yogurt.

Sweet Sevai (Rice Noodles flavored with jaggery and coconut)

Sevai - A type of rice noodles,  is a light tiffin/snack item flavored with lemon, coconut or jaggery.  Today I am posting the sweet version using jaggery.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Instant Rice Noodles - 200 grams
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 3/4 cup
Cardamom - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Cashews - a handful
Raisins (optional) - 2 tsp

Method:
Immerse rice noodles in boiling hot water for 2 minutes and drain.
In another pan, roast cashews and raisins and set aside. In the same pan, fry coconut till it turns light golden brown.
Mix jaggery with 1/4 cup water and cardamom. Heat the mixture till jaggery dissolves in water and starts to thicken. It will take about 5 minutes. Filter the jaggery water to remove any stones.
Now mix the rice noodles, coconut, jaggery syrup and cashews and toss well.
Serve warm.

My close friend, Sharmi insisted that I should send some snack item for her event. I thought I will send this recipe.

Vegetable Pasta - Indian Style

This is my version of Indian Style pasta! Pasta is made from Semolina flour. It's rich in protein and fiber.

Ingredients:
Pasta - 1/2 packet (225 grams)
Vegetables - onion, cabbage, carrot, capsicum, tomato (2 cups)
Salt
Oil - 2 tbsp
Chilli powder - as per taste
Chole Masala or Pav Bhaji Masala - 3/4 tsp
Fresh Parmesan Cheese - 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves - to garnish

Method:
Follow the directions on the back of pasta packet and cook.
Heat oil in a pan and fry chopped veggies one after another until they are almost cooked but slightly crunchy.
Add chilli powder, salt and chole masala.
Add cooked pasta and toss well.
Garnish with coriander leaves.
Sprinkle some parmesan cheese.

Arisi Upma (Rice Upma)

Hello friends,
Greetings from India! I managed to post this recipe during my vacation. I will try to post more. Arisi Upma is a tiffin item made by cooking Rice and Dal with a few spices. It's a regular in our family cause we South Indians are fond of rice :)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Dry grind to a coarse mixture:

Raw Rice - 3/4 cup

Thur Dal - 2 tbsp

Red Chillies - 2

Jeera- 1/2 tsp

Seasonings:

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera- 1/2 tsp

Urud Dal - 1 tsp

Channa Dal - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Hing - 1/4 tsp

Whole Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Ginger - 1/4 tsp grated

Other Ingredients:

Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp

Cooking oil - 2 tbsp

Salt

Water - 21/4 cups

Method:

Heat both coconut and cooking oil. 

Season with ingredients mentioned above.

When mustard seeds crackle and dals turn golden brown, add water and bring it to a boil.

Add roughly ground rice and dal mixture and salt.

Simmer and close the lid and cook till rice is done (12-15 minutes).

Serve with chutney or sambar. 

Notes:

Do not grind the rice too much. Grind it just enough to break into small pieces.

When Upma is warm, you may shape it into oval balls and serve as kozhakattai.

Mixed Vegetable Upma

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
Semolina/Sooji/Farina - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Oil - 3-4 tbsp
Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup (very finely chopped onion, carrot, peas, potato, beans)
Garlic - 1 pod (optional)
Curry leaves - a few
Ginger chopped - 1/2 tsp
Green chilli - 1
Hing - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urud Dal - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - to garnish
Lime juice from 1 small lime

Method:
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, urud dal, hing, green chilli and ginger.
When mustard seeds crackle, add garlic and mixed veggies.
Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder and fry till the veggies turn soft. Remove from heat and set aside.
In the same pan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Fry semolina on low flame till it turns light golden brown. This step is very important.
Simultaneously, bring water to rolling boil in another vessel.
When semolina turns light golden brown, add the veggies.
Pour water gradually and stir continuously. Add salt if needed.
Simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Squeeze lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve hot with chutney or sambar.

Atukula Pulihora(Aval Puliyodharai)

Even though the recipe may sound very simple, it is very easy to mess up. For a great tasting dish, soak aval/poha with the right amount of tamarind extract so that the flakes are fluffy and separate and not soggy. My mom makes the best Aval upma! We make it frequently at home. Aval puliyodharai is slightly different from Aval upma. I came across this recipe in some blog and tried it. It's a super quick brunch or tiffin item that can be made in 10 minutes flat!

Ingredients:
Aval/Poha/Atukula/Beaten Rice-2 cups
Tamarind-small lime size ball
Salt
Hing-1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Seasoning:
Oil-2 tbsp
Curry leaves-a few
Broken Red Chillis-3-4
Mustard Seeds-1 tsp
Urud dal-1/2 tsp



Method:
Soak tamarind in 3/4 cup warm water for 10 minutes and extract thick juice. Discard the tamarind.
Now soak aval in tamarind extract for 10 minutes or until it absorbs all the liquid and the flakes become soft, fluffy and separate.
Meanwhile heat oil in a wide pan. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing, red chillies, urud dal, turmeric powder. When mustard seeds crackle, add poha. Sprinkle salt.
Gently toss everything together without mashing poha. Fry for 2-3 minutes and serve hot.

Note: Any dish made using poha should be consumed when hot. 

This recipe being so simple and easy, let me add it to my own event-Cooking Basics! For details, click the logo on the side bar.

Due to time constraints, I have not been regularly commenting on some of your blogs these days. I apologize for the same. I will try to catch up with your recipes whenever I can.

Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers :)

Raw Rice Dosa(without fermentation)

I tried this yummy instant dosa recipe from Sankeerthanam. It tasted more like aapam. I had it with mysore rasam.

As I followed the recipe verbatim, you can click the above link for recipe.

Notes:The batter should be thinner than regular dosa batter but not as thin as rava dosa batter.
Pour the batter in a circular fashion starting from outside to inside. Allow the batter to spread by itself.
I also added 1/4 tsp of hing to the batter.

Semiya Upma(Vermicelli Noodles)

Serves 2

Ingredients:
Oil-1.5 tbsp
Finely Chopped Mixed Vegetables(onion, carrot, capsicum, peas)-1 cup
Garlic chopped-1 pod
Vermicelli(Semiya)-1.5 cups
Salt
Turmeric powder(optional)- a pinch
Water-2 3/4 cups
Lime juice-1 tsp
Coriander leaves- to garnish

Seasoning:
Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds-1 tsp
Curry leaves- a few
Urud dal-1 tsp
Green chilli chopped
Ginger chopped-1 tsp
Hing-a dash

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add ingredients listed under "seasoning".
When mustard seeds crackle, add onion and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes. Add rest of the veggies and sprinkle salt and turmeric powder.
Saute for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
In the same pan, roast vermicelli on low flame. At the same time, bring water to boil.
When vermicelli turns golden brown, pour boiling water and mix well. Sprinkle salt. Cook till it absorbs all the water. Add the veggies, lime juice and coriander leaves and mix well.
Serve with pickle/yogurt or sugar.

This goes to Show me your Breakfast! - July 10th event!

Dhokla

Picture courtesy: My husband

Mother's day is not yet over. So here's wishing all moms happy mother's day!

I was wondering what my mom's favorite dish was? I could hardly recollect 2-3 dishes. Because mom always made sure she cooked food that my Appa and I liked the most. So today, I thought why not make her favorite dhokla. I came across this recipe in Manjula's kitchen. I like watching her videos. I have even met her once in San Diego. Dhoklas came out very soft and yummy. You should try it. I followed the recipe word by word. I steamed the dhoklas in idli plates.
You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:
Mix these ingredients together and let it rest for 30 minutes:
Sooji/Rava/Semolina-1 cup
Yogurt-1 cup
Water-1/4 cup
Salt
Hing-a pinch
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Green chilli chopped-1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves(Cilantro) chopped-2 tbsp
Coconut grated-1 tbsp
Lemon juice-2 tsp

To season in 1 tbsp oil:
Jeera-1 tsp(optional)
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp

Other ingredients:
Eno fruit salt-1 tsp

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and jeera and allow it to crackle. Pour this to the batter that has been sitting for 30 minutes.
Add eno fruit salt. Mix the batter well.
Steam on high flame using greased idli plates for 12 minutes.

I am not going to buy dhokla mix from stores anymore. I have the perfect recipe now!

Eggless French Toast

I tried eggless french toast recipe from Trupti's blog sometime back and was very impressed with the results. I have made this snack several times in the last few weeks. I would like you to try it as well.

Ingredients:
Bread-4 slices(each cut into 2 pieces)

Mix the following and make a thick batter:
Rava/Sooji/Semolina-1/2 cup
Yogurt-1/2 cup
Onions chopped-a handful
1/2 Tomato chopped finely
Green chilli chopped
Coriander leaves chopped-1 tbsp
Salt
Turmeric powder-a pinch

Method:
Dip each piece of bread in the batter and coat both the sides. As the batter is thick, you might have to use your hand to place some veggie-yogurt mixture on the bread.
Heat a flat non stick pan. Add 1/2 tsp oil. Place the bread slice gently. Add few drops of oil along the edges. Cook on medium flame for about 3 minutes. Flip the bread and toast the other side for few more minutes until golden brown.
Serve with ketchup.

Note:Do not add water to the batter. The batter should be very thick.

Here are a few pictures taken during our Las Vegas trip.

This is the Strip



Hotel Bellagio and fountain show



Bellagio Lobby



Reminder:Rama Navami on April 3rd, 2009.

Aapam and Quick Raw Onion Chutney

I am very disappointed that our professional camera is not working now and I had switch back to my small camera to take the pics. Until we get the other camera serviced, please bear with my pics! :)

Here is the recipe for Aapam(from a cookbook) which does not require fermentation.

Ingredients:
Raw rice-1 cup
Idly rice or par boiled rice-1 cup
Hing-1/4 tsp
Coconut-3/4 cup
Baking soda-2 pinches
Salt

Method:
Soak both rice for 2 hours. Grind it along with coconut and hing by adding little water(less than 1 cup). The batter should be of dosa batter consistency.
Once the batter becomes smooth and creamy(takes at least 15 to 20 minutes in the grinder), add salt and baking soda. Run the grinder for 2 more minutes.
Heat a deep curved pan(something like this). Add few drops of ghee or oil. Pour 1 or 2 laddles of batter in the center. You can either swirl the pan so that it is coated with the batter or spread the batter just like you would spread for dosa in circular fashion. Add a drop of oil around the edges. Close the lid. Simmer and cook on one side till it is done(approximately 5 minutes). You don't have to flip it around. Serve with any chutney or kurma.

I made raw onion chutney to go with Aapams. It is very easy to make.

Ingredients:
Red onion chopped-1/4 cup
Coconut-1/4 cup
Red chillis-3
Salt
Hing-a pinch
Tamarind-2 inch piece

To tamper in 1 tsp oil:
Mustard seeds-1/4 tsp
Urud dal-1/4 tsp
Curry leaves-a few sprigs

Method:
Grind all the above ingredients with little water to a smooth paste. Tamper and pour over the chutney.

Yeah we had a coconut-filled dinner today. haha..

Aapam and chutney are made for each other. Aren't they?
So I am sending this to Asvadha's Made for each other event.

Vegetable Paneer Dosa-Instant

Vegetable paneer dosa is incredibly soft as a sponge. I tried it for the first time and didn't expect it to be so tasty. It is nutritious and can be made in a jiffy!

Ingredients:
Sooji/Rava-1/2 cup
Rice flour-2 tbsp
Hing-a pinch
Green chilli-chopped
Coriander leaves chopped-1 tsp
Jeera-1 tsp
Grated paneer-1/3 cup
Finely chopped spinach-1 tbsp
Very finely chopped cabbage-1 tbsp
Grated carrot-1 tsp
Pepper powder-a pinch
Water- to make batter
Salt

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together. The batter should be of dosa batter consistency.
Prepare dosas the usual way.
Serve with podi/chutney/sambar.

Express Tomato Sambar for idly/dosa & Rava Onion Oothappam

This is not a regular sambar. As the name suggests, it can be made in a jiffy using very few ingredients. It goes great with idly/dosa and I am sure you will like it. I learned it from my neighbor.

Ingredients:
To pressure cook with water until done(5-6 whistles):
Thur dhal-1/2 cup
Chopped Tomatoes-5(medium) or 6(small)
Garlic-4 pods

To tamper in 1 tbsp oil:
Jeera-1 tsp
Red Chillis-5

Other ingredients:
Salt
Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:
Pressure cook the ingredients mentioned above.
Tamper jeera and red chillis in oil. Add it to the cooked dhal+tomato mixture. Add salt.
Mix well. Using a hand blender, blend the mixture to a smooth and creamy paste. The consistency should be like that of a soup. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with dosas/idly.

Note:If you don't have a hand blender, you may dry grind red chillis, then do the tampering in oil and add it to tomato dhal mixture. Smash the mixture well with back side of a ladle.

Some friends emailed me and asked if they have to add sambar powder. No. Do not add sambar powder. It will alter the taste.

Since we are not adding tamarind, we use lots of tomatoes in this recipe.

This goes to Susan and Srivalli's My Legume love affair-seventh helping event. Isn't the logo cute? I love the colors.

Let's move on to the next dish. Bindiya visited my blog recently and posted her comment. As usual, I was curious to check out her kitchen. Her rava masala oothapam caught my eye. I made it today without making any changes to her recipe. It was a hit. Oothappams were crispy on the edges and soft on the inside. Yummy!

Instant Oats Idli

I tried Usha's Instant Oats idli and it was a success. I will definitely make it again and again. Check out her recipe here.

Makes 12 idlis

This is what I used:
Instant oats-2 cups
Semolina(sooji/rava)-1 cup
Salt
Hing-a pinch
Coriander leaves-chopped 1 tsp
Yogurt-3 cups
Baking soda-1/2 tsp
Some water(if necessary)
Oil to grease the idli plates

Method:
Dry roast oats for a minute and set aside.
Dry roast semolina for 3-4 minutes and set aside.
Grind the oats to a fine powder.
Mix oats powder with rest of the ingredients and make a batter.
Add some water if necessary. The batter should be very thick. Not like idli batter. It should be somewhat like cookie batter.
Grease the idli plates with little oil.
Pour the batter on idli plates with a laddle.
Steam for 10 minutes.
Cool for a couple of minutes.
Check if the idlis are cooked. If not, steam for 1 or 2 minutes.
Serve hot with sambar or chutney.

Usha says, once the oats powder and rava are mixed with yogurt, the batter should be used immediately for best results.

I did not season the batter as I wanted the idlis to taste like regular ones.

Spinach Oats Dosa

I have been seeing oats dosa recipe in so many blogs for quite some time. I tried this recipe from Simple Indian Food blog. It came out so soft and spongy. I modified the recipe by adding some spinach to the batter.

Ingredients:
Instant cooking Oats(powdered)-1 cup
Rice flour-1/4 cup
Rava(Sooji)-1/4 cup
Yogurt-1/2 cup
Salt
hing-a pinch
Jeera-1 tsp
Chopped green chillis
Finely chopped spinach-1/2 cup
Water as needed(approx 1 cup)

Method:
Mix all the above ingredients to make a dosa batter like consistency.
Let it rest for 15 minutes.
Make dosas(don't make it very thin) the usual way.

Tomato Uthappam(instant)-in 10 minutes

Tomato uthappam tastes yummy. It comes out very soft. The recipe is from Sujatha's Spicy Khazana.

I added a few more ingredients according to my taste.

Ingredients:
Tomato juice(grind about 3 tomatoes in the mixer without adding water)-2 to 2.5 cups
Rava(Sooji)-3/4 cup
Besan flour-3/4 cup
Salt
Chilli powder-1/4 tsp
Hing-a pinch
Jeera-1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves-1 tsp chopped
Onion(finely chopped)-1/4 cup

Method:
Mix all the ingredients. If the batter is very thick, add little water. It should be like dosa/uthappam batter.
Make small uthappams the usual way.

I had them with a dollop of coriander hummus(chutney)

Semiya Pulihora

If you like tamarind rice, you will also like this. I came across Siri's Vermicilli pulihora recently and bookmarked it. I really enjoyed my dinner today.. Thanks Siri.

My method is slightly different.

Ingredients:
Vermicilli(Semiya)-1.5 cups
Tamarind-small lime size
Water(3 cups approx)
Salt
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Sesame Oil(gingely oil)-1.5 tbsp
Pepper powder-1/4 tsp

To Tamper:
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Jeera-1/2 tsp
Urud dal-1 tsp
Hing-a pinch
Curry leaves-a few
Red chillis-2
Peanuts(unsalted roasted)-1 tsp

Method:
Soak tamarind in warm water. Set aside.
Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in a pan. Roast semiya to golden brown. Remove and set aside.
Heat rest of the oil, tamper with the above ingredients. Extract tamarind water(about 3 cups) and add it to the tampered ingredients. Add salt, turmeric powder,pepper powder and let the tamarind water boil for 10 minutes till the raw smell is gone. Add roasted semiya now and continue heating till it is cooked well.

If you add excess tamarind water, then semiya pulihora might become mushy. So add just the right amount(just like you would add water for regular semiya upma). Don't blame me if you didn't get it right :-)

Sweet Wheat Pancakes- Saturday Morning Sugar Rush

Our eating habits during weekends are weird. Breakfast is served at lunch time and lunch is served at snack time:). We wake up late with our stomachs roaring. So I tend to look for quick breakfast recipes to satisfy our hunger first and then make lunch leisurely. I thought twice before I decided to make sweet wheat pancake(or dosa) because I am scared to make anything sweet/fatty often. Once in a while is OK for me. Since I made badam kheer just a few days back, I was reluctant to make this dosa today for breakfast. The urge to take a nice picture and post it in my blog made me try this recipe from Archy's blog(click here for the recipe). Thanks for sharing Archana. I really liked it.

Instant Wheat Dosa

I found an interesting recipe from My Kitchen (click here for the recipe)this morning when I was wondering what to make for breakfast. I tried her wholemeal pancake recipe(which I renamed as wheat dosa). I liked it and I am sure I will make it more often. Only thing I did not add was ginger garlic paste. Otherwise I followed the exact recipe. Thanks for sharing the recipe! I will jot down the recipe here so that I can refer to it anytime.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour-2 cups
Besan flour-2 tbsp
Salt
Chilli powder-1/2 tsp
Hing-a punch
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Jeera-1/2 tsp
Onions chopped-1/2 cup
Tomato chopped-1
Coriander leaves chopped-1 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste-1/2 tsp(optional)

Method:
Mix everything with water to dosa batter consistency.
Make like regular dosas.
Serve with podi or chutney.