Ragi Utthappam

How about Ragi uthappam and spicy onion chutney.. Drooling???? Me...yes ofcourse.. can resist the taste of uthappams and spiciy onion chutneys.. 

Have made these uthappams using the left over batter of ragi appam (please check the recipe for the same in breakfast/ Kerala breakfast corner).

Ragi Appam

One more experimentation from my rasoi. 

Ingredients:

Ragi seeds - 3 cup
Raw rice/dosa rice -2 cups
Urad dhal - 1/2 cup
Sugar -5 tspn (add while grinding the rice)

Soak rice + ragi and urad dhaal separate for almost 5 hrs.

Grind them to a smooth batter . While grinding add a handful of poha too to get smooth appams. 

In a small katori add some warm water and 1 tspn of sugar and mix well. Add a pinch of yeast to this ..wait till yeast dissolve completely. Add this to the grinded batter and mix well with up/down strokes. Leave it to ferment .once the batter is raised add salt and make appams in normal way.

Serve with the curry of your choice. 

Idli podi (powder)

It is rightly said that there is no best cook in this world other than our mom. The love and magical taste of her hand made delicacies remains always our favourite no matter at what age we are.. Sharing with you here my mom's recipe for home made idli powder..yummmmmmmm I cant explain the taste of this when she makes.. I have tried here the same recipe but I always feel that her's is the best..

Ingredients :

Raw rice (any raw rice..can use even the idli/dosa rice too) -1 cup
Urad dhaal -1/2 cup
Chana dhaal -1/2 cup
Curry leaves - a big bunch
Dried Red chillies - a hand ful (can reduce the qty if u dont want to make it spicy)
Pepper corns -2 tspns
Asafoetida  (hing) - 1/4 block if it is a solid one  and 1 -2 tspn if it is powdered
Jeera seeds - 3 tspb
Salt -as required

Dry roast all the ingredients separately. Add some oil while roasting hing and curry leaves for better smell to the idli powder. Adjust the flame as per the qty of ingredients and please take care not to charr the ingredients while roasting. Allow all the ingredients to cool and powder it into fine mix in a mixer. 


Mix the idli powder with oil (any cooking oil) while serving.

Ragi Dosa

Ragi is a good source of protein and calcium.. Ragi is a health meal ideal for growing kids and diabetic patients.  Its surely a change from the normal dosa as u need not add on extra calories by the intake of more carbohydrates. 

It tasted yumm and surely is a good and healthy dish to be tried out. 

Recipe: 
Urad dhaal -1 cup
Ragi grains -2 cup
Rice - 2 cups
A handful of green gram and chana dhaal also I added
Methi seeds -2 tspn

Soak dhaal and ragi + others together for 4 hrs
Grind to a thick batter. Once fermented it will become loose. Make dosa as usual. Enjoy with onion-chilli chutney.

Dry nuts Upma

Most of us do not like to have upma . This is surely a relief for them

 
Just try this different and yet tastier version of our normal (boring) and common preparation.


Ingredients required

Bansi Rava - 1 &1/2 cup
Water - 3 cups
Onion chopped- 1 medium
Green chillies ( chopped) 2 nos
Salt and oil - as required
Curry leaves - few
ghee- 1tspn
Nuts/ dry fruits -as per your taste

I have used peanuts, cashew nuts, raisins for this. you can add other dry fruits also as per your taste

Heat oil in a kadai, crack mustard seeds, saute onion, green chillies, curry leaves, Add water and allow to boil. Add salt to this. Once bubbles are formed add Rava and stir on low flame till powdery.

Heat some ghee in a tadka pan and saute the dry fruits and nuts one by one. Garnish this on top of upma. Mix well while serving. SERVE HOT WITH FRIED PAPAD as it tastes even better with papad.
Can also prepare the upma in ghee for better taste or even drizzle a tspn of hot ghee on top while serving for excellent taste.

Garlic Chutney

Ofcourse yes the inspiration is from a movie called Salt and pepper. Wanted to try that at home and it was super ...super ..... super .... yumm..

Garlic Chutney with Soft dosas .....

Ingredients for garlic chutney:

Grated Coconut -1 cup

Garlic -3 cloves
small onion -3 nos
ginger 1 small piece
dry chillies -5
curry leaves-3-4 leaves
salt , oil and mustard as reqd
In a small kadai heat some oil and saute for 2- 3 secs onion, garlic, ginger ,dry chillies and curry leaves (no need to chop as we are grinding it anyways).
Grind it with coconut and reqd amt of salt in a mixer. Crack some mustard seeds in oil and pour it over the chutney. 

Believe me this is really yummy and am sure you would love to make this very often..

Idiyappam ( Rice noodles)

You can use store bought ready made rice flour.I used Double horse brand appam/idiappam flour here.

Rice flour and water in ratio 1 :2 ( sometimes u may require 1:2 & 1/2 also)



Boil the water with reqd amount of salt and 1 tbspn oil. when the water starts bubbling, reduce the flame and add flour slowly .Keep on stirring continuously to avoid formation of lumps. Once the mix thickens remove from flame.or else it will get cooked .continue stirring by giving up -down strokes. keep it for some time till it becomes affordable hot . make small balls and put it in string hopper. pierce through it to a steamer mould and steam cook till done. serves best with non veg gravies. For vegetarians this goes well with veg stew and kurma.

Jam Roll

This is the easiest jam roll that we can make out of our normal Sandwich bread. Try this and certainly your kids would love it.

For this you need the longer loaf Sandwich bread that is readily available in market.To get an attractive appearance use either mixed fruit jam or strawberry jam as filling.

Here is the method how we do this.

Take a long load bread cut the edges and roll it on a chappathi plate with the rolling pin. This will seal the gaps in between the bread and also will make it thinner. Roll to maximum length you can. Spread 1 tspn of butter and 1 tspn of mixed fruit /strawberry jam on top. Spread evenly and now roll from one side to another.  Cut into small cubes or use as such . If using the smaller loaf bread pin the roll using a tooth pick .

You can also use any filling of your choice/imagination to make it tastier. I have made one more using the potato masala filling. ( the picture below)

Poha Upma

One more very easier and tastiest recipe from my Kitchen.

Ingredients required are

Poha ( flaked Rice) - 1 cup
Vegetables like carrot, green peas, baby corn etc - 1 tspn each.. this is optional and you can add the variations according to your taste.
onion -1 medium chopped
green chillies -2 chopped                 
Urad dhaal -1 tspn
Mustard - 1 tspn
Cashew nuts and Kismis roasted in ghee - 1 tspn each
turmeric powder -a pinch
curry leaves- few

Methods
Wash the poha in running water in a strainer. If the flakes are thick enough dip it in drinking water for few seconds till it become soft. If the flakes are thinner washing in running water itself will make it softer. Allow it to strain till all the water is removed.

In a kadai heat some oil + ghee (optional) , add mustards, urad dhal, chopped onion, green chillies, curry leaves and other vegetables. Give it a stir for few seconds till soft. Now add turmeric powder and saute once again. Finally add the poha and mix very well. Drizzle a few drops of ghee on top. Cover and decorate with Kismis and Cashew nuts 

Vermicelli Upma

One more easiest and tastiest breakfast recipe from my side. I have used the readymade vermicelli packet for making this recipe

Vermicelli (not roasted ) - 1 cup
Carrot -1/2 chopped to bits
Green peas -2-3 tspn
Dry chilly, mustard, urad dhaal, curryleaves - for seasoning

In a thick bottom vessel boil excess amount of water. once it start boiling add required amount of salt and put the vermicelli onto it and stir. Switch off the flame. and leave it for 2 minutes. (if the strands of vermicelli is very thin not even 2 minutes is required. on to a strainer pour this water with vermicelli and show it unnder running, cold water. leave till all water is seperated from strainer.

In a kadai do the tadka using mustard, urad dhaal, dry chillies chopped onions ( small or big - 2 tspn) , curry leaves and add the vegetables . Add a pinch of turmeric also.Now put the vermicellin on to it. Mix well. Serve with sugar and banana (our favourite) or can be had with green chutney too 

Paav bhaji masala

Paav baji is a traditional delicay of North India. I do not know the conventional preparation of recipe for Paav bhaji but I have invented my own version of making a masala and this goes well with the taste of our palates.
Here is how I make this

Potato -2 nos chopped
Onion - 1 big chopped
Garlic and ginger -1 tspn each chopped
green chillies -1 tspn chopped
dhaniya leaves few and curry leaves also few

Pressure cook all these for 3-4 whistles with a pinch of turmeric, 1/2 tspn red chilli powder, 1/2 tspn coriander powder and 1/2 tspn gharam masala. Once it is done mash all these to thick coarse paste.

In a kadai heat some oil, splutter some mustard, saunf ( perumjeerakam) , add the cooked vegetables , spinkle some chat masala and mix well.

For the paav bun - I sue the ready made paav buns available in market. Split into two half till retaining the joints and add butter in between, and on sides , roast the buns on tava (take care not to charr the butter) . Serve hot with the masala and a hot cup of tea.

Home made Paneer Masala Dosa

Got the idea from the menu of "Dosa plaza" in bangalore. Tried at home and this is my version of how I made this

Recipe for the crispier dosa

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Raw rice and urad dhal in 3 : 1 ratio
Put a teaspoon of methi seeds to urad dhal and soak for 4-5 hours

grind seperately with a handful of poha and mix thoroughly .keep it for fermentation overnight. 

Recipe for Paneer masala
--------------------------------------
Paneer -100 gms
Carrot -1 half
Onion- 1 big
garlic- 4-5 cloves chopped
ginger -1/2 inch size thinly sliced

Boil the above ingredients with little salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder (can use green chillies instead for better taste.) and a pinch of gharam masala. Boil till carrots are cooked. Add paneer (crushed) towards the end and saute till the gravy is thick.
In a kadai heat some oi,l splutter mustard seeds , half a teaspoon of jeera, 2-4 curry leaves, add the cooked veggies to this and saute till well mixed.

In a dosa pan pour 1 laddle of batter spread nicely. keep on low flame now and after spreading increase the flame. Pour 1 tbspn of ghee or oil on sides of dosa . keep it on high flame till the edges become crispier. spread 2 tbspn of masala in the centre , longitudinally. keep it for few seconds. roll it and serve hot .

Rava Idli

Rava Idli 
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Idli Rava -2 cups
Curd ( not too sour) sufficient enough to wet rava
mustard -1/2 tspn
Urad dhal -1/2 tspn
chanadhal or pottu kadala  -few
Red chillies slit -2 nos
curry leaves -few
chopped dhaniya leaves -few
Chopped carrot -2 tspn
small onion -2 tspn chopped
oil and salt as required
a pinch of cooking Soda.

Heat the rava in a nonstick pan just to warm them. Mix the curd and keep it aside. In a pan heat some oil, crack mustards, urad dhaal, chana dhal and add red chillies, onion, curry leaves and saute . once it is cool add to the rava mix and add chopped carrots and dhaniya leaves too.. mix using hand so that no lumps are formed. Can add water if required. Add salt too. finally mix a pinch of cooking soda into it.

Smear oil on idli pates ,pour this batter on the moulds and steam cook immediately or within 1/2 hr time. Dont keep this batter for long hrs as rava gets soggy and wont taste that good. .Serve hot with spicy chutney or sambhar.

Cherupayar Dosa -Green gram dosa

Conceived the idea from a friend of mine and made it according to my own taste. My Recipe goes like this:

1cup green gram whole allowed to spout
1/4 cup urad dhal.
soaked this for 1 hr. grinded the whole thing together with 1/2 inch ginger piece .allowed to ferment for 5 hrs. Made dosas out of the batter.

Soft dosas with garlic chutney

How to make soft dosas:
Using the same batter for dosa u can make this soft dosas. Pour one laddle of batter on medium heat tava.Do not spread too much.. make a small circle. Wait till bubbles pop up.. Before the upper side is fully cooked slowly turn the other side. This will help the lower side become softer and correctly cooked.. keep it for 2-3 secs and u can take it out.

Ingredients for garlic chutney:

Grated Coconut -1 cup
Garlic -3 cloves
small onion -3 nos
ginger 1 small piece
dry chillies -5
curry leaves-3-4 leaves
salt , oil and mustard as reqd
In a small kadai heat some oil and saute for 2- 3 secs onion, garlic, ginger ,dry chillies and curry leaves (no need to chop as we are grinding it anyways).
Grind it with coconut and reqd amt of salt in a mixer. Crack some mustard seeds in oil and pour it over the chutney. Believe me this is really yummy..

Rava Dosai

How to make crispy dosa out of Rava or semolina or suji ? Try this easiest recipe. It requires lot of patience and dont worry if it is a filure in the first time. You can get it right in the next time. Serve hot for better taste .If kept for a long time it will become soggy.

Crispy Rava dosa
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Procedure of making the batter is same except that While making rava dosa the batter has to be very much loose in consistency. so pour lavish amount of water and also have to mix the batter thoroughly every time u try to pour the batter.
Smear some oil on the pan, pour the batter over the pan using a katori. (dont use the laddle to spread. as the batter is too much watery it will spread by itself or slightly tilt the sides to get enough spreading. Add generous amount of ghee or oil and serve hot .

Puttu - A Traditional Kerala Breakfast

Puttu is believed to be the most healthiest breakfast in Kerala as it is steam cooked..
There are many varieties of puttu and these are the few that I have tried using wheat flour, with carrot filling and also with Rice. You can also try this with Ragi flour, bajra flour etc. And for the filling you can add fruits and vegetables instead of coconut

Method: 

Wheat flour /atta flour/ragi flour -3 atta scoops
grated coconut -1 cup( can add chopped  vegetables or chopped fruits too)

Sprinkle some salt on the flour and mix well. The softness and taste of puttu lies in the way you prepare the powder for it.

You have to sprinkle water on the flour every time and mix till it is fully wet but at the same time not sticky and remain powdery.
Add 1/2 cup coconut also to this as it adds on nice taste.
Fill in the mould with 1 tbsp of grated coconut first and then this is followed by wet puttu powder added till half of the mould , then again add 1 tbsp coconut followed by powder. Fill in this proportion till the mould is completely filled. Steam cook and serve with ripe bananas or chana masala.