Oats and Moong Dosa

Every once in a while, I like to try new things. Sometimes, it is an experiment driven by curiosity. At others, it is driven by need. This one was purely the former. I wanted to keep my standard dosa recipe proportions, but wanted to switch the ingredients. However, while it started off that way, the end result was driven by need. 

I wanted to use moong dal and oats. So I soaked dal and rolled oats. However, I think I used a little extra water to grind the batter. I added my secret ingredient to help bring the texture of my batter back to normal.

The result was a light, yet filling breakfast idea, with the flax seeds giving the dosa a nice texture.

1/2 cup Green Gram Dal (Moong Dal)

1 cup Rolled Oats

1 tbsp Flax Seeds, ground

Salt to taste

Soak the Green Gram Dal and rolled oats for at least 4 hours. Grind to a batter using water. Add the flax seeds towards the end. Add salt.

Heat a tawa and smear a little oil on it. Pour a ladleful of the batter on the tawa and quickly spread it around in a circular motion.

Add a few drops of oil around the dosa. Carefully remove the dosa from the pan after a couple of minutes and flip it around so the other side is cooked too.

Repeat with the remaining batter. I got 12 dosas from this batter.

Serve with any chutney or chutney podi of your choice.

This is the first time I'm trying to blog from my phone. Let's hope it works. If it does, I may just be able to blog more often.

Quinoa Dosa

 

 

When I was India, I read a lot about Quinoa. The super faux grain. The perfect replacement for rice. High in protein, low in calories, a good source of calcium and iron. The list was practically endless. But I had no source for it there. A few months ago, I came across a packet in the local supermarket here. I bought it and as with most things I buy, I forgot about it.

 

 

This morning, I decided to soak rice and dal for making dosas. I make my dosas with brown rice as I wanted to incorporate it into our cooking. I tried several times to use it in place of regular rice, but it just didn't go down as well in our house. I felt that we had to cut down on white rice usage in more palatable ways. I started making dosas with brown rice in India simply because I had stock that had to be used up in some way. And when my dosas turned out fine, there was no turning back.


At a Chinese vegetarian restaurant here that I have been to a couple of times, I tasted red rice. The chef at the place spoke little English, but was happy to teach me how to cook the rice (with the manager translating) and even showed me a packet of the rice while telling me where to buy it. I ended up buying a bag of Red Cargo rice. I wanted to see how my dosas would turn out with this and so looked into my pantry for the red rice. I then saw the forgotten packet of Quinoa. There was a quick change in plans.

It was an experiment and it worked. That I am posting it here means that it was good. But good doesn't even begin to describe this. Golden brown like the dosas you get a hotel and no one will complain. It may be different, but this different is good.

1 cup Quinoa
1 cup Udad

1 cup Brown Rice
1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Wash the urad, quinoa and rice. Add the fenugreek seeds and soak in plenty of water overnight. (At least 4-5 hours). Wash well and grind using a little water. Add salt and water to dilute it as required. (Don't add too much water as the dosas will not turn out well.) If you like, you could allow the batter to ferment overnight. I like dosas made with freshly ground batter. And after I've eaten those, I let the batter ferment overnight.

Heat a tawa and smear a little oil on it. Simmer the flame and pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre of the tawa. Quickly spread the batter while forming concentric circles (spiral actually!). Add a little oil on the sides and centre. Usually not more than 1 small spoonful (1/4 tsp) per dosa. When crisp, carefully turn the dosa over and allow the other side to cook a little (this is not done in restaurants, but I prefer to turn my dosas and toast them on both sides).

Turn the dosa back and fold in half. Serve with chutney, sambar, or molaga podi or a combination of all these.

Humble dosa at probably its nutritious best. And as a plus, it tastes and looks fantastic. 

I think there is no going back for me.

Oats Doddak

 

I once blogged about how I could never understand people who ate the same stuff for breakfast every day. Rain or shine. That post was about a mango and melon smoothie. That was about 9-10 months ago. Since then oat and fruit smoothies have become a staple for breakfast. Even baby A loves the smoothies for breakfast. But sometimes he craves something savoury. I made this for him one morning and then ate the stuff for lunch. (If you are making this for children, omit the chillies or use a small portion of deseeded chillies.)

 

The use of oats in this doddak is a healthy twist in the tale. Oats keeps hunger pangs away longer thanks to its lower GI and is also full of fibre.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup Oats, roasted and powdered

1 tbsp Semolina

1/4 cup Coconut, scraped

1/4 cup Coriander, chopped

2 Green chillies, chopped

1" piece Ginger, chopped

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

For the tempering:

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Prepare the tempering in a small kadhai and transfer the contents to a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients except the oil and mix well using a little water. (Do not add too much water. The batter should not be watery.)

Pour the dough onto a hot griddle and spread it a little. Pour a few drops of oil on all sides. Make a slit in the centre using the spatula and pour a few drops into this slit.

Turn over and allow the other side to crispen as well. Serve with pitti chitni and toop or with plain butter.

Mango Melon Smoothie

I know a lot of people who start their day with a bowl of oatmeal porridge. Unfortunately, I am not one of them. I've always craved some sort of a breakfast routine and am very envious of those who manage to stick to one. My parents, for example, will start six out of seven days in a week with a bowl of oatmeal. Outwardly, I make fun of them and ask them whether they never tire of it. But secretly, I wish I could be like them. Amma doesn't miss out on the poha, upma, idli, dosa, bread routine at all. She puts them on the dinner table instead of the breakfast table.

For the past few weeks, I have managed to eat oatmeal every morning. I usually mix some curd and left over veggies/dal and eat it. Some days, I blend it with some cumin powder, salt and curd into a salty lassi of sorts. On days when I have fruit on hand and am in the mood for something sweet (which isn't often that early in the morning!), I turn it up into something like this.

1/4 cup Quick Cooking Oats
1/2 cup Water
1 tsp Sugar (optional)
1/4 cup Mango cubes
1/4 cup Melon cubes
1/2 cup Milk

Cook the oats with the water for 3-4 minutes and allow to cool. Blend this along with the other ingredients in a liqiuidizer. Add more milk if you like your smoothie a little thinner.

Pour into a glass and enjoy your breakfast. I can guarantee that something like this will keep you satisfied until lunch time and that you're quite likely to not reach out for something else in between.

Blueberry Muffins

When we first moved to Singapore, I was dumbstruck by the variety of produce that I saw in the markets. The wet markets, the supermarkets, and the gourmet stores were all filled with every kind of fruit and vegetable. Yes, I'd read about most things, especially since I started blogging. But to see them for real was something else. I was literally the kid in a candy (err... fruit and vegetable) store. I mean, this was the real deal.

A wrong diagnosis during my pregnancy in India led to thinking that I may be developing gestational diabetes. Fortunately, there was no such thing and it was the result of a badly administered glucose tolerance test. But there was a time lag between the wrong diagnosis in India and the correct diagnosis in Singapore. I wanted to be extremely careful and stayed away from most things sweet. I relished the fruits as they were, but didn't dare to use them in baking. I could (and still can) do without the excess sugar and fat.

But now I have an oven. I have the produce. And I do make the time. I have been reading a lot of my cook books to see what I can make with what I get here. I found a packet of blueberries in the supermarket and they were a lot cheaper than they usually are. So, I came home with a packet. I found a great recipe in Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess", modified it a wee bit and made these beauties today.

1 1/3 cup Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

A pinch of Salt

6 tbsp Oil

1 Egg

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp Buttermilk

1/4 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).

Line a 12-muffin pan with muffin cases.

In a bowl, beat the egg. Add the oil, sugar and buttermilk and whisk together.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the centre of this mixture and pour in the liquid ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the liquid lightly until it all comes together. Fold in the blueberries and mix gently.

Scoop the mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean.

These are light, not cloyingly sweet and would be perfect for breakfast. With some butter and jam!

Moong Dal Cheela

I miss going to work. The reasons are countless. One of the biggest food related pluses of going to work is getting to taste different kinds of dishes. One of the other pluses is getting new ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner or just being able to give new twists to routine dishes. But the food related aspect I miss the most about working is being guaranteed company at mealtimes. Eating alone is a pain.

One of my former colleagues had a maid at home who would make the best breakfast dishes I've ever had out of a box. She could be on Masterchef. A sandwich would not only have a great filling, but would be cut in 4 pieces and there'd be a wee bit of tadka on each piece.

This breakfast idea comes from this lady. To me, a cheela was always made with besan. And a pesarattu was always made with whole green moong. To make a cheela with moong dal was unknown to me (I know a lot of you have known this a long long time.) as was making a pesarattu with moong dal. This is like a cross between a cheela and a pesarattu.

1 cup Moong Dal, soaked overnight

2 Green Chillies, roughly chopped

1" piece Ginger, roughly chopped

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

Salt to taste

Grind the moong dal with the green chillies, ginger, cumin and salt. Add enough water to make a thick batter.

Heat a tawa and smear a little oil on it. Simmer the flame and pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre of the tawa. Quickly spread the batter while forming concentric circles (spiral actually!). Add a little oil on the sides and centre. Usually not more than a few drops per cheela. When crisp, carefully turn the cheela over and allow the other side to cook a little.

I serve these with whatever I have on hand. But it tastes best with some green chutney. As a variation, you could also sprinkle some finely chopped onions and tomatoes on top of the batter as soon as you spread it on the tawa. This makes it a very visually appealing breakfast.

As long as you remember to soak the moong dal at night, this is a no sweat breakfast in the morning as there's no fermentation required.

Adai

Adai. It has to be one more of those acquired tastes. I have childhood memories of eating Adai with jaggery. As I grew older, the combination didn't seem so attractive. Or maybe Amma didn't give me jaggery anymore with Adais. My "love" for the Dosa probably overshadowed my appetite for any of its many cousins.

One of my friends, P, told me to make sure that I always have dosa batter of some sort in the fridge. So I started varying the batters that I had on hand. One evening, I came home from work to find that I had a little bit of extra time on my hands. And I also had a bag of mixed chopped vegetables in the freezer. I decided to make some Avial and pair it with the Adais. (The combination is almost as nice as Adai with jaggery.)

1 cup Rice

1/3 cup Udad Dal

1/3 cup Chana Dal

1/3 cup Toor Dal

3-4 Red Chillies

1 Green Chilli

7-8 Curry Leaves

1 tsp Ginger Paste

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

Salt to taste

Soak the rice and the dals together overnight. Grind this to a batter along with the red and green chillies, curry leaves, ginger, and salt. Add the asafoetida to the prepared batter.

To make the adais, heat a tawa and smear a little oil on it. Simmer the flame and pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre of the tawa. Quickly spread the batter while forming concentric circles (spiral actually!). Add a few drops of oil and allow the adai to crispen. Turn the adai over and cook the other side for a minute or so.

Serve hot with some jaggery or some Avial.

This post has been in my drafts for ages. I had always heard of Adai Avial as a combination, but had never tasted it. This version that I made at home, I really enjoyed. I had this combination outside home for the first time here in Singapore at Ananda Bhavan and was thoroughly disappointed. I like my dosais/adais to be a little crisp (not paper thin). The version I got at the restaurant was very thick and had huge bits of coconut and whole pepper corns and multitude of things that were added to the batter. It was a task to tear a piece of the adai and dip it into the avial and eat it. That prompted me to finish this post and publish it. The next time I want to have this treat again, I'm making it at home!

Mini Cauliflower and Cheese Fritattas

A year and a half ago, one of my namesakes posted this recipe on her blog. I wanted to try them instantly. Instant, in this case, turned out to be 18 months or so. Last Saturday, I had everything I needed. Well almost. So, I changed the recipe a bit and they turned out great. I know I will make these often and the next time around, I shall take pictures as they come out of the oven.


While these would taste great on their own, we had them with Zingo. (I received sauce samples from DelMonte long before Zingo and Twango were released into the market and they've both been great hits at home, with the two of us as well as every party we've had.)

For the fritattas:

4 Eggs
1/4 cup Cheese, grated
1 Onion, chopped finely
1/4 cup Cauliflower, grated or chopped finely
1 tsp Southwest Spice Blend (Tortilla Soup Seasoning)
1/8 cup Milk
1 tsp Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste


Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Grease the mufifn trays.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions until golden brown. Add the grated cauliflower and the spice blend. Fry for a minute and add the salt and pepper. Add about a teaspoon or two of water and cover and cook the mixture. After about 2-3 minutes, remove the lid and allow the water to evaporate.

Beat the eggs. Add the milk and beat again. Blend in the cheese and the cauliflower mixture.

Pour into the muffin trays and bake for 15 minutes.

I had some left over pasta which I also threw in along with the cauliflower. We loved every bite of these fritattas and I can't wait to make them again. Thanks Arundathi.

Masala Keli

I joined the Great Vega'N Vegetarian project some time ago. I noticed that Cynthia had written a post about steamed plantains for breakfast. It took me back to a time (and place, more importantly) when plantains were easily available. As a child, I don't remember having eaten steamed plantains. I ate them as an adult when someone told me they made for an ideal breakfast.

This dish, however, is one that my mother dished out whenever she could lay her hands on the nendrampazham. A very typically konkani dish that is sweet, spicy and sour, all at once. I asked a colleague to get me half a dozen of these plantains and when he did, I made this.

4 Ripe Plantains (Nendrampazham/Rajali Keli), peeled and diced

3-4 tbsp Coconut

2-3 Green Chillies, finely chopped

1 tbsp Jaggery, grated

2-3 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

2 tsp Tamarind Paste

Salt to taste

For the tempering:

2 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the asafoetida and the turmeric. Add the green chilli and the diced banana pieces and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Remove the cover and allow the banana pieces to caramelize a bit.

Enjoy this dish for breakfast or as a tea time snack. I can't seem to ever have enough of this. Let me know what you think.

Maida Polo (Dosa)

It is a known fact that I love upma for breakfast. What I really love about upma is the ease with which the dish is ready. My real favourite has to be the Indian pancake variety: Dosa, Uttapam, Pole, Doddak, etc. When we visited Bombay last month, I woke up early by force of habit (even though I was on vacation). That gave me some time in the kitchen with my aunt. This aunt has been the inspiration for many recipes that I use today and the all time favourite recipe of hers for me would have to be Garlic Baby Potatoes. This time I watched her make these dosas. They're incredibly simple to make. They can be really soft or very thin and crisp (whichever way you like them). They need no fermentation. Could you ask for more?

1/4 cup Udad, soaked overnight

1/2 cup Flour

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Wash the udad. Wash well and grind using a little water. Fold in the flour. Add salt and water to dilute it as required. (Don't add too much water as the dosas will not turn out well.)

To make the dosas, heat a tawa and smear a little oil on it. Simmer the flame and pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre of the tawa. Quickly spread the batter while forming concentric circles. Turn the flame back to high. Add a little oil on the sides and centre. Usually not more than 1 small spoonful per dosa. When crisp, carefully turn the dosa over and allow the other side to cook a little. Repeat for the other dosas.

Serve with chutney or molaga podi or pitti chitni. (If you're willing to wait that long, that is!)

Good Ol' Vanilla Muffins

After trying all kinds of different muffins, I decided to try my hand at making the plain vanilla edition (Pun fully intended!). I was quite happy with the results. This recipe forms the perfect base for different flavours and I can't wait to try them out. These vanilla muffins (known as "plain" muffins at the coffee shop downstairs - I think it they could have gotten a little more innovative there) were a great hit.

2 cups Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Oil
2 eggs
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
Butter and flour for dusting


Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases.


Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Blend for a minute. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor until the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy warm with a dab of butter!

Rajma Sundal

There are snacks and there are snacks and then there is Sundal. To me sundal has always been a tasty and filling snack. But more than that, it is a guilt free snack. I mean, how many snacks do you know of that would fit the bill here? While I have used kidney beans in a variety of ways. I was surprised to note that I hadn't tasted it in its sundalavatar! I tried it and I was quite impressed.

1 cup Kidney Beans, soaked overnight
1 tsp Oil

7-8 Curry Leaves
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Chana Dal
1 tsp Green Chilli Paste
1/4 tsp Ginger Paste
1 Red Chilli
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Dry Mango Powder (Amchur)
1 tbsp Coconut, scraped
Salt to taste

Pressure cook the soaked kidney beans with salt for 4-5 whistles. Drain when done.

In a kadhai, heat oil. Add the urad and chana dals, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, ginger and chilli pastes, and the red chilli. Fry for a minute. Add the cooked kidney beans, dry mango powder, and a little salt. Cover and cook 4-5 minutes. Garnish with the scraped coconut and enjoy.

This is perfect for breakfast, as a snack or even as a side with your meal.

Khara Buns

This post here took me back in time. To about 11-12 years ago. I’d just enrolled in French classes and I had to figure out a way to eat breakfast before the hostel mess opened. So, every once in a while, I would get a loaf of Masala Bread from Nilgiris or Hot Breads. I had to eat Masala Bread because I couldn’t store butter in my hostel room. Eating masala bread by itself was better than eating plain bread without butter. Eventually, I started toasting the bread slices on a tava inside the room, using a little oil. That way, I could finish eating my breakfast by the time I completed my 15 minute walk to the bus stop at the University gate. (And not feel like I had a rock sitting at the base of my throat!)


I started to make bread, but S asked if I could make buns. So, I did. For about 2-3 days, this was our breakfast. Sheer bliss! Thanks Namesake, for reminding me of an era gone by.


3/4 cup Flour
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
1 1/2 tbsp Oil
1 1/2 tbsp Fresh Yeast
1 1/2 tbsp Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Boiling water
1/4 cup Milk


For the Onion Mixture
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
2-3 Green Chillies, finely chopped
2 Onions, finely chopped1 tbsp Oil
¼ tsp Garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped
1 tsp Cumin Powder
Salt to taste


Heat the tablespoon of oil in a pan. Add the onions and green chillies and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for a minute. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and cumin powder along with the salt. Take off the flame and add the chopped coriander.


Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flours, gluten and the onion mixture and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).
Knead the dough for a minute and then divide into 10 equal portions.


Preheat the oven to 400F.


Take a portion of the dough and shape it into a bun. Place the buns on a greased baking sheet or tray. Repeat with the other portions. Allow to rise for 50-60 minutes and then bake for 12-15 minutes.

These are great when eaten fresh from the oven. Even better with a little butter. And just fabulous when toasted. I know I will make variations of this very soon.

Wheat and Green Gram Doddak

Fusion foods. I somehow always thought of them as very exotic. Like Malabar Parathas with Thai Green Curry that I once had at Cosmo Village in Bangalore. I didn't think of a fusion of two or more Indian cuisines. I made this doddak some time ago. It is only now, when I sat down to blog about it, that I figured out the fusion element in my recipe. The cross between the Andhra Pesarattu and the Konkani Gava Pittye Doddak is what became our tasty breakfast dish.

1/2 cup Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Moong Flour

2 tbsp Cream of Wheat (Rava/Sooji)
2 tbsp Coconut, scraped

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 cup Coriander, chopped
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

For the tempering:
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves

Prepare the tempering in a small kadhai and transfer the contents to a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients except the oil and mix well using a little water. (The batter should not be too watery, just a little thicker than dosa batter.)

Spread the dough onto a hot griddle and pour a few drops of oil on all sides. Make a slit in the centre using the spatula and pour a few drops into this slit. (This helps the oil reach the centre and aids in crispening that portion.)Turn over and allow the other side to crispen as well.)

Serve hot with a chutney, podi or sambar on the side. The moong powder makes this a meal by itself. So it is perfect for those weeknight dinners as well.

Mixed Fruit Bran Pancakes

I love pancakes, but I'm not sure I could eat them everyday. Not for breakfast at least. 9 out of 10 times, I'd vote for a savoury breakfast. I eat salted oats porridge with a sprinkle of molaga podi, much to the surprise of my colleagues who cannot imagine eating a porridge that isn't sweet. But I like jam on toast and pancakes with syrup as a sweet variation.

1/2 cup Flour

1/2 cup Wheat Flour

1/4 cup Wheat Bran
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 cup Milk
1/4 cup Mixed Dry Fruits
½ tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Butter
A pinch of Salt
½ tsp Butter for frying

To Serve:
Maple Syrup/Fruit Cocoktail/Fresh Fruit

Beat the egg and then add milk. Gradually add the flour, wheat flour, wheat bran and the baking powder while continuing to blend. Add the sugar, salt, and butter and mix well. Blend in the dry fruit.

Heat the pan and add the butter. Coat the entire pan with the melted butter. Pour a ladleful of the batter onto the pan. Do not spread it with the ladle. Allow the batter to flow and form a circle. Cook for a minute and turn over. Cook on the other side for about half a minute and then transfer to a plate.

Repeat with the remaining batter. Stack the pancakes on a plate and serve hot with maple syrup or fruit cocktail. I had a can of fruit fiesta cocktail that my friend brought for me. The combination of these pancakes and the fruit cocktail was very nice. S had his stack with maple syrup and I'm certain he enjoyed every bite.

Arisi Upma

Here I am with yet another variant of upma. It is a well established fact that I love this snack. I haven't made it that often with rice rava. And that's probably only because I didn't have easy access to rice rava. This is an absolute favourite with S and I.


1 cup Rice Rava/ Idli Rava
1 tbsp Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1/2 tsp Urad Dal
1/2 tsp Chana Dal
1 Red Chilli
1 Green Chilli
1/2 tsp Ginger Paste
7-8 Curry Leaves
Coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a kadhai and add the urad and chana dals. When the urad dal starts to brown, add the mustard and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the red and green chillies, curry leaves and ginger paste. Add the rice rava and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add 2 cups of boiling water to this. Add the salt and mix well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. The upma is done when the rava sets and is not sticky. Add the coriander leaves, if using.

Enjoy this upma with some lime pickle on the side. It's guaranteed to remind you of everything homely and nice.

Pongal

During all those growing up years, I sneered at this dish. I developed a taste and even started loving its Gujarati cousin, khichdi. But Pongal was not something I liked. I could tolerate it with copious amounts of green coconut chutney. Wait, there was this one dish with which I think I may have even bordered on the “looking forward to this breakfast number”. Katrikkai Gojju (Gotsu) with chana dal. I somehow don’t make pongal that much and thanks to my logic of pairing stuff, I haven’t made the gojju either. Soon, soon.


It is that time of the year. The trio of festivals, Bhogi, Pongal and Kaanum Pongal, is here. Today is Bhogi. Had I been at home, I’d have eaten a typical “pandigai saapadu”. Mor kuzhambu, yelai paruppu, rasam, vadai and payasam. I ate a pasta salad for lunch today and maybe I’ll make up for it at dinner time.


Pongal or Venn Pongal (Venn = White) is a very popular breakfast dish across Tamilnadu. I am certain that you get this dish in Karnataka and AP as well, but considering how enthused I could ever be about eating Pongal for breakfast at a restaurant (where there are nicer things like dosas), I just probably haven’t noticed this. And as always, there are ways and ways of making this dish. This is the way I make it simply because this is the way I’ve always seen it made.


1 cup Rice
1/3 cup Moong Dal
1 tsp Peppercorns
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
1 tbsp Ghee
2 tsp Cashews
Salt to taste


Pressure cook the rice, moong dal, peppercorns and cumin seeds together with 4-5 cups of water, until the rice is soft and mushy. When done, mash well with a spoon and add the salt, asafoetida and half the ghee. In a frying ladle, heat the remaining ghee and fry the cashews until they turn light brown. Add this to the rice mixture. Serve hot with some sambar, chutney or katrikkai gojju.


This dish also forms the base for the entire Pongal lunch. Do come back tomorrow to see the traditional Pongal lunch we had each year while I was growing up. Happy Bhogi!

P.S. The round up of the Think Spice Think Carom will be up on the blog very soon. Sorry for the delay.

Panpole

The dosa is my favourite while eating out. For some reason, I almost never order upma at a restaurant. Actually, it is simple. While eating out, I have a simple benchmark to rate the place: me. The deal is that if I can make something better than the chef at the restaurant, then it isn’t worth my while. Idlis can definitely be better at a restaurant as can be dosas, but I think I make a mean upma!


These dosas are very amchi. They have only three ingredients in all, are light and leaf thin and taste absolutely divine with the famous pitti chitni. Amma made this very often when we were kids. We’d put some pitti chitni over the already folded dosas and then spread some ghee. H used to eat each dosa in exactly three bites. That is my strongest memory of this dosa. I think I can now eat one of these in three bites. I choose not to. I take a very long time and savour each bite.


Polo in Konkani means dosa. I am told that the name panpolo (or panpole for plural) comes from the fact that the dosas are leaf thin.


2 cups Rice (Ponni / Sona Masoori)
½ cup Coconut
Salt to taste


Oil for frying


Soak the rice for 4-6 hours. Grind to a fine batter with the coconut and water. Add the salt and enough water to give the batter a consistency that is thicker than milk and much thinner than normal dosa batter.


Heat a well seasoned cast iron tava. Take a ladleful of the batter and splash it over the tava. Tilt the tava to allow the batter to cover any empty spots. (This is not a round dosa, so don’t fret over the shape.) Pour a little oil all around and over the dosa and allow it to cook. When done, fold in half and then fold over once more.


Serve it hot with pitti chitni if you can lay your hands on some. Else, coconut-coriander chutney works very well too.

Mooli Ki Roti

Amma made chapattis every once in a while when we were kids. The real treats, however, were her stuffed parathas. For a long time, she made just two varieties: Aloo Paratha and Mooli ki Roti. For some reason, we don’t call them Mooli Parathas just as we don’t call the spud cousin Aloo ki Roti. Ours is not to question why, ours is but to open our mouths wide.


Each time I took this in my lunchbox, a colleague complained endlessly about the smell. Again, quite like cabbage and cauliflower, I must be “immune” to the smell. Or I’m simply not that gifted. I don’t exactly like radish, especially in dishes like sambar. The parathas, I simply love. Maybe it is because we didn’t get them as often. Absence does make the heart grow fonder.


A spicy toasted radish salad sandwich, where the bread is the roti!


1 cup Radish, grated
1 tsp Chilli Paste/ 1 Green Chilli, thinly sliced
¼ cup Coriander Leaves, chopped
Salt to taste


4 chapattis, untoasted
2 tsp Oil


Mix the radish with the chilli paste or cut chillies, coriander leaves and salt. Keep aside for a few minutes. Squeeze the liquid and divide the mixture into two portions.

Spread out half the salad on one chapatti and cover it with another chapatti. Press and seal the edges. Repeat with the remaining salad.


Heat a tava and toast each “sandwich” with half a teaspoon of oil for each side. Serve hot. This is perfect for breakfast and lunch/dinner, or as a snack. As long as you have chapatti dough ready, this can’t take you more than 10 minutes.

Cherry Pancakes

Sweet beginnings. They make the journey so much better. I know that this is really the opposite of what I said here. Ending the meal with something sweet is different from a meal that is sweet to start with. Or so I believe. While I'm not the biggest fan of sweet breakfasts, I love my occasional pancake or muffin routine.

I had lost track of many events. Even those that I participated in regularly. I did manage to dig out a bag of Peterson's Triple Cherry Blend that S brought back for me last weekend. I wanted to make a cherry syrup to pour over normal pancakes, but decided to blend in the dried cherries into the pancake batter. (All of you know what must have promted that!) The taste was absolutely great.

1 cup Flour

1 tbsp Sugar

1 Egg

1 cup Milk

1/4 cup Dried Cherries

½ tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Vanilla Essence

1 tsp Butter

A pinch of Salt

½ tsp Butter for frying

To Serve:

Maple Syrup

Beat the egg and then add milk. Gradually add the flour and the baking powder while continuing to blend. Add the sugar, salt, butter and vanilla essence and mix well. Blend in the cherries.

Heat the pan and add the butter. Coat the entire pan with the melted butter. Pour a ladleful of the batter onto the pan. Do not spread it with the ladle. Allow the batter to flow and form a circle. Cook for a minute and turn over. Cook on the other side for about half a minute and then transfer to a plate.

Repeat with the remaining batter. Stack the pancakes on a plate and serve hot with maple syrup.

I'm sending this plate to Rachel as she hosts the AFAM: Cherry.