Coorg idli & Easy tomato chutney - a Visual treat as well. Raw rice - 1 ¼ cup Grated coconut - 1 cup Cooked rice - 1 cup Sugar - 1/3 cup Eno’s fruit salt - 1 slightly heaped tsp Salt. Wash & soak raw rice for 2 hrs. Take 1 ½ cups of coconut milk by suitably adding water to coconut. Grind raw rice, cooked rice, salt & sugar adding as much coconut milk, as necessary. This can be ground in the mixi itself. Ferment for 10 – 12 hrs. After 10-12 hrs, add more coconut milk if necessary to get idli batter consistency. Keep the steamer ready with water boiling in it. Grease a flat round vessel well & keep it ready & hot in the steamer. To the batter, add fruit salt, over that one tsp of water, whisk very well & immediately transfer to the greased vessel to be steamed. Steam for 10 mts on a high flame, 5 mts on medium & 5 mts on low flame. Test if it is done by inserting a tooth pick & testing if it comes out clean. It is very nice, even when cold. It comes out very spongy & the secret lies in cooking it as soon as the fruit salt is added. & coconut milk is a must for soft idlis. This is slightly sweet, if you want you can add less sugar. Easy tomato chutney: Finely chop 6 tomatoes. In a kadai, heat 1 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds, hing, tomatoes, chilli powder & salt. Cook on a medium flame till sauce consistency. If made in the microwave, the colour looks very attractive & the white idli & red chutney make a visual treat as well.
Masal Dosai - the Pride of South India. For dosai: Raw rice - 1 cup Boiled rice - 1 cup Urad dhal - 1/3 cup Tur dhal - 1 tbsp Aval ( poha ) - ¼ cup Salt, sugar Bombay rava - 2 tbsp Cooking soda - a pinch Wash & soak rices, dhals & poha together for 6 hrs. Grind fine, adding salt. Ferment for 8-10 hrs. 2 hrs before making dosais, add rava, sugar & soda & mix thoroughly. Coriander chutney to smear: Chopped coriander leaves - 2 cups Green chillies - 7,8 ( or to taste) Garlic - 6,7 pieces Salt Grind together to a spreading consistency. Potato masala: Potatoes - 250 gms – boil, peel & crumble Onions - 250 gms - cut into thin long pieces. Green chillies - 3,4 (slit) Curry leaves - few, chopped Coriander leaves - few, chopped To temper in 2 tsp oil: Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Urad dhal - 1 tsp In a kadai, heat oil, add the tempering ingredients, ginger, green chillies & onion. Fry till onion becomes transparent. Add potatoes, salt., both leaves & mix well. Assembling: These dosas are made using a mixture of ghee & oil. Heat a flat tava. Smear with oil & water on the tava & spread a thin dosa. Pour the oil-ghee mixture around it. When the bottom starts turning golden, in just half of it, smear the green chutney lightly. Wait for a minute for chutney to cook. Then on the same half, keep 2 tbsp of potato masala. Fold the other half over this & serve with chutney. This dosa is not turned over. Serve with coconut chutney. Coconut chutney: Grated coconut - ½ cup Fried gram ( pottukadalai) - ¼ cup Green chillies - 4,5 Salt To temper: Oil - 1 tsp Mustard seeds - ½ tsp Urad dhal - 2 tsp Curry leaves - few Grind coconut, fried gram, green chillies & salt to a paste. Temper as given.
Handvo - the baked Gujarati counterpart of adai. Raw rice - 1 cup Tur dhal - ½ cup Urad dhal - 1 tbsp( heaped) Moong dhal - 1 tbsp( heaped) Gram dhal - 1 tbsp( heaped) Sour curds - ½ cup Lauki, grated - 1-1 ½ cups Oil - 3 tbsp Lime juice - 1 tsp Salt, sugar, haldi, Chilli powder - 1 tsp Cooking soda - ½ tsp Green chilli-ginger paste - 4 tsp To temper: Oil - 2 tbsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Seasame seeds - 2 tsp Omum ( ajwain) - 1 tsp Hing - ½ tsp Wash & soak rice & dhals together for3-4 hrs. Grind adding curds to a paste with salt. Ferment for 8-10 hrs. Add grated lauki, oil, lime juice, green chilli-ginger paste, red chilli powder, haldi, sugar, soda & mix well. Keep greased vessel ready to bake in an oven. Pour the batter in that ( not more than 1” ). Heat oil & temper as given. Pour the tempering over the batter. Bake in a medium oven till golden brown crust is formed. You can bake in muffin tins also. After baking, top eith 1/2 tsp oil & grill till top browns for 3-5 mts. Serve with spiced curds & tomato chutney.
Sago kichdi - javvarisi upma Sago is sabudana in hindi & javvarisi in tamil. Sago - 1 cup Roasted peanuts - ½ cup ( or little more to taste) Green chillies - 3,4 – chop White seasame seeds ( til, ellu) - 2 tsp Salt Oil - 2 tbsp Chopped coriander leaves - 2 tbsp Grated coconut - 2 tbsp Select the very small variety nylon ( or disco) sago – refer photo given in " sago cutlet" Soak 1 cup sago in 1 cup + 1 tbsp water for not less than 4 hrs. Drain. Chop green chillies. Corsely crush peanuts. Heat oil, temper seasame seeds & green chillies. When done, add drained sago & salt. Stir on high flame for 4-5 mts. Add crushed peanuts & remove from flame. Garnish with grated coconut & chopped coriander leaves. Precautions: Avoid cooking the sago covered, to prevent the dish from becoming rubbery. Do not soak sago in excess water. Variation: Finely chopped & steamed potato cubes can be added along with or instead of peanuts. Coconut can be omitted.
Ammini Kozakkattai - ofcourse, old fashioned delicacy ! Boiled rice - 1 cup Hing - ½ tsp Coconut - 1 tbsp Salt. To temper: Oil - 1 tbsp + 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp + 1 tsp Gram dhal - 1 tsp Green chillies - 2, finely chopped Ginger - 1 “ ( finely chopped) Curry leaves - few For every cup of rice, 2 cups of water can be used including for soaking, grinding & making the batter. Wash, soak rice for 2-3 hrs & grind to a very fine paste, adding salt & necessary water. Add the remaining water – the consistency should be thinner than dosa batter. Add hing & finely grated coconut. Heat 1 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds, gram dhal, green chillies, ginger & curry leaves. When they are fried, add the batter & cook, stirring continuously till a dough is formed. Allow to cool completely. With wet hands, roll the dough into marble size balls. Steam the balls for 10 mts. Let them cool. In a kadai, heat 2 tsp coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds & add the cooled balls. Saute for 3-4 mts on a medium flame. This gives them a good shine ! With raw rice flour: Use processed rice flour. Boil water ( usually the same amount of water – but keep some boiling water ready to use if the flour absorbs more water), add flour, stirring to get a soft dough. Temper the given ingredients, add to the dough, knead well & proceed as before. If made with Idiappam Flour readily available in the market, it comes out very well.
Bangalore Pakodas - a quick snack with always available ingredients. Chiroti or Bombay rava - ½ cup Maida - ½ cup Rice flour - ½ cup Onions - 3, medium sized Green chillies - 6,7 Coriander leaves - ½ cup Curry leaves - few Finely chopped cashewnuts - 2 tbsp Carsely powdered peanuts - 2 tbsp Grated fresh coconut - 2 tbsp Salt Oil - to deep fry Mince very fine onions, green chillies, coriander & curry leaves. Add 1 tbsp boiling hot oil to them & first knead them well, rubbing with palms. Add all other ingredients, salt & minimum water to make a batter of thick concistency. Use a Food processor with mincing blades for this. Make small balls & deep fry in hot oil, till evenly browned. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.
Maida&Atta dosais with Tomato kurma - "jiffy" tiffins ! Maida & atta dosais are made just like rava dosai – the batter is made thin & the dosais are “ poured” over the tava & not spread like regular dosai. For both dosais, adding very finely chopped onions, is optional. Atta dosai: Atta - 1 cup Rice flour - 1 ½ cups Red chilli powder - 2 tsp Salt, hing To temper: Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Finely chopped curry leaves - 1 tbsp Mix ingredients in the same way as for rava dosai. Keep for 1 hour , temper & make thin dosais. Because of red chilli powder, the colour will be very attractive. This has to go to the dining table from the tava ! If you want to keep it for some time, use rice flour, just 2 tbsp more than atta. The photo is posted below. Maida dosai – also called “ american mavu dosai” ! Maida - 1 cup Rice flour - ¾ cup Finely chopped green chillies + ginger - 1 tbsp Salt, hing To temper: Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Finely chopped curry leaves - 1 tbsp Mix ingredients in the same way as for rava dosai. Keep for 1 hour , temper & make thin dosais. For this dosai also, increase or decrease the rice flour slightly, depending on how soon or late, you are eating the dosais. You can make this kurma to go with these dosais. Tomato kuruma: Tomatoes - ¼ kg – chop fine Salt, haldi Roast in 1 tsp oil: Tur dhal - 1 tsp Gram dhal - 1 tsp Urad dhal - 1 tsp Dhaniya - 2 tsp Red chillies - 4,5 & grind with: Grated coconut - 2 tbsp Tamarind paste - 1 tsp To fry in 2 tsp oil : Mustard seeds - ½ tsp Onion - 1 – chop fine Boil tomatoes with sat & haldi. When cooked, add the paste & simmer for a few mts. If necessary, add little more water to get the required consistency. Temper with mustard seeds. Finely chopped onions, fried to brown colour can also be added at the end.
Neer Dosai with Kara Puli Kuzambu - Lip smacking combination ! Neer dosai is bland & kara puli kuzambu makes a ideal spicy “ partner “ for it. Neer Dosai: Raw rice - 1 cup Grated coconut - ½ cup Salt. Wash & soak rice for 2 hrs. Grind with coconut to a very fine, thin paste, adding salt carefully. Including the water used for grinding, add minimum 2 - 2 ½ cups water. In a big non-stick tava, smear 2, 3 drops of oil, pour thin dosas cover & cook. Do not turn over, fold into 4 & serve. Serve with Kara Puli Kuzambu: Onion – 1 big OR Small onions - 20 Tomatoes - 2 medium, chopped Garlic flakes - 15 – 20 Curry leaves - few Tamarind pate - 1 ½ tbsp Salt, haldi Roast in 1 tsp oil & grind: Red chillies - 6,7 Dhaniya - 1 tbsp Pepper - ¼ tsp Gram dhal - 2 tsp Grated coconut - 1 tbsp Salt, jaggery ( optional) Oil - 2 tbsp Mustard seeds - ½ tsp Methi seeds - ½ tsp Curry leaves - few In a kadai, heat oil, temper mustard seeds& methi seeds. Add chopped onions & garlic flakes . Fry till they become golden. Add chopped tomatoes & saute for 2 more mts. Add tamarind paste & 2 cups of water. When it starts boiling, add the paste, salt & jaggery. When the desired consistency is reached, remove. Garnish with curry leaves.
Uppappam - a spongy snack ! Raw rice -1cup Urad dal, tuar dal and channa dal together -1cup Salt Redchilli powder - 2 tsp ( or to taste) Hing - ½ tsp Coconut pieces - 1/4cup Soak rice and dals together for 2hrs. Grind fine adding water little by little. Transfer it to a vessel, add salt, redchilli pdr, hing and coconut pieces. Make it to dosa batter consistency. Let the batter rest for few hrs to ferment. This step is very important because this makes the uppappam spongy and porous. After the fermentation if the dough has become slightly thick, add water and make it to dosa batter consistency. Heat oil in appa karal and drop spoonfuls of the batter in it and cook till they turn golden brown. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or any chutney.
Upma Kozakkattai with Brinjal Gotsu - yet another pressurepan gotsu ! This is made with raw rice. Wash & soak raw rice for 30 mts or so. Drain completely & dry on a towel in the shade. When fairly dry, powder in the mixi in slow speed to Bombay rava consistency. First sieve using the rava sieve. Then sieve in the fine flour sieve. Discard the fine flour. Use only the rava. In South India it is now readily available in departmental stores as Raw Rice Rava. Raw rice rava - 1 cup Moong dhal - 2 tbsp Grated fresh coconut - ½ cup Salt To temper: Oil - 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Urad dhal - 2 tsp Red chillies - 2,3 Curry leaves - few Hing - ½ tsp Lightly roast moong dhal & cook in a pressure pan in ½ cup of water for 2 whistles. Open & drain the water ( if any – usually there may not be much). This water can be included when you measure the water for cooking the rava. Boil 2 cups of water & keep ready. Heat oil in a kadai & temper all the ingredients given. Finally add rava, just lightly roast it for a few secs & reducing the flame, add the boiled water, cooked dhal & salt. Whisk well & cook so that the water is absorbed completely. Add coconut & remove. Cool completely & form into oval shaped balls ( looking just like pidi kozakkattai). Steam like idlis in a steamer or idli plates for 10 mts. Pressure pan brinjal gotsu: Ordinary brinjals ( not the big bartha variety) - 4 Onions - 2 Green chillies - 2, 3( or to taste) Tomatoes - 3 Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp Curry leaves - few Salt To temper: Mustard seeds - ½ tsp Urad dhal - 1 tsp Red chillies - 1,2 Chop brinjals, onions, green chillies & tomatoes fine. Cook with 1 cup of water along with curry leaves, coriander leaves & salt, in a pressure pan for 2-3 whistles. Cool open & strain. Mash the pulp with a handblender adding just the necessary amount of drained water to get the required consistency. If there is no handblender give just one churn in the mixi. Potato masher is equally good to avoid a mushy texture. Temper as given. This gotsu goes very well with pongal, idli, dosai etc also. If sour tomatoes are available, they can be used. Otherwise 1 tsp tamarind paste ( optional) may be added. They can be made with just plain tomatoes as well.