Vattayappam - Steamed Rice Cake

Is there anyone out there who don't like Vattayappam??Vattayam also follows the similar process of other Appam that is made by fermenting the rice batter.  It is Keralites favorite breakfast/snack, can be eaten as it is or can be served with spicy Chicken/Egg Curry. So let us go the process of making the simple yet delicious Vattayappam. Try it out at home for sure and see the smiles of your friends and family. Enjoy !!

Ingredients:-

1. Long Grain Rice or Raw rice (pachari) - 2 cups 
2. Grated coconut - ½ cup (or coconut milk - ½ Cup)
3. Parboiled rice cooked - ½ cup
4. Salt - a pinch
5. Sugar - Cup
6. Yeast - ½ tsp
7. Cashews and Raisins ghee fried - A handful

Preparation Method:-

• Wash the rice twice and drain the water.
• Soak the rice in water for four-six hours. Grind the soaked rice along with cooked rice, grated coconut, salt and sugar by adding water.
• The batter should of the  consistency of Idli batter. Pour the batter into a wide bowl.
• Add yeast to the batter and mix well. Check for the sugar and salt and adjust.
• Let it ferment overnight or for six-eight hours.

• Grease a round plate or cake pan, pour the fermented batter in the plate. Top it with ghee fried cashews and raisins.
• Steam it for about seven-ten minutes or a till a sharp knife or tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Slice it and serve warm as it is or with some spicy Egg Masala/Chicken Curry

Oats Poha and a Liebstar Award

Oats and Poha?? I know I had the same feeling when my husband asked me to make Oats Poha couple of months back. One of his colleague brings oats Poha at work and that is when he asked me to try making Poha. Men are men, I was sure he will not check with his colleague for the recipe and yea I was right when he gave me a weird look when I asked him to do so ha ha ha :) But at the end when I started making it this way and it was well enjoyed by all my husband said he is gonna patent it in his name since the great idea was him. wow, what an idea sirji, dimaakh jiska patent uska? he he..

We are so familiar with Oats Porridge, dosa, Oats mixed roti's, cookies etc and oats freaks like me and my husband can eat anything with oats. I was so confused about making Oats Poha as you know normally Poha is dry and non-sticky where as when oats combines with even little bit of water becomes very sticky and mushy. I gave it a lot of try and at the end I started making it with out adding any water and sautéing it by sprinkling water little by little till Oats leave its raw flavour. I must say this recipe comes with a lot of trial and errors but all the trials were worth trying it. This has become our family favorite dinner from quite a while especially on those days when we do not want to have any heavy dinner. So try it friends especially those who like oats or try this for the elderly people at home who are regular in having oats at night. Lets give them a break from the same porridge, I'm sure all will enjoy this.

                                             

Ingredients:-

• Old fashioned Quaker Oats - 2 cups
• Onion finely chopped - 1
• Tomato finely chopped - 1(optional)
• Green chillies finely chopped - 3(or more as per your spice level)
• Ginger finely chopped - a small piece or say 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• salt to taste
• Curry leaves - a few
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tp
• Chana dal - 1 tsp
• Raisins few(optional)
• Cashews few(optional, adding dals and nuts r optional they give a great taste though)
• Coriander leaves finely chopped - 2 tsp(optional)
• Lemon juice - 2tsp
• Water - 1/4 cup(use more/less as needed)

Preparation Method:-

• Heat a non-stick pan and pour the oil to oil. Add mustard, when they start crackle reduce the heat to medium and add urad dal, chana dal, curry leaves and stir. Add cashews and rasins ad saute for few more secs.
• Add chopped onion, ginger, green chilly and saute well till golden color(light brown color only).
• Add finely chopped tomato as well and saute well till tomato's blend well with onion.
• Add turmeric powder and stir for few secs. Add oats and stir well and mix with onion-tomato mix. 
• When the mix becomes very dry sprinkle a handful of water and stir well again. 
• Check for the salt and sprinkle little more salt if the oats have not absorbed salt taste .
• Keep stirring and sprinkling water 3-4 times till oats leaves it raw smell and absorbs the taste of the seasoning.
• At the end add lemon juice and stir well to mix. Switch off the flame and move to a serving dish.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve warm.

Liebster Blog Award

I received this Liebster Blog award from Julie @ Erivum Puliyum. Thank you so much Julie for this wonderful Award!!

'Liebster' means favourite or dearest in German. So this award is to honor your dear blogger friends.

The simple rules of this awards are: -

1. Thank the person that gave the award and link back to their blog.
2. Copy and paste the award to your blog.
3. Reveal the 5 blogs you have chosen to award and let them know by commenting on their blog.
4. Hope they pass it forward by accepting and awarding it to blogger they would like to honour.

5. Thank all those you read your blog and follow you.

 I would like to pass it over to the following wonderful blogger friends of mine. Please visit their site too and appreciate them in their venture of cooking.. 

1. Nalini at Nalini's Kitchen

2. Priya at Priya's Feast

3. Christy Gerald at My Kitchen Flavors-Bon Appetit

4. Ramya at Ramya's Recipe

5. Vineetha at Ruchi

Idiyappam and Shrimp masala Idiyappam

'Idiyappam' or String hoppers is a speciality breakfast of Kerala and I believe in most of the Southern states of India. 'Idiyappam' is also known as 'Nool Puttu' in Malabar, 'Nool' meaning String and 'Puttu' - A steamed cake made with rice flour. For making 'Idiyappams' - rice flour, hot water and salt is mixed and kneaded into a smooth dough. This dough is filled into an Idiyappam presser/sieve and pressed into any plate/banana leaves/Idli maker and steamed for just 5-10 mins. This can be served with potato stew, chana masala, fish, egg or any meat curry of your choice. Back home in Kerala(Malabar-Thalassery) this is even served with sweetened coconut milk and especially kids love this combo a lot.

Now as I mentioned this is a breakfast dish and you can even serve this for dinner with any curry of your choice. I make it as a snack as well by stuffing shrimp masala and this 'Shrimp masala stuffed Idiyappam' has a topmost place in my son menu list especially to have when he comes back from pre-school. You do not need any curry with these masala Idiyappams and is a perfect snack/appetizer for parties as well. This was my snack for this year's Halloween party and friends gathering and all my friends loved it. So friends I'm sharing with you the recipe for 'Idiyappam' and 'Shrimp masala Idiyappam'. Enjoy!!!!

Ingredients for Idiyappam:-

• Rice flour- 2 cups(Idiyappam flour or Puttu podi)
• Water needed to knead the dough
• salt to taste(1 1/2 tsp)
• Grated coconut - 1/2 cup(optional)

Preparation Method:-

• Take rice flour in a mixing bowl or vessel.
• Bring the water to boil, take off the flame. Add salt to taste
• Pour the hot water to the flour little by little and mix well with a spatula or spoon. Water should be just enough to reach all the rice flour. The rice flour mix should not become sticky by excess water.

  

• When the rice flour mix cools down knead it well with your clean hands to get a smooth dough.
• Take the idiyappam presser and fill it with dough. Close it, use the smallest sieve disc to make the Idiyappam

  

• Press it into the Idli moulds by slowly moving your hands in circular motion. Top with a tsp of grated coconut. Steam for about 5-10 mins.        
• Move into a serving dish when they cool down a little. Serve warm with any curry of your choice.

                                 

Shrimp Masala Idiyappams:-
  

              

Shrimp masala:

Ingredients:-
Medium size Shrimp - 15 to 20 numbers.
Onion finely sliced - 2 small
Tomato paste - 1 tsp(optional)
Ginger finely chopped - 1 tsp
Green chilly  finely chopped - 2
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
salt to taste
Curry leaves few
Chopped coriander leaves - 2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp

Preparing Shrimp masala:-

• Wash and clean the shrimp. Chop them into small bite size pieces(I chopped each shrimp into 4-5  pieces)
• Marinate it with turmeric, chilly powder and salt. Set aside for atleast 15 minutes.
• Heat up a Kadai/Frying pan/Wok pour oil. Add onion, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves, salt and saute till onion is translucent. Add the tomato paste saute for another two mins(u can use finely chopped tomato instead or opt out of using both)
• Add the shrimp pieces and stir well to mix. Close the pan with a lid and let it cook for another 5 mins till the raw smell of shrimp ends.

 

• Add chopped coriander leaves and stir well to mix. Switch off the flame and move to a bowl.(Shrimp masala should not be runny/watery)

                                                             

Making Masala Idiyappams:

• Fill the presser with rice flour dough and press the mix into the Idli moulds not filling them up fully.
• Top up with a tsp of shrimp masala. Press the Idiyappam siever again on top of the Shrimp masala to fill the moulds.

  
 

• Repaeat the process with rest of the dough. Steam it for 5-10 mins and take off the flame.
• Move to a serving dish and serve warm

Note:-

1. Chicken or any meat o your choice can be used instead of shrimp
2. Vegetarians can make soya, paneer, tofu or any veggeie of your choice.
  

Masala Dosa and Wishes Of Kerala Piravi Dinam

Kerala Piravi marks the birth of my dear state 'Kerala'. Kerala state was officially created on 1 Nov 1956 and therefore November 1 is known as 'Kerala Piravi Dinam' - The Day Kerala was Born. So today I wish all the Keralites around the world a great 'Kerala Piravi Day'. Even though there are some dark shades and wrinkles on the cheeks of this 55 year old beautiful lady, She still looks so pretty with the wonderfull greenery you will ever see. The exotic wildilife, pure waterfalls, beautiful plantations and paddy fields, hill stations, backwaters, wonderful Ayurveda, enchanting art forms, colorful festivals and above all the Kerala Cuisine makes it so special and unique. I just love each and every moment I spent in my homeland and is still eagerly waiting for my next trip to Kerala.

So dearies on Kerala Piravi Day I'm posting the all time favorite dish of Keralites-'Masala Dosa' which is the one of most popular dish in India as well. The origin of Masala dosa/Dosa is still on debate but you can find refridgerated set of dosa batter in all the South Indian homes. Masala dosa is a fermented crepe made from rice and urad dal batter stuffed with cooked spiced potatoes and is a very common breakfast dish and street food as well.

When I came to USA I didn't have much south Indian friends around but yea still was really lucky to have a whole bunch of North Indian friends. For any parties and gathering they just wanted to have dosa-sambhar/masala dosa and Uzhunnu Vada(Urad dal vada) which made my parties much easier. Of course I happened to learn a lot of North Indian cooking from them as well. Thats when I understood how popular our simple and humble dosa/masala dosas are. Everytime they meet me they ask me the rice-dal ratio for making it and try hard to get them perfect. So friends let me post the recipe for the all famous Masala dosa, Enjoy!!!!

Ingredients and dosa batter preparation Method:-

Raw Rice/Basmathi Rice - 2 cups
Urad dal - 1 cup
Cooked Parboiled Rice - 1 cup
salt to taste
water as needed

Wash and clean the rice and urad dal and soak it for 7-8 hours. Grind everything in a mixer to a smooth batter. Batter should not be too thick or runny, it should be of smooth pouring consistency. Add salt and stir well, set aside for the batter to ferment for atleast 8-10 hrs or overnight.

Ingredients and Preparation of Potato Masala:-

For Potato Masala Stuffing:-

Medium Size Potatos - 4 skin peeled and cut into small squares
Big Onion  - 1 finely chopped
Green chilly - 3 finely chopped
Ginger a small piece chopped finely
Curry leaves - a sprig
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds -1 tsp
whole red chilly - 2 broken into halves
Corainder leaves finely chopped - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
salt to taste
water - 3 cups(use more/less as needed)
Oil - 2tbsp

Makig potato masala:-

Heat up a frying pan, pour oil, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackles add urad dal, curry leaves, red chillies, salt and stir for few secs. Add onion, green chilly, ginger and saute till onion turns  translucent. Add turmeric powder and potatos. Pour water and stir well to mix everything. Cover and cook it till potatos are soft and water is almost absorbed. Mash some potatos, stir well and chck for the salt and taste. Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and mix everything. Potato masala for the Masala dosa is ready.

Making Masala dosa:-

Heat a non-stick dosa pan or griddle, pour a big laddle of batter and spread in a circular motion to get a big round dosa. Drizzle half a spoon of ghee or oil on the egdes and middle of the dosa if desired(optional). Cook till the dosa become crisp and golden brown, do not get to dark brown. Take out a big spoon of potato masala and top it in the middle of the dosa. Fold te dosa into half and take out of the pan. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter and masala. Serve immediately with Sambhar and coconut chutney/tomato chutney.

Note:- I tried using long grain rice that we get here in US as well and found perfect for dosas/Idli.

Rava/Sooji Dosa

Ingredients:-

1. Rava - 2 cups
2. grated coconut - 1/2 cup(optional)
3. salt to taste
4. jeera - 1 tsp(optional)
5. water - 1 cup or as needed

Preparation Method:-

• Soak rava in water for 10 - 15 mins.
• Grind together rava, coconut and salt to a smooth batter. Add the cumin seeds to the batter and mix well.
• Heat a non-stick pan, pour a ladle of batter and rotate clock-wise to make round dosas.
• Turn over when the dosa is light brown color. Remove from the pan when done.
• Repeat the process to make required amount of dosas.
• Serve with coconut chutney or Sambhar

Ithal Roti(orotti)/Atti Pathil

Ithal Orotti is a malabar special breakfast/Snack item that is served with any kind of chicken/egg/veg curry or can be eaten as it is.The name of the dish almost conveys you the method of its preparation. Ithal means Petals/Layers and Orotti means Roti. So this is a layer/petals of rotis made with rice and coconut milk. This is such an easy dish to make, kids and grown ups will love it alike.

Ingredients:-

1. Raw rice/Basmathi rice/Jeera rice - 2 cups
2. Cooked par boiled rice - 1/2 cup
3. coconut milk -  3/4 cup + 1/4 cup(if the milk is very thick you can dilute it by adding some water to make a medium thick coconut milk)
4. salt to taste
5. Ghee - 3 tbsp
6. Cooking spray to greese the cooking plate

Preparation Method:-

• Soak the rice for 3-4hrs, wash and drain the rice.
• Grind the soacked ice, parboiled rice, salt and coconut milk together, transfer to a bowl.
• Spray a flat bottom pan with cooking spray or grease it with butter/oil and pour a big laddle of batter into it and steam it in a Idli cooker or any other steamer to set say 2-3 mins.
• Take out the pan apply some ghee on top of the set roti and 1-2 tsp of coconut milk. Pour a laddle of batter and steam it agin for 2-3 mins or till it is set(the batter becomes dry and not run off the pan is the what i mean by set)
• Repeat this pocess by ghee-coconut milk and batter till the pan is full. Once the pan is full, cook it covered for 5 mins till the Roti is fully done. 
• Switch off the flame and let it cool. Turn over the Roti to a plate.
• Cut and serve with any Chicken/Egg/Veg curry or serve it as it is.

 



Note:- you can opt of ghee if you are on less fat/cholesterol free diet. Also you can use either of them ie coconut milk or ghee when you make the layers.

Vermicelli/Semiya chicken masala upma

Vermicelli/Semiya Upma is a breakfast or snack that I make fo my kids. This version of masala upma that I make is a rescuer at times when my son insists for chicken noodles. Kids just loves it and for adults it is a hand-licking treat. You will never get bored of this dish and an ezee one to prepare when you are in jiffy whether it is for an ezee snack or breakfast. Go for it guys, it is just awesome :)

Ingredients:-

Boneless chicken breast - 2 halves( cut into small bite size pieces or cubes)

Onion - 1 big finely chopped

green chilly - 2 chopped

ginger, garlic - crushed or finely chopped
tomato finely chopped

turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
garam masala - 1 1/2 tsp
few curry leaves
coriander leaves chopped

Vermicelli/Semiya - 2 cups
water - 4 cups
salt to taste
Oil

Preparation method:-

1) Dry roast the Vermicelli/Semiya till golden brown.

2) Boil the water by adding a pinch of turmeric powder and salt.

3) Add Vermicelli and cook it till firm but not overly soft and set aside. Drain off excess water if any so that vermicelli do not stick together(If you feel they might become sticky add a tsp of oil while boiling the semiya, this helps them remain separate)

4) In another pan add oil, onion, green chilly, ginger, garlic, salt, curry leaves and saute well on med flame.

5) When onion turns translucent add tomatoes, little coriander leaves and saute till tomato is soft

6) Add the masalas and saute for a min, add chicken and saute well to mix masala and chicken well.
7) Close the pan and let the chicken cook for 10-15 mins or till chicken is soft in a med flame. Open the lid and check for the salt and taste, the chicken masala should be juicy but not watery.(If you feel the masala has excess water keep the id open and cook for a while till water is evaporated)

8) When chicken is cooked well, add the cooked vermicelli and mix gently so that it absorbs all the moisture from the masala and masala gets mixed well with vermicelli.

9) Switch off the flame and move to a serving dish. Garnish with few chopped coriander leaves and serve hot..

Ezee Vermicelli Upma

Here I'm sharing today the all famous Vermicelli Upma, the quickest and easiest breakfast and all time favorite of my kids. My son believe it is a kind of non-sticky noodle because of its texture and similarity in looks. You can either cook the Semiya/vermicelli in boiling water, drain them off and add to seasoning/tempering/thadka or do the seasoning and add the boiled vermicelli to it and mix. If you do the second way, you'll get to taste all crunchy nuts but if you are in jiffy go for the first method. This gets cooked in no time, so is a great option for woking women on their busy mornings. Try it out, Enjoy!!!!

Ingredients:-

Vermicelli - 1cup
green chilly - 2 finely chopped
Onion - 1 finely chopped
ginger - 2 tbsp finely chopped
dry red chilly -2 broken into half
mustard seeds - 2 tsp
peanut - 2tbsp
urad daal - 2 tsp
curry leaves - few
coconut oil- 3 tbsp
water - 1 3/4 cup
Veggies - ½ cup

Preparation Method:-

• Dry roast the vermicelli and keep aside(you will find the roasted vermicelli in stores, opt out roasting if you buy that).
• Heat a frying pan, add oil and splutter the mustard seeds. Add urad daal, peanut, curry leaves, dry red chilly and stir for a min.
• Add onion, green chilly, ginger and saute for 2-3 mins till onion is translucent(don't over fry the onion).
• Add the water and get to boil, add salt as well. Lower the flame to med and add the roasted vermicelli slowly and stirring it slowly.
• Keep stirring till it absorbs all the water(take care of vermicelli not to become sticky).
• Switch off the flame and serve warm as breakfast or tea time snack....

Note:- You can add mixed veggies while sauting the onion, it tastes great and serves a great, healthy breakfast

Spinach Omlette and Sandwich

Very simple and quick recipe, healthy and nutritious too. You can substitute egg with egg whites if you want to reduce the cholesterol/fat count. I often use it for sandwich filling as well. You can try it out in either way, you'll figure out its a smart option for power packed breakfast or lunch.

Ingredients:-
1) Chopped spinach:- 1/4 cup(add some salt and pepper on top, toss it and keep aside)
2) Eggs - 2
3) Salt - 1/2 tsp
4) Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Preparation Method:-

 

Beat the eggs well add some salt and pepper and mix well. Heat a non-stick pan on med heat, spread some spinach, pour the beaten egg on top and spread some more spinach on top again. let it cook for 5 mins and flip it. keep for 1 min and take out of the pan..Serve hot.

For Spinach omlette Sandwich:-

 

Divide the Omlette into 4 equal parts. Toast 2 slices of bread, top 1 slice of bread with a piece of omlette, a cheese slice, a slice of onion, tomato and cucumber pickle cover it with another bread slice and serve.
I always use brown/wheat bread or multi-grain bread, it is nutritious and healthy

Note:- I have not using any cooking oil since I made the omlette in non-stick. If you want to drizzle some oil you may do that.

Green,green Go green with Moong/Cherupayar Dosa and green chutney

I recently discovered this dosa, actually I'm not sure of the name as I heard this is called 'Pesarattu' an Andra breakfast usually served with Peanut Chutney. I got this recipe from my little sister who recently got married and moved to Edison, NJ. She was lucky enough to get some great friends and she got this recipe from one of a wonderful friend from AP. When ever we go to NJ, I definitely visit this friend and I'm sure she won't let us leave without having something. My kids too really love to go there as they know their quota of chips here is unlimited. Thank you dear Swaroopa for bearing with my kids who mess your home every time we visit and being such a nice person. And thanks my sis for sharing me this so easy and quick recipe. This is a great rescuer at times when I just do not have anything pre-planned for my breakfast of lunch and even my kids love dosa-chutney anytime, everytime...

Ingredients:-

For Dosa:-

1) Whole Moong/Green gram/Cherupayar - 1 cup soaked for an hr or two

2) Green chilly - 3

3) Ginger - 2 tbsp chopped

4) Coriander leaves- A small bunch chopped

5) Salt

Grind the first four ingredients and make dosa batter out of it. Add some salt and jeera(optional) before you make dosas. Heat a non-stick pan, pour a scoop of batter and spread in circular motion to make nice round dosas. Flip it and wait for a min and take off the flame. Make required amount of dosas and served hot with Peanut or coconut chutney.

Its so simple yet healthy, rich in protein and delicious.

You can spread some finely  chopped onion, curry leaves and coriander leaves on top of the dosa and flip it off when done or add it to the batter and make dosas as well. I did not do it becaue since my kids do not like it.

For green chutney:-

To grind:-

grated coconut - 1 cup

green chilly - 3 sliced

Ginger - 1 tbsp chopped

corainder leaves - 3tbsp

curry leaves few

Seasoning:-

Coconut oil(any oil can be used)

mustard seeds - 1 tsp

urad dal- 1tbsp

curry leaves

whole red chilly - 2 broken

Grind the 'to grind' ingredients pour in a bowl. Add oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add urad dal, curry leaves and whole red chilly. Stir them for a min and pour over the chutney.

Appam/Vellayappam/Kallappam with Spicy Egg Curry

Appam is a very common breakfast of Keralites. In Malabar area it is even called vella(white) appam since it has a pure white color and also Kallu(toddy) Appam because traditionally fresh toddy was used to ferment this appam batter. My granny used to get the toddy from the person who extracts toddy from the coconut trees near our plot. Very fresh toddy is said to be good for health(even for kids, I'm not very sure of this fact-just mentioning what I've heard as a kid). Here we use yeast to ferment the batter instead of this so called toddy.

This Appam basically requires a special pan or even deep kadai with a proper lid to cover it. I use a non-stick appam vessel and this do not require even a drop of oil. Appam goes well with egg curry/chicken curry/veg stew or even simple sweetened thin coconut milk(you can try this for kids who do not like much spicy food, i'm sure they will love it). So here comes the recipe for Appam and egg curry, Enjoy!!!!!

Appam vessel

For making Appam : -Ingredients:-

1. Raw rice/Pachari/Basmathi Rice - 2 cup
2. Cooked Parboiled Rice/Cooked Puzhukkal Ari - ¾ cup
3. Thick coconut milk - ¾ cup
4. Yeast - ¾ tsp
5. Salt- 1 tsp
6. Sugar - 2tbsp
7. water - 1 cup (required to grind the rice)

Preparation method:-

• Wash an clean the rice, soak the rice for atleast 5-6 hours.
• Grind the rice and cooked rice with enough water and transfer into a wide bowl. Consistency must be almost like dosa batter not too thin nor as thick as Idli batter.
• Add yeast, sugar, salt, coconut milk and stir well to incorporate everything. Keep the batter overnight for fermentation in a dry warm place(at-least 8 hrs). 
  
  

  

  Appam Batter

• Heat up the Appachatti/Appam pan, pour a laddle of batter, wait for 30 secs so that the middle part of the pan absorbs some batter, then lift the vessel and move the vessel in a circular motion so that the batter sticks/spread evenly on the sides of the pan.
• Close the pan with the lid and let it cook till the middle part is not sticky(keep the stove in med-high not in full high).
• The appam should be soft and middle part will be bit thick and soft. Take out the appam from the pan. Make desired amount of appams  and serve hot with egg curry..

For spicy egg curry:-

Ingredients:-

1. Boiled eggs -4(make slit with a knife on the eggs)
2. Finely sliced onions- 2 big
3. Sliced Tomato -1
4. Green chilly -4 split into halves
5. Fresh Ginger finely chopped ~ 1 tsp
6. Fresh Garlic finely chopped ~ 1 tsp(Can substitute with fresh ginger-garlic paste or fresh crushed ginger-garlic)
7. Turmeric powder-  ¾ tsp
8. Chilly powder - 1 tsp
9. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp(optional, I prefer pepper instead of chilly powder )
10. Coriander powder -1 tsp
11. Chicken masala - 2 tsp
12. Thick Coconut milk - 3 tbsp(mix with 1/4 cup water and mix well)
13. Oil- 2tbsp
14. Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
15. Chopped Coriander leaves few
16. Curry leaves few

 PreparationMethod:-

• Heat up a kadai or pan, pour oil in it, splutter mustard seeds, add onion, ginger-garlic, green chilly, curry leaves and stir for a while.
• When the onion is translucent(don't get it to dark brown), add tomato's and stir for a while.
• Add in masala powders and stir in med flame for 1 min and mix everything well.
• Add the eggs and add in a cup of water and bring it to boil in med flame.
• Add the coconut milk and let it cook for another min.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves and serve warm with Appams...

Raagi Dosa with Egg Roast

Raagi dosa as I call it, is made with Raagi and wheat flour. My concept of Raagi flour was to be used to prepare baby food which we call 'kurukku' and even I loved the leftovers of that 'kurukku' because it was so sweet like any kheer. I had seen my grandma and aunt making it for my cousin brother when he was a baby. And when I had my son and I went to India for vacation my grandma made the same for my son too. Anything other than Raagi was really out of question for me and this Raagi dosa evolved out from my mother-in-law who was bit diabetic and a person who avoid eating rice at night. So on a normal India call to my mother-in-law I  asked her what did she made for dinner and she told me she had made Raagi dosa. So she gave me the recipe of this Raagi dosa and from then I started making this dosa regularly whether it is for breakfast or dinner with a bit of variation. Even me and my hubby is not fond of eating rice at night, so this is a better and healthy substitute for rice or for those who go lazy to roll the chappathi for dinner(of course we all have some of those lazy days to make dough, roll out the roti and make rotis out of it).

                                        

Ingredients for Dosa:-

Raagi flr- 3/4 cup
wheat flr- 3/4 cup
salt - 2 tsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 tsp
water 3 cups (u can add/reduce water as needed, batter should be of normal dosa batter consistency)

In a bowl add ragi flour and wheat flour and mix well with a spoon. Add water and keep mixing so that no lumps are formed. Add in salt and Jeera and mix well. Heat a non-stick pan, pour a laddle of batter and spread in a circular motion to make a nice round dosa, drizzle oil if necessary(I did not use any oil). Let it cook for few seconds or a minute till they turn light brown color. Fold it into half and take out from the pan. Make required amount of dosas like this and serve hot with egg roast..

Ingredients for Quick n Ezee Egg Roast:-

Boiled eggs - 5(make slits on each egg using a knife)
Onion - 2 big( finely sliced)
Tomato - 1(finely sliced)
Green chillies -3(sliced into half)
Ginger - 1 tbsp finely chopped
Turmeric pdr- 3/4 tsp
Chilly pdr - 2 tsp(u can add/reduce it according to your spice level)
salt to taste
curry leaves - a sprig
oil- 2 tbsp

In a frying pan add oil and saute onion, ginger, green chilly and salt. When onion turn light brown add tomato and saute for a while. Add turmeric powder, chilly powder and some more curry leaves and stir for 2 mins. Add eggs and mix it well with masala(check for the salt in btw). Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 5 mins in low flame. Switch off the flame and serve hot with Raagi dosa/chappathi. Garnish with few more curry leaves and coriander leaves if desired...

Note:-Without adding wheat flour Ragi dosa will be very sticky and might not come out clean from the tava. Adding cumin seed is optional, I add while making most of the dosas.

ILA Ada/Ottada

ILA ADA was one of my favorite breakfast item when I was a kid. I'm sure every mallu kid might used to love it or still loves it. It is traditionally made by grinding the soaked par-boiled rice with very less water in a manual stone grinder called 'Ammi Kallu' to a smooth dough, then rolled into roti by pressing with your hands on top of banana leaves with sweet stuffing inside and steaming it. On weekdays my grand-mom used to be busy with daily chores of getting us all ready to school, packing breakfast, lunch etc for us and I remember Ada was made on weekend at our ancestral home as it requires a lot of manual labour.

It is also known as Ottada in the North Kerala-Kannur, and I always wondered why it is known as Ottada since I have never seen it being made in any Ottu Paathram - a bronze metal vessel such as 'Uruli/Ottu Uruli'.   According to my grand-mom - in her early days Ottada/Ada was made in manchatti - a claypot or earthen ware by wrapping the spreaded rice dough in banana leaves and with sweet coconut stuffing. Since the clay pot is made of Odu ie Clay it was called Ottada. I could only imagine it as she tried to make me feel the smell of the Ada being cooked in manchatti, banana leaf ohhh my, gone are those days. As she continued saying our favorite Puttu- a kind of steam cake used to be made in Chiratta ie in coconut shell. Friends that is one of the reason our grandma's food used to be the best as they used to put all the effort by cooking them the authentic way. The Ammi - manual grinding stone, chiratta - coconut shell, Ila - banana leaves, Plavila - Jackfruit leaves, every single thing has its own fresh smell which adds up taste and smell to the dish. I wonder if my kids will ever be able to feel/understand all these, which I have at least seen few, can imagine some and try to implement little bit. 

ILA(banana leaf) Ada as the name says is made in ILA/banana leaf and it has great smell of steamed banana leaf. I found some frozen banana leaves in the Asian stores and tried making Ada with it. But somehow I didn't like the taste of that Ada. My brother-in-law suggested me the idea of making Ada in silver foil and since I didn't get fresh banana leaves in US I thought of trying it out. Even though I didn't get the feel of the fresh banana leaves it came out good with its authentic taste which I always admired. So here we go with the silver foil version of Ada. Enjoy!!!!!

 

Ingredients:-

Rice flour(puttu podi)- 2 cup
Boiled water- 3-1/2 cup(u can add salt to this as well)
Cumin/Jeera-2 tsp
Salt to taste

For filling

grated coconut
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Raisins,cashews handful (optional, i added it)
cardamom pdr- 1/2 tsp(optional)
Mix the grated coconut, sugar,raisins, cashews and cardamom powder with hand and keep aside

Preparation Method:-

In a bowl mix rice flour, Jeera and salt and mix well. Add hot water and stir with a spoon so that rice flour is well mixed. Once it become cool, mix gently with hand and make a smooth dough. Make lemon size balls out of the dough. Take banana leaf/silver foil keep a rice ball on top of it and spread it with hands. Take a scoop of filling and spread on top and fold the banana leaf into half. Steam this in a vessel for about 15 mins. Remove the banana leaves. Serve warm as breakfast or evening snacks. Kids really love it...




Note:- If you get the fresh banana leaves please make it in the banana leaves. That really tastes good.

Dearies, Adding recently taken Ada pictures. This was made in banana leaves since I happened to get some fresh banana leaves.