Khandvi rolls

Ingredients
Gram flour:  1/2 cup
Butter milk: 1 cup
Salt: to taste
Turmeric powder:  1/4rth tsp

Garnish:
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Sesame seeds or sil: 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds or jeera: 1/2 tsp
Corriander leaves: 1 tsp chopped
Curry leaves: 2 strandgreen chilly: 2 chopped
Coconut: 4 tblsp scrapped
Oil: 2 tblsp

Procedure
Seive the gram flour. Mix it with the rest of the main ingredients. Heat the mixture in a kadai on medium flame through continuous stiring till about the mixture becomes thick, paste like. On a steel place, spread oil and put in a spoonful of the mixture. With the back of the spoon spread it all over and try making an even coat. Keep aside for it to cool for a good 5 minutes. With the help of a cake knife or any delicate knife cut strips. Then delicately roll each strip and place on the serving plate.
In a vessel, heat oil. Put mustard seeds, sesame seeds and jeera. Wait for it to pop. When done add gren chilly and then xurry leaves.
Garnish the kandvi rolls with coconut shreds and corriander leaves. Top it with the mustard sesame garnish. Serve!.

Soft fluffy Puri or Deep fried Indian wheat bread

Puri are originated in north India. But now it has reached every Indian household because of its yum taste and texture. Puris in other words are deep friend wheat bread that is similar to chappathis but the trick to its yum taste and balloon like fluffiness is in its dough and making.

Ingredients:

wheat flour: 1 cup
Water or milk : 1/4rth cup or as needed.
salt: as required
oil: to fry

Procedures:

In a vessel knead wheat flour milk/water and salt to form a tight dough. Here i used milk to give a yum rich flavor to the puris. Keep aside. In a deep vessel or kadai, heat oil till it about smoking point. partition the dough into small balls and roll each into semi thick (thicker than chappathi) sheets. Carefully put these sheets into the smoking oil and after a sec or so slightly press the puri frying in. This helps collect air in the puri thus making it fluffy. DO not allow the frying puri to push away the spoon. Turn it around and do the same. Drain it off oil and place it on a tissue so as to soak all the excess oil.

*-> here, the smoking oil not only helps to fluff up the puris but also avoids it from soaking excess oil and being soggy. 

Idli and chutney

Idli basically belongs to Tamil Nadu. But The whole of South India has adopted this dish with their own twists.
Idlis are basically steamed food made of raw rice or Semolina( rava or sooji).
As a whole, Idli is a very healthy dish as it is made of healthy ingredients and is steamed. 
To make it more healthy i have added a bit of vegetables to my version of Idli.


Ingredients:

Idli:

Raw rice: 1 cup

Urud dal (deskinned and split black gram): 1/2 cup

salt: to taste
chopped Vegetables: 1/4rth cup( optional)

Chutney:

Coconut: 1/2 cup (scraped)

Green chilly: 1

salt: to taste

Mustard seeds: 1/4rth tsp

Curry leaves: 1 stem

Dry red chilly 1 or 2 de stemmed

Oil: to garnish

Preparation:

Idli:

Soak raw rice and urud dal for at least 4 hours. Grind them into a paste using adequate amount of water. Please make sure the paste is thick. Keep it for fermentation overnight. While about to prepare, you can add vegetables of your choice to the mixture, but make sure they are chopped well and it doesn't rule the taste of the idli. In a deep vessel boil water for steaming. Pour portions of the paste into the desired moulds (preferably idly moulds) and cover the lid for steaming. Steam for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the mould. check if the idlis are done by pricking it with a tooth pick. if it comes out clean, then idlis are done!

Please do not de mould the idlis immediately after taking out the steamer as it needs to be cooled before separating it from the moulds. use a butter knife or a spoon for the de moulding purpose and serve with chutney.

note-> you can add vegetables of your choice into the idli paste if you desire.

Chutney:

Grind scraped coconut, salt, green chilly and a little water in the mixer-grinder till a smooth paste of the ingredients are made. Pour it on to the serving bowl. Heat a little oil, preferably, coconut oil, splutter a few mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry chillies and pour over the chutney, serve with hot idlis...

YUM!

Uthappam chat style!

Uthappam is a typical South Indian dish. Traditionally, made of fermented white rice and urud dal ( split black gram) paste. The taste of uthappam would be that of a dosa but with crunchy steamed veggies over it.

Dont know about others, but for me, uthappa is always a way to utilize the left over dosa bacter. After preparing dosa for a day it so happens the bacter to be left for the next day but, with variety lovers as my family, dosa the next day would be a total no-no.

Besides this, i faced another problem that my family doesn't like uthappam much unlike me. SO, i thought about a twist to mix what they love to something they don't like. And i mixed chat flavour(Indian sweet sour street food) to uthappam and THERE! they loved it!

Ingredients:

Fermented raw rice and urud dal( split black gram) bacter: 2 cups

Onion: 1, chopped.

coconut: 1/2 bowl.

coriander leaves: a handful, chopped.

Jeera (cumin seeds): 1/2 t-spoon

Mustard seeds: 1/4rth t-spoon

chat masala: 1 t-spoon

salt: to taste

Oil: a little

Preparation:

Heat oil and splutter mustard and jeera. Add onion and a bit of salt for onion to cook fast. Then add coconut, chopped coriander leaves and sauté for a minute add salt and chat masala and the topping is ready.

In a nonstick pan pour a deep spoon full of bacter( as making pancakes) and spread the bacter over the pan by rotating the pan and not with the help of a spoon. Then immediately spread a spoon full of topping over this cooking pancake and put the lid over for it to cook. when done make sure to over turn it so that the topping be a part of the uthappam. Serve!

Note: you can add tomatoes, capsicum, corn(chopped), and other veggies and flavours of your choice. But i made sure of adding coconut to maintain the "South indian Touch. The filling is totally upto your taste.

Puttu and kadala or steamed rice cake and Bengal gram gravy

Ingredients

(Puttu or steam rice cake:)

Roasted Rice flour: 1 cup

Water: enough to soak wet it

Salt: to taste

Coconut: for garnish

(Kadala curry or Bengal gram gravy)

Kadala: 1 cup (soaked overnight)

Coconut: 1/2 cup grated

Corriander powder: 1 tablespoon

Chicken masala powder( optional): 1/2 tspn

salt : to taste

Mustard: 1/4th tspn

Oil: 1 tspn

Dry red chillies: 2

Curry leaves: 1 stem

Preparation:

(Puttu)

You can get instant puttu powders in the market or roast the rice flour till a slight yellow colour tends to appear. When cooled. Mix water and salt then little by little add to the roasted rice flour while you mix the mixture with hand. Wet the rice till you will be able to make a non sticky ball when tried.

If you have Puttu mould, then place the steel net in the base, fill a bit of coconut, the rice mixture, a little coconut again rice mixture, till the mould is filled and then steam it.

If you do not have puttu mould then take coconut shell. fill the base with a thin layer of grated coconut then fill in the rice mixture, then again fill grated coconut and steam.

Remove the mixture on to a plate. If in a puttu mould, remove with the provided stick else slightly dab the coconut shell with its open mouth facing the plate. yur puttu is ready.

(Kadala curry or the Bengal gram curry)

Preassure cook kadala or bengal gram toll crack appear on them. This is an indication of it becoming soft. When done, blend coconut, coriander powder and chicken masala (optional) with little water to forma smooth paste. Pour this paste into the preassure cooked kadala or bengal gram and let this mixture come to a boil. When boiled, let it simmer on medium flame till it reached a gravy consistency. Splutter mustard in oil . Also put in curry leaves and dry red chilly in the spluttered mustard and oil and then garnish the gravy with it.

this curry or gravy is best suited with steamed rice cake or puttu. A taste of kerala breakfast.

You can also substitute rice flour with wheat flour or sooji(semolina)

Spring Dosa

Ingredients:

Raw rice:1 cup

Urud Dal: 1/2 cup

Salt: to taste

carrot: 2 medium

Capsicum: 1 medium

Cabbage: 1/4 th a small cabbage

Onion: 1

Soya sauce: 1/2 tsp

sugar: 1/4th tspoon

Pepper: 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

Soak raw rice and urud dal at least for 4 hours. Grind them into a smooth dosa bacter and keep it over night for fermentation, can use eno for instant fermentation.

to prepare filling,

Cut the vegetables as long thin strips. In a vessel, heat oil put it onion first and saute for a min put the rest of the veggies and saute for 2 minutes. add the pepper, salt and sugar and saute again for a minute till the cabbages becomes soft. then add soya sauce and saute for a minute and the filling is ready.

Prepare dosa on a dosa tava, and when done place the dosa on a plate. take a very small portion of the filling spread all over the dosa (1 side) evenly. Fold the dosa 3 times and press a bit to sttle the folded dosa. Diagonally cut the folded dosa into 3 portions and there1 your delicious spring dosa is ready!

Mixed veggy Upma

Indredients

Semolina(rawa): 1 cup
Onion: 1 small
Tomato: 1 small
Capsicum:1/2 medium
Corn: 10g
green peas: 5g
Oil: as req.
mustard: 1 tsp
cumin seeds: tsp
Curry Leaves: 1 stem
Corriander seeds: 1 pinch

Preperation:

Roast semolina till it becomes a little yellow. Then move to a plate. In a vessel. heat oil. pop in mustard and cummin seeds. After it is done popping, put in curry leaves. Then Add chopped onion, capsicum, corn and green peas. When everything becomes soft add tomatoe and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add corriander leaves. Saute. Add 2 cups water and req. salt. When water boils, reduce flame to sim and add semolina. Cover the vessel and wait till it is cooked. Then off the flame and keep the upma covered for a minute. Put the ready mixture on a bowl and upturn it on to a plate. Serve.

Instant Rawa Dosa

Ingredients:
Rawa(semolina): 1 cup
Curd: as req
Salt: as req
Eno: 1 satchet

Preperation

In a cup semolina, put in curd and salt and mix so that ir becomes a thick bacter as in for idli bacter. Keep mixing for say 5 to 10 min as semolina expands and so the bacter may required more curd after 5 to 10 minutes.. When done. Heat a non stick dosa tawa , while doing so mix a pack of eno and mix for say 2 minutes. Then put in a few drops of oil on tawa and rub off with a clothand then take a scoop of bacter on the tawa and with the back of the spoon spread in the dosa shape.
A tip: always run the back of the spoon in one direction else the shape is gone.

Idli, Sambar and vada.

Ingredients:

Idli:
Raw rice: 1 cup
Urud dal: 1/2 cup
Salt: tot aste

Sambar:
Onion: 1
Tomato:2
Garlic: 5 pods
Tuvar dal: 1/2 cup
Tamarind juice: 1 bowl, Can also use 1 lemon juice instead
Mustard: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 1 stem
Dry chilly: 1
SAmbar powder: 2 tsp
Red chillt powder: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/4th tsp
Salt: to taste
Sugar: 1 tsp

VAda:
Rice flour: 1 cup
Urud dal powder: 1 cup
Eno: 1 satchet
else,
Raw rice : 1 cup
Urud dal:1 cup

SAlt to taste
Onion: 1
green chilly:2
Mustard seeds:1 tsp
Curry leaves: 1 stem

Preperation:

Idli:
Soak Rice and urud dal for atleast 3 hours, Grind and make a paste, add salt and keep it for frementation for over night. Then in a deep vesel put 2 glass of water. While the water boils, Oil the idli vesels and pur the bacter on to it. Then put in the vessel and let it steem for 5 minutes. remove and serve.

Sambar:
Put in chopped onion, deskinned garlic pods, diced tomato and tuvar dal in a preassure cooker. add required water and red chilly powder and turmeric powder. Put on the wistle and let 2 whistles come. When the pressure within is done with, open the lid. Mix slightly with a spoon and add turmeric water ( if lemon juice... add a cup od water too). Then in a glass of water mix sambar masal and pour it in the curry. Let it cook and simmer till the right consistency of the curry is obtained. Then add sugar and salt. Then for tampering. In a small vessel, pour in oil, pop mustard seeds then red dry chilly and curry leaves and pour it on the curry. Serve with idli.

Vada:
If you want an instant vada, mix rice powder, urud dal powder with salt.Put in chopped onion, green chilly and tamper it with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Mix a bit of water till a dough is made with and add eno and mix till the dough becomes fluffy and soft... If not enough fluffy add 1 more eno satchet.

If the traditional way, Soak raw rice and urud dal. GRind it with minimum water. And add salt chopped onion, green chilly and tamper it with mustard seeds and curry leaves.keep it overnight.

Heat oil for deep frying. Rub water in your hands. TAke a small ball of dough roll to a ball pat it on your hand and make a hole in the middle put it in the oil and try till brown.

Sreve hot..

Dosa and Onion Chutney

Ingredients:

Dosa:
Raw rice: 1 cup
Urud dal:1/2 cup
Cooked rice: 1 tblsp (optional)
Salt: to taste
Oil: 1tsp

Onion Chutney:
Coconut: 1/2
Onion: 1/2
Garlic: 2 pods
Red chillt powder: 1/2 tsp
Tamarind( else lemon): 1 very small peice. ( 1/4 th lemon juice)
salt: to taste
Oil: 1 tsp
Mustartd: 1 stp
Dry red chilly: 1
Curry leaves: 1 stem.

Preperartion:

Dosa:soak rice and urud dal togehter for atleast 3 to 4 hours. Grind into paste along with cooked rice. add salt. Keep it overnight for fermentation. This is the traditional method. If you want instantly.. then ad eno just after grinding. Then, in a non stick tava. sprinkle oil when hot. then whipe off the oil. Pour a spoon ful dosa and spread it... let the flame be in medium... when the sides start to seperate from the pan turn over the dosa for 2 sec... serve on the plate.

Chutney: Grind together coconut, tamarind, garlic, onion, red chilly powder. Add it a little water to make a bit gravy. When done... pour in a vessel, add salt. In a small vessel, heat oil, pop some mustard seeds... when done add dry red chillies and curry leaves. When done pour on chutney.