Avalakki Oggarane - Tempered Flatten Rice

Hello and good morning. Had nice sleep yesterday, in the middle I woke up to birds chirping at 3:20 AM. Who knew they woke up so early. I just crawled back in my bed and continued to sleep and had the worst nightmare. Gosh, I wish I don't see those faces again in my life.

So this is a traditional avalakki oggarne recipe. My mom made it and her in-laws made it and their in-laws and so on. Hope you get the picture. Of course there are small additions and changes. But the roots are still the same.

If there is one dish I want my mom to make, when I see her in Bangalore, it is this dish. There are many varieties of avalakki made in my house, which will be duly made and posted in my future adventures.  Note that you can add other veggies to it like carrot, beans , peas and so on. I actually prefer it like this. It goes well alone or with yogurt. Try to eat it hot, poha tends to get rubbery when cold.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time 15 - 20 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups gatti avalakki or dagdi poha 
• 1 medium onion chopped finely
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• 8-10 curry leaves
• 1-2 green or red chili chopped finely
• 1/2-1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 inch ginger grated or 1/2 tsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
• 2 tbsp oil
• A pinch of hing or asafetida
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp chana dal dry
• 1 tsp urad dal dry
• Salt as needed

Method:

• Using a sieve wash the poha with cold running water, repeat it thrice and drain. Add a tsp of salt and mix well. 
• In a deep skillet, add oil and heat. Once hot add hing and mustard seeds, let it crackle.
• Add in the chana dal and urad dal and fry till golden brown.
• To this add curry leaves, ginger, onion, chilies and turmeric powder and fry till onions turn translucent.
• Now add sugar and gently mix it until the sugar dissolves.
• To this add the drained poha and mix well and cook for 2-3 mins. Add in the lemon juice, again give it a mix and switch off the stove.
• Finally garnish with coriander leaves and coconut. Serve hot.

Avarekayi Akki Rotti - Val Beans Rice flour bread

Good Morning all you beautiful people. It continues to be good day in terms of weather and my health. Hope you all are doing fine there. I heard from my cousins that weather is the same even in Bangalore. This is what I call as twinzies :).

As told previously in my post, people do various items using val beans. This recipe is not one of those crazy foods. Its almost found in everyone's house during the cold season. I love to eat it when my mom makes it at home, extra crispy and extra brown. It goes best with yogurt and pickle. But can be eaten with any chutney.

I wouldn't recommend this recipe when you have more than 5-6 people at home. Yes, my mom managed it, but its really tough to pat for so many people and takes long time and extra strong hand, specially if there is only one wok at home. It might also take many tries to get a perfect rotti, so just be patient and you will see the worth of hard work.

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 5 mins to mix the flour + 10 mins per rotti

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup val beans cooked in microwave oven with salt and water for 5 mins on high
• 3 cups rice flour
• 1-2 green chilies chopped
• 1 tbsp grated coconut (optional)
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• A pinch of hing or asafetida
• Warm water
• Salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder (optional)
• Oil

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except water and oil and mix it gently, check for salt.
• To this flour mixture, add a tsp of oil and again mix it. 
• Now add warm water in increments such that the flour mixture when held in your fist must hold the shape of your fist even after releasing. Let it rest for 15 mins. Make 3 large balls or 4 medium ones using the flour mixture.
• In a deep wok (preferably round base), add a tbsp oil at center and spread it around the wok.
• Take one ball made of the flour mixture into the wok and start patting it from center towards the edges, spreading it along the circumference of the wok. Dip your hands in water and then continue patting in case it becomes difficult to spread.
• Make sure that the flour is evenly spread, make 3 holes at the center. This helps to cook the most thickest part of rotti - the base. Add a tsp of oil in across the holes and cook it on medium high with lid closed.
• You will be able to see water droplets all over the lid followed by hissing sounds. After 5 mins remove the lid. The color difference will be visible compared to raw flour, in case there are still raw spots visible, cover and cook again for a minute.
• Once you remove the lid cook again for 5 mins until you can see little golden brown edges.
• Remove the cooked rotti using a sturdy spatula. Switch off the stove. Using tongs reverse the wok under cold running water to cool it down. Continue the whole process again for rest of the flour balls. 

Bread Umpa

Hello people. Sorry I haven't been posting that often. Viral fever has got me down. I am just resting and eating very humble food which do not have much spice or oil. The good for health, bad for tongue diet.

We brought bread, the whole wheat one, few weeks back before our vacation and since it was nearing expiry and more than half a loaf was remaining, I used it to make bread upma. It uses little more oil than normal upma, however if you sprinkle a bit of water, you can adjust with same amount of oil.

This was fun food at my home while growing up, since bread was almost the thing you buy when you were sick or have loose stools, lol. You can also make it with normal white bread. At our house, we have banned some of the maida or all purpose flour stuff that we consume. Just a small effort towards healthy eating.

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

• 12-14 slices of bread. Each bread cut into 9 pieces
• 1 onion chopped lengthwise
• 2 green chilies chopped finely
• 1 string of curry leaves
• 3-4 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp chana dal or split bengal gram
• 1 tsp urad dal or black gram
• A pinch of hing or asafetida
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• 1-2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• Salt as needed

Method:

• In a sauce pan, heat oil. Once hot add mustard seeds and let it crackle.
• To this add hing and fry for 2 secs, then add chana dal and urad dal and fry till golden brown.
• Now add in onion, curry leaves, green chilies, ginger, garlic and turmeric powder and fry until onions turn translucent
• To this add bread pieces and fry for 5 mins.
• Add lime juice and sprinkle some water and again fry for 5 minutes.
• Add salt and check for taste.
• Finally switch off the stove and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Oats Veggie Dosa (Crepe)

So I am still in Miami till tomorrow and the weather gets better every time we step out. Yesterday we did nothing till late afternoon and then when to the most bustling place in Miami, the South Beach. You can find all kinds of people here and and they swim, drink, dance and dine all day long.

We just went to the beach, caught the roaring waves for a while, had a mixed fruit yogurt and walked a long way along the Ocean Drive. We went to dine at an Indian restaurant called the Guru. The food there is overrated with more emphasis on decoration rather than taste and is pricy as well.

We returned to our hotel after that and this morning we went to the Gator Safari in Everglades area. We went on an airboat ride and caught glimpses of many alligators. There was also a small show where a man literally played with his croc pals. The birds there are not shy at all and one of them stole ice cream from my hand deceitfully. We are planning to go for a spa before doing our last adventure here, shopping :)

This dosa recipe is best eaten with tangy or spicy chutney and does not need any coconut. I have used quick cooking oats here and it can be replaced with traditional rolled oats as well. With this dosa batter, you can easily make dosas on an iron skillet or non stick Tava, as the dosas come out easily if the Tava is at the right temperature and not too hot.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 10 mins + 1 min per dosa

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup Rava or fine semolina
• 1/4 cup rice flour
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 1 green chili finely chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 grated carrot
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp urad dal or black gram
• A pinch of hing
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 3 and 1/2 cups water
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder

Method:

• Add oats, rava and rice flour in a microwave safe bowl and heat it for 2 mins on high.
• Coarsely grind this flour mixture in a food processor or blender in pulse mode.
• Remove it to a mixing bowl, add salt, onion, grated carrot, green chili and coriander leaves and pepper powder and mix well.
• To this dry mixture add water and give it a stir. Keep it aside from 15-20 mins.
• In a small spatula, heat oil. Once hot, add mustard and cumin seeds, let it crackle.
• Now add hing and fry for a second and then add urad dal and fry till golden brown.
• Add this tempering to the flour batter and stir again.
• On a hot flat skillet, pour this batter using a round spatula as measurement, circularly in the clockwise direction.
• Add oil on to the outer part of the dosa and roast it. Once roasted turn in over to roast the other side. Continue until the batter finishes. You can also store this batter in a refrigerator.

Quinoa Sweet potato Salad

Hello and good morning. Yesterday, we landed in Miami, Florida. The temperature is so good that it made up for a 7 month long cold winter. Our hotel has a full equipped kitchen in it, yey! So more cooking coming along.

We got Kia Optima car for our rental, a free upgrade, talk bout getting lucky. The drive was smooth and haven't seen any interesting places yet. Today we are planning to see Key West the entire day. It is about 3 hrs drive from Miami.

Coming to this recipe. Quinoa is one of the super foods like oats. It is packed with rich protein and fibers. It is a South American based grain and is now available everywhere in the world. Every once a week I see to it that we have healthy, whole grain only food. So made quinoa salad. This is one of the basic items of quinoa and as you can see I am exploring the possibilities with this new grain.

It cooks with same amount of water as rice, that is, for 1 cup quinoa, 2 cups of water. It has a distinctive nutty flavor to it goes well with all veggies. This time you will see the continental and mostly Chinese side of usage. Next time I will stick to my South Indian roots :) mom says it resembles a grain called Navane to look at, though Navane is called foxtail millet.

Serves: 2-3

Preparation time: 15 mins to cook Quinoa + 30 mins to roast all Veggies + 5 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 lb french beans cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 green bell pepper cut lengthwise
• 1/2 big onion cut length wise
• 1 big carrot peeled and finely shredded
• 1 cup Quinoa
• 2 and 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp lime juice or lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• Salt as needed

Method:

• Rinse thoroughly and cook quinoa in a pressure cooker or rice cooker or stove top with given amount of water.
• Preheat the oven to 400K.
• In a plastic zipper bag, add 1 tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper and sweet potato pieces. Close the zipper and shake well.
• Transfer the sweet potato along with seasoning to a baking sheet lines with parchment paper and bake it for 20 mins, stirring after 10 mins.
• Do to switch off the oven, bring out the sweet potatoes and add the cut beans and bake for another 5 mins.
• Now bring out the baking tray again and add the bell pepper and onion and bake for other 5 mins.
• In a mixing bowl, add red wine vinegar, sriracha, soy, lemon juice, left over olive oil and salt, and whisk it well.
• To this add the cooked quinoa, roasted vegetables and shredded carrot, give a gentle mix. Check for taste and serve.

Kotthu Parotta

The first time I ate this dish was in Saravana Bhavan restaurant in Edison, NJ. I never knew parotta came like this. I was expecting a round bread, what I got was shredded stuff, not appetizing to look at, but great to taste.

I did some research on this and came to know it was first conceived in Trivandrum, Kerala. Usually this contains egg, but the one I ate at the restaurants didn't have any. So I made eggless and in my style. I have used Marinara sauce here as I had some left over stored.

This is a great dish for kids and healthy too. You can use those left over rotis in this recipe. This is specially good when you are done with same old chapati and want to eat a variety food or when you don't want to prepare any side dish for chapati exclusively.

Serves: 2 -3 

Preparation Time: 10 mins to make 3 parottas + 15 mins 

Ingredients:

• 3 Parotta (or thick rotis or chapatis) cut into 1 inch squares
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp grated garlic
• 1 green chili finely chopped
• 1 cup tomato puree/tomato sauce/marinara sauce
• 2 tbsp oil
• A pinch of hing or asafetida
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 8-10 curry leaves
• 1 tsp chana dal or split bengal gram
• 1 tsp urad dal or black gram
• 1 small onion sliced lengthwise
• 1 capsicum sliced lengthwise approximately to onion size
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
• Salt as needed

Method:

• In a wok, add oil and heat. Once hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and wait till they crackle
• Add hing and curry leaves and fry for 2 seconds.
• Now add the chana dal and urad dal and fry till golden brown.
• To this add onion, ginger, garlic and green chili and fry till the onion turn translucent.
• Now add capsicum to this and fry for not more than 5 mins. 
• Add the 5 spice powder to this - turmeric, red chili, garam masala, cumin and coriander powder.
• To this mixture add in the tomato puree and fry until there is no rawness. Add salt and check for taste.
• Finally add the sliced parottas to this and stir for 4-5 mins. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Rava Upma / Khichdi

Today was such a laid back day, it was awesome. Hence my post is this late. My workouts gave me a bad body ache when I got up. Both my husband and I did our Sunday chores, vacuuming, sweeping, washing and folding clothes and regular cooking.

After a long time we had a good afternoon nap. Spoke to our cousin and his to be fiancee and prepared for the week ahead. As usual we had our heavy Sunday lunch, an evening coffee and snacks, and wanted a delicious dinner.

Rava khichdi or upma is very famous in South India. It is what you usually find in any functions for breakfast or when a guy visits a girl's home for the first time while meeting parents and vice versa. There are many ways to do it. Today, I have made this using Avarekayi or Val Beans. Right now, val beans are not in season, so I have used frozen ones but without any preservatives. It can be prepared without any veggies or the usual beans, carrot, peas, potatoes and so on.

Val beans or field beans are considered exotic in some parts of India. They are available in the cold season and since its cooked and eaten, it brings warmth to the body during cold days. Back in Bangalore, people make all kinds of food using these beans. I love trying them.

Though I am not that crazy about upma, my husband and my father-in-law are biggest fans of it. They can eat it for any or all three meals for the day and with curd or rasam.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 5 mins to cook Val beans + 15 mins preparation time

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• A pinch of hing or asafetida
• 1 tbsp chana dal or split bengal gram
• 1 tbsp urad dal or black gram
• 10 curry leaves
• 1 inch ginger shredded
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 1/2 cup avarekayi or val beans cooked in microwave for 5 mins on high
• 1 and 1/2 cups Roasted Bhansi Rava (Thick Semolina)
• 3 cups water
• A pinch of turmeric
• 1-2 tbsp lime juice
• 1/2-1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp curd
• 1 tsp ghee or clarified butter
• 1 tbsp coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp coconut shredded
• Salt as needed

Method:

• In a wok add oil and let it heat. Once hot add mustard seeds and allow it to crackle.
• Then add in asafetida, chana dal and urad dal and fry until golden brown.
• Now add curry leaves, ginger and green chilies and fry for a minute.
• Add in cooked val beans and turmeric and fry for 2 minutes.
• Now add water and let it come to a boil.
• To the water add salt, sugar, curd and lime juice and give it a stir checking for taste.
• Add in the roasted semolina and mix it well with water until it thickens and the grains of semolina are smooth. It takes five minutes.
• Switch of the stove and garnish with ghee, coriander leaves and shredded coconut. Serve hot.

Note: Always add coconut and coriander at the end so that it does not get cooked much and to retain all the flavor. Ghee is added at the end just to get a good taste.

Brown Rice and Lentil Savory crepe - Ade Dose

So though I am all sick today, I was pretty OK when I decided to do Ade Dose yesterday for dinner. Since it requires soaking of ingredients, I could do the preparation yesterday morning itself.

I am using organic rice for this, also known as brown rice. It is very nutritious and beats the boring white rice any day. Brown rice takes longer to cook and to soak. So I soaked brown rice in hot water so that it softens easily.

This recipe uses 3 different lentils as well. They are chana dal or split bengal gram, toor dal or yellow pigeon peas and moong dal or split green gram. All three are used in equal proportion and soaked as well. The version which my mom makes has urad dal (black gram) as well. But this is mom-in-laws recipe and she never uses that.

This dosa is heavy in nutrition and does not necessarily require a chutney as condiment. At home, we eat it with curd, jaggery or molgai pudi (spicier version of chutney powder) with oil. We add hing or asafetida and ginger to reduce the gassiness of lentils.

Serves: 4

Preparation Time:  5 hours soaking time + 15 mins blending time + 1 or 2 mins per dosa

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chana dal soaked overnight or for 5 hours
• 1/2 cup moong dal soaked overnight or for 5 hours
• 1/2 cup toor dal soaked overnight or for 5 hours
• 1 and 1/2 cups brown rice soaked overnight or for 5 hours
• 2 green chilies
• 3 dry red chilies
• 1 inch grated ginger
• 2-3 tsp salt
• A pinch of hing or asafetida
• A pinch of turmeric

Ingredients for tempering:

• Oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 10 curry leaves
• A pinch of hing

Method:

• Grind soaked chana dal, moong dal and toor dal with little water along with both red and green chilies, ginger, hing and turmeric.
• Grind soaked brown rice separately with  little water into a fine paste.
• Add salt to it and mix both the batter until you get an even consistency.
• In a small spatula heat a tsp of oil, once hot add mustard seeds and let it crackle.
• Add hing and curry leaves and fry it for a second or two.
• Add this tempering to the batter and mix it.
• On a hot flat pan or tava add this batter to the center using a spatula and spread it in increasing clockwise direction until it is a rough circle and the dosa is spread thin.
• Add 1/4 tsp of oil around this dosa and let it cook for a minute or two.
• Roast the opposite side as well and fold and remove. Continue this for the rest of batter.

Excess batter can be stored in the fridge and used whenever needed. Once it starts smelling of sourness, its time to discard.

Sabakki/Sabudana/Tapioca Pongal

Its a beautiful morning and I can, for the first time this year, hear birds chirping outside our balcony. Had a satisfied Friday yesterday. Spoke to my parents and in-laws on Skype and it was quiet exciting. My husband came home late and we had very light dinner.

Today both of us are ready for a good breakfast, so I made pongal. Pongal is traditional rice recipe having moong dal, symbolizing harvest season in India, made on the festival of Pongal. We actually go by festival called Ugadi and our version of pongal dish is called Huggi. Anyways, we have 2 types of pongal dishes. The sweet one and the savory one. This is the recipe for savory pongal. My dad loves pongal and can eat it everyday. My mother-in-law is a pongal expert.

I usually make pongal with rice, poha and oats. So this was totally new for me. Idea for this came from the sabudana khichdi which has a totally different taste and different ingredients.

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 20 mins + 5 hrs Soaking time.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups Tapioca/Sabudana/Sagoo
• 1/2 cup moong dal (split green gram)
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• A pinch of hing (Asafetida)
• A pinch of turmeric
• 1/2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp crushed cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper
• 2 green chilies
• 1-2 tbsp raw cashew nuts
• Salt as needed

Method:

• Soak the tapioca either the previous night or for 5 hours and drain all the starch washing it 3-4 times.
• Cook the moong dal in pressure cooker for 3 whistles with a pinch of turmeric, salt and few drops of oil.
• In a pan add ghee, let it heat.
• Once hot add mustard seeds and let it crackle.
• Now add hing and cashew nuts and fry till golden color.
• Add in chillies, pepper, cumin and grated ginger. and fry for a few seconds.
• Mix the moong dal to this and make sure to add water so that its not dry.
• Add in the soaked Tapioca and about 1-1.5 cups of water and close the lid for 5 mins to let it cook.
• After cooking, tapioca turns translucent, then add salt and check for taste and serve hot.