INSTANT AVALAKKI / POHA DOSA

 

 

                                        

 

I'm a dosa lover and I love to gorge on different varieties of dosa. I prepared this spongy,slightly rubbery dosa yesterday. Since this is an instant variant,it doesn't require fermentation.There are varied recipes for this dosa. Some incorporate ground batter of flattened rice with dosa batter. In case you are running out of dosa batter,you can try this version. I refrained from adding baking soda,as it is not good for gut health.

 

                                         

 INGREDIENTS :

FLATTENED RICE- 1 1/2 CUPS

SEMOLINA- 1 CUP

WATER- 2 CUPS

SALT O TASTE

CURD- 1 CUP

PROCEDURE :

1. Rinse flattened rice for couple of times to get rid of impurities. Then soak it along with semolina in 2 cups of water.

2. Allow it to rest for 15-20 minutes. Then grind the soaked ingredients to fine batter.

3. Take out the batter in a wide bowl and combine curd,salt,water if required and whisk it well.

4. The batter should be of dosa batter consistency.

 

5.Brush oil on a dosa pan and heat it. When its hot enough,spread the batter. Drizzle oil on the surface and sides.

 

6. Slide the cooked dosas and enjoy it with any accompaniment of your choice.    

THAPALA CHEKKALU

Thapala Chekkalu is a crispy,rice flour-based snack,prepared in Andhra pradesh.It is also known by another name- Sarva pindi in a few regions of Andhra. It is similar to the Akki roti ,but for the slight variation in ingredients and texture.In those days,this dish was prepared in a vessel or thapala ,hence it gained the prefix and chekkalu means round shape in Telugu. I'm not sure about the authentic version of this dish,as I have come across diverse recipes for this particular dish. Some incoporate onions in place of bottle gourd. But I thoroughly enjoyed the recipe, cited below.

 

 

INGREDIENTS :

 

RICE FLOUR-  2 CUPS

BOTTLE GOURD  GRATINGS- 2 CUPS

GREEN CHILLIES- 2 NOS

GINGER-  1 INCH

GROUNDNUTS- 2 TBSP

SESAME SEEDS- 2 TSP

CHOPPED CORIANDER LEAVES.

CURRY LEAVES- 2 SPRIGS

SALT TO TASTE

OIL FOR COOKING

PROCEDURE:

1. Wash,wipe,peel and grate bottle gourd and keep it aside. Roast and coarsely pound groundnuts and keep it aside.

2. Make a paste of ginger and green chillies and keep it aside.

2. In a wide vessel, combine rice flour,salt,ginger,green chillies paste,bottle gourd gratings,chopped coriander leaves,sesame seeds and kneed to a dough.

4. Don't add water,as the water content in the veggie is enough for kneading. Sprinkle water little by little ,if required.

5. Keep it covered for 10 minutes. Meanwhile apply oil on the skillet. Pinch out a large portion of the dough and flatten it on the skillet .

6. Make holes on the spread dough. Now heat the skillet and pour oil on the sides and the whole and cook till it turns crisp and brown in colour.

7. Use generous oil for the crispy texture. It gives best result,when cooked on a iron tawa/ skillet.

WHEAT RAVA IDLI

 

Wheat rava is a nutritious  food and a perfect choice for people with dietary preferences: Its rich in fibre content and helps in weight loss; good for heart health and assists in effective control of diabetics. The preparation of this idli is akin to rava/semolina idli. But considering the health benefits,this variant has an edge over semolina idli.

INGREDIENTS :

 

WHEAT RAVA- 1 CUP

WHISKED CURD- 2 CUPS

ENO- 3/4 TSP

SALT TO TASTE

CHOPPED CORIANDER LEAVES

FOR SEASONING :

OIL- 3 TSP

GRAM DAL- 1 TSP

URAD DAL-1 TSP

MUSTARD- 3/4 TSP

CASHEW NUTS- 8-10

GROUNDNUTS- 4TSP

ASAFOETIDA- 1/2 TSP

GREEN CHILLIES-2 NOS

GINGER GRATINGS- 1 TSP

PROCEDURE :

1. Heat oil in a pan and crackle mustard seeds,urad dal,gram dal,curry leaves,asafoetida,groundnuts,green chillies and at last add ginger gratings and fry.

2. Roast cashew nuts in ghee and keep it separately.

 

3.Roast wheat rava along with the seasoned ingredients for a couple of seconds and switch off.

4, Transfer the roasted wheat rava and other ingredients to a wide bowl.

5. Pour the whisked curd over it. Add salt,chopped coriander leaves and mix well to a smooth batter and allow it to rest for 30-40 minutes.

6. After 35 minutes,you can notice that the wheat rava has absorbed the curd and risen in volume. If the batter is too thick,then dilute it with either butter milk or curd and adjust it to pouring consistency. Add Eno prior to steaming.

 

7. Grease idli plates and place the roasted cashews on each plates. Fill the idli plates with batter and steam it 7-8 minutes.

8. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes and then scoop out the idlis and serve with any accompaniment of your choice.

PESARATTU

                               

 

Pesarattu is a nutritious,protein-rich dosa prepared in Andhra Pradesh. There are many amusing anecdotes revolving around MLA pesarattu, in this,semolina upma is served inside the pesarattu. One of the anecdotes states that  upma was served secretly hidden inside the pesarattu to the MLAs. Because it was a secret order placed by certain MLAs in the canteens of State Legislative Assembly in Hyderabad. It is even topped with chopped onions and served. I always enjoy pesarattu with chutneys.

 

INGREDIENTS :

WHOLE GREEN GRAM DAL- 2 CUPS

RAW RICE- 1/4 CUP

GREEN CHILLIES- 3 NOS

GINGER CHOPPED- 1 1/2 TSP

CUMIN SEEDS- 1 TSP  

PROCEDURE :

1. Wash and rinse moong dal along with raw rice to get rid of impurities. Soak the same for 5-6 hours.

2. In a mixer jar,take soaked moong dal and rice along with cumin seeds,green chillies and ginger pieces and grind to a thick batter by adding water carefully.

3. The consistency of batter should be similar to that of dosa batter . Hence don't make it watery.

4. Add salt to the ground batter and mix well.

5. Apply oil on a dosa tawa and heat it. When it is hot enough,spread the batter and drizzle oil on it.When it is cooked, flip it to other side and cook rill crisp

6. Serve with any side dish of your choice.

PULI PONGAL

 

 

Puli Pongal is a tangy,tasty breakfast dish from the Tamilnadu cuisine. Puli - Tamil word for tangy and tart flavour. In this dish,broken rice rava is used. Tamarind lends a nice tangy taste to this pongal. Like pongal,consistency of this dish too is gooey. When I prepared this dish,my mom became nostalgic.She recounted her childhood memories of savoring this pongal along with sandigae ( fryums) for nreakfast. My mom explained that, in those days,rice was never purchased from shops as it was harvested and packed in gunny bags and stocked in many households.

After removing the chaff from the grains,it was packed in sacks. The broken grains in the sacks were segregated from the whole grains. The broken grains or rice rava was productively used in preparing many dishes :  puli pongal, rice upma or huli nuchu-  a sour buttermilk based dish prepared in Karnataka. But today,rice rava is easily available in all the shops.    

 

 

 

 

    

INGREDIENTS :

 

RICE RAVA-  1 CUP

WATER-  3 CUPS

TAMARIND- LEMON SIZE

SALT TO TASTE

 

FOR SEASONING :

 

SESAME OIL-   1 TBSP

 MUSTARD- 1 TSP

GRAM DAL- 1 TSP

URAD DAL-1 TSP

ASAFOETIDA- 3/4 TSP

GROUND NUTS- 5 TSP

CURRY LEAVES- 2 SPRIGS

RED CHILLIES- 3 NOS

GREEN CHILLIES- 1

TURMERIC POWDER- 1/2 TSP

 

PROCEDURE :

 

1. Take raw rice in a mixer jar and blend to coarse rava consistency and keep it aside.

 

2. Soak tamarind in warm water and extract syrup.

 

3. In a heavy bottom pan heat sesame oil and splutter mustard seeds. Then add all the ingredients cited above one by one and prepare the seasoning and switch off.

 

4. Now pour the tamarind syrup along with salt over the seasoning and boil till the raw smell evades completely.

 

5.Pour three cups of water over the tamarind syrup and boil in mild heat.

6. Slowly transfer the rice rava and keep stirring in mild heat till the grains get cooked.

7. Switch off the flame and close the pan with a tight lid and keep it aside for 20 minutes.

8. Serve with a dollop of  ghee and enjoy with any kind of crispy snacks.

AKKI ROTI

 

Akki is Kannada word for rice. Hence,rice flour is the primary ingredient in this roti. Akki roti is an ubiquitous breakfast option in most of the households in Karnataka. Sabsige soppu- a particular variant of greens imparts an authentic taste to this dish. Since it was unavailable here,I substituted it with fennel powder. To make perfect rotis,your dough has to be in right consistency. 

 

If the dough is too tight,then the rotis will turn hard, if it loose,then the roti will disintegrate while cooking. With little practice,you can certainly master the technique of mixing the dough. There are two methods of cooking akki roti-  You can either flatten the dough on plastic/ parchment paper or banana leaf. Another  method  is flattening it directly on the tawa. I always find the latter method convenient. You can have it with any chutney of your choice.

 

 

 

 

 INGREDIENTS  :

RICE FLOUR-  1 1/2 CUPS

ONIONS-  2 NOS

CARROT- 1 NO MEDIUM SIZE

GREEN CHILLIES- 2 NOS

CURRY LEAVES- 2 SPRIGS

CORIANDER CHOPPED- 

FENNEL POWDER- 1/2 TSP

COCONUT GRATINGS- 1 1/2 TBSP

GINGER GRATINGS- 1 TSP

CUMIN SEEDS- 1 TSP

SALT TO TASTE

WATER AS REQUIRED FOR KNEADING

PROCEDURE :

1. In a wide bowl , take rice flour,chopped onions,chopped green chillies,ginger and coconut gratings,cumin seeds,fennel powder,salt,curry leaves copped,chopped coriander leaves and mix well with hands or ladle.

 

2. Add water little by little to the rice flour mixture and blend well.

 

3. You should be able to roll it like chapati dough. If the dough is not smooth enough,then add some water to it.

4.Now pinch out the dough and roll it into balls of equal size and keep it aside.

5. Take butter paper/ parchment paper/ plastic cover or banana leaf.  Flatten the dough on it. 

6. Brush oil on the tawa and heat it. Alternatively, you can also flatten it directly on the tawa.Now gently shift the flattened dough to the hot tawa. 

7. Drizzle oil on the surface and sides of the roti. Cook on medium heat. When  it is cooked on one side,flip it to the other side and cook until you can see brown spots on the surface.

8. Serve with a dollop of ghee or butter with any side dish of your choice.

WHEAT RAVA PONGAL

 

 

Wheat rava pongal is an excellent breakfast option.You can even have it for dinner,but since sleeping is a sedentary activity , it is advisable to have light meal for dinner. Wheat rava is rich in insoluble fibre,vitamins and minerals.It helps in maintaining blood sugar levels due to low glycemic index. There are varied dishes prepared from this variant of semolina : Dosa, pongal,upma idli,bisibela bath,kesari and porridge.

                                                                                                                     

 

   

 

INGREDIENTS :

 

 

WHEAT RAVA-  1 CUP

 

MOONG DAL-  1/4 CUP

WATER-    4 CUPS

SALT TO TASTE

GHEE-   1 TBSP

SEASONING :

GHEE-  2 TSP

CUMIN SEEDS-  1 TSP

PEPPERCORNS- 3/ 4 TSP  CRUSHED

CASHEW NUTS-  10- 12 NOS

ASAFOETIDA-  3/4 TSP

CURRY LEAVES- 2 SPRIGS

GINGER GRATED-  1 TSP

                                                             

PROCEDURE  :

1.  In a pan heat a teaspoon of ghee and roast wheat rava till it is roasted with a slight change in the colour.

 

 

2.  In the same pan,add another teaspoon of  ghee and roast moong dal till nice smell emanates.

 

 

3. In a pressure cooker add 4 cups of water,salt and roasted wheat rava ,moong dal,a teaspoon of ghee and close the lid and pressure cook for 3 whistle and switch off.

 

 

 4. Prepare the seasoning by heating ghee in another pan. Splutter cumin seeds,crushed peppercorns,ginger gratings,asafoetida,cashewnuts and curry leaves.

5. After the heat subsides,open the pressure cooker and pour the seasoning over it and mix well. 

6. Serve with sambar and chutney of your choice.