Instant Rave Dose!!!

Ingredients:

Chiroti Rava / Sooji / Semolina – 1 cup
Rice Flour / Akki hittu 1. 5 cup
Salt to taste
Water as needed
Oil for frying dosa
Onion - 1 medium sized finely chopped
Coriander Leaves – a big handful finely chopped
Carrot - 1 grated

Method:

Add rice flour, rava, salt in a mixing bowl. Add water & make into a very thin batter & set it aside for 15 mins.

Add in the chopped onion, carrot & coriander leaves & mix well.

Heat the dosa tawa & pour a ladleful of batter from a height so that it forms small holes in this. Don’t Spread the batter..Just pour it thinly around.

Drizzle some oil and let it cook for a min or two or till it turn golden. Flip over and cook for a min.

Remove & Serve hot with coconut chutney or chutney pudi!!

Notes:

1)Make the batter very thin so that while you make the dosa it forms thinly.
2)Pour the batter from a height so that holes will form on the dosa..Don’t spread the dosa with the ladle like the regular one...
3)Mix well before making each dosa & adjust the consistency of the batter by adding more water if it gets thick as it stands by.Thinner the Batter crispier the dosa..
4)Add more rice flour if the dosa sticks to the pan.
5)The trick is in spreading the batter on the tava.

Eggless Beetroot Choco Mug Cake!!!

There are times when you crave for something sweet & yet a healthy dessert which would not make you gain weight. Mug cakes come to the rescue in satisfying such cravings as you are indulging only into a small portion of the dessert, perfect for two. This is a very healthy & easy recipe for an eggless red-velvet cake using beetroot puree as a natural food color instead of the artificial food color. It literally takes 15 minutes to make this little cutie.  You don’t even get the taste of beetroot as the cocoa powder masks it out.  Do try it once!!!

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 4 tbsp

Sugar – 2.5 tbsp (powdered)

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Cocoa powder- 2 tsps

Beetroot – 1 medium sized

Vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp

Milk - 3 tbsp (Use boiled milk at room temp)

Vegetable oil/cooking oil - 1.5 tbsp ( use odorless oil)

Method:

Peel the beetroot, wash & cook in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles.  Let it cool & then make a puree of it using a spoon or two of milk & keep it aside. 

Sift together all the dry ingredients (Maida, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder & salt) & keep aside.  In a bowl mix beetroot puree, vanilla essence, milk & oil & whisk it in.  Now add the dry ingredients one spoon at a time & gently fold everything into a smooth, lump-free batter.  The batter should be of ribbon consistency.  Now grease a microwavable coffee mug or glass bowl & pour the batter into it until half because this cake will double while cooking. Microwave this for 3 minutes, until a knife/toothpick/tester comes out almost clean with just a few crumbs attached to it. Else keep it again for 10 secs.

Let it cool & later loosen the edges and invert the cake onto a plate or simply enjoy it in the mug/bowl. Serve with any frosting or just sprinkle powdered sugar, chocolate vermicelli & a piece of cherry as I have done & enjoy!  Make your choice of frostings/toppings!!!

Note: 

·        This cake is not as sweet as the regular cakes & as it is a "lighter" version it would be a little dense than the regular cakes. It is a compromise, but you get to eat a cake that is almost as sweet & as good as the rich & sinful ones. 

·        Adjust the time based on the power of your microwave. 

·        You can even add in melted butter instead of oil & also use eggs which would result in a fluffier cake.

Nimbehannina Chitranna/Lemon Rice!!!

A simple, refreshing, tangy rice mix which can be altered to an individual's taste by adding or omitting fresh coconut gratings, onions, green chillies/red chillies etc., This is also one of the dishes which is served in few temples in South India as prasadam without the onions!!!  This is one of my personal favourite when I am really bored with the usual rasam & sambhar & a very easy peasy one which can be prepared in a few mins...

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice - 2 cups
Onions - 1 large, finely chopped
Fresh coconut gratings - 2 tbsps
Fresh Coriander - 1 tbsp, finely chopped
Green Chillies - 5-6, slit length-wise
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 2 tbsps
Mustard - 1 tsp
Kadale bele/Chana Dal - 2 tsps
Uddina bele/Urad Dal - 2 tsps
Groundnuts - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 lemon / as per your taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard & once it crackles add the kadale & uddina bele/dals, groundnuts & turmeric & fry until its golden color.  Now add green chillies, curry leaves, onions & saute for a few mins till the onions are light brown.  Add the coconut gratings & fry for a min & remove from heat.  Add the cooked rice, chopped coriander leaves, salt, lemon juice & mix well & serve along with papad/pickles/balaka or uppu menasinakayi etc.,

Notes:
# Its very important to have the cooked rice cooled down fully to room temperature before mixing with the oggaranne/tadka.
# You can replace green chillies with dry red chillies.
# Adding onions is optional, you can also add green peas, fried cashews etc.,  But an authentic chitranna/lemon rice consists of the above ingredients only.  If preparing on a festival day skip the onions.
# Adjust the chillies & lemon according to your taste.

Oggaranne Mosaranna / Curd Rice with tadka!!!

A simple south indian traditional dish & also the best food to eat for the below reasons:

1. When your tummy is upset;
2. Helps your body cool down on a hot summer;
3. A lazy persons best friend ;-)

Many of the temples in south india also do give this dish as a prasadam.  Do try it out once & I hope you would like it. 

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice - 2 cups
Thick & fresh curd - 1 cup
Milk - 3/4th cup
Ginger - 2 tsps, grated
Fresh Coriander - 1 tbsp, finely chopped
Green Chillies - 2, slit length-wise
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Ghee - 2 tsps.
Mustard - 1 tsp
Uddina bele/Urad Dal - 2 tsps.
Hing/Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat ghee in a pan, add mustard & once it crackles add the bele/dal, green chillies, curry leaves, hing & fry for a few seconds & add to the cooked rice.  Add the chopped coriander leaves, grated ginger, salt to this & mix well.  Now add the milk & mix well & keep it aside until you plan to serve.  Just before serving, add the fresh curd & mix well & serve immediately along with papad/pickles/balaka or uppu menasinakayi etc.,

Notes:
# Its very important to have the cooked rice cooled down fully to room temperature before mixing with the oggaranne/tadka.
# Never use oil instead of ghee in the oggaranne/tadka for this dish as it gives out a bitter taste after sometime & ghee tadka is what gives you the taste for this dish.
# You can replace green chillies with dry red chillies.
# Adding uddina bele/urad dal is optional, you can also add grated carrot, finely chopped cucumber/tomatoes/onions etc.,
# Don't add the curd in the start as it might turn sour after sometime. 









 

Sabudana Khichdi!!!

A lovely no-onion & no-garlic recipe which is completely fool proof..  Do try it out & I'm sure you would love it!!

 Ingredients:

Sabudana/sabakki kalu - 1 cup

Groundnuts - 2 tbsps 

Potato - 1 medium sized, peeled & chopped into bite-size pieces 

Green peas - 2-3 tbsps cooked

Green chillies - 3, slit lengthwise 

Curry leaves - 1 sprig 

Jeera - 1 tsp 

Oil - 2 tbsps 

Salt to taste 

Sugar - 2 tsps 

Juice of half a lemon 

Fresh coriander leaves - finely chopped 

Method:

Wash the sabudana until the water runs clear & drain it out until only half a glass of water is remaining in it. Let it soak for minimum of 4 hours or overnight. 

Dry roast the peanuts in a pan & once cooled down grind it coarsely in a mixer. Mix this with the soaked sabudana & keep it aside.  In the same pan heat 2 tsps of oil & fry the potatoes until it's crispy & cooked & keep it aside.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan, add jeera & let it splutter.  Add the green chillies, curry leaves & fry for a min. Now add the sabudana - peanut mixture & saute until the sabudana pearls turn translucent. This hardly takes 2-3 mins, so keep stirring the sabudana to avoid it sticking to each other. Add in the green peas, fried potatoes, salt & sugar & mix well & remove from heat. Add the lemon juice & coriander leaves, mix gently & serve hot.

Note:

~ The key to this fool proof recipe is the soaking part. Never soak the sabudana in too much of water.  Once washed drain the water completely leaving only half a glass of water for the pearls to absorb & swell.

~ Addition of potatoes & green peas are optional, you can omit them & add onions or any other veggies of your choice. 

~ Mixing the sabudana with the coarse Groundnuts makes sure that the pearls don't stick to each other. 

~ This tastes good when served hot, once it gets cold it would turn rubbery.

Mixed Soppina Palya/Greens stir fry

Ingredients:

Mixed Soppu/Greens - 2 cups, washed & finely chopped 

Togari Bele/Toovar Dal - 1 cup, cooked

Onion - 1 big, finely chopped 

Green chillies - 3-4, slit lengthwise 

Fresh coconut grating - 2 tbsps 

Oil - 1 tbsp 

Mustard - 1 tsp

Kadale bele/channa Dal - 1 tsp

Uddina Bele/urad dal - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 1 sprig 

Salt to taste 

Juice of half a lemon 

Method:

Cook the greens and the dal seperately.   In a pan, heat oil, add mustard and let it splutter. Throw in the kadale bele, uddina bele, curry leaves, green chillies and fry for a min, now add the chopped onions and saute until it's light brown.  

Add the cooked greens/soppu, bele/dal, fresh coconut gratings, salt and mix well and let it cook for a min on low heat.  After a min remove from heat and add lemon juice, mix well and serve. This tastes very good with almost all dishes like plain rice and rasam, curd rice, chapati etc., 

Note:

Adjust the spiciness according to ur taste, you can also replace green chillies with dry red chillies.

Mixed Greens = Dantu, sabsige, menthya, palak and basale is what I used.  You can also add any greens of your choice like moolangi, beetroot, nugge soppu etc.. 

Onion is optional. Coconut gratings is a must. 

Set Dose-y!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cups Idli rice
1 1/2 cups normal rice
1/2 cup Urad dal
2 tbsps fenugreek seeds /methi
1/2 cup sabakki/sabudana 
1/2 cup Avalakki/poha
A glass of buttermilk 
A pinch of sugar
Salt  for batter.

( you can choose any convenient size of cup, as a glass, small steel cup or tumbler, but use the same cup to measure remaining ingredients  )

Method.

Wash  the dal and  rice well, soak in clean water seperately for minimum of 5 hours or overnight.
Soak the Avalakki & sabakki seperately in buttermilk & the methi seeds along with urad dal.

After the soaking time, grind the urad dal and methi to a smooth batter.Dont add too much water while grinding. Keep aside. Next grind the rice, also to a smooth batter.Adding little water to enable easy grinding. At the last stage of finishing grinding the rice, add the Avalakki & sabakki soaked in buttermilk, which would have swollen after absorbing the buttermilk, grind well now and the batter will become thick at this stage.

Remove the batter and now mix both batters well, it should be thicker than the normal dosa batter. Use your hand to mix the batter.

Leave to ferment overnight in a big vessel to allow the fermented batter to rise without spilling.

Set dosa batter normally ferments quickly especially in the hot humid months, so you need to ferment just sufficiently or else the batter will turn sour.

When the batter has fermented well, add little water if it appears very thick along with salt and sugar, then take a ladle and mix the batter gently but well, not vigorously, as we will lose the aeration.  We need to mix after fermentation to allow the top fluffy fermented batter to mix uniformly with the thick batter below as we do for idlis.

The consistency of batter will be slightly thinner than Idli batter.

To prepare the dosa, keep the griddle /tava  to heat well, then take a ladle full of batter and pour slowly , without making the swirls as we normally do for regular dosas, the batter must fall thick and quickly, but not runny either.

As soon as the batter has fallen on the hot tava, you will see it spreading all around by itself, just like pancakes,  bubbles appearing slowly , keep the flame on a low or very medium as the dosa gets browned very quickly, as soon as the top has got bubbles or holes, you may also close the dosa with a lid to enable quick cooking and forming more pore.. Closing the dosa with a lid also helps keep the set dosa, soft and moist.

Then check the dosa after removing the lid will appear soft, porous, flip only if necessary., flip over for a quick cooking, allow a little more medium flame now. Use oil/ghee as we would normally for regular dosas.

Set dosa is ready. Usually they appear uniform in perfect circles as it is not swirled or spread with a ladle, so they stack them together and serve hot with a dollop of butter, coconut chutney and vegetable sagu!!