Instant Rava Uttapam

This is yet another instant recipe that comes to my rescue when I have run out of ideas for breakfast . The rava and the vegetables make it a wholesome and healthy way to start the day .I use minimal oil while making it and that makes it even more healthier. It is an ideal breakfast for both bachelors and families , when you want a breakfast filling enough without making too many efforts. This photograph is not of the best uttapam that I have made , but till the time I get around to making this and actually get the chance to take a decent photo I guess this one will have to do. :-)

INGREDIENTS -

( For 4 medium size uttapams)


Rava/ Semolina/ Sooji - 1 cup
Curd/ Yogurt - 1cup
Water - as required
Onion - 1/2 medium size , chopped finely
Tomato - 1 medium size ,finely chopped ( I used cherry tomatoes as I had a few languishing in my refrigerator)
Green chili - 1-2 as per taste
Capsicum - 1/4 finely chopped ( I did not have any so I did not add it , but it tastes wonderful)
Salt - as per taste
Red chili powder - as per taste
Coriander leaves - 1 fistful , finely chopped
Oil- for making the uttapam


METHOD-


Take rava in a vessel and add half of the curd ( the more sour the curd is the better it tastes) , add water so that the batter that is formed is of medium consistency. Let it stand for 10 -15 minutes , in the meanwhile you can chop up the vegetables .
After 15 minutes , the rava would have soaked up the water and the batter would have become thick , add the remaining curd and mix well . Now add the vegetables ,salt , chili powder and mix the batter once more.
Take a frying pan and heat it over the stove , add a few drops of oil and then spread a ladleful of the batter on the pan . Spread it a little with the ladle. Now pour a few more drops of oil over it and cover the pan with a cover . Let it cook for a couple of minutes , then flip over to the other side and cook similarly.
When both the sides are well cooked ( slight brown spots would appear) , serve hot with tomato ketchup or the traditional coconut chutney.

Crisp Plantain (raw banana) Fritters

When I saw that bananas have been chosen as the ingredient for JFI last month , as usual my mind started racing , thinking about all the things I knew could be made using bananas .

As I belong to the Northern part of India where Bananas are consumed mainly as a fruit , there were hardly any north Indian dishes I could thing of . But then thanks to my dad's transferable job we have had the opportunity to live in different parts of our amazing country. My mother being a firm believer of the health benefits of having fresh and in season fruits and vegetables , did not hesitate to include the locally available goodies into the menu. She would take the recipes from her friends and then modify them to suit our palettes.


This is one of such recipes . I don't know from where she picked it up ...but it used to be a big hit with us especially on a rainy day . We used to have a number of banana trees in out back yard and I remember my mother picking a fresh plantain and then making these fritters for us.Both me and my brother loved the crisp fritters , with the subtle taste of the plantain enhanced with just salt and chilli.


Nowadays I hardly make any thing which is deep fried , but much to the glee of my husband these blog events give me an incentive to pour oil in my wok and pick up my karchi to fry something....

The recipe goes as follows -


INGREDIENTS -

Plantain/ raw banana - 1

Rice - 1/3 cup ( soaked in water for 2-3 hours)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 t sp

Salt - as per taste

Red chili powder - 1/2 t sp

Salt - as per taste

Oil - for deep frying




METHOD -

Coarsely grind the rice into a paste ( it should be coarse to touch and not a fine paste)

Add the salt, turmeric and red chili powder to this rice paste

Wash the plantain and peel off the peel. Cut diagonally into pieces of medium thickness.

Mix the plantain pieces into the rice paste and cover them with the rice paste well.

Deep fry 4-5 pieces at a time till the plantain is cooked.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup ,coriander chutney , or any other chutney of your choice



These can also be served as a part of lunch or dinner.

Healthy carrot salad

Okie ...let me start off with a confession ......I was supposed to post this one way back as an entry for RCI-Karnataka ....its actually my take on the traditional Kosumbari...my friend and blogging guide Lakshmi di of Taste of Mysore was kind enough to tell me this recipe so that I could also participate in this event hosted by Ashaji .... But even though I had done all the preparatory work , the salad was made , photos taken somehow I never got around to posting it ... and this has continued for more than a month . I guess it was some kind of a phase going on.

Well Lakshmi di is now back from her India trip and I got the gentle nudge from her for missing all the deadlines :-) ......this combined with reduced work load and hubby's absence due to an official trip has got me back to the computer jotting down this post.


I have changed a few things in the original recipe ....for starters I have used sprouted moong dal , mainly because I am a firm believer of the health benefits of sprouts and also because it adds a nice lush green color ....this when combined with the bright carrot red and white of the coconut makes this salad such a visual treat .... and isn't it true that food should appeal to all our senses of vision, smell, touch and taste. Also I added chopped green chillies instead of chili paste
mainly because I was too lazy to make a paste.

I made the salad as follows -


INGREDIENTS -

Whole green moong dal - 1/2 cup ( soaked overnight and then left to sprout in a wet cloth for the whole day - would give more than 1 cup of sprouts )
Carrot - 1 cup ( roughly grated )

Coconut - 1/2 cup ( roughly grated)

Lime - 1

Green chillies - 1-2 ( depending on how hot u want the salad to be ..the original recipe needed green chili paste ..but I was too lazy to make a paste and i just chopped them finely )

Salt - As per taste

Black pepper powder - as per taste

Chopped Coriander leaves - 2 -3 t sp. ( for garnishing)

METHOD -

Wash the sprouts under running water so that there is no smell in them ( that happens if you keep the sprouts in a closed box for sometime , because of the carbon di oxide which the sprouts produce) . Mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl. Add lime juice , salt ,pepper powder and toss the salad well . Set in the refrigerator for 15 minutes , it serves better when it is cold.

Serves : 2 people

Bread Poha

Hi everyone …posting this recipe after a long time. Increased work load , followed by a bout of viral kept me busy all these days and as a result I couldnot make and subsequently blog something interesting . These photographs were languishing in the pending folder for quite a longtime and so I thought I would post this recipe just to become active again. A simple recipe for a hearty breakfast …using all the left over bread slices which are not stale enough to be thrown but not fresh enough to be eaten also.

Once after 2 years of marriage I remembered this recipe when I had a whole lot of semi stale bread slices and decided to make it for a weekend breakfast, and since then I have been making it regularly on request from hubby dear. Infact, many a times he puts in his request on a Thursday or a Friday itself ;-) …..

The recipe is real simple and you can freely incorporate your own ingredients.

INGREDIENTS :-

Serves 2

Bread slices – 8
Eggs – hard boiled –2
Onion – 1 medium sized, chopped
Tomato – 1 medium size – chopped finely
Boiled potato – 1 medium sized
Peas – ½ cup
Green chilies – 2
Mustard seeds – ½ t sp
Oil – 1 tb spoon
Milk – ½ cup
Red chilli powder – ½ t sp
Turmeric – ½ t sp.
Salt – as per taste
Chopped coriander for garnishing

You can add chopped carrots, capsicum, and baby corn if you wish.

METHOD :-
In a pan heat the oil and add mustard seeds. Once they have stopped spluttering, add the chopped onion and green chilies. Sauté the onion till it becomes pinkish in color, and then add the finely chopped tomatoes. Add the salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder and stir 2-3 times. Cook till the tomatoes are squishy. Then add the chopped boiled potato and peas . Cover the pan and cook on low flame till the peas are cooked.
In the meanwhile, slice the bread pieces into about 2 cms squares and keep them aside. Also slice the boiled eggs into squares.
Once the peas are cooked, add the bread slices to the pan and mix well. Sprinkle the milk over the slices, mix and immediately cover the pan. The milk will evaporate and make the bread soft. Keep the flame low otherwise the bread will get burnt. After 2-3 mins open the pan and mix the poha lightly and add the boiled egg pieces. Garnish with coriander and serve with tomato ketchup.

Poori Mania - Palak/ Spinach Poori with Kala chana and Sooji Halwa

When I saw pooris being blogged on every blog that I visited ...I thought what is all with this poori mania ????........

A little more blog patrolling revealed that Anita of A Mad Tea Party has started this and declared poori - bhaaji as the national food of India. I must say I whole heartily agree with her, but instead of making pooris with bhaaji .....I decided to make poori with the traditional kala chana " black chickpeas" and Sooji halwa , which are my hubby's favorite also.

Traditionally this combination is made at the end of the nine days fasting period called "Nav ratra" in the northern parts of the country .

Pooris have become a rare treat these days with the increased awareness about the HDLs and LDLs ..but this combination is always welcomed in our home and you can serve this for any meal of the day and be rest assured that it will be devoured with much gusto and happiness ;-) . I added palak "spinach" to the poori dough to assuage our guilt about devouring them and also to add a little more taste and color to it.....well here comes my recipe for the same.

Palak Poori ( about 15 )

Wheat flour - 1.5 cups

Palak/ spinach - 1 bunch

Salt - as per taste

Oil - 1 tbsp

Oil for frying

Clean and wash the spinach and then boil it in a pressure cooker with very little water. After 2 whistles , remove the cooker from the stove and cool it under running water . You can also use a microwave for this purpose .Puree the spinach in a blender .

Take the flour in bowl and add the salt. Then add the 1 tb sp oil and rub the flour well between your fingers. Then add the spinach puree to the flour and knead to make soft dough . If the puree is not enough then you can add a little water to prepare the dough. Set the dough aside for 15 mins after covering with a moist cloth.

Pinch out small balls of dough and roll them into small circles with the help of a rolling pin . Deep fry these circles in hot oil . Puffed up delicious pooris are ready !

Sooji Halwa ( for 2 people)

Sooji/ Semolina - 1/2 cup

Besan / Gram flour - 1 tb sp.

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1/3 cup

Cardamom - 2-3

Water - 2 cups

Dry fruits - as per taste

Dry roast the sooji in a pan till it becomes fragrant . Then add the besan/ gram four and stir for a minute . Add the ghee to this mixture and keep stirring continuously . Fry till the time the ingredients become light brown ( some people like the halwa to be whitish or a little pale ...if you like it that ways than you can stop the roasting at that stage , I like mine a little dark in color so I roast it a little longer) . Lower the flame to minimum and add crushed cardamom . Then add the sugar and immediately add the water . Let the mixture simmer at medium flame . Keep stirring continuously till the consistency becomes thick . Take off the stove and garnish with dry fruits of your choice.

Food for little goddesses - Zeere Wala Chana

This dish is made in almost all North Indian households atleast two times in a year at the end of the nine day fasting period called the "Nav Ratra" . Usually this is served to all the young girls who are invited to the house that day . These young girls are believed to be the incarnations of Goddess Durga and are hence treated like that on that day . In my household we make it more than two times simply because we both love this dish .

When I saw Sunita's spice event 'Think Spice Think Cumin' , I thought of a lot of dishes like Zeera rice , Zeera aloo ...but then everyday I saw someone making them , blogging them and sending their entries to Sunita. With each passing day I ran out of options ....and then it struck me that I can make this recipe . But as usual I managed to miss the deadline set by Sunita :-( I seem to be developing an expertise in missing all these deadlines .

Well , though I missed the deadline I still made this dish and here I am sharing it with you all .

Zeere wala Kala Chana / Black chickpeas with Cumin

Black chickpeas/ Kala Chana - 2 cups

Cumin - 1 tsp.

Green chillies - 2-3

Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Dry mango powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Asafoetida - a pinch

Oil - 1 tbsp

Soak the black chickpeas overnight and then pressure cook them with 3-4 cups of water. Add a little salt while pressure cooking the chickpeas . Cook till 4-5 whistles.

Once cooked drain the chickpeas and keep them aside .

In a pan heat the oil . Add a pinch of asafoetida to the oil and once you can smell it add the cumin . Then add the chopped green chillies followed by the boiled chickpeas. Stir well so that all the chickpeas are covered with oil . Then add the red chilli powder and coriander powder followed by the salt. Stir well till the chickpea is well fried and all the water has dried . Take the pan off the flame and when a little cool add the dry mango powder and stir well .

Traditionally it is served with pooris and sooji / atta halwa. You can serve it as a side dish with any wet /gravy . It can also be a part of the breakfast or a snack by itself .

Express Recipe - Potatoes in a light and fragrant tomato gravy

When I read about the Summer Express Cooking Event being hosted at malluspice..I was a happy person ..coz I knew exactly what I had to make .

But then as it happens when you are over confident ...I did not realise how fast time flew and before I knew the deadline was here...and then I had to actually run and time everything ;-)

As a result ...I am just sending the recipe of one part of a complete meal for this event :-(

This is a simple recipe .....a perfect one for those days when its too hot to stand in the kitchen or when you are hard pressed for time .

The gravy is totally tomato based and low in oil content - hence a healthy recipe too ...

Ingredients :-

Potato - 1 large , peeled and diced into medium size pieces

Tomato - 2 -3 large

Cumin seeds /zeera - 1 t. sp.

Red chilli powder - as per taste

Green chilli - 1-2 depending on taste

Turmeric powder - 1/4 t sp.

Garam masala - 1/4 t sp. ( as per taste)

Salt - as per taste

Oil - 1 tb. sp.

Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Cooking time - 20 mins

Serves - 2 people

Method :-

Wash all the vegetables together . Then peel and dice the potato .

Puree the tomatoes in the blender .

Now in a pressure cooker , add the oil . Once the oil is hot enough add the cumin seeds and finely chopped green chillies. Once they stop spluttering , add the potato pieces . Saute for a minute , then add the tomato puree , salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder.

Close the pressure cooker and let it be on high flame . After the first whistle , reduce the flame . Take the cooker off the stove after the 2nd whistle.

Once a little cool , open the pressure cooker and keep it on medium flame add the garam masala and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes . Mash the potato a little so that the consistency becomes a little thick . Take off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.

I usually team this with matar pulav or some other rice dish , plain curd, papads and salad.

This can be served with paranthas/chapati also.

Note : - One can add peas to add color and flavor to the dish .