Idli/ Dosa/ Ooththappam batter

Idli rice - 4 cups
Poha - a small handful

 soaked in lukewarm water for about 4 hrs

Whole urad - a little less than 2/3 cup
Vendhayam - about a tbsp

also soaked in about 2 cups lukewarm water

Grind urad first.  Then grind rice.  Mix well with about 2 tsp salt.

Keep in a vessel with enough room to rise on top.  Keep overnight in the oven with the ovenlight switched on.

Make idlis the next day.  Make dosas or uththappams the day after.

Idli, Dosa, Uthappam Batter

I have been thinking that I must post the recipes of staples that I make in the kitchen - the ones that I know off the top of my head.  One is, of course, sambar.  The others are the breakfast dishes - idlis, the different kinds of dosa and uthappam.  I make regular dosa, masala dosa and vegetable uthappam with cabbage, carrot and coriander leaves.  I also make chana dal dosa, whole moong dosa and adai.  These are the regular breakfast dishes at home apart from vegetable upma with spinach and carrot.  I am trying to increase my repertoire of standard breakfast items as well as snacks.  But I thought that first, I have to write down the ones that I am making now.

3 cups idli rice soaked in 3 cups warm water. Optional: Add a handful of poha to this. My hands are small.  If your hands are bigger, reduce accordingly.
1/2 cup whole urad soaked in 1 and 1/2 cups warm water. Add 1 tsp of methi seeds.  I sometimes add more up to 2 tbsp depending on my mood.  If you do that, it is better to make uthappams. You can make different kinds of uthappams with different vegetables in it.

Soak for 4 to 5 hours.

Grind urad first for about 10 minutes.  Empty resulting batter into a big vessel. There in no need to wash the grinder.  You have to grind the rice anyway.

Then grind rice for about 8 minutes.  Add this batter to the urad batter.  Rinse the grinder and pour the water into the batter.  You can add up to a cup of water in this way.  No more.  Then add salt to taste.  I add about 1 tsp to 1 and 1/2 tsp salt.  Mix the batter very well with your hands.  There should be room for the batter to rise in the vessel.  If not, pour some of the batter into another vessel and use both vessels to ferment the batter.  Keep the vessels in a warm place.  I put them in my oven and switch on the oven light.  I leave it this way overnight.

The next morning, I steam the idlis in the idli cooker.  I apply ghee to the plates first before pouring the batter.  I steam them for about 8 minutes.  If you forget to switch on the timer, use a knife or skewer to check if the idli is done.  It should come clean when you poke it into an idli; there should be no batter sticking to it.

This recipe will make about 50 idlis.  But you don't have to make so many.  Just make about 15 or 20 idlis i.e. steam 1 or 2 batches and keep the rest of the batter in the fridge.  You can make dosas, uthappams or paniyarams the next day or the day after.  The batter will keep for a few days in the fridge.  It may be a little more sour, that's all.

Tip: If you add more methi seeds, then it is better to make uthappams than dosas.  The dosas don't come out as well.  You can add vegetables and make different kinds of vegetable uthappams.

Chard Ghee Rice

Chard
Pre-cooked rice.
Home made ghee.
Chop chard finely.  Heat ghee, add jeera, ajwain, red chillies and hing.  Add chard.  Mix for 1 minute, reduce flame to 4 and cook for about 10 minutes or till done.

Vendekka Masala Dry

Only rarely do I find fresh vendekka in th store.  If I am lucky enough to find them, I buy quite a few of them to make this fry.

About 25 to 30 fresh medium sized vendekka

Wash and trim the vendekka.  Cut slits in them length wise.

2 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp dry mango powder

1/2 tsp fennel powder

1/4 tsp garam masala powder (I use home ground powder of cardamom, cloves and cinnamon that Amma prepares for me)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Mix all the above together with 1 tbsp of oil and stuff the vendekka with this mixture.  Spread any remaining powder all over the vegetable.

Heat 4 tbsp of oil.  (I use oil left over from frying pazham pori and pakodas; this adds flavour.)

Add 1 tbsp of gram flour.  Fry lightly on medium flame until it starts to smell fragrant.  Do not fry for long; it burns quickly.  As soon as it starts to smell fragrant and starts to turn slightly brown, add the vendekka.  Reduce the heat to medium, cover and stir occasionally till it is cooked.  

Aloo Parotta

Aloo paratha

Cook potato.  Peel and mash with jeera powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt.  Make chapathi dough.  Fill and cook.  Make small parathas for the kids' lunch.

Oatmeal Raisin Apple Cookies

I have this Scottish Oatmeal which I got on Amazon and I am planning to use it in breads and cookies.  After nearly 6 months in the closet, I finally got around to using it.  The cookies were simply delicious.  B and I were on not-so-good terms today.  They were delicious enough to get through his defenses.  From what I could understand, he preferred them over me.  Still, that's saying something for the cookies at least.

1 cup Scottish oatmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I used whole wheat chapathi flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
4 tbsp butter (1/2 stick) (cold)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 of a medium apple, peeled and chopped fine
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla essence

Combine oatmeal, wheat flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Rub the cold butter into the flour.  Add the sugar and mix.  Mix in the raisins and apple.

Add the milk, yoghurt and vanilla essence.

Make a dough without handling too much.

Make small ball and flatten them out on the pan.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake the cookies for about 15 to 17 minutes.

Whole chana curry

2 cups whole brown chana with skin soaked overnight.
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp ajwain
5 dry red chillies
1/8 tsp asafoetida
2 tbsp ghee
3 small tomatoes chopped
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp dry ginger powder
2 tsp amchur powder
1/2 tsp cardamom, clove and cinnamon powder (Amma's)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves

Heat ghee, add cumin, fennel, ajwain, chillies and asafoetida.  Add tomatoes, all the powders, 1/2 cup of water and pour into cooker along with the chole and cook.  After it is done, boil down if necessary to obtain necessary thickness.  Add coriander leaves.  If you make it early enough, take out some of it, cool it down and blend it and add it to the curry instead of boiling it down.