Brown Rice & Red Beaten Rice Dosa With Onion-Tomato Chutney | Indian Pancake | Vegan | Gluten Free | Dairy Free | Step Wise

 

 

 

Hi All!!

Sorry for being away from the blog all of a sudden..the intention was definitely not to disappear but somehow life became too busy with traveling, then unpacking and getting back to a regular routine..

I’m posting yet another healthy preparation which is perfect for not only pregnant women but any health conscious person. I’m personally trying to move gradually to eating brown rice rather than the polished rice. I had attempted this  preparation using brown rice before we started on a tour and during my travel I had carried my laptop too so that I could finish the post but life was so hectic that I never found time to complete the post. Finally today I’ve just pushed myself to sit in front of the screen and finish the incomplete job.

Let me be honest I was very skeptical about the taste of the dosa. The only thing I was confident about was that no matter how the dosa tasted, some kind of pancake could be made with the batter.  To my surprise the dosa turned out really nice, it was very light to eat and had a nice nutty taste which I savored  thoroughly without being guilty as it had healthy and wholesome ingredients in it.

I made a few changes to my regular tomato chutney and made it a little spicy too to go with the plain dosa and the combo turned out superb. I gave the dosa in kid’s lunch box and we had it for the breakfast. In case you want to eat light food for the dinner, this dosa is just perfect for that.

 

Brown Rice & Red Beaten Rice Dosa

Soaking Time: 5-6hrs | Fermenting Time: Overnight | Preparation Time: 10mins | Cooking Time: 2mins/dosa  & 10mins for Chutney | Makes: 17-18 | Serves:3-4

Ingredients for Dosa

2cups brown rice

1/2cup red beaten rice/poha

1/4 cup dhuli moong daal

1/4cup urad daal

1/2tsp fenugreek seeds

Ingredients For Chutney

1small onion

2medium tomatoes

1/4tsp turmeric

4-5 dry red chilies

6-7 curry leaves

salt to taste

2tsp oil

For Tempering

2tbsp oil

1tbsp mix of urad-chana dal

1/2tsp mustard seeds

Method For Making The Dosa

 

Soak all the ingredients for 4-5 hours. The brown rice takes a longer time to soak. Grind them to a smooth & fine paste. Mix all and let it ferment overnight or for 8-10hrs.

Once fermented, mix again thoroughly to release the trapped air and add salt to taste. Adjust consistency using the water.

Grease a non stick pan and spread a ladle full of batter in concentric circles and cook on one side till crisp ad golden in color. Flip and smear more oil and let it cook.

 

Method For Onion- Tomato Chutney

Heat oil and sauté the red chilies followed by onions. Once the onions have become translucent add tomatoes, curry leaves, turmeric and salt. Cook till tomatoes are soft. Cool and grind.

Heat oil for tempering and splutter mustard seeds and then add urad-chana daal. Once the lentils are golden pour it over the chutney and mix.

 

Sending this to my event ‘Only’ Food For Pregnancy, hosted here.

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Shahi Dosa, Step By Step Filling & The Winner of March Month’s ‘Only’ Event

 

Hello Friends!!

Firstly apologies for disappearing suddenly, I was just held up with too many things..

Today I’m posting a Dosa recipe very close to my heart. This brings in many childhood memories..Almost once in a month after the Sunday meditation, I and my brother would accompany my parents and visit a vegetarian restaurant called Naivedyam, where I and my dad would religiously order the Shahi dosa and  savor that. While my brother ordered spring rolls and my Mom would order a paav bhaaji or chhole bhature. This happened for several years till the restaurant shut down. My dad also loved their Kashmiri pulao and after the restaurant shut down I tried the preparation

at home for him and fortunately in my first attempt I made it exactly like the restaurant and then whenever we had guests coming over my mom would ask me to make the pulao. After the success of the pulao, I tried my hand on the dosa, I did not have any recipe in hand what I remembered were the ingredients, flavor and taste. Keeping all that in mind I attempted making the filling and I got it right the first time .

I had almost forgotten about this dosa preparation and recently while remembering old memories I was reminded of it and I was too eager to try it again and when DH asked me to make masala dosa on a Sunday, I also made the filling for Shahi dosa and treated myself with age old memories and relived those moments..

The word ‘Shahi’ means ‘royal’, and the word royal is related to the richness of the filling. It is cooked in ghee with nuts, raisins and cottage cheese all of which make the preparation rich looking and obviously high on calories. But once in a while indulgence is okay, isn’t it?

I felt like a kid after eating the dosa and wished that I could go 20yrs back and visit the place again. Me and my dreams..nevertheless, I know whenever I want to be a kid again, I’m going to make this Dosa.

 

Shahi Masala Dosa

Preparation Time For Filling: 15mins

Preparation Time For Dosa Batter: 8-10hrs

Cooking Time For Filling: 10mins

Cooking Time For Each Dosa: 2-3mins

Makes: 8-10 dosas with the filling

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

For Dosa Batter

3cups parmal rice

1cup boiled rice

1cup thick beaten rice

1cup urad dal

1tbsp methi seeds

1cup mix of chana, tuvar and yellow moong daal

For Filling

10-15 cashew nuts

1tbsp raisins

2-3tbsp ghee/clarified butter or oil

an inch of ginger, grated

1green chili, chopped

2medium tomatoes chopped

1 onion chopped

250gms cottage cheese/paneer grated

a pinch of garam masala

1/4tsp turmeric

1-1-1/2tsp red chili powder

1tbsp coriander powder

salt to taste

1tsp cumin powder

salt to taste

1 green capsicum, finely chopped

Method

For Dosa Batter

Soak all ingredients separately for 4-5hrs and grind them into a smooth paste, mix and leave aside for 5-6hrs to ferment. Add salt and mix again. Adjust the consistency of the batter, it should not be very thick nor too thin. It should have a consistency thinner than a cake batter. The addition of three yellow lentils adds more nutrition as well as color to the dosa. For another version of Dosa batter check here. Sending this dosa rich in legumes to my event ‘Only’ Cooking With Legumes hosted by Nalini.

Heat a griddle or non stick pan and grease it. Pour a ladle full of dosa batter in the center and spread it using the base of ladle in circular movements. This process has to be done really fast else the batter gets cooked and does not spread.

Cook on one side till it develops a golden color and then turn and cook on other side.

Turn again and put the filling in center and fold the dosa or turn the edges lightly on three sides (I did it).

For Filling

Heat the ghee and add the cashew nuts and fry them.

Tip in the onions and ginger, sauté.

Add the green chili, tomato and dry spices, raisins along with salt, mix and cook.

Finally add cottage cheese and capsicum and cook for a minute. Do not overcook, the capsicum needs to be crunchy. This filling is multi purpose, it is great as a side dish with paratha and a good stuffing for sandwiches too.

Coming to the winner of last month’s event. Out of the 25entries sent under Indian Category posted here, the winner is number 18 picked by random selector.

The recipe at number 17 is Shell Pasta in Spianch Pesto Sauce, posted by Sharanya of Sara’s Tasty Buds. Congrats Sharanya, you win ‘Baked Dishes’ cookbook by Tarla Dalal. Please mail me your address in India, with landmark, pin code and phone number to cookingoodfood@gmail.com within two days to claim the win. If you are unable to claim within two days, I will pick a new winner.

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Barley-Hyacinth Bean Upma/ Javaa-Avarekaalu Uppittu

 

Hello again!

I have mentioned several times that my family is a huge fan of avarekaalu/hyacinth beans/field beans/mochai. Come season and I’m ready to peel the tender pods and extract the beautiful seeds, fresh and green. These days we are getting fresh beans and to my delight it has a good flavor too.

Recently on my visit to a gourmet store here, I picked some barley dalia or barley’s coarse meal. I wanted to use it in an innovative way, especially since I was cooking the barley dalia for the first time. I was super excited with the preparation I wanted to try and at the same time apprehensive too. I thought for the first time I was getting a bit ambitious since I did not know how much time it would take to cook but I had used pearl barley in my cooking earlier, so that helped me. .. I realized while cooking, that’s what the foodie in me wanted, some adrenalin rush and then a hopefully a decent foodie treat at the end…

Before I elaborate more about the preparation, I do want to emphasize on the importance and health benefits of this grain. For me, Barley is a powerhouse of nutrition. This centuries-old grain is packed with fiber, contains important vitamins and minerals, is slim on fat, and, like all plant products, cholesterol-free. It is also low on GI (glycemic index) making it useful for diabetics. Since it is an excellent source of dietary fiber, especially the  beta-glucan soluble fiber. Research shows that barley beta-glucan soluble fiber promotes healthy blood sugar by slowing glucose absorption and thus helping the diabetics. Barley is also a good diuretic and helps in cleansing the urinary system. With so many  health benefits it is a grain to be eaten frequently and that’s what I’m going to do now..eat healthy and stay fit!!

Coming back to the recipe.. I did not take a risk and soaked the barley meal  and kept checking the grain every 15mins and realized it soaks faster as compared to pearl barley, the grain had soaked well in an hour. I had the hyacinth beans peeled and stored in the fridge and also had freshly grated coconut. I walked on similar lines of  the Avarekaalu Uppittu that my family loves. Fortunately, the cooking procedure was not at all daunting and the daliya/upma was ready in 20mins. I guess, the soaking helped and it reduced the cooking time too.. I ate a small portion of the upma and realized that the grain is very filling and the upma tasted good with the addition of the beans which also adds nice flavor. I also felt that I should have added more green chilies since the grain by itself is nutty and sticky. A spicy upma would have tasted better for my palate, sadly I’m not able to get hold of spicy green chilies these days… Next time I make this, it will definitely have more chilies!!!

Soaking Time:1hour

Preparation Time:5mins

Cooking Time:20-25mins

Serves:4

 

 

Ingredients

3cups of soaked barley dalia/ coarse meal

1cup avarekaalu/ hyacinth/field beans/mochai

6-7 green chilies, finely chopped (use spicy ones)

3tbsp chopped coriander leaves and stem

2tbsp chopped curry leaves/ kadhi patta

1tsp mustard seeds

5-6tbsp refined oil

salt to taste

2tbsp urad-chana dal mix

3-4 cups,boiling water

Method

Wash and soak the barley dalia for an hour.

Boil the avarekaalu/hyacinth beans with some salt to taste in a pan.

Heat oil in a heavy bottom non stick pan. Add the mustard, let it splutter.

Add the urad chana dal mix and fry it light golden.

Add the green chilies, curry leaves and sauté.

Add the coriander too and mix. This adds a nice flavor to the upma.

Tip in the soaked barley meal/dalia. In my case the grains had absorbed all the water. Mix it properly in oil and add salt to taste. Roast it in the oil for 2-3mins.

Add the cooked avarekaalu and give a good stir.

Add the coconut and mix.

Finally, using a measuring cup add 2cups of boiling water (remember avarkaalu also has water).  I felt that 1cup boiling water to 1cup soaked barley was the ratio I followed. Once the mixture boils, put the lid and simmer the flame, cook till done. If required add more boiling water.

Serve hot.

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Aloo Gadde Hurda Uperi..Karnataka Style Stir Fried Potatoes

Scene1

It's her first day after marriage in her new home and she is midst a new family  where every one is trying to make her feel comfortable and saying nice things to her. There are kids playing in the house and MIL and her co-sister cooking breakfast in the kitchen assisted by her own co-sisters. FIL is watching news on TV and inspite of such normal activities happening around her she is feeling lost and left out. She sits in a corner observing everyone and suddenly notices that her younger brother in law is sitting on a sofa chair with a chopping board and knife and next to him are almost 6-7 kg of potatoes soaked in water. He would remove a potato, clean and wipe it and then meticulously cut thin slices. She wonders, why is he spending so much time cutting thin slices at such a slow pace with so much of patience. Hesitantly, she asks him why are you cutting them? The reply she gets was a simple sentence 'for making Hurda Uperi'.

She is not able to understand the word and with a confused face looks towards her MIL for an explanation, the explanation comes but from MIL's co-sister. The new bride is informed that the dish is a family favorite made using the potatoes and all family members fight, so that they get to cut the potatoes. The bride is satisfied to an extent but not completely. She relishes the preparation during lunch  along with rice and Jeerige Kattu and her husband explains her later on that Aloo Gadde means Potatoes, Hurda means fried and Uperi means slices in Kannda. After given an explanation, she keeps wondering, how difficult the preparation would be...?

Scene 2

It's about a month after her marriage, the new bride has been learning regularly the Karnataka cuisine to reach her husband's heart. She finally asks her MIL to teach the 'Uperi'. This is the only word that she is able to recollect and her MIL keeps wondering what the DIL is trying to say. The DIL then explains that it's the family favorite made with potatoes. The kind hearted MIL understands finally and tells the new DIL that the preparation is way too simple and can be made quickly, the only time consumed is in cutting the potato slices evenly and thin.

The DIL takes the challenge of cutting the slices and since she is still not adept with her knife skills, she fumbles many times while cutting but finally sails through. The MIL makes the preparation in front of her in the next fifteen minutes and the new DIL is delighted to see that the preparation is way too simple and yet the result is so very tasty.

Scene3

The husband gives his wife  a list of the items she must cook before she leaves for her Mom's place, and topping in the list is Aloo Gadde Hurda Uperi. The wife smiles, cooks all his favorites and refrigerates them before leaving for her husband to savour them later on in the coming week.

By this time I'm sure you must have realised that this DIL was none other than 'ME' and it is S's favourite preparation which I did cook before I left on vacation . 

It is now my turn to share this family favorite recipe with all of you. I can say that I've mastered this easy preparation in all these years and I cut the slices pretty fast now :). 

Aloo Gadde Hurda Uperi

Serves:3
Preparation Time:15mins
Cooking Time:15mins

Ingredients
about 500gms potatoes,sliced
3tbsp Saaru/rasam pudi
1tsp chilli pwd
3/4tsp turmeric pwd
salt to taste
1tsp mustard seeds
5-6tbsp oil

Method

Wash the potatoes and remove the dirt. Let them dry and then slice as thin as possible. I always use potatoes without peeling as the skin is rich in minerals, but if you want you can peel and use.

Heat oil and mustard seeds, once the seeds splutter, tip in a few slices of potatoes along with turmeric and chilli powders, this prevents burning of spices.

Add all the potato slices, salt and rasam pudi. Mix thoroughly and cook on a medium flame without covering the pan.

Cook till done. Serve hot with rice and Jeerige Kattu.

Tips:

This recipe needs more oil for cooking.

For making a good stir fry, ensure that the potatoes are dry and have no excess water.

This preparation tastes best when made a little spicy as it is to be mixed with rice.

Sending this to my event 'Only' South Indian hosted here.

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Fresh Red Broad Bean Seeds & Shallots Sāmbhar

Hi! Wishing Every One a Happy Ugaadi/ Gudi Padwa.

I have always had a fascination for the broad beans especially the red ones with white marks on it. Living in North India, those beans were never available. During my visits to hometown I would ensure to pick up a packet of the dry version.  I love making curry with these beans and I’ve posted a spicy one here.

These days the vegetable market here is flooded with various kinds of broad beans and I was too ecstatic to notice and explore them. During one of such market visits, out of curiosity I opened the bean and beamed when I found my favourite red broad bean, that too raw and fresh.

I ensured to pick those beans and after reaching home, meticulously separated the fresh seeds from the bean pods. I made a dry curry with the bean pods and decided to make huli/sambhar with the seeds. I had a feeling that the seeds are perfect for making the Sāmbhar and will absorb the flavours.

My instinct was correct as the kid declared it the best Sāmbhar ever made and S savoured it as much. The addition of shallots was like ‘sone pe suhaga’. It very much enhanced the flavour of the sambhar. If you like trying various versions of Sāmbhar then this Sāmbhar is my personal recommendation.

Red Broad Beans and Shallots Sāmbhar
Serves:4
Preparation Time:15mins
Cooking Time:30mins


Ingredients
8-10 shallots
1cup fresh red beans
1-1/2cups cooked toor dal
1/4tsp good quality heeng/asafoetida
1tsp red chilli pwd
1/2tsp turmeric pwd
5tbsp sambhar pwd
10-15 curry leaves
1-1/2tbsp tamarind extract
salt to taste
2tbsp oil
1tsp mustard seeds

Method




Pressure cook the lentils with turmeric and heeng. Pressure cook the seeds too.
Heat oil, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves.
Tip in the shallots and sauté.
Add the chilli pwd, salt to taste and sambhar powder. I used sambhar powder from Grand sweets and I must say it’s really good. If any of your friends are visiting Chennai , do ensure that you get a batch of this aromatic masala, the way I did.
Add the cooked beans and mix. Mix the lentils and tamarind extract and enough water. Bring the sambhar to a boil and simmer for 10mins. Serve hot.
Sending it to my event ‘Only’ South Indian held here.

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