Urad dal Adai

Hi Readers,

This is a very simple recipe to prepare. It consumes less time and is healthier as it is protein rich.

In South India, similar to Dosa another recipe is made called Adai, it is usually a combination of Pulses
 mixed with very little rice flour to make the batter. Onions, ginger, curry leaves are generally added
to the batter. I have prepared a similar dish, though I can't say this is the actual adai recipe.

I have made this with only Urad dal combined with Onion, ginger and green chilli for breakfast.

You can name it Urad dal Pan cake or Urad dal Adai.

Lets now have a look at the recipe.

Ingredients :- 

1 cup Urad dal soaked overnight.

1 onion chopped

2 green chilli chopped

1 tbsp ginger chopped

1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

1 tbsp cumin and red chilli roasted powder

salt to taste

2 tbsp oil

It makes about 4 Urad dal Adai.

Method :-
Grind the soaked urad dal to fine paste. Keep it to ferment for 1 to 2 hrs. Add onion, green chilli, ginger, coriander leaves and salt. Add cumin and red chilli powder.Add water if required and adjust salt to make the batter of sameconsistency as Dosa. Heat a Tawa or griddle. Grease little oil. Pour batter and spread as in Dosa. When bubbles appear on one side, turn to other side. When both sides are cooked , remove and serve hot with chutney.

Barley chocolate pancake

Hi Readers,

I came about this while trying to make something innovative with the ingredients at home. This is another Pancake recipe and takes very less time to cook. Barley is known to have reduced blood pressure, weight loss and helps in digestion and stomach ache. I have used Barley flour in this recipe.

Ingredients :-

1 cup Barley flour
2 tbsp chocolate (I have used Nutella chocolate spread)
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
pinch of salt
1 tbsp oil
mix water if needed
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp Sesame and magaj (optonal ) can be replaced with any nuts.

Method :- 

Mix all ingredients except nuts in a bowl and make it of flowing consistency like pancake batter. Heat a Tawa or griddle. lightly grease the tawa with oil. Add batter, top it with nuts when one side is cooked turn and cook other side. Remove and serve with pancake syrup of your choice.

Chitau Pitha

Hi,

This is another Odia authentic recipe. However, this is almost similar to the Tamil or Kerala Appam. The only difference is the way it is cooked. When I last visited Chennai, I had Appam at Nalla's and really liked the egg Appam. They cook Appam in a deep Kadhai. I had never seen that vessel before. Small in size but quiet deep. They pore the batter from the edges and it covers almost whole of kadhai. In Odisha we cook Chitau Pitha in Tawa and by covering it with a lid and it is sealed with a damp cloth. The similarity is in both case it is cooked only in one side and the batter consist of rice and coconut.

Lets now have a look at the recipe.

Ingredients :- 

1 cup rice (arua chawal not the parboiled rice)

1 cup grated coconut

salt to taste

oil to greese the tawa

Method :- 

Soak rice overnight. Grind the rice with freshly grated coconut. Add salt to the batter and the consistency should be little thinner than the normal dosha. Now, heat a tawa. Add little oil and greese the tawa. When its hot add little batter, cover it with lid and cook for 1 min, when its cooked remove and serve hot. In Odisha this is generally served with Dalma.

Chakuli Pitha

Hi Readers,

This is another Odia dish, mainly a breafast dish. This has similarity with the South Indian Dosha. More or less both have equal ingredients, so now is the question how it differs from normal Dosha? Well, with the amount of its ingredients used. So, the taste is also different. It has more Urad dal(black gram lentil) compared to Dosha, and the flavour gives a smell and taste of the dal. It is cooked using mustard oil unlike gingely oil or peanut oil.

Ingredients :- 

1 cup rice.

1 cup urad dal

salt to taste

water

mustard oil 1 tbsp

Method :- 

Soak rice and urad dal overnight. Grind this to a fine paste. Add salt, if you use the batter immediately, it will form thin Pitha, however if you allow it to ferment for couple of hours, the Pitha will be thick. Both the varieties are quite well known. Now, heat a Tawa or griddle. greese little oil , when it is sufficiently hot, add a cup full of batter and spread it similar to Dosha. Add about 1 tbsp of mustard oil in all its side . When bubbles appear, turn it and cook for another 1 min. Remove and serve hot with chutney or sabzi.

Normally, Chakuli Pitha is served with Ghuguni or Ghanta in Odisha. This can be eaten with any kind chutney or dip. This batter usually forms soft Pitha, it cannnot be crispy like the Dosha due to more Urad dal composition.

Vegetable Sevai or Semiya(vermicelli) upma

Hi Readers,

Today,  had prepared Semiya Upma as breakfast. This is easy recipe and can be prepared when you are quite busy. It uses not much spices and is healthy vegetable recipe for breakfast. Here, is the recipe for you.

Ingredients
3 ½ Cup - Vegetables, chopped (I used carrots, peas)
1 ½ Cup - Vermicelli / Semiya, roasted
3 Cups - Water
1 - Onion
1 ½ Tsp – Garlic, grated
½ Tsp – Ginger, grated
1 Tsp - Black Mustard Seeds
2 pinch – Asafetida
1 sprig – Curry Leaves
3 – Green Chilly
¼ Tsp – Turmeric powder
½ Tsp – Jeera / Cumin powder
½ Cup – Coriander leaves/ Cilantro, chopped(optional)
1/2 Tsp – Chat Masala (optional)
2 Tsp – Lemon Juice
10 - Cashew nuts, roasted (optional)
Salt
Oil or Ghee (Clarified butter)

Method :- 
Roast the vermicelli and add 1 tbsp ghee when almost done. Turn off flame and keep aside.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add mustard seed and allow them to splutter.
Add asafetida followed by onions, curry leaves, green chilly, ginger and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent
Mix in turmeric powder, jeera powder and chat masala
Stir in the vegetables, roasted vermicelli and water and season with salt
Cook until all the water has been absorbed.
Take off the heat and add lemon juice and garnish with roasted cashew nuts and fresh chopped coriander leaves (cilantro).
Notes and Tips
Add 2 Tsp of ghee (clarified butter) to the vegetable mixture along with the water and vermicelli. This imparts a great flavor and will avoid vermicelli from being sticky
This is a great dish for kids who like noodles. It is healthy as it has a lot of vegetables. You can add other vegetables like broclli, spinach, corn etc.
Mix the cooked vermicelli with fork.
Make sure you use roasted vermicelli for this dish.

Eggless Banana Pancake

Hi Readers,

This is a Indian recipe better known as Pua in India. Its similar to Malpua but less sweeter and is not deep fried unlike Malpua. Healthy recipe as it contains less oil and less sweet. Well, banana pancake is a continental dish that has egg and can be made egg-less too. We Indians do not add baking powder to Pua(banana pancake). Almost all the dosha, cheela varieties would fall under pancake as the process of cooking over the pan remains more or less same.

I want to share a interesting story before I proceed with the recipe. Once, me and my friend visited a well known coffee shop near our locality. Just out of our curiosity we both ordered maple syrup banana pancake with vanila ice-cream. And you could guess what we got, it was banana pancake, almost same taste as our Indian Pua topped with maple syrup and vanila ice-cream. It was an innovative idea to serve the pancake this way. It looks really good and much more sophisticated compared to normal Pua. Here, is plate with same presentation for you. But, yes so much of syrup, makes it too much sweet just like malpua. I prefer little bit of syrup or honey with this dish, just enough to give it a light sweet taste.

Well, yes if want to put in so much of maple syrup, then add very little sugar to your Pancake, or else it will be too sweet. So, here goes the recipe for you.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1 Cup Milk (I Used 2%)

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 Tablespoon Water

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

2 Tablespoons Butter

PROCEDURE:

Whisk together the dry ingredients.

In a liquid measuring mug, measure 1 cup milk. To that add the vegetable oil, water and vanilla extract.

Stir in the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Do not over-mix. Lumps are perfectly fine. Set aside for a couple of minutes.

Heat a griddle at medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot add the butter and let it melt.

Add the melted butter to the pancake batter and return the pan to the stove. Mix the butter into the batter.

When the pan is hot enough, pour a ladle full of batter on the pan for each pancake. Cook until bubbles appear on the face of the pancake.

Carefully flip the pancake and cook until its golden brown.

For serving:

Decorate with banana slices and maple syrup. You can replace maple syrup with honey. In fact, honey and cinnamon would add more flavors to it. The first photo has the decoration with banana, vanilla ice-cream and maple syrup. But, others are simple without any decoration just with Honey cinnamon topped.

Besan ka Cheela

Besan ka cheela or gram flour based salty pancakes are sure to satisfy your rumbling appetite and demanding taste buds. A simple pancake recipe with besan combined with onions, tomato and chillies and then spread on a pan with little oil. I have used cucumber in this recipe just to make it a little different.

Ingredients

2 cups besan (bengal gram flour)

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 tsp chopped green chillies

1/2 cup chopped coriander (dhania)

1 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)

1/2 cup grated cucumber

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp chaat masala

1 tsp coriander (dhania) powder

salt to taste

oil for cooking

Method

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and gradually add (approx 1 1/2 cup) water to get smooth and dropping consistency batter.

Heat a non-stick tava on a high flame then turn the flame to medium.

Add little oil and spread it evenly, pour a spoonfull of batter and rotate the pan clock wise to spread the batter evenly in the pan.

Cover it with the lid and allow to cook for 4 to 5 minutes on a medium flame or till it turns to brown in colour and crisp.

Open the lid, drizzle some oil and turn it upside down and cook the other side till it turns to brown in colour and crispy.

Repeat the same process with the remaining batter.

Serve hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

Rava Dosa

Instant and Crispy Rava Dosa Recipe

Prep time - under 5 minutes

Ingredients needed

Rice flour - 1 1/2 cup
Rava - 1/2 cup
Maida/ all pupose flour - 2 tbsp
Jeera/cumin seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Whole black pepper - 1 tsp
Green chilli -1 very finely chopped
Thick Buttermilk - 1/4 cup
Onion -1
Water - 2  3/4 cup
Oil for making dosas
Salt as needed

Preparation

Mix rava in 1/4 cup buttermilk and leave it for 15 minutes.

Chop onions and green chillies very finely.

First we will see how to prepare rava dosa batter-

In a bowl, mix together rice flour, all purpose flour, cumin seeds, whole black pepper, green chillies and salt needed. Add the rava + butter milk mix to it. Then add approximately 2 3/4 cup of water to it little at a time and mix it well so that there are no lumps.Check for salt. Add if required.

I photographed the rava dosa batter to show you the consistency of the batter.See how thin it is (picture below).It should be like that. Now the batter is ready.

Now let us see how to make onion rava dosa -

First heat a non stick tawa or a cast iron tawa, sprinkle little onions on top of it. Do not add too much onions as you will have difficulty in removing the dosa from the tawa.

When the tawa is heated well, reduce the flame to medium.

Remember for every dosa, you have to mix the batter well, so that the rava will not settle at the bottom. You cannot spread the rava dosa batter like normal dosa.

After mixing it, take a ladle or a small cupful of batter and fill the outer corners of the tawa.(picture-1)

Then the inside of the tawa.(picture -2)

Then fill in big gaps if any (picture-3). See how lacy and beautiful it is. To make it easier to understand, I have explained it in 3 easy steps but you can pour the batter at one go following the same method.

Let the dosa get cooked. Rava dosa will take longer time to get cooked than normal dosa, so do not be in a hurry to flip over the dosa. Drizzle a tsp of oil around the dosa.

Let the dosa get cooked evenly on all sides.(You can adjust or move the tawa if needed)

Wait until the bottom turns nice golden brown and the corners start lifting up slightly.

Once the bottom turns golden brown, flip over to the other side. Drizzle another 1/2 tsp of oil around the dosa. Let the other side also get cooked.

Once cooked, remove from flame and serve hot with coconut chutney, sambar or idli podi.

Some important points to be kept in mind

Mix the batter well every time before making dosa to prevent sedimentation of rava.

Batter should be thin. In case the batter becomes slightly thick after making 3-4 dosas, add 1-2 tbsp of water and mix again. Then continue to make dosas.

Once the tawa is heated well, keep the flame in medium through out the process.

Remember rava dosa will take longer time to get cooked.

Angoori Karonda Khatti Mithi Chutney/ Cranberry Sweet and Sour Chutney

This chutney is quiet common in India, though it has many variations. In south pickles , hot and sour chutney is quiet well known. While in north the sweet and sour chutney is quiet famous. I am going to share the sweet and sour variety here.

Ingredients :-

Cranberry/ Karonda(hindi) - 250 gms

Gur (jaggery) - 150 gms

water - 1 cup

pinch of salt

dry roasted red chili and coriander powder - 1 tbsp

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp

Method :- Wash Karonda and split into half, remove the seeds. Heat a thick bottomed pan and add ghee. Add coriander seeds and when it starts crackling, add Karonda and cover and cook for 10 mins, When the Karonda is cooked add the powdered gur and water. Keep mixing in between to let it melt. Cook till the sugar syrup is made. Sprinkle dry roasted chili and coriander powder and serve hot as a side dish with main course. 

Saaga Kharada

This is a traditional Odia dish with main ingredient as green leafy vegetables.This is goes really well with Rice, Dalma, badi churra etc.

Ingredients :- Green leafy vegetables - 1 ounce
                     mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
                     urad dal badi - 7 to 8
                     1 medium size brinjal chopped into small size
                     1 onion chopped
                     1 green chili chopped
                     4 to 5 flakes of garlic chopped
                     2 tbsp oil
                     salt as per taste

Method :-  Wash green leafy vegetables thoroughly and chop into small pieces. Fry the Urad dal Badi and break into small pieces and keep aside.  Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When it starts to crackle add green chili and onion and fry till onion turns pink. Now add brinjal and cook till brinjal is almost cooked, add the green leafy vegetables and salt. Cover and cook for 2 mins. Remove the cover and cook till it is cooked and water disappears. Now add the chopped garlic flakes and Badi mix and cook for another 4 mins . Serve hot with Rice and Dal.

Enduri Pitha (Stuffed idli ) Authentic Odia Dish

Hi,

I am going to share one authentic Odia dish that is made on the special occasion of Prathamastami in the month of November each year. This is made using turmeric leafs, which leave behind its awesome fragrance with the Pitha(idli). I have named it Idli as it has many resemblance with idli. In Odisha we call all dosha's and Idli like preparation as Pitha. There are many varieties of these Pitha's. One of the most adorable variety is Enduri pitha.

Ingredients :-
1 and 1/2 cup rice
1 cup black gram
1 cup grated coconut
1 cup paneer made from curd
150 gm jaggery
3 cardamom cloves
6 peppercorn
Green turmeric leaves
salt to taste

Method :-  Soak rice and black gram overnight and then grind into a smooth paste. Leave the batter for another 3 hrs to ferment.
Stuff :- Place a pan in medium flame. Add little oil, add the coconut, paneer and jaggery and mix well. Add powdered cardamom and black pepper. Keep aside.
Preparation:- Put a wide mouthed pot and fill it with 1/3rd part water and bring to steam. Cover this with a clean muslin cloth which is tied to cover it. You can also do this using a Idli maker. take a green turmeric leaf. Place little batter and then place little stuff in it and wrap the leaf and place on the vessel to steam.

Vegetable Upma

Hi,

This is South Indian breakfast, easy to make and healthy.

Ingredients :-         

        One cup Rava

  One cup mixed vegetable

  Water 3 Cup (16 tbs)

  Vegetable oil 2 Teaspoon

  1 tsp arahra dal

  Mustard seeds 1 Teaspoon

  Onion 1 Medium, chopped

  Green chillies 2 , chopped

  Some Curry leaves

  Lemon juice

Method:- 

Take the pan and cook the rava (without oil) until it gets brown. Stir continuously. Take it out from the pan. Take a pan and warm the oil in it. Pop the mustard seeds in the oil and then put the green pepper, arhar dal, curry leaves and chopped onion in it. Cook these things until onion become brown. Put the vegetables in the pan and add three cups of water, salt, lemon juice and cover the pan for 2 minutes. Now add cooked rava in the pan and mix it well. Turn off the flame, cover the pan and put aside for 1 minute.

Makai(daliya) ka upma

Hi Readers,

This is a healthy breakfast option that takes much less time to prepare. I hope you will try it and let me know your valuable feedback.

Ingredients :-

2 tbsp oil,( Tel)

1-½ tsp Mustard seeds,(Sarson/ rai)
10 curry leaves, (curry patte)
1 onion, finely chopped, (pyaz)
2 green chillies, finely chopped,( hari mirch)
1/2 cup mixed vegetables,  finely chopped (carrot and beans,)
2 cup corn meal,( makai ka daliya)
2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped,( dhaniya)
2 tbsp lemon juice,( nimbu ka ras is cooked.

Add chopped coriander and mix it well in the upma.
Serve garnished with a spring of coriander.

Method :- 
Heat oil in a pan

Add mustard seeds and curry leaves in hot oil and fry for 10 seconds
Now add onions and green chillies. Fry for 1-2 minutes.
Add all vegetables, carrots, beans and cook till the onions start sweating.
Cover with the lid and cook for 2 minutes or untill the vegetables are done.
Add turmeric powder, salt to taste and lemon juice.
Now add corn daliya and keep stirring while you add.
Add water to this mix and cook until the mixture thickens and the corn daliya is cooked.
Add chopped coriander and mix it well in the upma.
Serve garnished with a spring of coriander.

Onion dosha

Hi Readers,

This is healthy breakfast option. 

Ingredients :- 1- rice and urad dal batter. This is made with 3 portion rice and 1 portion urad soaked overnight. Then grind it to make a thick batter. Add salt to it before making dosha.

3- 1 onion chopped

4- coriander chopped

5-1 green chili chopped

6- oil

Method ;- In a pan add little oil and add the batter, spread the batter in round shape. Add the onion , chilli and coriander as shown in picture. And cook it till one side is done, over turn and cook till other side is also cooked. Serve hot with chutney.

Paneer sandwich

Hi Readers,

This is healthy and filling breakfast with lots of protein. I generally serve this with salads.

Ingredients ;- 1 - brown bread

2- 100 gm paneer

3- green peas - 50 gm

4- salt

5- turmeric

Method ;- In a pan add little oil, add the peas and paneer. Add turmeric powder and salt to it. Cook till peas are done. Take the brads stuff them with this mixture. You can also add cheese to it. Then grill these breads and serve with salads.

Stuffed Brinjal

Hi Readers,

I am going to post Stuffed brinjal which is a good add on to main course. This is easy to cook.

Ingredients :- 1- Small round brinjals or eggplant - 250gms
2- 2 tbsp besan /chickpea flour
3- 1 tbsp cashew paste
4- turmeric
5- red chilli powder
6- salt
7-1/2 tbsp coriander powder
8- little kasuri methi
9- 1 tbsp chat masala
10 - 2 tbsp oil
11- mustard seeds
12- cumin seeds



Method :- Stuff :- Add 1 tbsp oil to a pan. When oil is hot add mustard and cumin seeds. When it starts to crack, add besan, cashew paste, turmeric, red chilli powder, kasuri methi, chat masala and salt. Cook for 5 mins till the mixture is properly blended. Remove it from the flame and let it cool down.

  Wash the brinjals and put 4 slits into the brinjal keeping the stem intact. Stuff the masala in them. Add the remaining oil in the pan. Place these brinjals in it, cover and cook in low flame. When  one side is turn , turn it upside down. Cook till all the sides are properly cooked. Serve hot with rice or roti.

Tricolor Idli

Today with India's 66th independence day, I had prepared tricolor idli for this occasion. This is really very easy to make .

Ingredients :- 1- 1 cup rice
                     2 - 1/2 cup urad dal
                     3 -  1/2 cup carrot puree
                     4 - 1/2 cup spinach puree
                      5 - salt to taste
Method :- Soak rice and urad over night and then grind it. Let it ferment for another 6 hrs, then the batter is ready to make idli.

To make safforn idli add carrot puree to one portion of the batter. Similarly, to make green idli add spinach puree to one portion of batter and the third portion remains as it is for the plain idli.

Then set these batter in idli maker and prepare idli.

Hope you would have liked the idea f making tricolor idli.