A Healthy Start - Rava and Oats Uttappam For Breakfast

Preparing meals has become a joint venture in my house lately. Between prepping, cooking, cleaning after, and most importantly looking after the baby, we all need to rotate the roles every so often. I've been able to prepare some elaborate meals lately, such as our Dashera feast. But most of the times I let others help out as much as they can. Cooking with the family is the best way to spend some quality time with them. It's amazing what topics, stories, and helpful tips come out of 'cooperative cooking'. That is when we create memories to cherish for life.

Our Sunday brunch was no different. I made this healthy uttappa/uttappam made with rava and oats. Mom roasted rava and oats, I cut the veggies for the topping and chutney, dad helped grind the chutney, while husband kept the girl entertained. This easy uttappa doesn't require pre-planning, soaking, fermenting etc., much like this instant idli. We got almost two meals out of the batter for the four of us. I was going to make simple rava uttappa, but mom suggested adding oats. It has become a common ingredient in many of her diabetic friendly recipes. Not only that, oats made the uttappas light, and prevented them from sticking to the pan. The great thing about uttappas is that you can top them with a variety of veggies to suit your taste. I added grated carrot along with tomato-onion-cilantro topping. Beetroot, bell peppers, spinach, corn, cheese can be some other options. You are only limited by your imagination. To go with the uttappas, I made a tomato-onion chutney, which has become a favorite of mine lately, and has replaced the usual coconut-cilantro chutney.

Rava-Oats Uttappa/Uttappam

Ingredients:
2 Cups rava/semolina
1 Cup old fashioned oats
1 1/2 Cup yogurt
Salt to taste
Water as needed

Topping:
Mixture of finely chopped onion, tomato, green chili, chilantro, and grated carrot

• Roast rava on medium heat until fragrant and just starts to change color. 
• Roast oats until toasty and fragrant, and grind them to a coarse powder. 
• Mix roasted rava, oats powder, yogurt, salt, and add enough water to make a pancake like consistency batter. Let the batter soak for about an hour, or hour and a half. 

• To prepare uttappas, heat a pan on medium-high. Make sure the pan is hot before you make the first uttappa, else it'll stick to the pan, and the rest of them won't come out well either. 
• Pour a ladleful of batter on the pan and gently spread it in a circular fashion. 
• Add the topping. 
• Once the uttappa starts to separate from the pan, and you can see that it's golden brown on one side, turn and cook on the other side. 

South Indian Style Tomato-Onion Chutney

Ingredients:
2 Medium tomatoes - diced
1 Small or 1/2 Large onion - diced
2 Garlic cloves - chopped
7-8 Curry leaves
Handful of cilantro sprigs (optional)
2 Red chilies/1 Teaspoon red chili powder
1 Tablespoon chana daal
1 Tablespoon urad daal
1/2 Teaspoon mustard seeds
Pinch asafoetida
1/2 Teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 Tablespoon oil for tempering

• Heat oil in a pan, and add mustard seeds. 
• Once the mustard seeds splutter, add asafoetida, turmeric powder, curry leaves, garlic, chana daal, urad daal, red chilies, and chopped onion. Roast until the onion is translucent and the two daals turn a red hue. 
• If you are using red chili powder, add it with the tomatoes. 
• Add tomatoes, and salt to taste, and roast until tomatoes are cooked (~3-4 mins). 
• Once the above is cool enough to put into a grinder along with cilantro, grind it chunky or smooth  - however you like your chutney. 

Enjoy hot uttappas with the chutney!

What is your 

Chana With A South Indian Twist

We always associate Chana/Chickpeas with the North Indian style preparation of chhole/chana masala. Chhole can be quite luxurious and sinful - especially served with fried bhature. Not that I don't love chhole, but it's a dish for rare occasions in my house. The other day, I tasted chana prepared in a very different manner using the South Indian essentials - curry leaves and coconut! This dish was served at the temple as prasad on one of the Navratri days. Being offered as naivedyam it had to be satvik and devoid of onoin-garlic. Give me anything infused with aromatic curry leaves and I'm instantly in love. The change of taste and the use of minimal ingredients were quite welcoming. Hubs and I couldn't stop praising the preparation. I wish I could thank and ask for the recipe to whoever brought the prasad. But it was a no brainer given the few and distinct ingredients. I wasted no time in recreating the dish in my kitchen. For the lack of a better title, I'll call this Jhatpat Chana for the ease of making it compared to Chhole! 

Jhatpat Chana

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups soaked Chana (chickpeas)
1-2 Teaspoons Ghee
2 Green chilies - chopped
1/2 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 Teaspoon mustard seeds
Couple of pinches asafoetida
2 Springs curry leaves
1 Tablespoon grated coconut
1 Teaspoon tamarind  pulp/1 Tablespoon grated green mango
Salt to taste
Water as needed

• Heat ghee in a kadhai, add cumin and mustard seeds and let them splutter.
• Add asafoetida, green chilies and curry leaves. Fry for 30-40 secs.
• Add chickpeas. Make sure the chickpeas are soaked for at least 5-6 hours for easy cooking. You can use the canned pre-soaked ones also.
• Sprinkle grated coconut, tamarind pulp/green mango and mix well. Put a lid on and let the chickpeas cook, adding minimal water and stirring occasionally. The chickpeas should cook thoroughly without getting mushy so there's a bite to them. 

Serve as a side dish with roti/rice or enjoy as a snack!

Instant Idli

I have always loved having soft,fluffy idlis dunked in sambar and chutney. It must be all those Sundays spent as a kid eating a brunch of idlis while watching my favorite 'Potli Babaki Kahani' or some other show that makes it my favorite Sunday meal. But to be honest, I don't always have the patience to soak rice and urad daal, grind and ferment the batter in advance. As a quick and delicious alternative, I make rava idlis. Rava idlis, as the name suggests, are made completely out of rava. There's no soaking and fermenting for hours required; but you'll be surprised how pillowy soft these idlis turn out. Yogurt provides that slight tang you'd get from fermenting. The best part is, there's lots of flavor in the idlis themselves, so you can do with a quick chutney on the side. You can add all sorts of stuff the the batter - I usually go with peas and onion. Grated carrots go really well also - they add flavor as well as some color.
I made rava idlis for a potluck at my friend's yesterday. The picture was taken under very low light with my phone, hence the poor quality.

The recipe below makes enough idlis for 2 people.

Rava Idli

Ingredients:
2 Teaspoons oil
1 Tablespoon urad daal
1 Teaspoon grated ginger
2 Small green chilies - finely chopped
1/2 Small onion - finely chopped
1 Spring curry leaves - roughly chopped (add cilantro alternatively)
Handful of green peas
1 Cup rava/semolina
1 Cup yogurt
A pinch baking soda (optional)
Salt to taste
Water as needed.

• Heat oil in a wok/kadhai and roast urad daal until golden brown.
• Add ginger, chilies, curry leaves, peas and onion and saute for a few seconds.
• Add rava and roast, stirring constantly, on medium heat  until the rava turns a darker hue and becomes fragrant (~10 mins). The key to good, soft idlis is roasting the rava well. Don't keep the heat too high as you don't want it to burn.
• Take it off the heat and mix with yogurt. Add water little by little until you have a thick batter. Rava will soak up water and puff up. Add salt to taste and baking soda.
• Let the batter rest for 45 mins to an hour.
• Make idlis in an idli patra just like you would the regular idlis. 

Enjoy with your favorite chutney or sambar. 

Of White & Gold

The first day of college, I entered my class with visible nervousness, and saw her reassuring face smiling at me. It was comforting to see someone giving a friendly smile in an unfamiliar place. Only I didn't know then that P and I would go on to form a strong bond of friendship that was to last all these years and many more to come. P, my BF from college, and I shared some of the best times as classmates and later as roommates in college. While I lived away from my family, I sought the love and comfort of her home. P's loving family quickly accepted me as one of them. I spent holidays at her house, had silly slumber parties, took over the basement to practice for our dance shows, celebrated many festivals there, and most of all, enjoyed home cooked food!

P is a Keralite, or Mallu, as known popularly. It was at her house that I first had a taste of Kerala cuisine. Rich with generous use of coconut, spiced with red and green chilies and scented with curry leaves, Kerala food is full of bold flavors. Every visit to P's house was filled with a delicious breakfast of dosa and a lavish lunch spread of red matta rice, beet-root or cabbage pachadi, dry veggie fry called Thoran, rich and creamy aviyal curry with a side of inji curry (ginger pickle) or chammanthi (chutney) to spice it all up. I was treated to payasam on special occasions. Imagine that all that exotic food for a college student who survived on all sorts of rice preparations. Enjoying those delicacies with the sweetest family one can have made it all the more special. 

Today, on the occasion of Onam, I cooked two of my favorite dishes. Onam is an important festival in Kerala, almost like diwali. Women dress up in the traditional white and gold settu sarees, wear jasmine garlands in their hair, adorn the door fronts with athapoo (rangoli made with flower petals), and get together for thiruvathirakali dance. The most exciting part of the celebration is the elaborate feast called Sadya. It's some serious food business! Imagine a large banana leaf filled corner to corner with one delicious dish after another.

I prepared aviyal and spinach thoran today. Aviyal is a kurma like preparation made with many different root vegetables, beans, squash and raw bananas. You can throw in anything you like, as long as the vegetables are firm and don't get watery when cooked. Thoran is any dry vegetable stir fry. I used to love thoran made with beans. Today, I tried it using spinach since I already used beans in the aviyal. Neither of these dishes use overpowering spices. They are extremely fragrant and flavorful with the use of curry leaves, coconut, shallots and chilies. Husband had never tried Kerala food. All I can say is, he is converted now :).

Aviyal

Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups chopped vegetables - a mix of potatoes, pumpkin, green beans, carrots and eggplant
Curry leaves from one spring
2 Small green chilies - slit lengthwise in the center
1/4 Cup grated coconut
2 Shallots
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 Cup yogurt
1/4 Teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Red chili powder to taste
Water as needed

• Chop vegetables into 1 inch long pieces. You can use a variety of gourds, beans and squash or yams. Make sure you choose vegetables that are firm and won't get watery when cooked. 
• Add the vegetables, curry leaves, green chilies, turmeric powder and a little bit of water enough to cook veggies to a pot and cook until the vegetables are tender. 
• On the side, grind the coconut, shallots and cumin seeds coarsely in a food processor. 
• Add the coconut mixture to the veggies, mix well and cook for a couple of minutes. 
• Add yogurt at the end, salt and red chili powder to taste, water if necessary and simmer for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and it's ready to serve.

Spinach Thoran

Ingredients:
2 Cups packed finely chopped spinach
2 Heaping tablespoons of grated coconut
1 Large shallot
1 Green chili
1 Large garlic clove - chopped
Curry leaves from one spring
2 Dry red chilies
1/2 Teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 Teaspoon turmeric powder
2 Teaspoons oil
Salt to taste

• Grind coconut, shallot and green chili coarsely and keep aside. 
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let them splutter. 
• Add chopped garlic, curry leaves, red chilies and turmeric powder, and saute until fragrant. 
• Add the coconut mixture and chopped spinach, salt to taste and cook stirring regularly. 

Serve the thoran and aviyal with some long grain rice or pooris with a side of pickle and papad.

I'm submitting these recipes to the South Indian Cooking Event started by Anu.

Going Green With Dosa

Time flies so quickly when you are having fun. I can't believe all the excitement of having my parents over is about to come to an end already. My initial plan was to post all the dishes we prepared; but there was only so much time to make the most of their stay. It's been a short, but blissful month enjoying the new house, the garden, beautiful San Diego weather and fresh, tasty meals with them (I say fresh because who has time to prepare every meal from scratch on a daily basis?). I cooked quite a few elaborate meals for mom and dad.  But I've been after all the simple meals I could think of now that I cook for 4 people twice a day. Dishes that spare me time to sit and chit-chat with them instead of toiling away in the kitchen. And you can't talk about simple meals without mentioning the ever-loved dosas! Or all the cousins of the batter. The great thing about dosas is, you can make a large batch of batter and you're ready to feed an army. Nobody in my house minds multiple dosa meals. I just turn them into uttapams or stuff different chutneys inside for a new look and taste each time. The traditional rice batter doesn't fit my mom's diet though. But really, I can't give up on such a great dinner option. I made Moong bean dosas the other day to keep it healthy and mom-dad loved the simple preparation. Mom makes a batter with mixed beans and lentils sometimes. However, moong beans alone make extremely flavorful dosas. The vibrant green color doesn't get muddled with other ingredients either. They are not as crispy as the real thing, but so tasty, you won't miss the crunch. Dad declared he would switch to this dosa from now on. 

Moong Bean Dosas

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups moong beans
1/4 Cup rice (to add some crispiness)
Handful of washed cilantro
2-3 Small (Thai) green chilies
2-3 Garlic cloves
Salt to taste
Water as needed
Oil as needed

• Soak moong and rice in water overnight. The beans should almost double in size. I let the beans sprout by taking out excess water and letting them soak for additional few hours. 
• Grind all the ingredients in a mixer/food processor adding water little by little until you have a batter slightly thicker than dosa batter. Cilantro adds flavor, nutrition, and helps maintain that beautiful green color. 
• Heat a pan on medium-high heat, grease it lightly, pour a ladleful of batter at the center and spread with the back of the ladle, not too thin. Cook until brown on the bottom. Don't coax the dosa until it's nicely roasted on one side - it'll start separating from the pan by itself when it's ready. Flip and cook until you see brown spots on the inside. 
• I learned a trick from one of my South Indian family friends - cut an onion in half and dip it in oil. Then rub the oil on the pan with the onion. This ensures spreading oil evenly while using very little. It also adds slight onion flavor to the dosa. 

We enjoyed these yummy dosas with a chatpati chutney I recently found at the Indian store - Nirav's Rajwadi Sandwich Chutney. It's like a mango pickle meets cilantro chutney meets tamarind chutney goodness. They call it a sandwich chutney, but we've been eating it with anything and everything. 

Sending this to Show Me Your HITS - Legumes and Lentils Event, event by Sangeetha's Kitchen.