Dosa/Uttapa Batter

Dosa batter is something which allows you to make a variety of dishes out of the same batter. Once made, the batter can serve for almost whole week with the quick dosas or uttapas.

Every home has its own proportions for making the dosa batter. Here is my version of the dosa batter recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup Urad dal
2 & 1/2 cups Rice
1/2 cup Chana dal (optional)
1 teaspoon methi(fenugreek) seeds

Directions:
Urad daal and rice are taken in 1 : 2.5 proportion. Increase the urad daal proportion if you want soft dosa. For thin and crispy dosa increase rice proportion.

Soak all the ingredients together in 4-5 cups of water for few hours. 3-4 hours should be enough to soak the dal and rice mixture.

Now strain the water and grind the mixture to the consistency where the paste looks fine but when touched feels coarse grains (grain size of fine rava) of rice. Adding extra water while grinding is not required.

Let the mixture rest in a warm place for 8-10 hours or overnight.

After the batter is fermented overnight, its ready to use for making dosa or uttapa.

It can be stored in the refrigerator for around a week.

Akki Roti with Palak Dal

Akki roti is roti made with rice flour. Its not very soft like the wheat roti but somewhat like makke ki roti. Its texture and taste makes it different and special. I have had these rotis in one of the Darshinis in Bangalore(Jayanagar 4rd block). And then on I went on looking for its recipe. Found various recipes on the net. Tried it myself trying to make it closer to the one I had tasted in bangalore.

I have just added cumin seeds, salt, crushed green chilles and finely chopped onions to the rice flour while kneading. This ensured the ease while rolling chapatis. For more taste and color you can also add grated coconut and carrots.

Ingredients:
2 cups Rice flour
1 green chilli crushed
1 small onions finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt as per taste
Hot water to knead
Ghee for brushing

Directions:

Mix onions, chilly paste, salt and cumin seeds and little ghee with the flour.

Now add hot water and knead the dough. Keep covered with a damp cloth for 5-10 min.

After 10 min knead the dough well to make it soft. Use some ghee if required.

Divide into 8-10 balls.

Spread some flour on the table top and roll into chapati . Take care to roll lighty or it will break apart.

Heat griddle on medium high heat. Now roast the rolled chapati on the it. Cook on both side brushing with ghee.

Serve with coconut chutney or sambar.

I have served akki roti with Palak dal. Following is the recipe of palak daal.

Palak Dal:

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds followed by chopped garlic and onions and broken red chillies. Now add cumin and corriander powder, salt and turmeric. Saute well. Now add spinach and cook till its raw smell goes off. Add tomatoes and cooks till tomatoes are tender. Now add cooked split green pigeon pea dal which was already boiled till mushy. Mix well and bring it to boil. Now add little tamarind pulp with a pinch of sugar/jaggery. Cook for few more min. Serve hot with Akki Roti.

This combination worked very well with me. It was a good change from the regular chapatis.

Malai Kulfi

Another Summer cooler here! May be summer is just an excuse to make this yummy kulfi. You can make malai kulfi with very little effort. But you have wait min 6 hrs for it to frezze completely before its ready to be served.

Ingredients:

4 cups of milk

1 cup fresh cream/whipping cream

1 cup of cool whip/whipped cream

1/3 cup Coarsly grounded almonds and pistachios

2 teaspoons of freshly grounded cardamom

1/2 cup Sugar

Directions:

Bring milk to boil. Reduce it to half while stirring constantly on medium heat. Mix sugar and let it cool.

If you dont want to do any cooking here then use 2 cups of evaporated milk instead of milk.

Now in a mixing bowl add reduced/evaporated milk, cream and cool whip. Whisk prroperly to incorporate eveything together. Then add the grounded nuts and cardamom. Mix well using a whisk or a mixer.

Transfer to the elongated kulfi mould or small glass. Cover with a foil and freeze for min 6 hrs.

When chilled take out from the freeze. Pierce a stick into it. Dip the mould lightly in water to loosen the kulfi. Take out the stick with kulfi. Its ready to enjoy!

You can also put it in a big long glass and cover wih foil while freeezing. Cut into slices after taken out from freezer. Decorate with choped nuts. Its ready to relish!

Pastry Shell Kachori

"Pastry shell Kachori" sounds interesting isn't it? Ya even I was excited when that came to my mind. But actual execution was little time consuming, may be because I started with making my own pastry shell instead of using the readymade ones. Otherwise the recipe is easy, tasty and ideal to be served as an appetizer at the parties. Its an effort to " remix" the kachori by presenting it in new avatar :). If you are also interested make note of the recipe.

Ingredients:

For Filling:

1 cup yellow Moong dal

1 small Onion finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon Corriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon corriander powder

1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

salt as per taste

2 tablespoon oil

You can use the ready made pastry shells. They are easy to use. If you plan to make your own note ingredients.

For Pastry shells:

2 cup All purpose flour

5 tbsp butter at room temp

Salt

Cold water to knead

Directions:

Mix flour. salt and butter till a crumbly mixture is formed. Add cold water little by little and knead the dough. Wrap in a plastic sheet and refrigerate for half an hour.

Soak moong dal for half and hour and then boil in enough water for 5 minutes. Strain all water and coarsly grind it or use it whole. Its good either way, but I have grounded it a little so that the masala sticks to most of the dal.

Now heat oil in a pan. Add all the seeds. When the seeds crackle add onions and cook till onions turrn light brown. Now add all the powders and mix well. Add the dal now, mix well and put off the flame.

Now take out the pastry dough from refrigerator. Let it rest for 5 min. Now its ready to work with. Take a small portion on your palm and turn into a ball. Now roll into a circle of 3-4 inches.

Preheat the oven at 450F.

Now put a spoonful of the dal filling in the middle of the pastry circle. Now make 4 Z shape folds at four corners to form a shell filled with stuffing. Similarly form all your filled shells and line on a baking tray.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Then take out from the oven. Put a small piece of mozarella cheese on each shell and sprinkle a small amount of the garlic-herb seasoning.

Put it back in the oven and bake for 3-5 min. Its just for the cheese to melt and form a tempting top layer.

Serve the pastry shell kachories with tamarind or pudina chutney. They are bitesize and perfect to kick start the party.

These "Pastry Shell Kachories" is my entry for theMonthly Mingle-Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres. Some more details at Meeta's blog.

Puneri Daal Khichadi

I came across Daal Khichadi in menu cards of the restaurants in Pune. Khichadi is favourite comfort food but Daal Khichadi sounded different. I tried it once and then ordered it over and over again whenver I went to restaurants in Kothrud or JM road. Its really a delicious comfort food. It resembles to the karnataka's Bisibelle bhat but its not that spicy.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked Toovar dal (split pigeon peas)

1/2 cup curd

2 cups steamed rice

1 medium sized onion finely chopped

2 cloved of garlic chopped

2 red/green chillies cut into big chunks

2 medium sized tomatoes diced

2 tablespoon Ghee

1/2 teaspoon of mustard seed

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

3-4 Whole Black peppers

Few curry leaves

1/2 teaspoon corriander powder

1/4 teaspoon garam masala

Salt to taste

Directions:

Daal should be boiled with little oil and turmeric, till mushy and form a thick paste.

1. Heat ghee in a pan. Add fenugreek seeds, mustard and cumin seeds. Let them crackle.

2. Add peppers, onions, garlic, chillies and curry leaves. Saute till onions turn light brown.

3. Add tomatoes. Cook till tomatoes are tender.

4. Add corriander powder, garam masala and salt. Saute well.

5. Now add curd and lower the heat. Cook for 2 min.

6. Add cooked daal. Mix well to incorporate curd and daal together.

7. Add 2 cup of water to loosen the mixture. Bring it to boil.

8. Now add steamed rice and cook covered on low flame for 10 min.

Serve with some potato chips and little butter on top of the Daal Khichadi.