Pesarattu (moong daal crepes)

Pesarattu is popular South Indian/Andhra crepes made using moong bean as the name suggests. This is a delicious protein rich breakfast dish relished with coconut chutney and sauteed onions on the side. It is on menu on most Andhra restaurants and is one ofmy family favorites.

Ingredients:

2 cups Pesara pappu (moong daal / pesalu in telugu– with the coat)

Salt to taste
2 Green chillies chopped
Half a square inch grated ginger

Method:


Soak pesara pappu in water for about an hour. These can be prepared either with whole daal with the coat or with the pesarapappu directly (pesalu – whole lentil with the coat may take longer about 4-5 hr to soak well). Grind it with green chillies, ginger and salt with as much water to make a smooth batter as for making dosa consistency.


Preheat a skillet to medium heat.


Grease the skillet with a little oil using a spatula.


Now gently pour a laddle full of batter onto the skillet quickly spreading it in circular motion using the bottom of ladle into 6-8 inch diameter circle.


If desired add a little oil around the edges of attu, while it is cooking. When attu starts to rise from the sides (in abt a min) using a flat spatula, flip to the other side and cook. Each side should approximately cook 1-2 min. until the side turns golden brown. Fold the pesarattu into half and remove from skillet


Repeat the same process to make rest of them.


Serve hot with chutney of choice

Variations:

You can add sautéed thinly sliced onions to the middle of the pesarattu before taking out from the skillet.
You could also sprinkle some dried paprika or chopped herbs of choice.

Reposting the recipe for entry to Jihva - Breakfast hosted by Suma at Veggie Platter and inititated by Indira at Mahanandi

Dahi Vada

Ingredients

for vada

Urad daal

oil for deep frying

for yoghurt sauce

Plain yoghurt

red chillie powder

crushed ginger -1 tsp

8-10 curry leaves

corriander leaves-coarsely chopped for garnish

For tempering:

2 tbs oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp urad daal

a pinch of hing

1 tsp turmeric

Method:

Make vada as per this recipe.

Soak the vada briefly for 2 min in hot boiling water. (This step is to make the vada soak faster in yoghurt sauce in the subsequent step and is optional. If you bypass this step it may take sligthly longer for the dahi vada to be ready but will not make a difference in taste)

Take out the vada draining excess water by pressing with a spatula and transfer them to the yoghurt sauce prepared as below.

Yoghurt sauce:

Whisk the yoghurt slightly with a hand whisk to make it homogeneous. Don't overdo..

In a pan heat oil for tempering and add all the ingredients mentioned in order. As the seeds start to splutter stir in the crushed ginger and curry leaves. Take off the flame and mix in with the yoghurt. Adjust the salt in the sauce.

       

Now add the vadas to the sauce and garnish with chopped corriader and chilly powder. Let them rest for about half hour for the sauce and tastes to infuse. Chill before serving if desired. I am too impatient for this step, and the dahi vada are yummy even without this.

Enjoy!

Thanks to friends Esai, Aruna and SH for sharing these cute tokens - the Blogger appreciation award 2009, Esai for the Butterfly award and Aruna for the Cheerleading blog award. I wish to share these with all my followers and blogger friends!

Cheers -:)

 

2009 sure has been quite an eventful year with lots of different tastes and new friends and cheers down the road. I have enjoyed blogging and sharing with you all friends and learnt a lot, although it was diffcult to keep the pace at times.

Wishing all my readers lots of good Cheer in the coming year 2010!

Rice Rava Upma with chana daal and scallion garnish

Hope you all had a great weekend friends! After a short break due to several things that had come up on the way, I am back with recipes. Yeah... I have been longing to comeback and hardly had a chance to go over some of your interesting recipes I had been missing all this while.  
After a hectic couple of weeks, I am here with one of the dishes waiting in my drafts to hit the screen . So here's the simple and yummy variation to the most common South Indian breakfast tiffin "Upma". We all make upma various ways and with different base and accompanying ingredients. Bombay rava, wheat rava, poha, vermicelli being some of the base ingredients we use, the rice rava upma that I  often make is my DHs favorite of all these. It has that unique taste of its own with its more grainy and coarser texture compared to the regular bombay rava. So here we go-

What we need:

2 cups Rice rava
4 cups water
1/2 cup chana daal soaked in water for abt half hr
2 dried red chillies
1 fresh green pepper
1 tabs chopped fresh ginger
chopped spring onions (scallions) for garnish
for tempering:
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad daal

Heres how to make rice rava: wash the rice a couple of times with water, drain and air dry it in a single layer on a clean cloth or paper towels until all the rice is dried out. Coarsely grind the rice using a grinder and sift off the fine flour. The rava that remains after removing the fine flour (which can be stored separately and used in other recipes)  is used here. Rava prepared this way can be strored in an airtight container for a month or more.

Method:
Heat oil in a large pan and add the tempering ingredients. When the seeds start to splutter add the dried red chillies followed by green chilies and ginger. Saute for a few secs and stir in the soaked and drained chana daal. Mix and saute for a couple of mins. Now add water to it and desired amount of salt and cook with the lid closed until the water starts to boil. Stir in the rava and mix well.  Close the lid and let cook for another 8-10 mins on medium flame until all the water is taken up and the rava is cooked well. Stir occasionally while it is cooking.  Turn off the flame and garnish with chopped scallions and rice rava upma is ready to serve.

Serving suggestions: Serve hot with pickel or chutney of choice. I personally prefer ginger pickel with this.

Now I would like to thank the kind gestures and awards shared the by blogger friends 
@ Tasty trix for creative blogger award
Indrani @ Appyayan for the fabulous blog, Inspiration award, Yum Yum blog and I love your blog awards
Thank you! It is very inspiring to recieve these from such wonderful bloggers. I would like to pass these to all my blogger friends.

Cracked wheat-Rajma pulao

Cracked wheat is a good source of nutrients, fiber and whole grain. I have made upma with this several times, like most of you may have as well. This is a good low carb meal and is recommended for Diabetics. In an attempt to try something new with this, I tried here to combine it with the goodness of protein rich Rajma (kidney beans). The result is this delicious meal perfect for a one pot dinner. Unlike for upma, here I used a different set of spices , garlic and ginger which would rather place it into category of a pulao. With the nutty wheat and proteinaceous rajma, this wholesome and  nutritious  dish tastes simply delicious with a quickly prepared fresh scallion raita.

What you will need for this:

2 Cups cracked wheat (Godhuma rava)

1 cup rajma (canned, or if fresh then soak in water and precook until soft)

1 tomato thinly sliced

2 green chillies chopped

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp ginger paste

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp of oil

chopped cilantro for garnish

Masala-  dry roast all the  ingredients below and grind them to a fine powder

1 tsp dhania

1 tsp cumin

2-4 cloves

1 tsp chana daal 

1/2 tsp cardomom

Method:

In a large pan heat oil, add the ginger garlic pastes, and the powdered masala. Stir in the chopped green chillies and tomatoes, bay leaf, and washed and drained rajma. Saute for a few mins now add about 4 cups of water and cook until it starts to boil. Add the cracked wheat and cook on medium flame stirring occasionally until the wheat is cooked well. Adjust the salt and take off the flame. Garnish with chopped cilantro and the pulao is ready to serve.

Scallion raita: Mix 1/2 cup of chopped scallions, a tbsp of chopped cilantro and a pinch of salt with a cup of home made yoghurt. Serve as accompaniment with the hot pulao.  

I am sending this post to  Jihva for ingredients -Rajma event hosted by Divya, and JFI- initiated by Indira from Mahanandi

Breakfast wraps

Eggs are packed with protein in as low as 75 calories per egg. They contain the zinc that boosts metabolism and immunity. They contain vitamin B12 that is important for cell production and renewal and many more goodies. Read more on these incredible eggs here.

Eggs with veggies, wrapped in a low fat tortialla are a perfect way to start your day. These are quick and easy to make and fill you up without adding too many calories and keep you charged until lunch. Here is my kids favorite breakfast recipe for wraps-

Ingredients:

2 whole grain flour tortialla

2 eggs

6-8 spinach leaves

1 tbsp Shredded cheese of choice (optional – I used here cheddar & jack mix)

2 tsp ketchup or salsa

1 tbsp cream chesses

Method:

Make an omlet by breaking the eggs. You could use whites exclusively if you like a cholesterol free recipe.

Lay the tortilla on a cooking surface. Spread the cream cheese and top it with ketchup. Spread out the fresh spinach. And on top the omlet. Roll the tortilla into a wrap. And half it using a knife or pizza cutter and your healthy breakfast wraps are ready to go.

Serves 4

Tips and Serving suggestion:

Heating the tortialla for a min on skillet before making the wraps makes them slightly crispy.

Kick start your day with a tortilla egg wrap and a cup of orange juice.

Uttappam

Uttappam always reminds me of my college days when I first tasted it on our visit to Palani in Tamilnadu (South India). Although at that time I was least worried about the process of making it, its lingerning taste and memories of it remained over years. Although this dish actually originates in Tamilnadu we from Andhra make similar versions of it. "Dibba rotti" is one  such version that closely resembles uttappam and is made using batter consisting ground urad daal and rice flour or idli rava similar to that of used to make idlis. This being crispy I always insisted my mother to make these whenever she had some idly batter left out.

When I first came abroad with no idli grinder in hand, craving for idli, dosa or uttappam, I discovered this "no grinding involved" recipe of mine, after a bit of trial and error. This recipe directly using the urad flour and idli rava replicates the exact taste of uttappam made by grinding the urad daal and rice. This standardized easy to make recipe is now my families all time favorite hit.

Ingredients:1 cup urad flour
2 cups idli rava
4 cups water (luke warm)
Salt to taste
½ cup sliced onions
2 green pepper chopped

Method:
Prepare batter on the day before by mixing the flour and rava in luke warm water and adjust the salt. Set aside to ferment over night.
When well fermented stir in the chopped onions and pepper and mix well. Heat the skillet. Spread about ½ tsp of oil and spread a spoon full of batter in circular movements away from the center of the skillet quickly. Usually uttappam is slightly thicker than dosa so use slightly more batter than you would for regular dosa. If desired add a little oil on edges of uttappam for getting more crispy uttappam. With a flat spatula flip to the other side and let fry till both the sides turn golden brown. Remove from skillet. Repeat the process for rest of the uttappams and serve hot with thinly sliced onions and chopped green pepper on top.

Serving suggestion: Thinly sliced tomatoes, scallions can also be used as stuffing by folding the uttappam in half.
Serve hot with any spicy chutney, sambhar or karappodi, followed by a cup of freshly brewed hot coffee. 

Minty Grilled Quesadillas

Quesadillas are my daughter’s favorite. I make these in different versions using a variety of vegetables and this is the best trick to get her to eat her daily dose of greens and veggies. This is a healthy option for snacking as well. It is quick and easy to make. I seldom use the whole wheat tortillas with lesser anount of carbs and more fibre to have it even healthier. This is on the 'hit list' of my daughters lunch box menu. Here I like to share the flavorful mint version which would capture the taste of kids and adults alike.




Ingredients
5 flour Tortillas
½ cup chopped spinach
1 tomato thinly sliced
1 small onion thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped mint
3 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro)
A dash of garlic powder
3 tbs pitted olives sliced
5 tsp tomato paste or sauce
1 cup shredded cheese (Cheddar, Mozzarella, Monterey jack or a mixture)


Method
Heat the Tortillas in a microwave for 2 mins
Mix the spinach, tomato, onions, mint, cilantro and olives like for a salad & stir in a dash of garlic and mix. Lay out each tortilla and first spread the tomato sauce on half of it. On top spread the above mixture. Layer it with a tbsp or more of cheese as desired.

Fold the tortilla into half and grill for 4-5 min.



Once the cheese has melted and the quesadilla turns crispy. Take off the grill and cut into wedges and serve with green coriander chutney or Ketchup.

This recipe has been presented to Cooking for kids event hosted by Divya @ Dil se and Sharmi @ Neivedyam

Bombay Rava Upma (Semolina)

Ingredients:
2 cups Bombay rava (Semolina)
4 cups water
1 dry red chille broken to halves
3-4 fresh green chillies chopped
1 large onion chopped
10-12 curry leaves
3-tblspns of oil
½ tsp turmeric
1 tblspn of split gram (chana dal)
1 tblspn of split black gram (urad dal)
1 tspn of cumin seeds
1 tspn of mustard seeds (optional)
½ cup of peanuts/cashew nuts
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal. When mustard seeds start to splutter add nuts, red chillies, green chilles, onions, when onions turn golden add water close lid and cook until the water starts to boil
Remove lid and slowly add Rava while mixing it with a spatula.
Allow to cook for 10-12 min. or until all the rava has cooked and all the water has evaporated on low flame while mixing occasionally.
Serve hot

Servings : 4

Variations and tips:
Serve hot with chutney or pickle of choice.

Chapathi

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil of choice
3/4 cup luke warm water or as needed

Method:
Mix flour and salt slowly adding water till it forms a ball of dough. Knead on a floured surface into soft dough. Let the dough stand for about 15 to 20 min. in a closed container.
Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces. Make them into small balls and roll out each ball at a time on a floured surface using a rolling pin to make thin layer like tortillas.
Heat over a preheated skillet on both sides one after another until you see brown spots. Add little oil if desired while heating.
Serve hot with any curry
Makes 8-10 chapathis

Tips:
Can be made without oil for a fat free recipe.

Atukula Upma (Poha/Parched rice)

Ingredients:3 cups atukulu
1½ cup water
1 Red chille broken to halves
3-4 fresh green chillies chopped
10-12 of curry leaves
3-tblspns of oil
½ tsp turmeric
1 tblspn of split gram (chana dal)
1 tblspn of split black gram (urad dal)
1 tspn of cumin seeds
1 tspn of mustard seeds
½ cup of peanuts (optional)
4 tblspns of fresh lemon juice or 2 tblspoons juice concentrate
Salt to taste

Method:Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal. When mustard seeds start to splutter add red chillie and peanuts. When the nuts start to turn golden brown add green chilles.
Add Atukulu mix and add water.
Allow to cook for 8-10 min. on low flame while mixing occasionally.
Serve hot

Serves : 4

Variations and tips:Serve hot with tomato chutney or pickle.

Semiya Upma/Vermicelli/Bambino

Ingredients:
2 cups Bambino vermicelli
3 cups water
1 Onion- sliced
4 Green Chillies sliced
1 Tomato – diced (optional)
1 sq inch grated ginger
3 tbs oil
1 tbs Chana dal
1 tbs Urad dal
1/2 tbs Cumin seeds
1 tbs Mustard seeds
1 tbs Cashew nuts
8-10 curry leaves
few corriander leaves

Method:
Roast bambino in a pan till lightly golden and keep aside.Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, chana daal, urad dal. When mustard seeds start to

splutter add cashew nuts, curry leaves and ginger. Add onions and green chilli.Sautee till onions turn golden and then add tomatoes
Add Bambino and mix for a min
Add water and place a lid on the pan.Let cook for 5-8 mins on low flame while mixing occasionally.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Serves: 4

Tips:
Serve with tomato or coriander (cilantro) chutney

Easy Dosa Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cups Urad flour
2 cups Rice flour
1 tbs salt or per your taste
3 cups luke warm water
Optional:
Methi powder (a pinch)
Sugar (pinch)

Method:
Mix the flours and salt in water into a smooth batter. Add methi powder and sugar and mix (these help make dosas puffy). Let the flour sit at least overnight to 24 hr to ferment.
Preheat a skillet to medium heat.
Sprinkle ice cold water on the skillet, soon as the water evaporated (will happen in seconds) grease the skillet with a little oil using a spatula.
Now mix the fermented batter with a laddle and gently pour a laddle full of batter onto the skillet quickly spreading it in circular motion using the bottom of laddle into 6-8 inch diameter circle.
If desired add a little oil around the edges of dosa while it is cooking. When Dosa starts to rise from the sides (in abt 2 min) using a flat spatula, flip to the other side and cook. Each side should approximately cook 1-2 min. until the side turns golden brown. Fold the Dosa into half and remove from skillet
Repeat the same process to make rest of the dosas.
Tips:
Use a half cut potato dipped in oil to spread it on the skillet, this minimizes oil usage and helps spread more evenly and prevents dosa from sticking to the skillet. Also makes dosas more crispy.
Serve hot with Stuffed potato curry in the middle of dosa.
Serve with karappodi, coconut chutney or sambhar

Godhuma ravva upma (cracked wheat upma)

Ingredients:
2 cups Godhuma ravva (cracked wheat)
4 cups water
1 dry red chille broken to halves
3-4 fresh green chillies chopped
½ cup snow peas or garden peas
½ cup cut carrots into small cubes
½ cup diced tomatoes
10-12 curry leaves
3-tblspns of oil
½ tsp turmeric
1 tblspn of split gram (chana dal),1 tblspn of split black gram (urad dal),1 tspn of cumin seeds1 tspn of mustard seeds (optional)
½ cup of peanuts
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal. When mustard seeds start to splutter add red chillies, green chilles, peas, carrots, and tomatoes and cook for 3 min. Add water close lid and cook until the water starts to boil
Remove lid and slowly add Rava while mixing it with a spatula.
Allow to cook for 10-12 min. or until all the the rava has cooked and all water evaporated on low flame while mixing occasionally.
Serve hot

Serves : 4

Variations and tips:
Serve hot with tomato chutney or pickle.

Idli

Ingredients:
2 Cups Urad flour
4 Cups Idli rava
3 tbs salt or to taste
6 cups luke warm water


Method:
Mix all ingredients in water to make a smooth batter. Let it ferment in a warm place overnight. The batter turns puffy when well fermented.
Fill the idli holder plates upto 3/4th full with the batter. Steam cook idlis under medium heat for 12-15 mins.
Remove cooked idlis using a spoon and serve hot

Tips:
Serve with coconut chutney, sambhar or karappodi

Mendu Vada

Ingredients

1 cup of black gram (urad daal without the coat)

Salt to taste

8-10 curry leaves

1 tsp of cumin seeds

1 tsp of crushed black pepper

Method:
Soak urad daal for six hours to overnight. Grind to a fine paste. Add salt, curry leaves, cumin seeds and crushed black pepper to the batter and mix well.Preheat oil in a pan. Wet your palms and take batter into the palms. Shape into balls and press onto palm or onto a plastic sheet, make a hole with the thumb in the centre to shape like a doughnut. Deep-fry in medium hot oil until they turn golden brown.Serve hot with coconut chutney or sambhar.

Variations:
Replace the black pepper with cut onions or mint leaves for a different taste

Saggubiyyam Upma (Sagoodana)

Ingrdients:
2 cups saggubiyyam (Sagudana)
4 cups water
1 cup peanuts- roasted – powdered
2 green peppers sliced
Salt to taste
Seasoning
10-12 curry leaves
3-tblspns of oil
½ tsp turmeric
1 tblspn of split gram (chana dal)1 tblspn of split black gram (urad dal)
1 tblspn chana daal1 tspn of cumin seeds1 tspn of mustard seeds (optional)


Method:
Soak saggubiyyam in enough water for 30-60 min.
Drain off water.
Preheat oil in a pan and add seasoning ingredients. When seeds start to splutter add the green peppers followed by saggubiyyam. Add the water and salt to taste and cook while mixing well. Let it cook till saggubiyyam becomes transparent while folding occasionally.
Turn off flame. Garnish with powdered roasted peanuts.
Serve hot or cold with pickle of choice