Crispy Cornmeal Dosa

First of all, i want to thank all the readers for your comments and i apologize for not stopping by your blogs. It is little hectic now and will continue to be hectic till april end and i'm hoping i'll get more time after that. I don't miss your recipes though, thanks to google reader :)

Here is something that i tried recently and was fairly easy and approved by my kids as well.
Since it was my first time i did not add any vegetables in it as i did not know what to expect.


Ingredients :

Corn Rava (Cornmeal) - 1 cup
Riceflour - 1/2 cup
Buttermilk - 1 cup
green chillies - 3 (finely chopped) - optional
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
Water - as required

Method :

Mix all the ingredients and set it aside for a minimum of 1 hour.
The batter should be of rava dosa consistency. Watery.
Heat (non stick) tawa. Keep the stove between med high and high. Stir the batter and start spreading the batter from outside. (Opposite to how you make regular dosa).Since it's a bit watery, the batter will start running towards the center forming polka dot holes. If this does not happen, your batter is thick and you need to add more water. Spread little oil on the dosa and wait till the wet batter look disappears and flip the dosa and cook it for another minute or so.
Unlike rava dosa, the dosa gets thicker in the center, but it is still crisp like rava dosa, but not as thin as it. Adjust the heat while cooking to get the golden yellow colour consistently and also stir the batter before you make each dosa.

See how crispy it is? :)

It is heavier than Rava dosa and takes little more time than it.

Tastes good with chilli powder or chutney.

Puli Sevai / Tangy Tamarind Rice Noodles

Hi everyone, I am back (kind of!). For those who sent me mail or left scrap wondering where the heck i was, i am here and alive :-) Thank you for checking on me. It was way too hectic in may, both at work and at home. I keep checking on all your recipes in my reader whenever i get a chance, but i could not leave any comments nor could i post anything in my own blog. I usually blog or blog-hop after my kids goto sleep. I could not do it as i was extremely tired and i tried to post something few times before their bedtime, but everytime my little one sees me in front of the pc, he squeezes himself between me and the pc and asks for hai potayo (Wiggles Hot Potato) or the big comfy couch and both the songs keep ringing in my ears all day that i am scared i might sing it out loud at work one day!! :D

I will be out next week, so no blogging or blog-hopping again for another week. Are you thinking i'm nuts for coming out of a break to say i'll be taking another break? :-) But, before i go into the silent mode again, i'll post a yummy, quick and easy recipe..

Ingredients :

Instant Sevai Mix or Rice noodles - 250 gms (I always use 777 brand)

Red chillies - 3

Tamarind paste - 1/2 spoon

Turmeric powder - a pinch or two

Mustard seeds, Urad daal, Channa daal, Curry leaves and Hing for seasoning

Salt to taste

A handful of roasted peanuts and Cilantro - for garnishing

Method :

Boil water in a large pan. Add the Instant sevai or Rice noodles in the boiling water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Drain the water and chop the noodles with kitchen scissors. In a pan heat little oil, pop mustard seeds, add turmeric powder, urad daal, channa daal, chillies, curry leaves and fry till the daals are golden brown. Add some water (approx. quarter cup) to the tamarind paste, dilute it and add this tamarind water let it boil till the raw smell goes and it thickens. Now, turn off the stove and Add the boiled noodles and salt. Mix well. Garnish with cilantro and roasted peanuts.

Sending this to MM:Ravishing Rice hosted by Nags and started by Meeta.

See you all soon!

Potato Parathas with a Healthy Twist

And the healthy twist is..i added oatmeal to wheat flour. Didn't make much difference at all.
Parathas tasted great. I just needed to apply few more drops of oil to keep them soft.

Now to the recipe :

Ingredients for stuffing :

Potatos - 6
Red chilli powder -3/4th of a spoon
Masala of your choice - 1/2 spoon ( i used pav bhaji masala and it was very good)
Salt to taste
Cilantro - 1/2 bunch finely minced
Mustard seeds, urad daal and hing for seasoning


Method :

Pressure cook the potatos and mash them with a fork. Once it has cooled down, add chilli powder, minced cilantro and salt and mix well. This way you get the spices and salt evenly mixed.
Heat little oil in a non stick pan and pop mustard seeds. Add urad daal, hing and the masala and fry till the daal is golden brown. Reduce heat to sim and add the mashed potato and saute for a minute or two. Let it cool. Divide into equal sized balls and keep aside.


Ingredients for the dough :

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Toasted oatmeal - 0.75 cup
Salt to taste
Water


Method :

Mix everything and add water little by little till you get a pliable dough. Wrap it in saran wrap and let it sit for an hour. Divide the dough into equal sized balls and stuff the potatos and roll it and make it into parathas. The trick to get round parathas is to roll it without applying too much pressure and ofcourse with some experience you will get the hang of it. I used to make different continents when i started cooking and now i get them in decent shapes, mostly. You can refer to this post on how to make parathas (Good luck with that! :D)



I am sending this to :
1. Srivalli's MM-Kid's lunches
2. Roma's JFI : Wheat
3. Lakshmi's Meals on Wheels

Tofu Paratha and Sandwich

I used to take tofu because it's nutritious not because i liked it. It was okay for me, but not a favourite. I saw a tofu omelet recipe and i wanted to try it. It was a flop and it turned into scramble, but the taste was very good. Addition of milk blended well with the tofu and gave a nice taste. Sort of like ricotta cheese minus the sweet taste. I started making it frequently and one fine day it occured to me to make it as parathas since my kids prefer parathas to rice. It was an instant hit! My toddler literally snatched each piece from my hand and gobbled it :) My 6 year old asked me what i put in the paratha and when i said Tofu, his jaws dropped to the floor. Hehe..Sometimes, it helps not to tell what's in there before they have their food :)

Ingredients :

Wheat flour - 2 cups

Salt to taste

For the tofu scramble :

Tofu - 14oz

Onions - 1 (i used onions instead of spring onions)

green chillies - 6 (increased it for the parathas)

Milk - 3/4cup

Mustard seeds, hing and urad daal

Method :

You can find the Tofu scramble recipe here.

For Parathas :

Add water to the wheat flour, little by little and keep kneading till you get a pliable dough.

Cover with Saran wrap and keep it aside for atleast an hour. This really helps you in getting soft parathas. My parathas used to be hard as a plate if you didn't eat them as soon as they were made. I tried so many tips i got from different people and this is the best that worked for me.

Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Take each ball and make a cup out of it and stuff the tofu scramble. Close it and roll it into paratha. Cook it in a hot tawa for 30 seconds. Flip and apply few drops of oil. Cook for another 45 secs to 1 min and flip again and apply oil on the other side. Both sides should be golden brown. (Phew! It's so tough to explain in writing :D)

The same filling can be used to make sandwiches. Here are the yummy sandwiches :)



I am sending this to

1) Srivalli's MM-Kid's lunches
2) PJ's Tasty bytes for toddlers
3 )Roma's JFI : Wheat

Tomato Rice, Carrot-Peanut Raita and an Award

I am sending this to Sappadu Ready Event

Tomato Rice :

It's similar to the Tomato Poha that i posted some time back. This is perfect for a lazy weekend brunch.

Ingredients :

Rice (raw) - 1 cup
Onion - 1
Tomatos - 2
Green chillies - 3
Sambar Powder - 1 spoon
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds, hing, urad daal, channa daal and curry leaves for seasoning
Cilantro for garnishing

Method :

Pressure cook the rice and spread it in a wide pan and let it cool. Add a spoon of water and mix it gently and let it cool. This way the rice won't get sticky.

Cut the onions and tomatos. In a pan, heat little oil and pop mustard seeds. Add hing, green chillies and fry for a minute. Add the daals and fry till golden brown. Add the onions and saute till they are translucent. Add the chopped tomatos, sambar powder and little water and cook till the raw smell goes and the tomatos are well cooked. Add cilantro and mix well. Add this paste to the rice and add salt to taste and mix well.

Tip : This tastes very good with sambar powder. If you don't have sambar powder you can add some redchilli powder and 1/2 spoon dhaniya powder.

Tomato rice goes well with Raita.

When i was newly married i learnt this raita from my neighbour who was from Maharashtra. She used to add peanut powder to raitas and that gave a nice taste to it.

Carrot peanut raita :

Ingredients :

Carrots - 2
Roasted Peanuts - a handful
Greenchillies - 2
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds, urad daal and hing for seasoning
Cilantro for garnishing
Yogurt - as required.

Method :

Dry grind the roasted peanuts coarsely and add it to the grated carrots. Add salt, yogurt and mix well. Season with mustard seeds, urad daal, hing and green chillies and garnish with cilantro.

And now to the award. Priya passed me the good job award. Thank you, dear. I got this already from EC and passed it on to few of my blogger friends and would like to pass it to few more...

I would like to pass this award to Mahimaa, Ramya Vijaykumar, Alka, Gita, Sagari, Lubna, Bharti, Hema and Deesha

Congrats to all. I know some of you have already received this award, but i still want to pass it on to you :-)