Appam/ Rice pancake

You will need:

• 2 cup sona masoori rice/ Basmathi rice
• 2 tbsp urad dal
• 1 cup cooked rice(can substitute with aval/poha also)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tbsp sugar(can increase or decrease according to your taste)
• 1 tsp salt

Step 1:

Soak the rice and urad dal together for 6 to 8 hours or even overnight.

Step 2:

Grind to a fine paste using water/ milk/ coconut milk. When grinding add aval/poha also. Grind it to a fine paste.

Step 3:

Allow it to ferment overnight inside oven or in a warm place.

Step 4:

Add coconut milk to the fermented mixture and mix it well. Add salt and sugar. If it it too think just grind it once again in the mixie/blender.

Mix it well and make aapam using appam thawa. You can make appam using dosa thawa also. But obviously the shape differs .


Secret of making appam perfetly is making appam in a low heat. When you are pouring appam into the appam thawa it should be very less heat. After pouring the appam rise the heat to medium high. It will get ready within a min.

Ragi Idli

You will need:

• 1 cup whole ragi/ragi flour
• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup cooked rice(optional)
• ½ cup urad dhal
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 tsp salt
• oil to grease the idli tray

Step 1:

Soak urad dal separately in water.

Step 2:

Soak rice, ragi, fenugreek seeds together in warm water.

Step 3:

I prefer overnight soaking. Should soak it for minimum 6 to 8 hours .

Step 4:

Grind urad dal separately till it become very soft and attain paste like texture.. Add less water when grinding urad dal.

Step 5:

Grind the rice, ragi, fenugreek seeds together. Add cooked rice to this mixture if you are adding it.. Grind it to a fine paste.

Step 6:

Mix this rice, ragi mixture to the urad dal mixture. Add salt and mix it with your hands. Allow it to ferment overnight or minimum 5 hours inside the oven or in a warm place.

Step 7:

Allow water to boil in the pressure cooker or idli cooker. Grease the idli trays with oil and pour this batter onto the idli trays.



Place these trays in the cooker and cook it for 10 mins . Do not use whistle.

Serve it with idli chutney powder, lamb curry, spicy chicken curry.

Pal Urundai/ Rice flour balls in milk sauce

You will need:

• 1 cup puttu flour
• ¾ cup grated coconut
• pinch of cardamom powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar(optional)
• 1 cup milk or coconut milk
• 2 cup water + 2 tbsp water
  
• ¼ cup boiled water

Step 1:

Boil 2 cups of water in a pan. In the mean time take a mixing bowl and add puttu flour, grated coconut, salt and sugar,boiled water and mix it with a spoon.




Step 2:

When the dough is still warm just shape it as small balls. The size of the ball should be smaller than golf ball. Smaller the ball size it taste better.



Step 3:

Just drop the balls into the boiling water one by one and allow it to cook for 5 mins. After 5 mins just add the milk and cardamom powder along with this mixture and allow it to boil for few more minutes(5 to 7 mins) till the urunda is fully cooked inside. Add salt and sugar at this stage if needed.

Step 4:

Mix a tbsp of puttu flour with 2 tbsp cold water and then pour it to the boiling(water, milk, puttu balls) mixture. This will thicken the sauce. By mixing the puttu flour with water you can avoid lump formations.

Step 5:

Pal urunda is now ready to serve. You can serve this for breakfast.

Note:

You can make this urunda only with sugar too. Even that will taste good.

Don't press it too hard to get the ball shape. This will harden the balls and will take more time to cook

Dates Almond Bread

You will need:

• 1 cup wheat flour
• ½ cup bread flour(can substitute with all-purpose/maida flour too)
• ½ cup chopped nuts(Almonds)
• 1 cup chopped dates
• ½ cup sugar(can increase for more sweetness)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 egg(can add 1 more egg)
• ¼ cup olive oil/butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp buttermilk(optional)
  
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup water

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350F.

Chop the pitted dates and keep it aside in a bowl. Boil 1 cup of water. After it becomes hot just switch off the heat and pour that hot water into the chopped dates. Let it cool for 15 mins.



Step 2:

Preparing wet ingredients:

In a mixing bowl mix together egg, sugar, vanilla extract and oil until it becomes fluffy.

Step 3:

Preparing Dry ingredients:

In another bowl sieve together the wheat flour, bread flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Step 4:

Now mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredient using a spatula. Add the dates along with the water to this and mix it using the spatula to get the perfect bread dough.Don't over mix it.

Hint:

If you are using buttermilk add at this stage.

Step 5:

Mix in the chopped nuts.

Step 6:

Grease the loaf pan with butter. Pour the above mixture into the loaf ban and bake it for 40 to 50 mins in the preheated oven.

You date almond bread is now ready!! Enjoy!!!

Note:

Instead of wheat flour you can make this with All purpose flour/ bread flour/maida too. Buttermilk is purely optional. It taste good even without that.
In this recipe i used "Golden Temple" (Durum Atta flour)

Spinach Poori

You will need:

• ½ cup wheat flour
• ½ cup Maida flour/ All purpose flour
• ¼ cup Sooji/ Rava
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp oil for kneading dough
  
• milk for kneading dough(less than ¼ cup)
  
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 inch ginger(finely copped)
• bunch of spinach
• 2 green chillies
  
• oil for deep frying
  

Step 1:

To make spinach paste:

In a non stick pan just put a few drops of oil. When its hot add chopped ginger,green chillies and garlic to it and saute it till it turns golden brown color. Now add spinach and close with a lid. After 2 mins you can see that the spinach is fully cooked. Now allow it to cool for few minutes. Then grind it to a fine paste using blender/mixie. Use one cup of paste to make poori. You can make palak sausage gravy or palak paneer gravy or spinach chapathi with the remaining paste.

Step 2:
To make dough:

Sieve the maida/ all purpose flour if it has any lumps. In a mixing bowl add wheat flour, maida/ all purpose flour, sooji/rava, salt, sugar and 1 cup of spinach paste. Mix it all together. Add milk to knead the dough. Finally add 1 tbsp oil and kneadit. The dough should have the consistency similar to pizza, chapathi. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour. Then divide the balls into small balls.



Step 3:

Flatten/roll the dough using rolling pin to get a circular shape. If you are not able to get the perfect round shape just cut it using large cookie cutter/ lunch box lid after flattening to get the perfect round shape.

Step 4:

Heat oil in deep fry pan. Better to have the flame medium. When the oil is hot just drop the flattened poori into the oil. Press with the spatula with a slotted spoon to get puffed poori. when it turns golden brown just flip it to get golden brown color in the next side too. When the poori is ready just place it in the paper towel. Enjoy with potato masala, chicken masala, palak sausage gravy, or with your favorite side dish.

Note:

• You can use cookie cutters to get your desired shapes.
• You can make palak panner gravy by replacing sausage with panner. Enjoy your day with a healthy breakfast. Can have this for dinner too.

Panettone French Toast

Panettone is an Italian Bread. I read the story in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panettone
One day when i was watching TV i saw one of the Italian chef making this toast. Felt like eating it that time itself. I love fruit bread. So this is similar to that but a bit difference in taste. Specially this is the first time i'm seeing a bread in this cylindrical size. Tastes good before toasting itself. And after toasting its excellent. Enjoy!!!!


You will need

• 10 slices Panettone Bread(I cut it vertically 4 and then horizontally 1 inch slices.)
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup cold milk
• 2 tbsp sugar/honey (optional.. since its sweet already)
  
• Ghee/Butter/ Oil (Just enough to toast the bread).
  

Step 1:

Just cut the Panettone Bread into desired shapes. Small the pieces, easy to flip it while toasting.




Step 2:

Whisk the eggs and then add milk and honey/ sugar to it. Adjust the sugar according to your taste.

Handy Hint:

No need to add sugar with milk and egg. Just sprinkle or pour some honey on top of it at last for a great presentation. You can use maple sauce too.

Step 3:

Heat a non-stick frying pan to a medium heat and heat butter/ghee in it.

Step 4:

Just dip the bread slices into the egg, milk ,sugar mixture and toast the bread till you get light golden color. Flip it and fry the other side too.

Enjoy with sliced fruits and a cup of coffee. Enjoy your day.

Note:

You can make this with ordinary bread too

Garlic Chutney

You will need:

• 1 whole garlic (for roasting)
  
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 string curry leaves
• 1 tsp tamarind paste(can increase or decrease)
  
• mustard for tempering
• ural dal for tempering
• salt for taste
  
• few curry leaves for tempering(optional)

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Take an aluminum foil sheet, place the garlic on it and just brush it with butter/oil . Now make it as a pouch.As shown in fig


Step 2:

Bake the garlic for 35 to 45 mins. After that let it cool for few minutes. Squeeze the garlic from skin or just take the roasted garlic by peeling the skins.

Step 3:

In the mean time just heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add red chillies, curry leaves and tomato. Saute it for few minutes until tomatoes turn soft and well cooked. When the tomatoes turn soft just add tamarind paste to it and switch of the flame. Allow it to cool for few minutes.

Step 4:

Now grind the tomato red chilli mixture, the roasted garlic and the raw garlic pods till it become a fine paste..

Step 5:

For tempering:

Heat 4 tbsp oil in a pan add mustard seeds, ural dal one by one. After it splutters add some curry leaves and then add the ground mixture to this and saute it till the oil oozes out from the ground mixture. Stir in some salt and switch off the flame.

Enjoy with hot idli/dosa. For me it tasted better on the second day than the first day.

Note:

1. You can also do this without roasting the garlic. If so you have to use just 6 garlic cloves.
2. If you dont have oven just saute the garlic pods using 1 tsp oil till it turns brown colour.

Besan dosa/ gram flour omelete

After marriage i was making kara bajji's using potatoes and onions. Sometimes with eggs too. But whenever i make something with gram flour my hubby simply liked it. So thought of trying some varieties of dishes with gram flour. Once i heard from my friend that North Indian people have some dosa recipes using gram flour. So i just gave a try to make this dosa. Simple superb and perfect for gram flour lovers. It smells like omelet. I tried it without eggs but we can smell egg in that dosa. You can give a try for breakfast or as simple dinner.

Description:

This dosa is fully made with gram flour. So those who like gram flour can try this dosa. I mean those who like bonda, kara bajji, kara boondhi will surely love this recipe. It will smell like omelete.

You will need:

• 1 cup Besan / gram flour
• 2 tbsp Onion ( finely chopped) use food chopper or very finely chop using knife
• 2 tbsp Tomato (finely crushed or chopped)
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 green chilli (finely chopped)
• ¼ tsp chilli powder
• ½ cup coriander leaves
• pinch of asofoetida
• ¼ tsp ajwain seeds(omam)
• 1 egg (optional)
  
• salt to taste
• water to mix (just to get dosa batter consistency)
• oil for making dosa

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients with water to form like a dosa batter except oil. Please don't forget to add ginger garlic paste and also to chop all the ingredients finely. Heat griddle/tawa/ nonstick pan pour a ladle of batter and roll it around to spread it evenly. Cook one side pour some oil around and turn other side to cook .When done remove and serve


You can top one side of the dosa with sliced panner or cheese to get cheese omlete.

Enjoy you besan omelete. One good thing about this dosa is , it doesn't need any side dish. Hope this makes you happy!!!!!

Pongal/ ven pongal Recipe

You will need

• 1 cup Basmathi rice/ sona masoori rice
  
• 1 cup moong dal
• 6 cups water
• 3 green chillies
• ¼ inch ginger
• 1 tsp whole black pepper/ 1 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp ghee
• asafoetida a pinch
• 10 - 15 cashew nuts
• salt as reqd
  
• some curry leaves

Step 1:

In a rice cooker add rice, moong dal, water and cook until its over cooked. Stir occasionally. If need add more water.

Step 2:

Stir fry:

Cut the green chillies and ginger into fine pieces.

Take 2 tsp ghee in a frying pan and add whole peppers, cumin seeds, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida. Add cashew nuts and remove the pan from heat when the cashews are roasted.

Step 3:

Mixing:

Add the above mixture to the cooked rice and dal. Stir in some salt and mix well. Serve with sambhar and kadala chutney. Enjoy!!!!!!

Crispy dosa recipe

Step 1:

You will need

• 4 cups of Basmathi rice
  
• 1 cup urad dal
  
• 1 cup besan flour
• 1 tbsp fenugreek
• 2 tbsp rava (sooji)
• salt as required
• water as required
  

Step 2:

Soak

Soak the rice and fenugreek seeds together in a separate box over night and urad dal in another box


Step 3:

Dough

In a Grinder or Blender (Mixie) blend the ural dhal till it become very soft by adding water. Urad dal has to be very soft to get very thin and soft dosa. Then grind the rice with the fenugreek and the water and then mix with the urad dal. While grinding rice add 1 cup flour and rava to it and blend it altogether. Add salt according to your taste.

Allow it to ferment for min 7 hours.


Step 3:

Frying

Heat a flat pan and make thin dosas. Fry on both sides until golden brown in color with little oil.

Banana dosa recipe

Step 1:

You will need

• 250g all-purpose flour (maida)
• 4 bananas, mashed
• 1 egg
• 75g sugar
• 2g cardamom powder
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 glass milk
• 50g oil

Step 2:

Dough

Beat the egg well and to this, add sugar, milk and mashed bananas. These ingredients can also be mixed in a blender. To the all-purpose flour, add the above banana mixture and mix well to form dosa batter. Now add cardamom powder and baking powder to the batter and mix well.


Step 3:

Frying

Heat a flat pan and make thin dosas. Fry on both sides until golden brown in color with little oil.

Handy Hint:

Add some green chillies if u like spice dosa..