Aai's easy Uttapam's

Well, as most of you know by now about our new launch of Tshirts for animal lovers a week ago under the name "The Woofy Tales", the branding is keeping me quite busy! Its all a "two-people show" since it is just a start-up! So, me and hubby have to do the publicity, marketing, track orders, ship them, click pictures, edit and the list goes on.. Managing all this and also our little paw-friends that i board gave me very little time to stand in the kitchen and cook some elaborate dishes! So mostly it would be a quick daal-chawal with the pickles (a whole lot of them i had mentioned in my earlier post, of which i still have to click pictures and blog about) or a simple stir fried sabzi and roti or at times, just a snack item like bhel or some heavy salad! Also, the temperature is rising here day by day , and even if i cook a small meal, I am always drenched in sweat! So that gives me even less motivation to stand in the kitchen for long hours!

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So, to eat light in summers, our meals are small and we top it up with some milkshake or ice cream sundaes or Popsicles. Just like this watermelon Popsicle which remains our favourite. I make this with just 4 ingredients : Watermelon juice, lemon juice, black salt and sugar or honey if needed.

The recipe i am sharing here is one that i have learnt from my mother. She used to make these quick delicious uttapams with the readymade dosa batter. This recipe comes to my rescue when i have to spend less time in the kitchen, such as past few days! This is quite easy to make and the addition of red chilli powder is totally optional. I have made it in 2 ways - one just as my mom made it with onions, tomatoes and red chilli powder and the second one with green chillies, onions, tomatoes and cumin powder! You can even add corriander leaves if you like.

Ingredients:

Readymade dosa batter - As needed. We normally use 1/4 kg  (a small packet that we buy from the store)

Onion - 1 small chopped

Tomato - 1 small chopped

Red chilli powder - according to taste (optional)

Green chilli - 1 chopped finely

Cumin powder - 1 tsp (or as needed)

Oil - 3-4 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Recipe:

Heat a non stick tava. 

Add little water to the dosa batter to make it to desired consistency. The batter should not be too thick nor too thin (like the normal dosa consistency). To make uttapams, it's best to have the batter a little on the thicker side but of pouring consistency. The readymade batter is too thick, hence this step. If your batter is already of pouring consistency, then skip this step.

Add salt to the batter as needed.

Put about 1-2 tsp of oil on the tava. Now, with a laddle ful, spread the batter on the greased hot tava in a circular motion to make the uttapam round in shape.

Reduce the flame and put little oil on the sides of the uttapam. Add about 1-2 tbsp of onions, tomatoes and red chilli powder or green chillies and cumin powder as needed.

When one side is cooked and becomes brown, flip it on the other side carefully and cook the other side as well.

Please note to keep the flame to minimum or else the toppings will burn and become black. It will give a burnt look and flavour.

Remove it in a serving plate and serve along with Naralachi chutney .

This dish is absolutely easy, quick and makes a perfect breakfast recipe or a tiffin recipe too. It is an absolute favourite of my hubby and taste delicious with the coconut chutney (Link mentioned above).

Happy Cooking and wish you all a great weekend ahead :)

Appe from Readymade Idli Batter

Appe as it is called in Maharashtrian or Konkani language, this is a popular breakfast recipe is South India known as Paddu. They are made of various ingredients - Sometimes with rice, sometimes adding Poha, and at times only with lentils (majorly Urad daal). 

These days, we get readymade Dosa/Idli batter in the market. I have sourced one amazing south indian guy who makes this fresh and sells it near to our home. So, one packet of this in fridge and i can make varied breakfast of idli, dosa, uttapas and at times Appe. My aunt gifted me this special "Appe Tava" that is required to make these. It is a non-stick tava, so naturally makes for a healthy breakfast with less oil. You can make it with no oil too, but i prefer brushing a little oil, just to get a nice brown colour and also to make sure the batter doesn't stick to the tava (as the batter varies from place to place).

Ingredients:

Idli batter - as required 

French beans - a few (chopped finely)

Onions - Half for about 1/4 kg batter (chopped finely)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste

Water - little

Corriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped

Oil - to brush the tava

You can also add pepper for a different taste and replace/add vegetables of your choice like cauliflower, carrots or even peas.

Recipe:

In the appe tava, brush little oil and place it on the stove.

Mix turmeric powder, salt, beans, onions, corriander leaves with the dosa batter and add little water if the batter is too thick. Don't make it too thin like a dosa batter. It should just have the consistency to pour easily.

Once the tava is hot, put small amounts in each mould (about a spoonful), cover the tava with a lid and let it steam-cook till the outer sides become brown. 

Now turn over the appe's, so the other side is cooked. This time don't cover the tava.

Serve hot along with coconut chutney or tastes great with any chutney :)

Happy Cooking!!! :)

Bhindi Sambar

Cooking is an art : As much as i appreciate when my friends call me a good cook, there are times when things go wrong ! Guess this is an everybody's kitchen story that something got burnt, something didn't turn right and some leftovers always occupy the fridge space! As much as a foodie i am, i hate to waste food and always want to find some news ways of utilising the leftovers or do some modifications and get the recipe right! 

One such day was when i was trying to make homemade ghee ( which now, am an expert at :)), and the butter refused to pop up ( from which ghee is made, we call this "LONI" in Marathi language ) from the buttermilk, despite trying all the combinations. So now i was left with tons of sweet buttermilk. Yes, it does taste good in it's natural form, but i decided to make something out of it. And my exploration led me to discover a terrific recipe of Sambar made with ButterMilk. Hubby is not much of a fan of coconut based gravies but i truly cherished it with Steamed Rice.

So Grab on your prettiest apron and wear those funky pajamas, and we are all set to enter the kitchen to make the dish of the day :)

Ingredients :

Buttermilk - 2 cups

Bhindi( Lady's finger ) - 1/4 cup (You can also add brinjals or cucumber instead of bhindi ) Chopped into small pieces

Kala Chana - 2 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp ( you can also use coconut oil to add extra flavour and aroma, if you are okay with the smell of it )

Red chillies - 3

Green chillies - 2 ( i didn't have these, so my kadhi is looking a little reddish as i added 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder )

Ginger - 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1tsp

Corriander seeds - 2 tsp

Hing ( Asafoetida ) a pinch

Coconut flakes - 2 tsp 

Curry leaves - a few ( Sigh! I didn't have these too...)

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

  

Recipe :

Soak the kala chana in 1/2 cup of water.

Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the bhindi ( they shouldn't be too crisp, fry it just till they start browning).

Add turmeric and salt to the buttermilk. ( In case you don't have buttermilk, use yogurt )

In a grinder, add the soaked chana, ginger, coconut flakes, green chillies, red chillies and corriander seeds and grind it to a smooth mixture. Add a little water if necessary.

Heat oil in a pan, add Asafoetida, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they crackle, add this ground mixture to it and saute for a minute.

Now add the yogurt mixture and let it come to a boil.

Now add the fried bhindis and let it simmer on low flame till it thickens.

You can garnish it with corriander leaves. 

Serve with Steamed rice and Papad !

Happy Cooking :)