Rava Idli

Rava idlis makes great breakfast or light evening snack. I simply love it. You can add vegetables to make it even more interesting.

Here is the original rava idli recipe for you. I hope you like it :).

Makes: 12 idalis
Ingredients:
Semolina/ Rava: 2 cups
Curry leaves: handful
Yellow channa dal: 2 table spn
Plain yogurt: 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds: 1 table spoon
Salt to taste
Cashew nuts: 7-8
Coriander: finely chopped
Sugar: pinch or two
Oil: 2-3 table spoon
Eno: 1 table spoon

Preparation:
In a large pan, add oil and let it heat. Add channa dal, mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add curry leaves, cashew nuts and let it turn golden brown.
Add rava and salt to taste and stir until rava is slightly pink. This will take about 5-8 minutes on low to medium flame.

Take the mixture and allow it to cool off. Add plain yogurt and little bit oil. Add pinch of sugar, chopped coriander and mix well. Add little bit of water if required to reduce the consistency.
Heat the idli cooker with enough water in it. Let the water heat up. In the mean time apply oil on the idli mould. Add eno and stir well. Add the batter into idli mould.
Once the water is boiling, steam it for 12-15 minutes on medium flame. Once cooked, insert a knife to check idlis are cooked. If the knife comes out clean it means idlis are cooked.
Let the cooker steam off before opening. Be careful steam can be really hot.
Use a knife to take the idlis out.
Serve hot with nice coconut chutney.

Mung dal sambhar

Me and my husband loves mung dal and south Indian food. I was amazed to learn this recipe from him. When ever hubby gets into kitchen for cooking will not allow me to enter the kitchen. Not even for monitoring :(. I have managed to make sambhar as good as him and he is a bit unhappy about loosing his monopoly in sambhar making :). Here is yummy and healthy recipe of sambhar. Hope you relish it as we do.

Ingredients:
1 cup of following vegetables (take any of your favorite vegetables)
Carrot, Cauliflower, bottle gourd, okra, eggplant, drumsticks
Green peas: 1/2 cup
Tomato: 1 medium
Green chili: 3-4
Garlic: 3 cloves
Onion: 1 medium
Curry leaves: handful
Tamarind paste: 3 table spoon
Yellow split mung dal: 1.5 cups
White split urad dal: 1/2 table spoon
Mustard seeds: 1/2 table spoon
Red chili powder: 1/2 tbl spn
Turmeric powder: 1 tea spoon
Sambhar masala: 1 tbl spoon
Salt to taste
Oil + ghee : 1 table spoon, take more if you like will give better taste.
Asafoetida: 1/2 tea spoon

Preparation:
Wash mung dal with two waters. Soak mung dal for 10minutes in warm water. Boil dal with salt, turmeric and few drops of ghee/oil until its soft. In pressure cooking boil for 3 to 4 pressures.
In the mean time we will get the vegetables ready. Peel and chop onions. Peel and fine chop garlic. Wash and chop tomato. Wash curry leaves. Wash chilies and cut them into julienne.
Wash the selection of vegetables and chop them. Boil them in water until soft. Save the vegetables stock. Can be useful to add it to sambhar.
Soak tamarind in hot water for few minutes and take the hard skin and seeds out and mash it to make thick paste.

Once all these is ready. Heat the pan and add oil + ghee. Add white urad dal and after 30 seconds add mustard seeds. Add asafoetida, garlic, green chili, curry leaves and stir for 1 minute.
Add onions and cook until its brown from edges.
Add tamarind paste and stir well.
Add dal and all the masalas. Add salt to taste. Mix well. Add boiled vegetables and tomatoes.
Let it cook on low flame for 10 minutes to absorb all the flavour.
Serve hot. Enjoy with idlis, rice, chapati or just like soup.

Rava dosa

Rava dosa was main attraction when I used to go to restaurants. No one in my family knew how to make it. I was determined to try to learn this fabulous dosa recipe.

It is very easy to make and doesn't take lot of cooking time. Amazing for breakfast or light dinner. Little bit of ingredients makes lots of dosa.

You can make onion rava dosa, coconut rava dosa, masala rava dosa, chili rava dosa, cheese rava dosa or just plain rava dosa.

Makes: 8-10 dosa
Ingredients:
Fine semolina: 1 cup
Rice flour: 1/4 cup
Plain flour/ maida: 1/4 cup
Water: 2and1/2 to 3 cups
Sesame seeds: 1/2 tea spoon
Cumin seeds/ Jeera: 1/2 tea spoon
Salt to taste
Clarified butter + oil:
Onions (optional)
Coconut (optional)
Green chilies (optional)

Preparation:
Mix fine semolina, plain flour and rice flour. Add sesame seeds, cumin seeds, salt to taste and mix well.

Add water and let it sit for 30 to 60minutes. Consistency of the batter should be very thin. Easily pourable. Just like thick butter milk. Add more water if necessary.

Before adding onions, coconut just try to make a sada dosa first if you are making rava dosa for the first time as its quite different then normal dosa.

Heat the pan until you see steam coming off from the surface. Wipe off using a wet kitchen towel or tissue and water should evaporate.

Pour some batter into a cup with nozzle.
This will help dosa spreading process.
Hold the pan handle and start pouring dosa on the pan to make round dosa.

Add oil on the edges and add few drops of ghee in the middle.
Wait until dosa surface turns brown and flip it over. Cook for another minute.
[Note: As soon as you pour dosa batter you should see little holes coming out. Dosa texture should be crispy so allow it to cook properly. Too much batter could make dosa soft so adjust the batter when you pour dosa. Some more practise will help you improve your dosa making skill.]

Serve on the plate. Enjoy hot with chutney of your choice.

Once you know how to spread the rava dosa. Add finely chopped onions, chilies, coconut etc. It is also great with aloo sabji to make masala dosa.

Tofu Pav Bhaji Dosa

This is when things to more interesting in my kitchen. I am determined to add more protein to my food and even more determined to find various ways to include grated tofu in my dishes.

When any one asks me what is my favourite dish, I will say pav bhaji dosa. Yes, simple yummy pav bhaji is spread over dosa is my favourite dish :). I remember eating this in Shiv sagar, Mumbai. I miss this soooo much in London.

So one fine day when I had pav bhaji and dosa batter I decided to add little tofu on it and it was just great.

You can be more creative can also add freshly grated coconut along with tofu or even better cheese :).

Click for dosa batter recipe.

Click for pav bhaji recipe.

Ingredients:
Dosa batter:
Pav bhaji
Tofu: handful grated
Preparation:
Heat the pan to spread dosa. Let the smoke come out from the surface of the pan.

Tomato chutney

You have to try this recipe. I had some friends over for a weekend and I knew I can learn this chutney from the wife. I asked her to teach me this chutney as I always loved tomato chutney I get in Chennai Dosa restaurant.

This turned out to be the best tomato chutney I ever had any where.

The possibility to eat this chutney with are endless. You can eat this with dosa, idli, rice, roti, dhokla or just own its own. It is also important that you stop eating at one point :).

You can keep this chutney for 3-4 days.

Ingredients:
Bengal gram dal: 1 large spoon
White split urad dal: 1 large spoon
Peanuts: 2 spoon
Tamarind: 1 spoon
Garlic paste: 2 tea spoon
Tomato: 3 medium
Green chili: 3
Salt to taste
Oil: 3 table spoon
Coriander: handful

Preparation:
Wash tomato, chili, coriander. Rough chop them.

Heat the pan and add oil. Add Bengal gram and urad dal.
After a minute add peanuts.
Cook until peanuts start to fry and skin cracks.
Remove it in a bowl or plate without oil.
We will use the oil to saute tomatoes. Heat the same pan with the remaining oil again. Add garlic, chilies, and tomatoes.
Cook for 2-3 minutes until tomatoes are soft. Add coriander and tamarind.


And remove from heat. Let the dal and tomato cool off before blending into chutney for 10-20 minutes.

First we will crush the dals and peanuts.
Add tomatoes in and salt to taste. Crush again to make a smooth paste.
Take it out in a storing container.
Serve with dosa or anything of your choice.

Puliyogare

Puliyogare is a very yummy tamarind rice recipe. Famous in south of India. This is good for lunch with plain yogurt of any curry of your choice.

This is good for picnics or party.

Serves: 4
Ingredients:

Tamarind paste:
Bengal gram dal: 1 large spoon
White split urad dal: 1 large spoon
Mustard seeds: 2 tea spoon
Peanuts: 1-2 spoon
Cashew nuts pieces: 2 table spoon
Green chilies: 3-4
Curry leaves: 12-15
Red chili whole: 2-3 (cut it into small pieces if its a big one)
Tamarind: 2 large spoon (handful)
Oil: 2 large spoon
Jaggery: 1 table spoon
Asafoetida: pinch

Salt to taste

Rice:
Turmeric: 1/2 tea spoon
Oil few drops
Rice: 3 cups
Water: 6cups

Preparation:

Tamarind paste:
Wash and slit green chilies.

Remove seeds from tamarind and soak it for 1-2 hours in warm water. Squeeze the tamarind and remove any hard skin and stone if any. Add jaggary in the tamarind paste and allow it to melt.

Heat a pan and add oil. Add Bengal gram dal in hot oil and urad dal. Let them change color and add mustard seeds.
When seeds starts to splutter add asafoetida. Add peanuts and cashew nuts. Add red chili whole.
After they start to change color add green chilies and curry leaves.
When chilies start to cook add tamarind paste.
We will cook this on medium - high flame and allow it to cook until water is evaporated and oil starts to come out of the tamarind paste.

This will take 7-10 minutes. Towards the end add salt to taste. Keep stirring occasionally.
Rice:
Wash and soak rice for 20 minutes. Allow it to cook in double amount of water. Add turmeric and few drops of oil in the water before adding the rice in boiling water.
[Note: if you want rice grains to stay separate and not stick to each other, add cold water as soon as the rice is cooked and drain it off]

Rice will be cooked in 10 minutes of so.

Mix tamarind paste in the rice and with gently mix it into rice. Keep aside for 20 minutes of so to allow flavour to absorb in the rice.
Serve hot with plain yogurt of any curry of your choice.

Curry leaves and coconut chutney

Ingredients:
Grated coconut: 1/2 cup
Green chili: 3-4
Roasted bengal gram: 1/2 cup
Curry leaves: 20-25
Salt to taste
Plain yogurt: 2-3 table spoon
Water: as needed

For tempering:
Oil: 1 tea spoon
Bengal gram dal/ chana dal: 5-6
White split urad dal: 1 tea spoon
Mustard seeds: 1 tea spoon

Preparation:
Take grated coconut, green chili, curry leaves, salt to taste and roasted bengal gram dal in mixture and grind it to make coarse paste.
This is very good to prepare in advance and use it when ever you want for dosa, idli etc. This will last in cold weather for 1-2 week.
When you want to eat along with dosa do the following.

Add plain yogurt and mix well.
Add Water and mix well.
For tempering, take a small round vessel and heat it on medium flame. Add 1 tea spoon of oil. Add urad and channa dal in hot oil.
When dal starts to change color add mustard seeds once splutter add it to chutney.
This chutney can last in cold weather for 2 days.