Savory Cornmeal Pancakes

Reminder: Please remember to send in your Kid friendly dishes to Kid's Delight - What Kids love...for Summer! ENDS July 15th! 

Well BM # 16 is coming to the end today! I am glad I was a part of it and am really glad that I could do both weeks. I hope all you had as much fun I had cooking up and dishing it out to you guys! 
I will be ever grateful to Srivalli for having so much patience and taking care of all simple problems that come along the way and just making such a  huge BM family! I am even very glad to have made new friends and to have come across new and wonderful blogs each time I do the marathon!
So guys if you are looking for something really fun to do, check out Srivalli announcement for the next edition and join in the fun!


Like I mentioned I might be a little scarce from the blogging area as my In-Laws are coming over and also summer vacation will be starting soon here, so it will be fun time with the kids. But I surely will be looking forward to posting some in between...cos I will be lost if I don't do it! :)


Anyways coming back to today's post, here is an easy savory pancake recipe which you can mix up in few minutes and have a hot hot pancakes or more like utthapams in a few minutes. All you need to have in your pantry is cornmeal. Did you even know the you can make wonderful savory pancakes with cornmeal! Here is the recipe!


Ingredients:

1 cup Corn meal
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup yogurt
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 onion, chopped tiny
2 green chilies, chopped tiny
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
salt to taste
1/4 tsp jeera, cumin seeds
enough water to make into batter
oil to fry on tava like a pancakes

Method:

Mix all the ingredients and whisk together so that no lumps are formed into a dosa / pancake batter consistency.

Heat the tava or a pan. Put laddle full into the pan, do not spread it.
Add a few drops of oil. Flip over when its brown on one side. Let it brown on other side too.
Remove and serve.
Serve hot with any pickle or chutney.
Enjoy!!!

Hop over to the other marathoner's kitchens to see whats cooking!

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Brown Rice and Flax Dosa

So on day 2 of the blogging marathon, continuing with how much and what to eat....here is Brown rice and flax dosas.

Whole grains are very important to everyone and not only the 'diabetics'.
They provide with the necessary fiber which the body need, which is almost eliminated by eating processed foods.
Brown rice and Flax seeds both come under whole grains, rich in fiber. Fiber like protein makes us feel full and so we can eat less of whatever we are eating.
Flax seeds are fiber rich and now easily available to us as whole flax seeds or flax seed meal.

I started using flax seeds only very recently, better later than never.
If you are not sure how and if your family will accept flax seeds but if you are a regular dosa and idli eater, mixing it up with this will incorporate it into their diet.
Accordingly to me, flax seeds have no much taste and will not stand out! My kids haven't complained.

Brown rice is unprocessed rice with more fiber content than the regular white rice. Because of this it has a nutty texture when cooked and a nutty flavor too.

One Basic rule which can be followed (maybe not all the time, but most of the times) is --> SAY NO TO ANYTHING WHITE!! If its colored or colorful, it best for you!!

So therefore here is another recipe, this time Fiber rich food!, Just make sure you don't eat 4 or 5 or these dosas....remember that urad daal has proteins and carbs, rice has fiber and carbs. So if you eat a lot of dosas, you will miss the 40g carb rule.
Eat only about 2 medium sized ones and that will be good enough! :)

Now when you start getting more fiber in your diet, please remember to drink more water too.

Ingredients:

1 cup urad daal, minapa pappu
4 cup brown rice (you can use 3 if you wish)
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp menthi or methi seeds or menthulu

Method:

Wash urad daal and brown rice.
Add flax seeds and methi seeds.
Soak for at least 6-8 hours or overnight.
Grind into a smooth batter the following soaking along with methi and flax seeds.
Keep in a warm place for fermentation for another 8 hours or overnight.
After fermentation, the batter is ready to be made into dosas.
Add just enough water to make into dosa batter consistency, not too thick or not too thin.
Heat a tawa to about medium heat, to when u put drops of water, they make the 'shhhhh' sound and evaporate.
If its a fresh cleaned pan, rub an half cut onion with few drops of oil. This is so that the dosa doesn't stick!
Take a ladle full of batter and spread it around like a dosa. Sprinkle few drops of oil around. Flip over when brown on one side. Lightly brown on the other side and then its ready to be served!
Serve with chutney or podi, or with chicken curry or potato curry....its tastes just as yum as regular dosas!!
Enjoy!!

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Sending this also to 'Breakfast Mela', another event started by Srivalli.

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Savory Mini Zucchini Discs or Pancakes - Heathy Kid's Breakfast

It couldn't be more easier to make my kids eat veggies in a simple way....all for their love of eating dosas and pancakes!!
It really makes me happy that they didn't find out there was veggies embedded into their pancakes that morning :)) so good for me right!!

Well I wanted to make instant dosas that weekend morning!...Found couple of zucchinis in the back of the refrigerator. Simple click in my head, grate them and add them to the batter, would that be so difficult, or would they find out!
Well only if I would make it, that I would know, what was in store for me -- fuss or complete peace!! :)

So it was the second one -- complete peace...they finished their breakfast in a jiffy. The older one ate it plain, so it was already savory enough for him. The younger one ate with allam pachadi as usual!

Expect for adding Zucchini and deleting sooji in the batter, the batter is almost same as my instant dosa mix.
Because of the zucchini I didn't spread it out as a dosa, but left it more like pancakes, that is on the thicker side.
They are soft, so fry them till they are little crispy.
I found out that keeping them batter for the next day, isn't that useful. Fresher the batter, the pancakes come out better.

Ingredients:

2 cups grated zucchini (I had 1 green and 1 yellow, gave a wonderful color effect)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup yogurt
1 cup All purpose flour, Maida ( can use whole wheat flour instead)
1/2 cup besan
1/2 cup rice flour
salt to taste
1/2 tsp chilli powder
some chopped coriander leaves

Method:

Mix all ingredients together into a dosa like batter.
Pour onto heated tawa / tava.
Sprinkle few drops of oil.
Cover and cook for couple of minutes and then flip over. Let brown on both sides.
Serve hot with any chutney, pachadi or podi.
Enjoy!!!

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'Spicy' Egg Dosa

In our house, dosa is a favorite breakfast, be it any kind of Dosa. Plain and 'baby' dosa as my baby son calls it are his favorite!... He can eat those anytime. Tho I make idlis also very frequently, we like crispy dosas...:))

For this reason, I keep trying to make different types of dosa and am trying to make them healthier. I am trying out oats dosas and also brown rice instead of white rice. I know it doesn't make it totally healthy but surely some kind of healthy!

Egg dosa I came to know from my husband after my marriage. He used to eat it while he was studying in Tirupati. So from time to time he requests 'EGG DOSA' for breakfast. Well he got EGG DOSA as breakfast all last week. He says that they used to serve it with spicy tomato chutney.

This might not be the traditional way how they used to make it, but this is how we make it at home. I used spicy dhaniyala podi on top, but you can surely use any other podi you have. You can add the onions, green chillies, coriander into the egg mix if you wish but if you like crunchy onion, try it like this. You can surely go ahead and try any other veggies and cheese too it you wish!
This makes for a good healthy breakfast or even mid-day tiffin. I love it for light lunch or dinner too.


Basic Dosa Batter: (the way I make it)

1 cup urad daal
4 cups rice
1 tbsp methi seeds, menthulu, fenugreek seeds (optional)
some salt

Soak 6-8 hours or overnight. Grind into smooth batter and let it ferment for about 8-10 hours or overnight.
If you stay in a cold place like me, it might take even longer. I keep mine in the oven with the oven light on for warmth. Even if this doesn't work, pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and turn it off. Place the batter in the oven for fermenting.
TAKE care as to which kind of utensil you put the batter in for fermenting in the hot oven, So that it doesn't melt in the oven!!! Always remember to turn it off.

After fermenting, Mix with water to bring to dosa batter consistency, not too thick or thin. Add required salt. Make dosas on hot tava or pan with some oil or ghee.



Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/2 laddle of basic dosa batter
1 egg, beaten with salt, turmeric and chilli powder (a pinch of all)
few drops of oil
few chopped onion pieces
1 green chilli chopped
few coriander leaves chopped

1 tsp of idli karam podi, You can use any podi you wish and have...I use dhaniyala karam podi, Coriander seeds powder which I also use with plain idlis or dosas.

Method:

Beat the egg with a pinch of salt, turmeric and chilli powder.
Add the dosa batter to the hot tawa with a laddle. Spread it out thin like a dosa.
Add a few drops of oil to the dosa.
Spread the beaten egg to the dosa like in the picture. Add a few more drops of oil to the egg.
When the dosa is brown on one side, flip over only for a 10-20 seconds.
Flip over again. Sprinkle the dhaniyala karam podi all over the dosa.
Sprinkle the onions, green chillies and coriander leaves over the dosa.
Slowly slide the dosa into a plate.
Serve hot with any spicy chutney like tomato chutney or red bell pepper chutney.
Enjoy!!!

Sending this to Akila's DNSW 'E' event

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Quick and Instant Dosa with different flours

If your kids are like my kids and prefer dosa to idlis...and will eat any type of dosa you make, then here is one quick and easy Dosa to make, with ingredients from your pantry.

There are few different ways you can make this dosa...one by using leftover batter of idli or dosa, if you know what I mean. Sometimes only so much batter is left that its now enough of anybody, use it up in making this dosa...or just mix up some ravva, besan, maida, rice flour with yogurt, sour one if you have some or add lemon juice or amchoor powder and whip up some fast instant dosas....
Be sure to add some onions, green chillies and curry leaves for some taste and crunch in the dosas...

My kids love it and is a hit in our family....try and I am sure you will like it!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup yogurt, sour if possible or add lemon juice or amchoor powder for the soury taste.
1/4 cup besan, chick pea flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup maida
1/4 cup sooji

enough water to make it into a dosa type batter
1/2 tsp chilli powder
some chopped onions
chopped green chillies (omit for kids)
chopped curry leaves

Oil for making the dosa

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together with a whisk as to no lumps remain.
Add the onions, green chillies, curry leaves and chilli powder along with salt.
Heat the tava for making the dosa. Spread oil in a thin layer.
Make the dosa using the laddle to a round shape. Sprinkle oil all over the dosa.
When one side is brown, flip over to other side.
Serve hot with chutney, pachadi or podi.
Enjoy!!!

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Attu pulusu / Moong daal dosa in tangy tamarind sauce

Welcome New Year!! and welcome everyone to my blog in the new year :))

This month is going to be pretty exciting for me....soon my blog will turn an year...an year on blogging...gosh didn't think I would last that long!!! which I say becos of my habit of starting and stopping stuff in the middle, way too many times....but it you guys and you lovely comments which kept me going I guess...I am always enthusiastic to see all the comments I get!!! yaaaayyy...and also to all my social network friends who keep me sane from day to day...thank you all!!

All you all know I  haven't done much cooking or baking or anything much except enjoying my vacation in LA. I will soon write up on what all I did and ate in what restuarants while I was in LA....soon (head nodding)....

So I was thinking what to write as my first post this year and settles on this from my drafts....a favorite dish my childhood....still love it now and its perfect comfort food in winters too. Only that I don't make it too often to enjoy it so. And who doesn't love warm tangy and spicy dishes in winters....just mix it up in some hot rice and gobble it up!! yumm! Its called 'Attu Pulusu' or translated Moong daal dosa in tangy tamarind sauce....As much as I know its made only with moong daal dosa batter, that too left over. But I have tried making it the same with egg omlete or also with besan dosa, but nothing ever tastes so good as and when made with Moong daal dosa or pesar attu.

I try making this whenever I make Pesar attu. There is always a cup of batter leftover (or not, but we can always make it leftover ;)). A thick dosa is made and mixed with pulusu. Doesn't take much time to make it, but sure do try it when you next time make pesar attu.

Ingredients:
For pesar attu:

1 cup pesar attu batter
1 small onion, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
some chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp oil

For pulusu:

1 tsp methi seeds, fenugreek seeds, dry roasted and ground to powder
1 large onion, sliced long or julienned
1 large tomato or 2 small chopped
4-5 green chillies
1/4 - 1/2 cup thick squeezed tamarind juice from pulp
1 tsp sugar or jaggery
1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
1/4 tsp urad daal
2-4 dry red chillies
5-6 curry leaves
1/2 tbsp oil

Method:

Add chopped onions, green chilli and chopped coriander leaves to the pesar attu batter.
Heat tawa with oil and make a dosa with the batter. It should be thick not thin like dosa.
Let it brown on both sides. After cool, cut into about 2 inch square or smaller.

Dry roast methi seeds and grind them into powder after cool.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the urad daal and saute for 1 minute. Add the mustard seeds and jeera and let them splutter. Add the curry leaves and dry red chillies before adding onions and green chillies. When the onions turn translucent, add the chopped tomatoes and saute them till they are cooked and soft.
Add the thick tamarind juice and add about 1/2 cup water to make the sauce. Let cook for 5 minutes.
Add the sugar or jaggery and mix well.
Add the chopped attu pieces into the sauce cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the methi seeds powder and mix well taking care not to break the attu pieces. Add more water if the sauce gets thick after adding the attu pieces cos they absorb the juice.
Add chopped coriander leaves for garnish.
Serve hot with roti or chappathi or with hot rice.
Enjoy!!!

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Spicy Spring Dosa

Here is a twist on the regular masala dosa you find in restuarants. I am not sure if this is a listed item on every Udipi restuarants in USA, but it is surely listed here in our restuarant. It called Sping Dosa.  With the regular masala dosa you get just plain potato curry. The twist with the spring dosa is that, its a crispy dosa with potato curry which has fresh tomatoes, peas, crunchy onions and crispy carrots. Its folded like shown in the picture and cut like shown in the picture. :)
Its very simple to make so guys, try it out sometime when you have a chance. It also a good way to have your kids eat their veggies too. It can be served with sambar and chutney.
This is more like a leftover dosa for me...by that I mean, I had some mashed potato curry left in the fridge and dosa batter. So I made this for breakfast!!!:)

Ingredients:

Dosa Batter

1/2 cup Mashed Potato curry

1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup peas
 chopped coriander

oil
salt to taste

Method:

Heat few drops of oil in a pan. Add the chopped carrots and peas with some salt. Let cook for a minute. Add the potato curry into the same pan. Saute till hot. Turn of the heat and add the tomatoes and coriander. Keep this aside.

Make a dosa on your tawa or dosa pan. Wait till it browns on the other side and has become crispy. Now add the potato mixture in the middle from one end to the other, keeping the same thickness all thru. Now tri-fold it. Cut diagonally, one or 2 times. Serve hot with chutney and sambar. Enjoy!!!

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Simple Mini Uttapams

My husband starts asking for these if its been a while that he ate them. I even pack these for his lunch, as packing a dosa would not be possible, it would just become hard or soggy!. But uttapams will hold their shape better and stay like uttapams till lunch time. I don't make them too big, thats the reason I called them MINI. I used a small omlete pan with a cover.
I used the dosa batter itself, but dosa batter when made into uttapams I feel become sticky as they are little thick, thicker than a dosa. So this is what I did today...I added little bit to rice flour, sooji and yogurt to some dosa batter, whisked it into a thick batter, used this uttapams. Adding sooji and rice will let them hold their shape and taste for longer and even stay crispier.
For the topping, I only used onions, jeera, green chillies, coriander leaves and grated carrot, but any other topping can also be used like ginger, tomato, scallions etc.,.
They are simple and easy to make and dont take very long to be created!!!:))

Ingredients:

1 cup Dosa batter
1/2 cup Sooji
1/2 cup Rice flour
1/2 cup yogurt
some water
salt to taste
1 tsp lemon juice (if using sour yogurt, this can be excluded)
5-6 curry leaves

oil

1 small onion chopped
1/2 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
grated carrot (1/2 to 1 tsp for each)
2-3 green chillies, chopped tiny
chopped coriander

Method:

Whisk the dosa batter, salt, sooji, lemon juice, yogurt & rice flour with some water into a thick batter.
Heat the pan with few drops of oil. Spoon 2 laddles full of batter into the pan. It will spread and take the shape of the pan. Add the onions, jeera, carrot, green chilli and coriander on the top. Put a few drops of oil and cover for a minute on medium to low heat. After a minute, remove cover and check if its brown underside by lifting a edge. Flip over and let cook for 30 sec or till it starts to brown. You don't want the onions to burn!!!
Remove on a plate. Serve hot with idli chutney, alam pachadi or any other chutney and sambar too. Enjoy!!!

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Wholesome all lentil Crepes / Daal Dosa / Pappulu Dosa

Wholesome all Lentil Crepes / Daal Dosa / Pappulu Dosa

An healthy dosa it is. Full of protein from different grains or lentils. Also one of the easiest dosa to make as it needs no fermentation. Only over night soaking then grinding.
I used 4 kinds of daals or lentils for this dosa. You can add the other types of daals too. Grind the daals with small piece of ginger and green chillies to get flavorful dosas. I served mine with the Coriander - mint chutney I made.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
1/4 cup channa daal (channaga pappu)
1/4 cup urad daal (minapa pappu)
1/4 cup toor daal (kandi pappu)
1/4 cup moong daal (pesar pappu)

1inch piece of ginger
5 green chillies
Salt to taste

1/2 tsp jeera
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Oil for making dosas

Method:

Soak the rice with all the daals over night or atleast 6 hours. Grind the daals with the ginger, green chillies and salt to a dosa type batter. Add the jeera and coriander leaves to the batter and make dosas. Serve hot with any chutney or pachadi. Enjoy!!!

Prep time: 6 to Overnight for soaking, 10-15min for grinding, 2-3min for each dosa, less than 30sec for eating!!!

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Saturday morning breakfast - Green moong daal dosa / Pesarattu / Green Lentil crepes

Who can say no to dosa! I can't. Be it any kind of dosa, I like them all. Just the time it takes for it to get ready, by that I mean, soaking, grinding and fermenting....thats a long time. On top of that, in winter, for us....fermenting time increases!!!! So sometimes, to cut out the fermenting time, I make easy dosas :). Like this one, Pesarattu or Green Moong daal dosa. Its healthy, has lots of fiber, so it has to be good for you right!! It doesn't have any fermenting time so you can directly go to making the dosa.

To the moong daal / pesara pappu, add a little amount of rice (brown rice can be substituted) and soak it overnight or 5-6 hours. Grind it with a little bit of water and salt to the dosa consistency. I like to add ginger and green chillies to the daal while grinding, it gives a good flavor to the batter and you can omit putting them on the dosa like some people do. I do this so that I dont have to pick out little pieces of ginger and chillies when I serve it to kids. But my kids like to eat it plain and by already adding it to the batter, the dosa becomes more flavorful. And for the rest of the people, I add chopped onion and sprinkle jeera on the dosa while roasting it.

 Serve it with fresh ginger chutney or ginger pachadi. I served it with homemade ginger pickle (not fresh made). The sweet sour taste of the pickle goes good with this spicy dosa.

Ingredients:
1 cup of moong daal / Pesara pappu
1/4 cup rice (brown rice can be substituted)
1 inch piece of ginger
2-3 green chillies
salt to taste
oil for roasting the dosa
chopped onion
jeera

Method:

Soak daal and rice overnight or 5-6 hours. Grind with ginger and green chillies. Make the dosa on the pan, sprinkle some oil for roasting. When you see the dosa browning, add the chopped onion and jeera and fold over. After fold, roast on both sides till brown and remove. Serve hot with chutney.

You can convert this dosa into Pesarattu upma, one of Andhra's specialities, by adding plain upma made from sooji or ravva. You just have to wrap or stuff the upma inside the fold of the dosa. Serve it hot and Enjoy!!!

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