INSTANT BESAN RAVA UTTAPAM

INSTANT BESAN RAVA UTTAPAM

Apart from idli-dosa, we in South India have different dishes too for breakfast.  One of them is the Uttapam which is thick and dosa-like. Generally, to make idli-dosa, we need to soak, grind and ferment the ingredients for 8 hours or longer to make the batter.  In cold places, this can take even longer.  

With time being at a premium these days, dishes that can be made fast are being preferred. In this context, elsewhere in this blog you will find recipes for breakfast items which can be made relatively fast, such as:-

• Instant Rava Appo
• Instant Sooji Poha Dosa
• Instant Dosa
• Instant Rava and Atta Dosa

Today's recipe is for  "Instant Besan Rava Uttapam" which again can be made relatively fast. It is made with chickpea flour (besan) and semolina (rava/sooji). In making the topping for this, you can use vegetables of your choice such as onion, capsicum, tomato, carrot etc.

I have made small sized Utappams today and used Onion, Tomato and Carrots for the topping. This uttapam goes well with a chutney of your choice. Today I have served it with a chutney made with fried gram dal and coriander leaves. 

It tasted great! 

Ingredients:

• Besan ( Chickpea flour), 1 cup
• Rava (Semolina), medium variety, 1 cup
• Dahi ( Curds), 1 cup 
• Eno Fruit Salt, 1/2 tsp or Baking Soda
• Onion, 1
• Tomato, 1
• Carrot, 1
• Green Chillies, 1-2 
• Ginger, 1/2 " piece
• Coriander Leaves, 2 tbsp 
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, to make uttapams 

Method:-

Wash and finely chop the onion, tomato,  green chillies, and coriander leaves 

Grate the carrot and ginger

Whisk the curds

Take besan, rava, curds, and salt, in a large bowl, and mix well

Add water little by little to make a thick batter  

Mix well to ensure no lumps are formed in the batter

Cover and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes

In another bowl, mix together the chopped and grated onion, tomato, carrot, green chillies, ginger and coriander leaves, with a little salt

After 15 minutes you will find the rava has absorbed the water and the batter has become thick

Add a little water to get a batter which is thick and has dropping consistency

Just before making the uttapam, add the Eno Fruit salt or baking soda and gently stir the batter

Heat the tawa and grease it with a little oil

When the tawa is hot enough, on medium heat pour a ladle full of batter and spread it lightly to form an uttapam

Place the topping of veggies on the uttapam and lightly press it in with the spatula

Pour oil around the uttapam and cook it covered  for about 2 minutes or till one side gets done

Then flip and cook the other side adding oil as required

Serve Instant Besan Rava Uttapam with a chutney of your choice.

Tip: To enhance the visual appeal, for the plating I have sprinkled some more veggie topping. 

INSTANT RAVA & ATTA DOSA

 INSTANT RAVA & ATTA DOSA

Dosas form an integral part of our South Indian cuisine. In my house we have them for breakfast quite often. Thankfully, there are ever so many types of dosas that we simply don't tire of having dosas for breakfast! 

Elsewhere in the blog, you will find recipes for some types of dosas such as:-

• Dosa
• Masoor Dal Dosa
• Moong Dal Dosa
• Paper Dosa 

These days with time being at a premium, we are always looking for dishes which can be made quite fast and save us some valuable time. I came across one such dish recently and tried it out.

For making dosas, usually we would make the batter and let it ferment overnight etc. In this recipe for Instant Rava and Atta Dosa, we can make the dosa quickly as the batter need not be fermented. 

Another advantage is that this dosa can be easily made on days when we want to avoid rice. It is also  convenient for those who wish to avoid rice in their diets. 

I have adapted from Instant Rava Wheatflour Dosa by Nisha Madhulika, the well-known cookery expert,We had this for our breakfast today and enjoyed it with chutney.

Since different types of rava/sooji are available, for today's recipe you should use the fine variety of rava.  In case you have a thicker variety, you can run it once in the mixer to make it more fine. 

Ingredients:-

• Fine Rava /Sooji (Semolina), 1 cup
• Atta (Wheat Flour), 1/4 cup
• Fresh Curds, 1 cup
• Salt, to taste
• Baking Soda, 1/4 tsp or Eno1 tsp
• Oil, to make the dosas

Method:- 

In a bowl, mix together fine rava, atta, fresh curds, salt to taste, and water as required to make a batter which is free of lumps.We need the batter to be of the consistency used for the regular dosa. Cover and keep aside for about 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes, you will find the batter has become thick by absorbing the water so add more water if required.

Now add the baking soda OR Eno fruit salt and mix well. The batter is ready to make dosas.

Heat a non-stick tawa,  and lightly grease it. Sprinkle a little water and wipe it off the tawa.

On medium heat, pour a ladle of the prepared batter and spread it in a circular motion to form a dosa 

Drizzle oil on top of and around the dosa and then cook on high flame till one side of the dosa gets done

Likewise, flip and cook the other side

Transfer the prepared dosas to serving plate and serve hot with chutney of your choice

Tips

* When making dosas, it is a good idea to spread the batter on low flame and then increase the flame to cook the dosa. It gets difficult to spread the batter of the tawa is overheated.  

* After making each dosa, sprinkle a little water on the tawa and wipe it off. This helps to make sure the tawa does not get overheated 

RICE RAVA DOSA

RICE RAVA DOSA

Most people who are not familiar with South Indian cuisine are astonished at the wide variety of dosas that we make in our homes. The ingredients vary and consequently the texture. Most require the batter to be fermented while some do not. Elsewhere in this blog you will find recipes for a few types of dosas such as the basic "plain" Dosa, Masoor Dal Dosa, Poha Dosa, and Pancharatna Dosa.

This recipe is adapted from Rice Rava Dosa shared by my friend, Archana Vinay in a cooking group in which we are members. The dosas turned out to be soft, fluffy and porous. We enjoyed them with Raw Mango Thokku.

Ingredients:

• Dosa Rice/Raw Rice, 2 cups
• Sooji Rava ( Semolina), 1/2 cup
• Cooked Rice, 1 tbsp
• Yeast, 1/2 tsp
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Salt, taste
• Oil, for making dosas

Method:

Wash and soak the raw rice for 3-4 hours. Drain the excess water.

In a mixer, grind this soaked raw rice, along with the cooked rice, to a smooth paste adding just the required amount of water. Keep aside

Boil the sooji rava in 1 and 1/2 cups of water to form a paste and allow it to cool to room temperature. However, it should not get so cooled that it cakes/forms into lumps.

Soak yeast in a little warm water along with 1 tsp of sugar and stir till the yeast fully dissolves

Next, in a large vessel, mix the ground paste of rice, the cooked and cooled sooji rava paste, salt, and the yeast

Mix well such that there are no lumps of sooji rava in the batter
Adjust the consistency of the batter by adding water only if required to get a consistency which is not too thick or too runny

Set aside this batter for fermenting for about 6-8 hours or overnight

When the batter is fermented, you will find that it has increased in volume 

Heat a tawa, lightly grease it with oil  and when it gets hot pour a ladle of the batter

Lightly spread the batter (though not as much as you would for the regular dosa) 

Cook covered on medium flame for a few minutes. You will notice holes appearing in the dosa

Drizzle oil around the dosa and fry till the bottom of the dosa gets done

There is no need to flip them on the other side

Serve the soft and fluffy dosas hot with thokku or chutney of your choice

INSTANT RAVA APPO

INSTANT RAVA APPO

I have posted elsewhere in this blog about Appos, which is a breakfast item made with rice and dal. You will also find recipes for several types of Appos including the Masala Appo.

Today's recipe for Instant Rava Appo is different in that instead of rice, we use semolina or rava for making the appos. I am thankful to my friend, Suphala Shenoy, for sharing her recipe. You may recall that Suphala has earlier contributed a Guest Post for Mangalore Ghee Dosa.

Appos are made in a particular kind of tava which has sockets, which we call Appe kayli in Konkani and Paniyarakkal in Tamil.  I use this one from Prestige's Omega series which makes 11 Appos in one round.

The beauty about this dish is that you don't need time for fermenting the batter or anything of that sort. It is truly "instant".  I made this out of 1 and 1/2 cups of medium rava which yields about 25 appos.

Ingredients:

• Fine Rava, (Semolina) 1 cup * I preferred to use Medium Rava
• Curds, 1 cup
• Water, 1/2 cup 
• Soda Bicarbonate, 1/2 tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Green Chillies, finely chopped, 2-3
• Ginger, grated, 1/2  " piece
• Green Peas, 1/4 cup *  I used frozen peas
• Carrot, grated, 1 
• Coriander leaves, finely chopped, 2 tbsp * I added this to the recipe
• Oil, for frying 

Method:

In a bowl, mix together the rava, curds, water and salt.
Add the soda bicarbonate.
Keep this mixture aside for 15 minutes.
Next, add the chopped chillies, grated ginger and chopped coriander leaves to the batter and mix well
Pour a little oil in the sockets and heat the "appe kayili"
Put a few green peas and carrot gratings in each of the sockets
Pour in the prepared batter
Cook the appos covered over medium heat till they are done
Flip them and roast the other side
Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

RAVA IDLIS

RAVA IDLIS

Here is another popular South Indian breakfast item. Today I am sharing my recipe for rava idlis. The best part of this preparation is that it can be made fast as the batter need not be fermented overnight etc. By the way, two other types of idlis which do not require any soaking of the ingredients or fermentation of the batter are Oats Idli and Vermicelli Idlis.

While some choose to keep the ratio between curds and rava as 1: 1, I prefer to have a ratio of 1: 2, as given below.

Ingredients:

• Medium Rava, (Semolina), 2 cups
• Oil/ghee, (for roasting the rava and cashewnuts), 1 to 1 and 1/2 tbsp
• Cashewnuts, ( broken into pieces) 6-8
• Curds, 1 cup
• Water, as required to make the batter
• Green Chillies, chopped, 2
• Coriander Leaves, chopped, 2 tbsp
• Ginger, grated, 1"
• Baking Soda, a large pinch OR Eno Fruit Salt 1 tsp
• Salt, as per taste

For seasoning:

• Oil, 1-2 tsp
• Mustard Seeds, 1 tsp
• Chana Dal, 2 tsp
• Curry Leaves, 6-8
• Hing (Asafoetida) , a pinch

Method:

In a thick-bottomed kadhai, heat oil and when it gets sufficiently heated add the rava.
Stirring continuously roast it on medium flame till you get a good aroma and the rava changes colour.
Keep aside.
Next, fry the cashewnuts and keep aside.
Then do the seasoning by adding mustard seeds, and when they splutter add chana dal, curry leaves and hing. Fry till the dal changes colour.
Add the seasoning to the roasted rava along with the roasted cashewnuts
Now add the curds together with the grated ginger, chopped green chillies, chopped coriander leaves, and salt
Mix well and make a batter by adding water as required, ensuring that the batter is neither too thick or too thin
Cover the batter and keep aside for 20-25 minutes
Add baking soda OR Eno Fruit Salt to the batter and mix well
Lightly grease the idli moulds and pour the batter into them
In a pressure cooker, steam the idlis for 10-12 minutes, without using the weight.
After a few minutes, remove the rava idlis from the moulds
Serve hot with sambar and chutney of your choice.

SWEET MOONG DAL KHICHDI

SWEET MOONG DAL KHICHDI ( Mooga Dali ani Rulaava Khichdi) 

There are different types of khichdi, the one I am making today is a sweet which I usually make on some festivals. I remember this dish very well as it was one of the first I learnt.  In my mother tongue, Konkani we call this sweet: Mooga Dali ani Rulaava Khichdi. 

Some choose to garnish the sweet khichdi pieces with sliced bananas. While I have used medium rava and moong dal, this can also be made with chana dal.

Ingredients:

• Medium Rava (Semolina/Rulaav), 1 cup
• Moong Dal, (Split Green Gram/ Mooga Dali) , 1 cup    
• Fresh Coconut Gratings, 2-3 tbsps
• Sugar, 1 and 1/2 cups, or to taste
• Raisins, 2 tsp
• Cashewnuts, broken into pieces, a few
• Elaichi (Cardamom) Powder, 1/2 tsp
• Ghee, 2 heaped tbsp

Method:

In a non-stick khadai, on low/medium heat, roast the rava till you get a nice aroma. Keep aside.
Roast the moong dal till it turns a light brown. Keep aside.
Roast the cashewnuts and raisins separately in a little ghee. Keep aside.
Heat water (about 4 cups or twice the quantity of the rava+ moong dal) and when it boils, add the roasted moong dal
Stir well and cook covered on medium flame till it is half done
Next, add the roasted rava, mix well and cook until soft
Add sugar, coconut gratings and ghee

Keep stirring on medium heat till the khichdi leaves the sides of the khadai
Add the elaichi powder, roasted cashewnuts ( keeping a few pieces for garnishing) and roasted raisins and mix well
Remove from the khadai and spread onto a greased plate

Cut into squares/diamonds or any shape of your choice
Garnish with roasted cashewnuts.

SHEERA

SHEERA 

Sheera (this is what we call this rava/semolina halwa in Konkani) is commonly made for festivals and offered as prasad. I made this yesterday on the occasion of Varamahalakshmi Puja. There are different variations of sheera. For example, you could add milk, as well as water. You could also add fruits, such as mango, banana or pineapple. Elsewhere in this blog, you will find recipe for Mango Sheera. 

Sheera, (or its equivalents like "Kesari Bath") served in restaurants come with lots of ghee oozing out. Being more health conscious, I have used limited quantity of ghee. 

I have given the recipe below for the sheera in its simplest form, which while being very tasty, is both easy to make and can be made in a jiffy!

Ingredients:

• Semolina ( Medium Rava), 1 cup
• Ghee, 2-3 tbsp
• Sugar, 1 cup
• Warm Water, 2 cups
• Cashew nuts, 1 tbsp, chopped 
• Cardamom powder, 1/2 tsp

Method

In a thick bottomed non-stick kadai, heat the ghee on medium heat 

Lightly roast the cashew nuts, and keep aside

Next, add the rava and stirring continuously, roast it till it gives off a nice aroma 

To this, add  warm water (or milk and water in equal proportions) and mix well
Cook the rava covered on medium heat

Once the rava is cooked, add the sugar, mix well and continue to stir till the sheera leaves the sides of the kadai (In case it sticks to the bottom of the kadai, add a little ghee and stir )
Next add the cardamom powder, and mix well

Grease a thali lightly with ghee and spread the sheera on it uniformly

Let it cool for sometime

Cut the sheera into desired shapes and garnish with lightly roasted cashew nuts, or raisins.