Oats Idli

Ingredients :

1. Urud Dal - 1 cup
2. Raw rice - 1/2 cup
3. cooked rice - 2 tbsp
4. Oats - 1.5 cups
5. salt - to taste
6. Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. cooking soda - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Method:
Wash and soak the urud dal, raw rice and methi seeds in  water for 6 hours .
powder the oats in a blender and keep aside .
Grind the dal+rice+methi seeds + cooked rice to a smooth paste using enough water to come up to the level of the grains in the blender .
Add the powdered oats to the batter and beat until mixed well and no lumps remain.
Allow to ferment overnight until the batter is spongy ( or you can add 1/4 tsp cooking soda to the batter and mix well and keep for 10 minutes before making idli)
Steam in idli maker for 15 minutes and remove from mould when cooled .
Serve with sambar or chutney.

Oats Puttu

 


Ingredients:

1. Oats - 1/2 cup (any kind quick cooking or rolled oats)
2. grated coconut - 2 to 4 tbsp
3. flax seeds - 1 tbsp (optional)
4. rice flour - 2 tbsp (optional - this makes the puttu softer)
5. salt - to taste

Method:
dry roast or toast the oats in a pan or microwave oven.
allow it to cool and powder it coarsely .
add the flax seeds , rice flour and salt if using.
sprinkle water and wet it slightly until it resembles fresh bread crumbs.
add in the grated coconut and stir lightly.
Steam in a puttu maker - after you can see the steam come out of the puttu allow to steam for 2 minutes.
Serve hot with banana / sugar / channa /stew / egg curry /chicken curry /fish curry etc.

Nutella French toast

Ingredients:

1. Bread slices - 4
2. Egg - 1
3. Milk - 1 cup
4. Sugar - 2 tbsp
5. Nutella - 2 tbsp
6. Powdered sugar - 1/2 tsp for garnish
7. Butter - 1 tbsp
8. vanilla essence - few drops

Method:
Apply Nutella on the bread slices and keep aside .
Beat the milk,eggs,sugar and vanilla essence and keep aside.
Heat a shallow  non stick frying pan and add the butter .
Dip the nutella sandwich in the milk/egg mixture allowing it to soak in for few seconds.
Place it on the hot pan and fry on both sides until golden brown.
serve dusted with powdered sugar and fruit.

Home made Pancakes

Ingredients :

1. All purpose flour/Maida - 1.5 cups
2. Sugar - 2 tbsp
3. Baking powder - 2 tsp
4. Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
5. salt - 1/4 tsp
6. Milk - 1.5 cups
7. eggs -2
8. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
9. Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

In a Bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.
In another bowl whisk together all the wet ingredients until well combined.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mix .
Whisk together lightly with a wire whisk or fork until combined .
Do not over mix - You dont have to remove all the lumps. The pancakes become soft if the mix is a bit lumpy .Over mixing causes it to loose the air bubbles that form.
Keep this mix aside and heat a nonstick tawa /dosa pan.
smear the surface with a drop of oil and add 1 ladle of batter .
Do not spread the batter too much - allow it to flow into a circle and just slightly spread out with the back of the ladle.
cook it on medium low flame until you see holes forming all over the pancake.
Flip over and cook the other side - The color should be a light golden.
Serve with butter and maple syrup or honey.

Home Made Waffles

Ingredients:

1. Maida/All purpose flour – ¾ cup
2. Cornstarch/Corn flour – ¼ cup
3. Baking powder – ½ tsp
4. Baking soda – ¼ tsp
5. Sugar – 1 tbsp
6. Salt – ¼ tsp
7. Milk – 1 cup
8. Oil – 1/3 cup
9. Egg – 1
10. Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

NOTE : This quantity makes 6 large waffles. The addition of Corn starch makes the waffles crisp .Once come out of the waffle maker keep the waffles on cotton cloth or a wire rack else it will become soggy.

Method:

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl (flour, corn starch,sugar,salt,baking powder, baking soda)

In a jug or a large mug whisk together the wet ingredients until blended (milk,vanilla , egg,Oil)

Pour the wet mix into the dry mix and whisk until its mixed well.

Set the batter aside for 10 minutes .

Heat the waffle maker and pour about ¼ cups of batter into each mould and cook until done.It will take around 2 minutes until the waffles crisp up and turn golden brown.

Serve with butter and syrup.

Home made Bagels

Bagels are usually made from bread flour which has a higher gluten content. I have used All purpose flour/Maida . The Bagels are first boiled and then baked. The quantity specified below yields 5-6 bagels.

Ingredients :

1. All purpose flour -  2cups
2. Water  - 150 ml
3. Sugar - 2 tbsp
4. Salt - 1 tsp
5. Yeast - 1 and 1/4 tsp
6. Baking Soda - 1 tsp

Method:

Sift All purpose flour plus salt and keep aside
Warm the water so that its slightly above room temperature and add 1 tbsp sugar to it (in a bowl large enough to hold the risen dough - it will double in size)
sprinkle the yeast on top of the warm water and leave it aside - The yeast should foam and activate, it takes around 6-7 minutes.
Add the sifted all purpose flour to the yeast mixture and knead to form a soft dough that isnt sticky. you might have to add a bit more flour to get it to the right consistency . Check and add as required. The dough should be very soft and just short of being sticky.
Knead it well for about 8-10 minutes and set aside in the oiled bowl covered with a damp kitchen towel.
Allow it to rise for a minimum of 45 minutes up to  3 hours .
Punch the dough down and divide into 5 or 6 bals.
Roll these into a rope shape and form Bagels by pinching the ends that meet  OR you can slightly flatten the ball and insert a hole in the center of the dough with a flour dusted finger and make a hole thats slightly larger than an quarter or 2 rs coin.
Keep these aside covered with a light towel for 15 minutes.
Preheat the Oven to 220 degrees centigrade ,Oil a baking pan or pizza pan with oil and keep aside.
Meanwhile Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil , reduce the flame and add the remaining 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp baking soda.
Add the Bagels one or two at a time and boil for 1-2  minutes turning it over in between.
Drain the water  and place the boiled bagels on the oiled pan and bake for 20 minutes or until the tops turn brown .
Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.
Tastes best toasted and smeared with cream cheese or plain butter and jelly.

NOTE :Brushing the bagels with egg wash will give a shiny top. I did not do that .

3 Grain Puttu (Ragi,Wheat,Rice)

Ingredients :

1. Rice flour - 1/2 cup
2. Ragi flour - 1/2 cup
3. Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
4. Grated coconut - 1 cup + 1/2 cup
5. Salt - to taste
6. Water - as required

Method:
Dry roast the ragi and wheat flour for 5 minutes in a frying pan.
Once it cools down , mix the 3 powders with salt to taste.
Add in water little by little and mix lightly with your fingers until you get a wet breadcrumb like mixture.
Add in 1/2 cup of grated coconut and mix lightly.
 In a puttu steamer or cocnut shell add a tbsp of grated coconut , fill with the wet mixed powder .
Steam for 5 minutes or until you see the steam come from the top of the flour.
Serve with ripe banana, setamed plantain, Meat stew, Channa curry , fish curry , green gram curry, Pappad .

Karabath

Ingredients:

1. rava/semolina/cream of wheat - 1 cup
2. water - 2 cups
3. onion - 3 tbsp chopped
4. green chilies - 1 chopped
5. ginger - 1 tsp chopped
6. cashews - 8 
7. salt - to taste
8. curry leaves - 1 spring
9. split urud dal - 1 tsp
10. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
11. Oil/Ghee - 3 tbsp

Method:
Heat a frying pan and add in the rava and dry roast it until it is hot , dont let it change color but stirfry for few miniutes.
Keep this aside.
Heat the oil/Ghee in a frying pan and splutter the mustard seeds.
Add in the urud dal and fry until it is golden brown.
Add in cashews and fry for a minute.
Add curry leaves, chopped onion, green chillies and ginger and fry for 2 minutes.
Add 2 cups of water and salt to taste and bring to a boil.
Add in the roasted rava and stir without forming lumps.
Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
Serve hot  with coconut chutney.

 

Dahi Vada

 Ingredients :

1. Uzhunnu vada - 6 (for 2 servings) To make Uzhunnu Vada follow *this* recipe
2. Curd - 2 cups
3. sugar - 2 tsp
4. roasted and powdered cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
5. Kashmiri chilly powder - 1/4 tsp
6. Dry red chilly - 1 broken
7. mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp 
8. curry leaves - few
9. hing - a pinch
10. Oil - 1tsp
11. corriander leaves - 1 tbsp chopped
12. date tamrind chutney - 1 tsp (optional)

Method:
make the vada and once it is cool enough to handle drop it into a bowl of warm water for 30 seconds.
Take it out and squeeze the water out without breaking the vada. Keep it aside .
Mix the curd with sugar and salt to taste and keep aside , this should be at room temperature.
Heat oil in a small pan and splutter the mustard seeds.
Add in curry leaves and dry red chillies.
turn the flame off and add in the hing/asafotieda.
Pour this tadka into the prepared curd and mix well.
Place vada in a bowl , pour the curd over it.
Sprinkle chilly powder and cumin powder.
Add drops of date/tamarind chutney and garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve at room temperature or cold.

Neer Dosa

Ingredients:

1. Sona Masoori Rice - 1 glass
2. Salt - to taste
3. Oil - to smear the pan

Method:

Saok the rice in water for 4-5 hours.
Grind to a smooth paste with water.
Add enough water to the batter so that it is a thin ,almost water like consistency mixture.
Add salt to taste and keep aside for an hour or 2.
Heat a nonstick pan that has sides (preferably), the pan has to be hot.
Smear the pan with a drop of oil.
mix the bater and pour 1 ladleful and swirl the pan so that the batter spreads into a thin round shape.
cook for a minute and fold into triangles.
transfer to a plate and keep covered while you make the next one.
Serve with chutney or any veg,egg,meat or fish curry of your choice.

NOTE: Neer dosa is traditionally made on dosa stone, I tried but couldnt get the dosa to come off the stone .It stuck like it would never come off.So I used nonstick pan and found that having sides help, because then the batter doesnt flow off the pan.This dosa come out very light and soft.I got around 25 dosas with 1 big glass of rice.

Batoora with pancake mix

Pancake mix is a very versatile ingredient that can be used in a wide variety or recipes.You can use pancake mix for making waffles, crepes, as a batter coating to fry fish, meat, onion rings etc.You can use it in pie crusts, baking cookies, add to cake batter , use it for making Gulab Jamuns and even make the Indian bread Batoora.

















Ingredients:

1. Pancake mix - 2 cups (Use a mix that says just add water)
2. Water OR Milk - enough to make a tight dough
3. Oil - to deep fry

Method:
Add Water/Milk to the pancake mix and combine to form a smooth dough.
Knead it for five minutes and form into a ball and smear with oil and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Heat oil in a frying pan to medium high.
Form lime sized balls out of the dough and roll into 1/4 inch thick circles( like for poori)
Deep fry in hot oil and drain on paper towel.
Serve with chickpeas curry or any meat or vegetable stew.

Rava Dosa

Ingredients:

1. rava/sooji/cream of wheat - 1/2 cup
2. Rice flour - 1/2 cup
3. Maida/all purpose flour - 1/2 cup
4. curd/plain yogurt - 3/4 cup
5. water - enough to make a thin batter
6. onions - 1 small chopped fine
7. green chilly- 1 chopped fine
8. ginger - 1/4 tsp chopped fine
9. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
10. coriander leaves/curry leaves - 1 tsp chopped (optional)
11. salt - to taste
12. Oil - few tsp as required to make dosa.

Method:
Mix rava,rice flour and maida with curd and add enough water to it and mix until no lumps are formed.
The batter should be very thin compared to regular dosa batter - It should be of pourable consistency.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a small pan and splutter the mustard seeds and Add finely chopped onion,ginger,green chilli,coriander/curry leaves and stirfry for a minute.
Add this into the dosa batter and check the consistency of batter again as the floues will absorbs waterand make it thick.Dilute as necessary and add salt to taste.
Heat a dosa store or tawa and smear with oil. Pour a ladle full of dosa batter from the outward base of the hot tawa in a circular motion to the centre , the batter should form many lace like holes.
Leave it undisturbed for a minute and then add a tsp of oil around it.Let the dosa cook until it starts turning slightly brown.There is no need to fry on both the sides.The dosa can be folded on the pan after frying on one side and serve hot with chutney and sambar.
This dosa is best eaten straight out of the pan while it is still crispy.

Egg-in-the-Basket

One of the most common breakfast item during a weekday is toast with fried egg or bulls eye. The same slice of bread and egg can be dressed up to create what we call - Egg in the basket also known as frog in a hole, birds nest, cowboy eggs etc.It is basically an egg fried in a hole of a slice of bread,waffle or bagel.

Ingredients:

1. Bread - 1 slice
2. Egg - 1
3. Butter - 1/2 tsp
4. Cracked pepper - to taste
5. Salt - to taste

Method:
Cut a circular hole in the center of a piece of bread with a cookie cutter or upside down glass or simply pinching out a half-dollar sized hole.Smear 1/4 th tsp butter on both sides of the bread.
Heat a nonstick pan and add the remaining butter and place the bread on it.
Crack the egg into the hole and sprinkle salt and pepper.The egg white will penetrate the bread and cook giving it a chewy,toasty texture.
Cook on medium flame for a minute.Carefully flip over without breaking the yolk.Cook for another minute and serve immediately.
It is best to leave the yolk a bit moist and not overcooked - When eaten, the bread and egg yolk mix readily, giving this egg dish its special quality.If you prefer well cooked eggs cook for an additional minute or so.

Poori Masala

Ingredients for Poori :

1.    Wheat flour - 2 cups
2.    Milk/Water- as required to make a dough start with 1 cup milk/Water
3.    Salt - to taste
4.    Sugar - 1 tsp
5.    Oil - to deep fry

Method:
NOTE : I have used milk to make the dough , you can use water instead. Milk makes the poori softer and adds taste.
Warm a cup of milk in the microwave and mix in the salt and sugar to it.
Add the milk to the wheat flour and mix it to form a tight dough.
Keep the dough aside for 10 minutes.
Heat Oil in a deep frying pan .
Make small balls of the dough and roll them out into thin discs.(I roll them out on my counter top dusted with extra wheat flour)
Deep fry the discs turning them over in hot oil and drain on paper towels.
If the dough is of the right consistency and the oil hot enough the pooris will puff up, and not absorb oil .


Ingredients for Potato Masala:

1. Potatoes - 4 medium sized
2. onion- 1 chopped
3. green chillies- 4 slit
4. turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
5. curry leaves - 1 spring
6. Lime juice - 1/2 tsp
7. salt - to taste
8. Urud dal - 1 tsp
9. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:
You need to cook the potatoes either pressure cook it whole for 15 minutes (until cooked)and then remove the skin and   cut into big dices. OR microwave as below.
Peel and dice the potatoes and keep immersed in clod water. Spread the potatoes on a microwave safe plate and pour 1/4 cup water and microwave on high for 7 -8 minutes until potatoes are cooked.
Heat oil in a frying pan and splutter mustard seeds and urad dal .
Add onions,chillies,turmeric powder and curry leaves and saute until slightly soft around 2 minutes.
Add the cooked potatoes , salt and lime juice and coarsely mash the potatoes with the back of the spoon.
Fry for 2 minutes and serve with poori .
If you like it more moist , add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil and serve.

Chakka Puttu

For best results the flour for puttu should not be too fine. Midhila brand of puttu podi is the best I have used so far.It is locally prepared and packed in Kannur - maybe that is the reason why it tastes so good :) .

Ingredients:

1. Jack-fruit flesh - 10 pieces (if you dont have fresh jackfruit you can substitute with canned variety, even though fresh is best)
2. Rice flour/Puttu podi - 1 cup
3. salt - to taste
4. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
5. sugar - 1tsp
6. water - as needed

Method:
Cut the jack fruit into small pieces and mix it with the sugar and grated coconut and keep aside.
Mix the rice flour with salt to taste.
Sprinkle water into the rice flour and mix well without forming lumps (Start with 1/4'th cup water) Add more water as required.
If you grab a handful of flour and squeeze with your hand it should hold shape and if you press it again it should crumble - that is the consistency you want the flour to be in once you have added water. There is no exact measurement for rice flour to water ratio since each brand of flour would need a different amount of water depending on how it has been fried etc.
Proceed to make puttu - fill the puttu pot half the way with water and set to heat.
Add a layer of puttu powder followed by the jack fruit mix into the puttu maker, alternate the layers until it is filled.
Steam this for 10 minutes.Serve hot.

Pull apart Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:

1. Bread flour - 3 cups( if you don't have bread flour use all purpose flour/maida)
2. Yeast - 3 tsp
3. Warm water - 1/4 cup
4. Warm Milk - 1 and 1/4 cup
5. Butter - 3 tbsp
6. Sugar - 3 tbsp
7. salt - 3/4 tsp

Method:
Warm the milk and add the butter to it so that the butter melts.Keep this aside.
Add the sugar and yeast to the warm water and mix well, keep aside until yeast is bubbly.
Sift the salt and flour together and add to a bowl.
Pour in the yeast mixture and mix with a spoon.
Pour in the milk mixture and mix well.The mixture will be sticky, but dont add in more flour unless it is absolutely necessary.
Sprinkle some flour on the kneading surface and scrape the dough onto it.
Apply flour to your hands and knead the mixture to a soft elastic dough (5-8 minutes).
It is okay for the mass to be slightly sticky.
Keep this dough in an oiled bowl and cover it with a plastic wrap or damp towel.
Let this rest in a warm place until doubled(about 1.5 hours)
Turn out this dough on a floured surface and roll it out into a square.
Divide it into 12 pieces(cut with a knife)
Shape them into rolls or rounds, they dont have to be perfect shaped.
Take the tray that you will use to bake the rolls in and place each roll about an inch apart.
Cover with damp towel and keep aside for another 45 minutes to raise.
Bake them in a pre heated 350F oven for 20-30 min until golden brown.
Before the last 5 minutes brush the top of the rolls with melted butter or egg-wash(egg white beaten with 1 tbsp of water - this helps give it the shine)
serve warm with butter.

Cream of Wheat Porridge

Porridge is a traditional breakfast in much of Northern Europe and Russia often with the addition of salt, sugar, milk or cream.


Indians have their own version of porridge - the uppma - a fried semolina (sooji) porridge traditional in southern India; flavored with clarified butter (ghee),ginger, fried onions, toasted mustard seeds, curry leaves; often mixed with vegetables and toasted peanuts or cashew nuts.

My kids love it for breakfast where they pretend to be "Goldilocks" from Goldilocks and the Three Bears story. My little one always wondering how Mamma bear made the porridge :).When it is served they always say ...
"This porridge is too hot!"
"This porridge is too cold!"
"Aaahhh This porridge is just right!"

Ingredients:

1. Cream of wheat/Rava/Sooji - 3 tbsp
2. Milk - 1 cup
3. Sugar - 2 tsp
4. Salt - a pinch

Method:
Add the milk to a saucepan and sprinkle the rava on top .
Add in the sugar and salt and bring to a simmer.
Cook on medium flame until the porridge starts to thicken (about 7-8 minutes)
Serve hot adding more sugar if you like it sweeter.

Skillet Potatoes/ Breakfast Potatoes

 
















Ingredients:

1. Potatoes - 5 peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes
2. Cracked Pepper - 1/2 tsp
3. Paprika - 1 tsp
4. Garlic - 3 cloves crushed and chopped fine
5. Yellow onion - 1 chopped fine
6. Red bell pepper - 1/2 of 1 medium chopped fine
7. Spring Onion - 2 stalks
8. Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp
9. Dried Thyme - 1/2 tsp
10. Salt - to taste
11. Butter - 2 tbsp
12. Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Peel and dice the potatoes and keep them immersed in cold water.
Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are almost  tender.
Drain and keep aside.
Heat the Oil in a large flat nonstick pan(use the largest you have so as not to crowd the potatoes and get an even browning).
Add in the crushed garlic and fry for a minute
Add in the chopped onion and boiled potatoes and stir gently without breaking the potatoes.
Sprinkle the paprika, dried Oregano, Thyme,cracked pepper and a bit of salt and stir gently.
Add in the butter and red pepper and green onions and let the potatoes brown on a medium/high  flame .
Try not to stir too often , add more butter if they start sticking to the pan too much .
The potatoes are ready when they are browned , crip on the outside and soft and  fluffy on the inside.

Kutti Appam / Podi Appam

This is a very easy Appam that tastes great and can be made with very little effort and quickly . You don't have to ferment the batter overnight  .
Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 1 cup
2. Uppuma rava/Sooji - 1 cup
3. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
4. Cooked rice - 1/2 cup
5. Sugar - 3 tbsp
6. Yeast - 1 tsp
7. Salt - to taste

Method:
Add the yeast into 1/2 cup of very warm water(not hot - it will kill the yeast) add a TBSP of sugar and stir and keep aside.
Grind together the grated coconut and cooked rice with 1/2 cup water.
Add the rice flour and sooji into a big container( the batter will raise to 2 times its volume)and add in the remaining sugar, ground coconut rice mixture , yeast water and mix well without forming lumps.
Add just enough water to get a thick idili/pancake consistency batter.
Keep this batter covered in a warm spot for 3 hours .
Add salt to taste and mix well.
Heat a pan and smear with a few drops of oil and pour in a ladle of batter like you would for pancakes or dosa and cook until you see holes on the top.Flip over and cook for an additional minute.
Serve with any stew .

Idiappam

Idiappam ,String hoppers or Nool puttu are some names by which this favorite breakfast from Kerala is known.Usually served with egg curry ,meat curry, Fish curry,green gram curry , vegetable stew, sweetened coconut milk or plain Ghee and sugar. It is best served with fresh ,thick , sweet coconut milk.

You need a special press with which you can make the Idiappams,and an idili mould to steam them in .

Ingredients:

1. Rice Flour(fine ground) – 2 cups
2. Water – approx 2 cups
3. Salt – as needed
4. Grated Coconut – 1/2 cup
5. Ghee – 1 tbsp

Method:

Boil water in a pan,adding required amount of salt into it.Pour the boiled water little by little to the rice flour,stirring with the back of a spoon in between,until it is ready to make into a smooth, soft dough.
Allow it to cool for a while.When it is half cooled,add in the Ghee and knead it with your hand into a smooth dough.
Make a ball of the dough and shape it like the idiappam mould and place it inside the mould and press a layer onto the idili mould.
Add a layer of grated coconut on top and press another layer on top.
Steam cook the idiappams for 10 minutes in a pressure cooker without the weight on (like you would steam idilis) or use a steamer and steam for 10 minutes.