Pizza Oothapam

Addition of cheese makes the food "superhit" at my home. So I came up with this pizza oothapam recipe.

Pizza Oothapam
Ingredients
1 recipe Dosa Batter

Garnish
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp. Italian parsley
A generous pinch of Italian seasoning

Oil for frying

Suggested Accompaniment
Marinara Sauce
or
Basil Pesto

Method
1. Heat a pan or tawa.
2. Spread thick layer of dosa batter.
3. Place all the vegetables, seasoning, and cheese.
4. Drizzle oil as needed.
5. Cover and cook till it's crispy and cheese has melted on top.

6. Serve hot with marinara sauce.

Note -
1. Cut into wedge before serving, if you like

Bajri Dosa

 

 

I followed the exact same recipe of my NachNi/Ragi Dosa and replaced Ragi flour with Bajra/Bajri flour. I was little unsure about the outcome, but bajri dosas came out really well.


Bajri Dosa
Millet Pancakes
Ingredients
1 cup urad daal
1 cup brown rice
1 tsp methi/fenugreek seeds

3 cups bajri flour
salt to taste

Oil as needed for frying

Method
1. Soak urad daal and brown rice along with fenugreek seeds with adequate water overnight.
2. Grind to a smooth paste. Cover and set aside to ferment for 8 - 10 hours.
3. Add bajri flour, salt and water as needed to get the dosa batter consistency.

4. Heat cast iron or nonstick tawa/griddle. Pour a ladleful of batter. Drizzle oil as needed.
5. Cover and let it cook.

6. Serve hot dosa with your favorite chutney.

Note -
1. Brown or white rice can be used.
2. The above proportion yields a huge quantity of batter. I freeze half of the batter for using later.
3. For variation, sometimes I add minced onion, green chilies and cilantro in the batter, just before preparing the dosas.


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Hurdyache ThalipeeTh

 

 

 

 My mom had been to Mahalakshmi Saras Exhibition at Bandra Reclamation ground with her friends. They tasted delicious "HurDyache ThalipeeTh". I really thought that it was an amazing idea to try. But getting "HurDa" here is United States was impossible - or so I thought.

Last week, I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted "Ponk" made by Deep Brand in the frozen section. What we call "hurDa" in Marathi(हुर्डा ) , Gujaratis called "Ponk" (પોંક ) - it's fresh, green tender grains of Sorghum/Jowar/Jondhala/Jwari.

Deep's description says -
"
As delicious as it's rare, Ponk is known in Western India as a special treat - available during short time during winter months. Ponk is lightly roasted so as to retain its tenderness and moisture. Traditionally mixed with tangy sev, Ponk is a perfect snack.
"

Every winter, you get fresh ponk/hurDa in certain parts of Mumbai. I remember my aunt would make that special trip all the way to Dadar - near Kabutar khana - to get that fresh ponk. It was sprinkled with chaat masala and crispy sev.

I took that ponk from the freezer section, thaw it completely at the room temperature, used the bhajni from my pantry and made this thalipeeth. It was delicious.

Disclosure - I am not affiliated to Deep food products by any means. I am just sharing my excitement about finding a rare childhood winter treat right here in the US of A.

Hurdyache ThalipeeTh
हुरड्याचे थालीपीठ
Green Sorghum Grains Pat a cake
Ingredients
1 cup green sorghum grains/HurDa/Ponk
1 1/2 cups Thalipeeth Bhajni
3/4 cup minced onion
1/3 cup chopped cilantro

salt to taste

oil for frying

Method
1. If using "Ponk" from the frozen section, thaw it completely at room temperature.

2. Mix it with bhajni, onion, cilantro and salt.
3. Add water as needed to make little loose dough.

4. Heat a cast iron or nonstick griddle.
5. Keep a bowl of water ready to wet your hands from time to time.
6. Take a ball of the dough with wet hand, place it gingerly on the hot pan. Start patting with your wet hand till it's flat, round and thin.

7. Mark 4-5 holes using the back of a spoon.
8. Drizzle oil as needed around the thalipeeth and into the holes.

9. Cover and let it cook on medium heat.
10. Remove the lid. Flip and let it crisp up on the other side.
11. Serve hot thalipeeth off the pan immediately.

Note-
1. ThalipeeTh bhajni generally contains all the necessary spices, but if you like it, you can add more chili powder or ginger-garlic paste depending on your preference.
2. Thalipeeth bhajni generally does not contain salt. However, make sure it doesn't have it first, and then add salt accordingly.
3. Traditionally thalipeeth is served with a dollop of homemade butter/loNi. But this recipe is otherwise very much vegan!
4. I used Ponk - Deep brand - from the freezer section of my local Indian stores.



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Ragi/NachaNi Dosa

 

 

 

As usual, I was perusing the shelves of my Indian stores the other day, I came across the recipe of Ragi dosa on the back of the Ragi flour pack. I pretty much followed it to create my version. I would love to announce that I have finally mastered the art of making dosas on the cast iron griddle. So far, I could only make good dosas on the nonstick pans.

Ragi Dosa
Finger Millet Pancake
Ingredients
1 cup urad daal
1 cup rice (white or brown)
3 cups Ragi/Nachni flour

salt per taste

oil for cooking

Method
1. Soak daal and rice overnight.
2. Drain and grind to a smooth paste.
3. Cover and keep it for fermenting for 6-8 hours.
4. Add ragi flour and mix so there are no lumps.

5. Add salt and water to adjust the consistency.
6. Heat a nonstick or cast iron pan.
7. Spread a spoonful of batter, making concentric circles.

8. Drizzle oil as needed. Cover and let it cook.
9. Serve hot off the griddle with a chutney of your choice.

Note -
I clean off the cast iron pan using a paper napkin after cooking every dosa.




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Moong Daal Pesarettu

 

This is the second version of pesarettu, I had learned from my friend, Priya. I have already blogged about the first version with Moong sprouts.

Today's recipe contains moong daal. I sometimes also add spinach leaves to sneak in more nutrients. Serve with any chutney of your choice. Sometimes, I serve this protein packed dosa as the flatbread to go with usual subzi.

Moong Daal Pesarettu
Moong Daal Dosa
Ingredients
1 cup green moong daal, soaked
1" ginger
2-3 green chilies or to taste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup cilantro
salt to taste
1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves(optional)

Stir in
1/4 cup finely minced onion

Oil for frying dosas

Method
1. Soak green moong daal - with peels in sufficient water for at least 4 hours.
2. Drain and grind with all the remaining ingredients except onion & oil - to make a smooth batter.
3. Cover and set aside for 3-4 hours.
4. Heat a pan. Pour a ladleful of batter.

5. Drizzle oil as needed.
6. Cover and let it cook.
7. Flip on the other side and cook.
8. Serve hot off the griddle with chutney of your choice.

Note -
1. Use green moong daal - the one with peels - for this recipe.
2. Traditionally, this dosa is served with upma stuffed inside. However, I like to serve it with any daily subzi and chutney as a part of daily meal.
3. Use nonstick pan or well seasoned cast iron pan for making this dosa.

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Chocolate Dosa

So far, I have visited the little India section of the big cities viz. Devon St - Chicago, Jackson Heights-NY, Oak Tree Rd -NJ, and very recently - Gerrard St - Toronto. After sightseeing some wonderful landmarks of the lovely city of Toronto, we decided to go to the  "Udupi Palace" at Gerard Street. My "tween" daughter rebelled - "I am not in the mood for Indian food, you know! I don't think I will like anything there. Are you sure that I will get anything that I might even enjoy! It's so not fair! Seriously, you guys....". Sometimes, it's just best to ignore.

As we were glancing through the menu cards, we heard a joyous squeal totally unexpectedly. "OMG! Look Mom, chocolate dosa! It's so cool! I love this place already." Yes, she says squeals "OMG" in that abbreviated form every now and then these days!  Thank heavens or Udupi Palace for this wonderful creation because we could peacefully tuck in our share of Udupi delicacies with equally wonderful tea.

Personally speaking, I would never care for chocolate and dosa combo. That's a great blasphemy in my dictionary! But since it worked for Gudiya, I decided to make my own version after returning home.

Chocolate Dosa
Ingrdients
1 recipe dosa batter
A spoonful of Nutella spread

Oil as needed to roast

Method
1. Prepare dosa batter as mentioned here.
2. Heat a flat tawa/pan.
3. Spread dosa batter thinly in a circular manner.
4. Drizzle oil.
5. Cover and let it cook on medium flame.
6.  When the dosa appears to be cooked from the top and you no longer see any raw batter, spread nutella all over.
7. Making sure that the dosa is crispy at the bottom, lift it, fold it and serve it to your happy camper!;-)

Note-
1. Use Nutella as needed. I use it very sparingly - after all it has sugar.

Credits
Udupi Palace, Toronto

Gerrard Street - Toronto's own little India

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Mag Na Pooda (2)

 

 

Moong Daal Pooda with Chipotle Chutney

These days Mag na pooda is my favorite "go-to" recipe when I run out of  ideas. Yellow moong daal has to be soaked only for 3-4 hours. If you want to expedite the process, use hot water for soaking. I have already blogged about Methi-Mag na pooda and Mag na pooda(1) using peas/green tuver/green chana. Today's variation is simpler as no exotic ingredients like methi/green tuver are needed.

Mag Na Pooda(2) - 12 count
Ingrdeints
1 cup yellow moong daal, soaked for 3-4 hours
A pinch of Asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Stir in
1/2 cup minced onion
1/4 cup minced cilantro
2-3 green chilies, minced

Oil for frying

Method
1. Soak yellow moong daal in adequate water for 3-4 hours.
2. Drain and grind with asafoetida and turmeric powder with salt.
3. Stir in onion, cilantro, chilies. Add water as needed to make dosa like batter.

4. Heat a pan or griddle.
5. Pour a ladleful of batter in a circular motion to make a thick or thin "pooda" or dosa/pancake.
6. Drizzle oil as needed. Cover and let it cook.
7. Flip and cook on the other side as brown spots appear on both the sides.

Note -
1. The above recipe gives me about 12 poodas. Depending on the thickness and circumference of the pooda, this count may change.
2. Depending on the personal preference, make these poodas thin and crispy or thick and soft.

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Banana Dosa

 

 

In spite of being born and raised in Mumbai, I must tell you that I still am not very familiar with all the parts of, in and around Mumbai. All of my relatives live on the Western Railway track. As a result, I have hardly travelled using Central and Harbor trains.

When I worked as a trainee, immediately after the graduation, I was sent for a weekly training course in Thane. We were a bunch of "freshers" and enjoyed every bit of our training and newfound freedom. We attended the classes, ate out in the restaurants (for which we were to get reimbursed - it seemed a thrillingly novel concept that time!!) and when a teacher showed up late, we played dumb charades. Life was good!

During one such outing at the near by restaurant - for the life of me, I can't remember the name - my friend, Satya, who was from South India, ordered "Banana Dosa". We - the rest of the Mumbaikars - had to re-read the menu card to make sure that there was  indeed such entry for Banana Dosa. We all were used to only sada dosa, masala dosa, rawa dosa, paper dosa, mysore masala dosa and such. Satya's Banana Dosa order was my only introduction to banana dosa.

But being a self-proclaimed foodie and with just way too much enthusiasm in cooking in general, - even after so many years - this was always on my "to-cook" wish list. With a leftover dosa batter in the fridge and two over-ripe bananas in the fruit basket, my wish came true!


Here's my version.

Banana Dosa
Banana Pancake
Ingredients
1 recipe Dosa Batter
1 or 2 over ripe bananas

Oil for cooking

Method
1. Prepare dosa batter per instructions here.
2. Mash over ripe banana and add to the batter.
3. Heat a nonstick pan.
4. Pour a ladleful of batter to make a thick pancake.

5. Drizzle some oil around.
6. Cover and cook on a medium flame.
7. Flip and cook on the other side.
8. Serve with the chutney of your choice.

Note -
1. You can either mash banana completely so there are no lumps or mash it lightly.





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Rava-urad dosa

My mom makes a different variety of Rava Idli where she grinds the soaked urad daal and ferments it but instead of adding rice or idli rava, she adds roasted semolina right before steaming idlies. I made dosas with the same batter.

Rava-Urad Dosa
Semolina Pancake
Ingredients

1 cup urad daal, rinsed and soaked overnight

salt to taste

*1 cup fine rava, roasted

oil for greasing

Method

1. Soak urad daal in water overnight..

2. Grind to a smooth paste adding minimal water.

3. Mix salt to taste. Cover with a lid. Keep in warm place to ferment for 8 hours.

4. Roast rava on a low flame.

5. Add it to the fermented batter. Add water to get the consistency of the dosa batter.

6. Heat a pan/griddle. Take a ladleful of batter and spread to make thin dosa.
7. Drizzle oil as needed. Cover and let it cook till crisp.

8. Serve with chutney of your choice.

Note -

1. You can add 1/4 tsp methi seeds along with urad daal.
2. When you add roasted rava to the batter, some lumps may form. Use a whisk or a fork to break the lumps and make a uniform batter before proceeding.
*3. I like to keep the daal - rava proportion to 1:1 but you can also use it as 1:2. So for 1 cup dry urad daal, use 2 cups roasted rava.

4. Use fine rawa.

PoLay

PoLay is a word used to describe dosa in mostly GSB households. These dosas are soft and not too crispy. When you add rice to dosa batter, rice makes it crunchy. But this dosas do not have rice and hence they are soft. You can certainly make these for breakfasts or dinner but my grandmother used to serve them along with aftrnoon/evening tea.

PoLay

Lentil Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup Urad Daal

1 cup chana daal

1 cup moong daal

A pinch of asafoetida

salt to taste

Oil as needed for roasting

Suggested Accompaniment
Hinga Chutney
or
Any coconut based chutney of your choice.


Method
1. Soak all the daals with sufficient water for about 6 hours.
2. Grind with asafoetida and salt.
3. Cover and keep aside till ready to use.
4. Add water to make a thick batter consistency.
5. Heat a nonstick or cast iron pan. Spread the batter to make a circle.

6. Drizzle some oil. Cover and let it cook.
7. Once the dosa appears to be cooked, take it out and keep in a plate.

Note -
1. This dosa is not meant to be cooked on both sides. So make sure that it is cooked well before serving.

2. This dosa is not meant to be crispy. It is soft.
3. Sometimes I add half of yellow moong daal and half of green moong daal (with peels).
 

Upasache Dhirde - A pancake for fasting!

 

Dhirde is a Maharashtrian dosa. I use "Upvasachi bhaajNi" to make upasache dhirDe. In Maharashtra, fasting and feasting go hand in hand. There are many occasions when people observe fasts like Ashadhi Ekadashi, Kartiki Ekadashi, Sankashti, Angarki Chaturthi, Vinayaki Chaturthi, and many days in Shravan. Frankly, I am not very familiar about all the fasts, but being a foodie, I do know my feasts!;-)

Upasache DhirDe
उपासाचे  धिरडे 
Pancake for fasting!
Ingredients
1 cup upvas bhaajNi
1/4 cup daaNyache kooT/Roasted, unsalted peanuts powder, coarsely ground
2-3 green chilies
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2" ginger, peeled & grated or pounded
salt to taste
1 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp. finely minced coriander leaves/cilantro (optional)

Ghee for frying

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients except ghee. Add enough water to get a thick batter consistency.Make sure that there are no lumps.
2. Heat a pan or griddle.
3. Spread a ladleful of batter.

4. Drizzle ghee as needed.
5. Cook on both sides till crisp.

Note -
1. For spicier flavor, grind ginger, cumin seeds and chilies before adding to the batter.
2. Traditionally, ghee or toop is preferred for cooking "fasting" dishes. You may use oil if you prefer.
3. Some people do not prefer cilantro in their "fast food"!!;-)



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Radish Oothapams

Ravishing radishes are seen everywhere since it's spring time. I decided to include them in the oothapams or uttappa.

Radish Oothapams
Radish Pancakes
Ingredients
1 bunch red radishes, top removed, minced
1 spring onion, minced
1 green chili, minced (optional)

1 recipe idli batter

Oil for cooking

Method
1. Heat a tawa/pan/griddle.
2. Grease as needed.
3. Pour a spoonful of idli batter.
4. Sprinkle minced radish, spring onions and chili - if using.
5. Cover and let it cook.
6. Flip and cook quickly on the other side.
7. Serve with chutney of your choice.

Note -
1. You may need to add water to idli batter. Do not add too much water. These pancakes need to be thick.
2. I used my mini pancakes pan to make mini oothapams.


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Palak Dosa

I love to sneak in as many vegetables in the daily meal as possible. I had planned to make palak paneer and made spinach puree. But I discovered dosa batter in the refrigerator, that's when I decided to make this palak dosa instead.

 

Palak Dosa

Spinach Pancake

Ingredients

1 recipe Dosa Batter

1 cup boiled spinach puree

salt to taste

 

Oil as needed for making dosa

 

Method

1. Stir in boiled spinach paste in the dasa batter.

2. Adjust the consistency.

3. Heat a griddle or pan.

4. Pour a ladleful of spinach dosa batter and spread into dosa of desired thickness.

5. Drizzle oil around the circumference.

6. Cover and let it cook.

7. Serve with chutney of your choice.

 

Note -

1. For making spicier version, you can add green chilies while grinding spinach.

Chora daal na pooda(2)

 

This is just a variation of chora daal na pooda with garlic. This pooda is made without any garlic and hence is quite plain. You can serve it with a spicy shaak or chutney to make up for the blandness.

Chora Daal na Pooda(2)
Cowpeas Pancake
Ingredients
1 cup chora daal, soaked for 4 hours
Salt to taste

Oil for cooking

Suggested Accompaniments
Kanda Bataka nu shaak
and/or Lasan ni chutney

Method
1. Soak the chora daal in adequate water for 3-4 hours.
2. Grind the drained daal adding water as necessary along with salt.
3. Adjust the consistency of the batter to resemble the dosa batter.
4. Heat a griddle or dosa pan. Pour a ladleful of batter.
5. Add a drop or two of oil. Brown on both sides.

Note -
1. Do not exceed soaking time more than 4 hours otherwise it will start stinking.

Chora na pooda with kanda bataka nu shaak

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Split Green Peas Adai

I generally have split green pea daal in my pantry. This is easily available in the American supermarkets. I love the beautiful greenish hue it adds to the usual idlies and dosas.


Split Pea Adai
Split Pea Pancakes
Ingredients

1 cup split green peas

1/2 cup urad daal
1/2 cup brown basmati rice

A pinch of asafetida
salt to taste

Method

1. Soak the daals and rice for 6-8 hours

2. Grind adding little water. Add salt and asafoetida.
3. Cover and keep aside for 2 hours.
4. Make thick pancakes using oil as needed.

Note -
1. You can stir in some chopped onions, green chilies and cilantro to the batter before making the pancakes.

Indian American Jonnycakes

These pancakes go by both the names Jonnycakes or Johnycakes. They came out pretty well, when I tried them for the first time. However,  my tastebuds refused to accept them with the traditional Maple syrup or honey. I searched for my lasnichi chutney/fiery garlic condiment. So naturally, I had to make the spicy version next time. I used the leftover Idli batter to make this Indianized version.

Indian American Johnycakes
Ingredients
1 cup leftover Idli batter
1/2 cup Masa Harina
salt as needed
water as needed
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Stir in - (optional)
3 tbsp minced red onion
2 minced green chilies
1 tbsp minced cilantro

Oil for roasting

Method
1. Mix Masa harina into the Idli batter. Stir in water as needed to make a thick pancake like batter.
2. Adjust salt.
3. Add onion, chilies, cilantro - if using.
4. Heat pan or griddle.
5. Pour a dollop of batter. Drizzle some oil for roasting.

6. Cover and let it cook. Flip to cook on the other side.
7. Serve hot along with chutney or ketchup of your choice.

Note -
1. Do not make batter too thin.

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American Indian Jonnycakes or Johnycakes

These days, Gudiya has been reading "The little house on the prairie" by Laura Ingall Wilder. To keep up with the pioneer spirit that's been going on in our home, I decided to make some Johnycakes (or Jonnycakes) for breakfast. Now, why the prefix "American Indian", you may ask? Well, just because an Indian American version is coming up next!;-)

American Indian Jonnycakes
Ingredients
1 cup Masa Harina
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup hot water
1/2 - 3/4 cup cold water.

Oil for frying Jonnycakes

Method
1. Mix Masa Harina, sugar and salt.
2. Add boiling hot water. Stir well.
3. Now add cold water so there are no lumps. Adjust water according to the consistency of the batter. The batter should have thick pancake batter consistency.
4. Heat griddle or tawa.
5. Add a dollop of batter. Drizzle some oil for cooking. Cover and let it cook.

6. Flip to cook on the other side.
7. Serve hot johnycakes along with maple syrup, honey or agave nectar.

Note -
1. The batter should have thick pancake batter consistency.

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Kobij na Pooda - Cabbage Pancake

Sometime back, I discovered that if we request, Whole Foods guys happily cut the cabbage in half and let us buy only that half. That works perfectly well for our family's weekly needs.  So many times, rather than buying one big green cabbage and one big purple cabbage,  I get the halves.

Kobij na Pooda
Cabbage Pancake
Ingredients
1 cup yellow Moong Daal, Soak for  3-4 hours

Grind drained daal with
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2" ginger, peeled
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp asafoetida
2 green chilies or to taste

You will also need,
salt to taste
1/3 cup minced onion
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/2 of small cabbage head, grated

Oil for greasing

Method
1. Drain the moong daal and grind with turmeric powder, salt, ginger, garlic and asafoetida.
2. Stir in minced vegetables and salt. Make a batter of not too thin, not too thick consistency adding water as needed.

3. Heat a pan/griddle/tawa. Pour a ladleful of batter. Drizzle oil as needed. Cover and let it cook.
4. Flip on the other side. Cook till brown spots appear on both sides and it appears crispy to your liking.
5. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or chutney of your choice.

Note -
1. Instead of ground moong daal, same pooda can also be made using besan/chickpea flour or vada nu loat.
2. If you like a spicy bite, you can mince green chilies and add to the batter.
3. Purple cabbage or even savoy cabbage works well with this recipe.






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