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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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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Surti Locho

Since I blogged about a "ghotala" yesterday, I thought why not extend this "fiasco" theme and explore some other monikers?

So presenting today - "Locha-E-Dhokla" otherwise known as - Surti Locho - A hot mess of Dhokla!

The ingredients for this "Locho" are more or less same as Khaman, but consistency of the batter is thin and hence, dhokla has a creamy consistency. It's served with a squeeze of lemon juice, cilantro, onion, sev and pomegranate seeds.

Surti Locho
Ingredients
1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup chana daal
1/2 cup urad daal

1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tbsp. oil
salt to taste

2 tsp. green chili-ginger paste

Tempering
1 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. buttermilk or water
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. sesame seeds
A generous pinch of asafoetida

Garnish
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
1 tbsp. grated coconut (Optional)
2 chilies, slit (Optional)
2 tbsp. minced onion
2 tbsp. roasted chili peanuts
2 tbsp. pomegranate seeds or cranberries

Method
1. Soak the daals and rice overnight.
2. Grind to a coarse paste.
3. Cover and keep for fermenting, in a warm place for at least 8 hours.
4. Mix water,buttermilk, oil and baking soda. Make sure that the buttermilk is at the room temperature. Add this mixture to the batter. Add salt, ginger chili paste. Mix well. Add more water if necessary to make thin consistency.
5. Grease thalis (metal plates) or cooker containers. Heat water in the pressure cooker.
6. Equally divide the batter in plates or containers. Steam without pressure for 20 minutes.
7. Open the pressure cooker. Let dhokla cool down a little. It should fluff up. Using a fork, mash it lightly.
8. Heat oil in a small saucepan. Add mustard seeds, sesame seeds, asafoetida. As they splutter, switch off the gas, add buttermilk or water and pour on the dhokla evenly.
9. Garnish with coconut, cilantro and green chilies.

Note -
1. The thin consistency of batter, should result in upma like consistency for the locho.

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Multi-Grain Bhakri

Multi-grain Bhakri with Pithale and raw onion slices

Mom got this multi-grain bhakri flour. It had five kinds of whole grains - sorghum, millet, ragi, rice and maize. I was not sure if I could pat the bhakries with these many flours but it worked. I served it with pithale.

Multi-Grain Bhakri - (Count 3 bhakris)
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup multi-grain bhakri flour
warm water as needed

Method
1. Take the multi-grain flour in a deep plate/paraat.
2. Add water as needed to make dough.
3. Make 3 uniform balls.
4. Pat one ball at a time, using your palm, dredging in dry flour as needed.
5. Place one bhakri at a time on a hot tawa.
6. Wet your hand and moisten the top of the bhakri.
7. Flip and let the other side cook.
8. Roast on the direct flame.

Note-
1. Knead the dough when you are ready to pat the bhakris. Do not make the dough in advance.
2. If you don't have the pre-mixed flour, just mix all the desired flours in equal proportions.

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Black Bean Burger/Patties/Tikki

 

Black beans are, by far, my most favorite beans from the Americas. It is not as mushy as pinto beans and has a deliciously unique flavor as well as texture. There are frozen black beans burger available in the supermarkets. I took inspiration from those and decided to give my own Indian twist.


Black Bean Burger
Ingredients
1 cup dry black beans, soaked, pressure cooked
1 cup frozen yellow corn, thawed, drained
1 piece of red bell pepper, minced
1 piece of green bell pepper, minced
1 medium potato, pressure cooked

2 tbsp. minced cilantro
1 spring onion, minced (green and white part)
1 tbsp. ginger-garlic paste

1 1/2 tsp. cumin powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. amchoor powder
1/2 tsp. chaat masala
salt to taste

Dredge
1/4 cup rice flour
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method
1. Soak black beans overnight. Pressure cook. Let them cool down completely. Drain. Mash with a potato masher.

2. Thaw frozen yellow corn. Let it cool down. Drain.

3. Pressure cook potato. Peel and mash.
4. Mix mashed black beans, yellow corn, mashed potato, peppers, cilantro, spring onion, ginger garlic paste and all dry spice powder with salt.

5. Make 8 uniform balls. Flatten them. Keep in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up.

6. Meanwhile, mix rice flour with garlic powder and a pinch of salt.
7. Heat pan for frying.
8. Grease the pan. Dredge each tikki/ burger into the rice flour mixture. Pan fry using oil as needed till it is uniformly browned from all sides. Use low-medium heat for uniform cooking.

9. Serve with a salad or sandwich between hamburger buns.

Note-
1. Make sure to drain all the liquid from cooked beans and corn.
2. Boiled potato is used as a binder here and it worked beautifully. There was no need for adding any corn starch or soaked bread slice or even egg.
3. I did not use food processor or blender to mash the beans as I wanted to retain the texture.




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Shevyacha Upma

 

This is my American Desi version. Instead of using freshly homemade shevya, I used thin rice sticks/noodles that are readily available in the Asian Markets. Generally, the recipe calls for soaking these dried rice sticks/noodles for 10 minutes in hot water. But I feel it still keeps the rice sticks too chewy to be used in the upma. So I add additional water to let them cook and turn soft.

Shevvyacha Upma
Rice Noodles Stir Fry
Ingredients
1 packet thin rice sticks
Salt to taste

Tempering
1/2 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp urad daal
1/2 tsp asafetida
2 sprigs curry leaves, torn
2-3 red chilies, halved

Garnish
1/2 cup freshly scraped coconut
Few drops of coconut oil

Method
1. Soak rice sticks in hot water for about 10 minutes per packet instructions.
2. Heat oil in a saucepan. Add the ingredients for tempering.
3. As they sizzle and urad daal turns reddish, add drained noodles/sticks. Mix gently.
4. Add 1 cup water and salt to taste.

5. Let it cook till water is completely absorbed and noodles are soft but not mushy.
6. Garnish with coconut.
7. Drizzle a few drops of coconut oil. Mix well.
8. Serve immediately.

Note -
1. Traditionally this upma is made in coconut oil. If you decide to make it in coconut oil, skip step #7.
2. These rice sticks also make instant shevya/shirvalya to be accompanied by rosu/ras/ghaTle.




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