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

Banana Blossom Vadas

 

Recently, we hosted a tea party for Gudiya's new school friend and her family. The family has just moved from Chennai. As Gudiya got a new friend, I too got a new friend in her mom. Sujatha got some banana blossom fritters for the tea party. I asked the recipe but forgot to take pictures of Sujatha's banana blossom fritters. These fritters were really delicious. They reminded me of our Daal vade/Chettambade. 

I have shallow fried these "fritters" but feel free to deep fry them if you prefer.

Sujatha's Vazhaipoo Vadai
Banana Blossom Fritters
Ingredients
1 cup Chanda daal, soaked for 6 hours

Grind drained daal with
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp asafetida
2-3 green chilies
1/2" ginger, peeled
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds


Stir in
2 sprigs curry leaves, torn
1 can banana blossom, rinsed, drained, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 green chilies, minced (optional)
salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method

1. Soak chana daal in adequate water for 6 hours.
2. Drain and grind coarsely with turmeric powder, asafetida, chilies, ginger, cumin seeds, coriander seeds. Do not add any water for grinding.
3. Stir in salt, chopped vegetables  and herbs. Mix well.

4. Heat pan or kadhai for shallow/deep frying respectively. Add oil as needed.
5. Spread on the pan or deep fry flattened fritters.

6. Drain and serve as a snack/appetizer or part of a big meal.

Note -
1. If you like heat, add minced green chilies in the batter. Otherwise, just omit the green chilies.

Banana Blossom from the can

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Raw Mango Quinoa

 

 

I substitute cooked quinoa for making many South India inspired fried rice recipes. Raw Mango Rice is made in South Indian kitchens by tempering rice with spices, curry leaves, raw peanuts and raw mango. Cooked quinoa tastes equally delicious. I have used rainbow quinoa here for variety, but even usual quinoa works just fine.

 

Raw Mango Quinoa

Ingredients

2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled completely

1 cup grated raw mango

salt to taste

 

Tempering

1 tbsp. sesame oil

1/2 tsp. mustard seeds

2-3 red chilies, halved

1 tsp. chana daal

1 tsp. urad daal

1/4 tsp. asafetida

2 sprigs curry leaves

2 tbsp. raw peanuts

 

Garnish

2 tbsp. minced cilantro

 

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok. Add spices, daals, curry leaves and peanuts.

2. As they splutter, and peanuts appear crispy, add grated raw mango. Stir fry for a minute.

3. Add cooked quinoa, salt to taste.

4. Mix well. Cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes.

5. Serve warm, garnished with cilantro.

 

Note -

1. Use raw mango from the Indian stores. Green mangoes available at American super markets do not have the required tartness and firmness.

 

Cooked Rainbow Quinoa

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Chow Chow or Chayote Squash Chutney

 

I had seen this vegetable called Chayote squash before. I didn't know how to use it then. I later learnt about it in Mrs. Chandra Padmanabhan's book "Dakshin" about Chow Chow Chutney. So I started using this squash in my daily cooking every now and then. Though I used Mrs. Padmanabhan's recipe as a starting point, it was interpreted little differently for our Maharashtrian/Gujarati taste buds.

Chow Chow Chutney
Chayote Squash Chutney
Ingredients
1 Chow Chow or Chayote Squash, grated or chopped finely
1 green or red tomato, chopped
salt to taste
1/2 tsp tamarind pulp
1 tbsp. jaggery


Tempering
1/2 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. chana daal
2 tbsp. urad daal
1/2 tsp asafetida
1 sprig curry leaves, torn

4-5 dried red chilies

Method
1. Heat oil in a kadai. Add ingredients for tempering. Saute till urad daal changes color to reddish.
2. Add squash and tomatoes. Cook on a medium flame for about 10 minutes.
3. Add salt, tamarind and jaggery. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Switch off the gas. Let it come to the room temperature.
5. Grind the mixture to a smooth chutney.

Note -
1. I don't peel the squash.
2. Sometimes, as a variation I also add 2 cloves of garlic in tempering.
3. Sometimes, I add grilled jalapenos or mini multicolored peppers instead of dried chilies.

Idli with Chow Chow Chutney

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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.

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.