Friday, August 30

Kezhvaragu Adai or Ragi Roti

Ragi flour is known to be a good home remedy for cold and flu and hence I remember it being prepared at home mostly during rainy days or when someone in the family is ill with cold. The drumstick leaves (murungakeerai) added to  adai fortifies it in addition to the flavour it renders. Ragi which is generally used in south India is a rich source of calcium, iron & fiber and is chosen widely for weight loss.



Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  15 minutes

Cooking Time:  20 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Ragi or finger millet flour – 2 cups
2.    Onion - 1
3.    Garlic – 5 cloves
4.    Salt to taste
5.     Oil as required
6.    Dry chilies – 2
7.     Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
8.    Asafoetida – 2 pinches
9.    Urad dal – ½ tbsp
10.            Gram dal – 1 tbsp
11.  Curry leaves – 1 sprig
12. Drumstick leaves (murngakeerai) – 1 cup (optional)

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustards seeds, sprinkle asafoetida, fry urad dal, gram dal, curry leaves and sauté chopped onion and garlic in it then add drumstick leaves to fry for a couple of minutes.


Step 2: Take ragi flour in a mixing bowl, add the seasoning prepared and make soft dough adding some salt and warm water.


Step 3: Rest the dough for 30 minutes before preparing rotis/ adais.


Step 4: Make lemon sized balls of the entire dough.


Step 5: On a plastic sheet or plate grease some oil on it, dab some oil in your fingers and pat dough into a 6” circle.


Step 6: Heat dosa tawa, grease oil and roast both the sides of roti/ adai until done.



Step 7: Serve hot topped with some ghee along with grated jaggery.


Oats Pongal

There is a big fan club out in Tamil Nadu for this incomparably scrumptious dish, venpongal. Some people reluctantly avoid it only for its high calories; the oats twist makes this dish inviting. Oats pongal is gooier than the regular pongal which makes it even more striking. It is very pertinent baby food by picking out the pepper corns.


Serves:  2

Preparation Time: NA

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Oats – 1 cup
2.    Split green gram – ½ cup
3.    Ghee – 2 tbsp
4.    Salt to taste
5.     Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
6.    Pepper corns – 1 tsp
7.     Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Wash the dal and cook it until soft and mushy.

Step 2:  In another vessel cook oats in salted water just as we make porridge until done but not too mushy. Add the cooked dal to this and adjust salt.

Step 3: Heat ghee in a tadka ladle, splutter cumin seeds & pepper corns and pour over the hot pongal.

Step 4: Yes it’s that simple. But for adults the seasoning can be made more elaborate by adding cashew nuts, grated ginger and curry leaves.

Step 5: Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Thursday, August 29

Lentil Pancakes or Manjal Dosai or Paruppu Dosai

Few days back I had just reinvented this traditional recipe usually use only tur dal and rice but I have given it some twist. The dish might be humble in its looks, don’t under estimate its flavour, taste or nutrition. There are two kinds of lovers of dosa; one the crisp dosa likers and other the soft dosa likers, former being the majority. This lentil dosa can cater to both the types of people by adjusting the proportion of rice-dal used, to get the texture you prefer.


Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  15 minutes

Cooking Time:  5 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Idly rice – 1 cup
2.    Tur dal – ¾ cup
3.    Bengal gram – ½ cup
4.    Urad dal – ½ cup
5.     Moong dal – ½ cup
6.    Dry red chilies – 2
7.     Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp
8.    Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
9.    Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp
10.            Pepper corns – 10
11.   Salt to taste
12. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
13. Coriander chopped – a fistful
14. Oil as required

Method:

Step 1: Wash and soak all the lentils and the rice together for a couple of hours.


Step 2: Then drain the soaked mixture (saving the water for later use) and grind it in a mixer jar along with other dry spices.

Step 3: Add the soaked water to coarse grind into a thick batter.

Step 4: Transfer to another vessel, add turmeric powder, salt and chopped coriander and mix well adjusting water to get a dosa batter consistency. Preferably set this aside for 15 minutes before using.



Step 5: Heat the dosa tawa, grease it with oil and while hot enough pour a ladle of batter and spread it into a nice circle using the back of the ladle. Drizzle few drops of oil after a minute and cover with a high lid.


Step 6: After about 2-3 minutes or when the bottom side is browned enough, remove lid and flip the dosa.



Step 7: Lentil pancake is ready to be served with chutney of your choice.