Verum Arisi Adai

Verum Arisi Adai translates to Plain Rice Adai, a Palakkad specialty. Among the various griddle-cooked pancake-like flatbreads of south India, this Verum Arisi Adai is not that well-known.

It is fairly thick, even up to a quarter inch thick, and needs to cook over medium-low heat for enough time so insides are not raw. Usually it helps to make 3 or 4 "holes" on the surface and drops some oil in to help with crisping the surface.

My favorite additives to the plain rice adai batter are: chopped greens like kale, beet greens, spinach, grated carrots, finely diced onions, finely chopped coconut, whole black pepper, coriander and curry leaves. Of course, not all of these at the same time - that would just overload the adai.

The picture doesn't do justice to the taste, naturally. In fact, the resident eight year old who has an opinion about everything, told me that it looks like dried up fake puke and refused to try even a courtesy bite.

Soak 2 cups red par-boiled rice overnight (with 1 Tbsp fenugreek seeds), grind it to a coarse batter that is thick, with very little water; should be able to scoop a handful, roll it into a ball so it will still hold its shape on its own. This batter tastes better when allowed to ferment overnight with natural wild yeast fermentation, no additives.

However, since I don't get the traditional variety of rice here, and since I don't want to go to the trouble of soaking and grinding the long grain rice batter just for me, I have this alternate recipe using coarse rice meal like for Arisi Upma Kozhakattai.

1. Soak required amount of Coarse ricemeal (also sold as Rice Idlee Rava in Indian stores), grind it with just enough water to make a thick paste; and allow it to ferment overnight 
2. When ready to make the adais, add a tad bit of rice flour if the batter is too brittle and breaks apart when made into adai; the flour seems to help keep it together;
3. Add in grated carrots or kale or onion or any other favorite veggies, adjust salt to taste, and cook on a medium hot pan on both sides till cooked through
4. Serve with favorite chutneys or pickles; I serve it with pickled beets

While the original par-boiled rice Verum Arisi Adai will be just fine no matter how long after getting out of the pan, this quick short-cut method adai has to be eaten hot off the pan as it can get quite hard ("jaw-breaker") if allowed to cool down. It is very filling - just 2 medium sized (5" diameter) Verum Arisi Adai makes a big brunch.

Arisi Upma Kozhakattai

These steamed coarse ricemeal balls, Arisi Upma Kozhakattai, is my mom's specialty. She whips up a batch or two in no time at all and it is an all-day kind of meal - breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner, these taste good with suitable chutneys and dips.

Now, the recipe is my mom's, so, the measurements are not precise; which suits me fine as I rarely measure the ingredients before I cook.

Basically, coarse rice meal, "arisi ravai" or "rice idlee rava" as sold in Indian stores, is coarse ground raw rice about the texture of coarse cornmeal. It is versatile in south Indian tiffin/snack dishes.

This rice meal is cooked in water with some salt and oil to a fairly thick consistency - like the standard Upma - so as to be able to take a handful and shape into egg-shaped balls. Then, steamed gently and served hot with chutneys on the side. Alternately, I've tried this with leftover thick polenta shaped into ovoids and steamed as well.

During my fledgling days of pottering about in the kitchen, I often goofed up and made the upma too thick so that after steaming, they became hard as rocks, making my dad nickname them hand grenades. But, I think I've learnt a thing or two since then, so, am happy to make this dish whenever the mood calls for it.


Ingredients
2 cups rice idlee rava
½ cup dry grated coconut
4-5 cups hot water (more or less)
salt to taste

tempering: 1 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 2-3 dry red chilies (broken)

optional: ¼ cup toor dal, soaked for 2-3 hours and ground to a fine paste

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan and when shimmering add the mustard seeds, when they pop, add the dry red chilies, then add the hot water, some salt, and bring it to a boil
2. Slowly add the rice meal while stirring constantly so as to not form any lumps
3. Add the dry grated coconut and the toor dal paste, if using and stir till well incorporated
4. Adjust salt to taste, cover and cook on low heat till all the water is absorbed and the rice idlee rava is cooked through and comes together to a medium-thick scoopable consistency
5. Allow to cool a bit so it is easier to handle, and scoop a handful of it and form little oval balls
6. Steam them in idlee cooker or other simple steamer apparatus for about 8-10 minutes
7. Serve warm with chutneys like mint chutney or curry leaf chutney, or my favorite ridge gourd peel chutney

10 Grain Cereal Upma and Quinoa Upma

Upma ("Oop-maa") is a staple in south India, usually as a tiffin item for breakfast or sometimes a light dinner, made with coarse grits-like farina. There were two schools of thought about the ideal upma in our family when I was young: the grainy, non-lumpy, non-sticky kind with  lots of vegetables like carrots, peas, onions, ginger, tomatoes, chilies etc; and the gooey, ghee-dripping kind with just some tempering and possibly chilies and ginger and a touch of salt to taste.

Over the formative years, I've gone from liking one kind to the other and back again. These days, in my kitchen, it depends on my mood.

For the gooey porridge-like upma, I prefer the coarse meal 10 grain cereal sold in bulk food stores: wheat, corn, rye, triticale, oats, soy beans, millet, barley, brown rice, oat bran and flaxseed. Sometimes, I add an optional 11th item - viz., quinoa - to this mix.

For the grainy coarse upma, I like just the quinoa, or a mix of quinoa and bulgur. I cook it al dente first and then make the upma as below.

Veggies in either case depends on what's handy. Typically, onions, ginger, chilies, cabbage, bell pepper, carrots, peas are the staple. Sometimes I add cauliflower, edamame, kale or spinach.

Tempering: heat a tablespoon of canola oil in a pan, when oil is hot, add split urad dal, when the dal turns golden brown, add mustard seeds, and when mustard seeds pop, add curry leaves and the vegetables.

Saute the veggies, then, add the 10 grain cereal for the gooey upma. Add boiling hot water to the cereal in the ratio 1.5 : 1 - i.e., one measure of cereal gets 1.5 measure of boiling water. Cover and cook on medium low heat till the cereal is cooked through. Add in ghee or flax oil Omega butter™. Stir well and serve warm with Indian pickles.

Aapam Ishtew

Aapam is one of the dishes I liked better when made by my mom, or even some street vendors in Kerala... and I didn't feel like making it at home until now as I felt it needed a special contraption to cook it.

Aapam has a thick spongy center and a thin dosai-like edge - the shape sort of resembles vintage flying saucers :)

My mom gifted me this little non-stick aapam pan-of-sorts recently and I decided to try it out. The batter is my version of it, I am still experimenting with proportions, but this batch was quite good.

Aapam turned out quite spongy and tasty, even though the center was not as thick as I wanted them to be. It is cooked only on one side usually, sort of like Injeras that I make. The batter needs to ferment a bit and get fluffy just like for injera, but rather than buckwheat or tef or all-purpose flour that I use for injeras, appam is made with a rice-based batter.

Fermentation is easy enough in hot places, but, since it is still pretty cold here, I warm up my oven to 200°F, turn it off, and leave the batter in there to ferment. Additionally, I add some yeast to the batter to help the fermentation.

Aapam is usually served with some sort of a stew ("ishtew", in local lingo), so I made a mixed vegetable stew with coconut milk.

Ingredients
batter:
2 cups par-boiled rice
2 cups plain white rice
¼ cup urad dal
1 Tbsp fenugreek seeds (optional)
1 Tbsp rapid rise yeast (optional)

stew:
vegetables like potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans
½ tsp turmeric powder (optional)
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp grated ginger
1 medium onion diced
1 can light coconut milk
2 Tbsp canola oil or coconut oil

salt to taste

Preparation

1. batter: soak the batter ingredients overnight and grind to a fine batter; add some yeast and leave in a warm place to rise for a few hours
2. stew: heat oil in a pan and sauté the ginger and garlic, then add the onions, turmeric powder and some salt, allow it to sweat a bit; then add the veggies and a little bit of water and steam the veggies; then add the coconut milk, cover and simmer to desired thickness; adjust salt to taste
3. aapam: add some salt to the fermented batter, stir; heat the aapam pan over medium heat; pour a ladleful of batter in the center of the pan, pick up the pan and swirl it a bit to allow the batter to coat the sides of the pan, cover and cook till holes form on the top and the center lump of batter is cooked through

cornmeal rava idlee

I've been making minor variations of my regular recipes, nothing spectacular to post, but, I was quite surprised by this batch of experimental idlee batter that I decided to note it down here.

It is a variation of the rava idlee, with cornmeal and rice idlee rava, plus some starter for fermenting the batter. The starter is optional. I had it handy from the Lemon Fruit Cake recipe and wanted to see if it would stay active and ferment this batch of batter. And it did! In about 24 hours.

The idlees came out quite fluffy and mildly sour, just the way I like it:)

Serve warm with chutneys of your choice, or even sambar.

Ingredients
1 cup bread starter* (optional)
1 cup rosated coarse sooji rava
1 cup rice idlee rava
1 cup coarse cornmeal or cornbread mix
1 cup buttermilk
½ tsp sugar (only if using the starter)
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
plus water as needed to make a fairly thick batter

tempering: 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp mustard seeds

*if not using the starter, can use 1 Tbsp rapid rise yeast instead; or, simply leave out the yeast and allow for natural fermentation, which might take longer than 24 hours depending on where you live.

Preparation

1. combine the batter ingredients, (all except baking soda and salt) in a ceramic or plastic bowl, the batter can be thick at this point, stay conservative with the water till ready to cook; cover and set aside in a warm place to ferment overnight or for 24 hours
2. when ready to make the idlees, get the tempering ready: heat the oil in a pan, add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown add the urad dal and when it turns golden brown add the mustard seeds, when mustard seeds pop turn off the heat and add it to the batter, stir well
3. taste the batter and add salt as needed; stir in the baking soda and add water to desired idlee consistency
4. grease the idlee moulds, pour the batter and steam till done

Pongal Godhsu

Pongal, Godhsu, Medhu Vadai and Chutney - all four together - evoke this wonderful memory of my childhood Sunday brunches. Many Sunday mornings, my mom made this combination which became a favorite brunch in our family.

Now, thankfully, D and Ana love it too, so I get to make it on and off on weekends. Plus, it gave me a reason to use up the eggplant, chilies and tomatoes from our garden.

Now, I was too lazy to make vadai, but I did make a simple chutney. And, as always, my recipes are adapted to my tastes, so they may not be quite traditional and authentic.

Ingredients

for the godhsu: 1-2 Ichiban eggplant (or any variety handy) 1-2 red paprika peppers (optional) 1 kung pao green chili (or any other variety) 1 medium onion 2 medium tomatoes salt to taste 1 tsp cumin powder 1 Tbsp coriander powder 1 tsp hot chili powder 1 tsp brown sugar ½ tsp tamarind concentrate Tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds curry leaves, cilantro for garnish

for pongal: 1 cup jasmine rice ½ cup yellow split moong dal 3 cups water salt to taste 1 Tbsp whole black pepper 1 Tbsp cumin seeds 2 Tbsp canola oil

for the peanut-coconut chutney:
½ cup dry roasted peanuts
¼ cup dry grated coconut
1-2 red paprika peppers, or red chilies
salt to taste
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Chutney:Combine the ingredients in a blender/food processor and blend to a fine paste, adding a little water, if needed. Optionally, add the tempering: heat oil in a pan, add 1 tsp urad dal, when it turns golden brown, add a tsp of mustard seeds and cumin seeds and when the mustard seeds pop, off heat and garnish the chutney.

Preparation:

Pongal: Combine the rice and dal in a pressure cooker and cook till slightly mushy; heat oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds and whole black pepper, stir a little till cumin seeds sizzle but not burn, add the cooked rice+dal, some salt, stir well, adjust to taste; add a little water if the rice is too thick; I prefer the almost-porridge consistency.

Godhsu: Finely dice the vegetables; heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds; when the mustard seeds pop, add the onions and other diced vegetables, sauté a little; then add the cumin, coriander, chili powders, salt to taste and the tamarind, some water to cover the vegetables, and allow to simmer on medium low till vegetables are cooked but not mushy. I like the godhsu to be fairy thick, not too runny...

Serve the pongal and godhsu hot and steaming. It makes a filling brunch especially on cold winter mornings. But, many a nights, I have served this for dinner too.

Mysore Masala Dosai

When I was really young, I remember going to Mavalli Tiffin Room in Bangalore (Lal Bagh). Known famously now as MTR, the South Indian food served there was quite special and had that incredible home-made feel to it. MTR now also sells high quality packaged foods and ready-to-eat foods that are a favorite among Indians world-wide.

Anyway, RCI:Karnataka made me want to dedicate a special post to one particular dish that I used to order consistently at restaurants: Mysore Masala Dosai.

What made it special for me the first time I ate it in Bangalore was that it had this fiery, spicy chutney spread on the inside of the dosa, plus potato masala on the side, along with onion and coconut chutneys. It was a meal fit for a Queen!

Use any regular dosai recipe - I used my brown rice dosai recipe - for the dosai batter.

The fiery hot chutney I make is with red chilies, a tiny amount of shallots, very tiny amount of garlic and some grated coconut.

The potato masala is the same as what I posted in my poori-potato recipe

Once the dosai is made, spread a little chutney on the inside, scoop some potato masala in and roll up the dosai. Serve it with an array of chutneys like: coconut chutney, tomato chutney, extra potato masala, and even sambar, if you like.

I used my large rectangular griddle on stove-top to get the dosai a nice big oval - and one such large dosai is a huge and filling meal by itself!

Rice Idlee

I had resisted posting a recipe for idlee for almost a year now, since I started blogging because, to me, it felt like posting a recipe for cooking plain rice... I mean, agreed, different varieties of rice need different handling, different amounts of water and such, but basically, it is nothing much to get excited about.

But, ever since my mom gave me this rice-cooker/idlee-steamer apparatus, and ever since I discovered a short-cut of sorts for the batter that works consistently, idlee has become a favorite at home.

Simply put, idlees are steamed savory rice cakes, a staple in most South Indian households, ubiquitous and mostly uncelebrated. Many prefer Dosai (rice crepes) to idlees, at least in my close circle.

The nice thing about this electrical gadget my mom gave me is it takes the guesswork out and consistently delivers perfectly done idlees - it comes with a measuring cup to add water for each batch of steaming and has an on/off light to indicate if it is done. Otherwise, I usually steam it in a pressure cooker (minus the weight) or a stove-top idlee-steamer.



The batter to make idlees is fairly standard but each family usually adds its own little touch to make it different. The traditional process is to soak the rice and urad dal overnight, in proper proportion, then grind it to a fine batter and let it ferment till fluffy. Once the batter is ready, add salt to taste, pour into idlee molds and steam them.

Now, at home, my mom always made the batter smooth and silky so that the idlees were soft and spongy. Whereas, every now and then, when we went to restaurants, the idlees there had a certain coarse texture (yet fluffy, not dense) that I liked better than the soft and silky home-made ones.

Over the last 5 or six years, I've been doing the soaking-grinding-fermenting for idlee/dosai batters as much as I can.

But, to save some time and labor, I started using what I creatively call the "Short-cut Method": use urad flour, rice flour and rice (idlee) rava^† for making the idlee batter. This eliminates the soaking and grinding phase and I can just jump straight to the fermentation phase and have the batter ready easily.

^†rice/idlee rava is sold in most indian stores as rice meal or rice farina - it is coarse grain rice (almost like cornmeal texture) - and adds some body and dimension to the idlees that I like better.

Now, fermentation is not easy when weather is not hot enough... so, I try to help the process along by adding a touch of active dry yeast and leaving it by the heating vent in Winters.

Idlees are usually served with an array of chutneys like mint chutney, coriander chutney, coconut chutney, tomato chutney and so forth; as well as with delicious sambar; but, my mom's favorite side always is the idlee milaga podi (recipe coming shortly) - a ground spicy dal powder mixed with gingelly oil.

Ingredients
1 cup urad flour
1½ cups rice idlee rava
2 cups rice flour
1 tsp active dry yeast
1½ cups warm water
½ cup buttermilk
salt to taste
1-2 tsp gingelly or canola oil for greasing the idlee molds

Preparation

Mix the dry ingredients and stir in the buttermilk and water a little at a time till a thickish batter is formed.

Cover and set aside in a warm place to ferment for about 24 hours - I start it tonight, and leave it fermenting to be ready for dinner tomorrow night.

When batter is fermented well it turns fluffy and bubbly and acquires a mild sour smell and taste which is perfect.

At this point, the batter consistency can be adjusted by adding a little water at a time to get it to pour-able consistency, like thickish pancake batter.

Gently stir in salt to taste without losing the air pockets - over-stirring punches down the batter flat and sometimes can leave the idlee hard and dense.

Pour into greased idlee molds and steam for about 10-12 minutes till done - i.e., a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

p.s: thanks to Ashaji's comment reminding me about RCI:Karnataka, I would like to enter this post for the same! Yay!

javvarisi upma

Javvarisi (aka sabu dana, sago) is tapioca pearls made from cassava/yuca roots. It was not my favorite when I was little: as tapioca pearls are very starchy and turn translucent when cooked, my young mind likened it to snot :-)

But, I have started appreciating it more these days... especially since I am eager to introduce my wee one to new foods as she is growing up.

The most common way my mom used to cook these up is a dessert/sweet dish called paisam where the tapioca pearls are cooked in milk and sugar till translucent.

Here, in this recipe, I just make a simple vegetable kichdi-style upma-of-sorts out of javvarisi, flavored by ginger, onions, turmeric and salt. I find the smell of ginger and onion sautéing with a pinch of turmeric and salt very appetizing :-)

Ingredients:

1 cup javvarisi/tapioca pearls
1 medium potato, peeled, cooked, crumbled
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup frozen corn kernels
½ medium onion, diced finely
1-2 chilies, diced finely
2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
cilantro for garnish

tempering: 1 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp split urad dal, 1 tsp cumin seeds, some curry leaves (optional)

Preparation

soak the javvarisi in 6 cups of water overnight or longer; usually, i like to soak it tonight and cook it for dinner tomorrow night

drain the soaked javvarisi well and pat dry if needed, keep handy

tempering: heat oil in a pan, add the urad dal and when it turns golden brown, add the mustard seeds, and when they start to pop, add the cumin seeds and curry leaves; then add the onions, chilies, turmeric powder and ginger, with a pinch of salt and sauté till onions turn translucent

add the frozen peas, corn kernels, and the cooked-and-crumbled potatoes, sauté for a bit longer

add the soaked and drained javvarisi and cook till the tapioca pearls turn translucent (if soaked well, it only takes a few minutes for the tapioca pearls to turn translucent); also, they tend to clump up, so, try to stir it on and off to keep the pearls separate

off heat, garnish with cilantro and serve warm

Dhokla

Dhokla is a Gujarathi dish that can be served throughout the day, as a snack, at mealtime, or even at dinner.

As it is steamed, like south indian idlees, it has a shiny top side and a textured underside.

Besan is chickpea flour. As far as I understand, Khaman Dhokla uses rice, urad and moong dals, soaked, ground, even fermented a bit before cooking. But, Besan Dhokla simply uses chickpea flour. I use the terms Khaman Dhokla and Besan Dhokla interchangeably.

Typically, Dhokla is only about an inch thick, cut into squares or diamonds and served warm or at room temperature, with chutneys. But, I made a dhokla cake-of-sorts close to 2" thick, cut into wedges and served warm.



The ratio that has worked for me is roughly 2:1 chickpea-flour:sour-yogurt, but, adjust as needed to get a thick pancake-like batter that steams well. The besan batter for this needs to be left overnight or so to develop, before it can be steamed.

A greased cake tin or a shallow bowl can be used for steaming the dhokla. Also, some sort of steaming equipment is needed: pressure cooker without the weight on top works - place the pan on a smallish bowl to keep the bottom of the pan about 3 inches or so above the bottom of the pressure cooker liquid. Or Idlee steamer works well too, if you have it handy...

Ingredients:
1 cup chickpea flour, measured after sifting
½ cup sour yogurt (maybe a little more)
2 Tbsp finely grated ginger
1-2 green chili finely minced
½ medium onion finely chopped
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 Tbsp canola oil for greasing
salt to taste
water as needed, for steaming
for garnish:
¼ cup fresh or dry grated coconut
1 Tbsp canola oil for tempering
½ tsp mustard seeds, for tempering
½ tsp cumin seeds, for tempering
½ Tbsp chana dal, for tempering
some chopped cilantro

Preparation

combine the sifted chickpea flour, yogurt, ginger and some salt, stir gently to remove lumps to make a fairly thick pancake like batter; cover with a breathable kitchen towel and leave overnight in a warm place

when ready to cook, get the steamer apparatus ready, grease the cake tin or plate; keep handy

add the chilies, onion, and baking powder to the chickpea batter and stir gently till well incorporated

pour the batter into the prepared greased dish, steam for 10-15 minutes; check for doneness: insert a toothpick, if it comes clean, good, else, let it steam longer as needed till cooked through (the dhokla cake pictured above took me about 45 minutes of steaming time)

meanwhile, as dhokla is steaming, prepare the garnish: heat oil for tempering in a pan, when hot enough, add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown, add the mustard seeds and when they pop, add the cumin seeds, turn off heat, add the coconut and stir well and let it brown in the residual heat of the pan; set aside

when dhokla is done, remove from steamer, allow to cool a little, release carefully from the pan, garnish with the tempering, coconut and cilantro

cut into wedges or squares and serve warm with curry leaf chutney or mint chutney or tamarind chutney or coconut cutney

Rava Upma

Upma, (oop-maa), is one of my favorite breakfast/tiffin that can be a meal in itself.
I prefer making this with coarse sooji (or even with bulgur) as the dish turns out almost like tabbouleh - not sticky or lumpy but separate grains that are well cooked; but, upma can also be made with Farina or cream of Wheat; the water has to be adjusted for farina as it will get lumpy and sticky.


Ingredients
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup chopped cabbage
1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas
1/2 cup finely chopped frozen green beans
1 medium onion diced
2 green chilies chopped finely
2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
2 cups coarse Sooji (Rava) - Coarse Semolina (wheat) - available in most indian stores
4-6 Tbsp ghee or butter, or canola oil
salt to taste
2-4 cups hot water (depends on the type of rava used)

for tempering:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp chana dal
1/2 tsp urad dal


Preparation

1. Tempering: Heat 2 Tbsp ghee/oil in a non-stick pan till it shimmers a bit, add the urad and chana dal; when the dals turn golden brown, add the mustard and cumin seeds; mustard seeds will spatter - have a screen lid handy
2. As soon as spattering dies down a bit, add the ginger, chilies and onion, sautee till onions turn translucent
3. Add the veggies, salt and sautee a bit more; then, add the sooji and toast it lightly;
4. Add the water, turn heat down to medium low; cover the pan and let the veggies and sooji cook for about 8-10 mins; check once or twice to make sure there is enough moisture to complete the cooking - not necessary to stir if there is enough water
5. When all the water is absorbed and sooji + veggies seem cooked, remove from heat stir in rest of the butter/ghee - i find ghee's flavor really brings out this otherwise simple dish
6. Serve warm with indian pickles (achar) like mango pickle, or lime pickle etc. I like it as-is even without any pickle.