Instant Rawa Idli

Making idlis is a long process... soaking, grinding, fermenting.. But what to do if you suddenly crave for idlis.
Instant rawa idli is the solution. No soaking, no gringing, not fermenting.

Ingredients:

• Semolina ( sooji ) - 1 cup
• Yogurt - 1 cup
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
• Finely Chopped Green Chilies - 2 or to taste
• Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Grated Carrot - 1 tsbp 
• Cilantro Leaves - for garnish

Directions: 

• Dry roast semolina till it slightly changes the color and emits a nice aroma. Keep it aside in a plate.

• In the same pan, heat oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add grated ginger and green chilies. Saute.
• Turn off the heat and add the roasted sooji to it and mix well.

• Add curd, salt, soda to it. Mix well. This is your batter for idli. Let it stand for half an hour.

• Take the idli stand, grease it. and place few grated carrots and one cilantro  leave so that it can be used as a garnish on the idli. 

• Spoon the batter on top of the carrots and cilantro.  Steam for around 10-12 minutes. If you are using a pressure cooker to steam, do not put on the weight. 
• Serve with any chutney or sambar.

Note : 

• I have used carrots and cilantro as garnish, however, if you want you can mix it in the batter. In that case increase the quantity of carrots, say 1/2 cup and half cup of chopped cilantro. Mix it in the batter.
• You can use roasted cashew nuts to garnish. Just like how I placed the carrots and cilantro, you can replace it with one roasted cashew nut. Similarly, you can also garnish with a small slice of tomato or anything you can think of. 
• This recipe makes around 8 idlis. If you want to make more, please increase the quantity of the ingredients accordingly.  
  
  
  
  

Pesarattu

Pesarattu is a green moong dal dosa. Pesarattu with upma and allam pachadi ( ginger chutney ) is a heavenly combination. Ask any Andhraite and they will bet on it.

Ingredients:

• Whole Moong Dal - 2 cups
• Raw Rice - 3/4 cup
• Green Chillies - 3-4
• Ginger - 2 inch
• Salt - to taste 
• Water - as needed for grinding
• Chopped Onions - to sprinkle  on dosas 
• Chopped Cilantro - to sprinkle on dosas.
• Oil -  to spray over dosas

Directions:

• Wash and soak moong dal and rice for about 6 hours.
• Grind soaked moong dal, rice, green chillies,ginger and salt into a smooth and thick batter using little water.

• Heat tawa on  medium - high and spread the  batter into a circle.
• Drizzle some oil all  over the dosa, especially on the borders.
• Flip the dosa and cook till both the sides are golden brown.
• Sprinkle some chopped  onions and chopped cilantro and fold the dosa.
• Serve hot with upma and allam pachadi. 

Instant Oats Rawa Idli

Ingredients:

• Instant Oats - 3/4 cup
• Semolina ( Sooji ) - 3/4 cup
• Yogurt - 3/4 cup
• Water - 3/4 cup or as needed
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Hing ( Asafoetida ) - a pinch
• Curry Leaves - 3-4
• Grated Carrot - 2 tbsp
• Finely Chopped Cilantro - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Baking Soda - a pinch
• Oil - 1 tbsp

Directions: 

• Dry roast the oats for a couple of minutes and let it cool. 
• Grind it into a fine powder. 
• Dry roast sooji in the same pan till it slightly changes the color. Turn it off and let it cool.
• Now , heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add chopped curry leaves and grated carrot. Saute till the raw flavor of carrot goes away. You can also add finely chopped green chillies along with carrot if you wish. 
• In a mixing bowl, add the powdered oats, roasted sooji , the seasoning ingredients , Chopped cilantro , salt, hing, baking soda, yogurt. Add water little by little and whisk it till you reach the right consistency of idli/pancake batter. 
• Greese the idli plate with little oil / ghee and fill the idli moulds with the batter. 
• Steam it in the pressure cooker without whistle for about 10-12 minutes.
• Serve idlis with your favourite chutney or sambar. 

Instant Rawa Dosa / Onion Rawa Dosa

 If you crave for dosa and do not have time for fermentation, this is the one for you.
Here's what you gonna need for making instant rawa dosa.


Ingredients:

• Sooji ( Semolina ) - 1 cup
• Rice Flour - 1 cup
• All Purpose Flour ( Maida ) - 1/2 cup
• Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
• Hing - 1/8 tsp
• Chopped Green Chillies - to taste
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Water - around 7 cups
• Oil - for drizzling

Directions: 

• In a large mixing bowl mix all the ingredients ( except oil ) . 
• Add water as needed without forming any lumps. The consistency of the batter should be more runny,like buttermilk. It is usually thinner than the normal dosa batter.
• Let the batter sit for about 15 minutes.
• Heat the griddle or tawa on high heat. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the the tawa, the droplets should sizzle and dry up. Now reduce the heat to medium.
• Pour a laddle full of dosa batter on the hot tawa. You will not be able to pour the batter in the center and rotate outwards just like the other dosa. You can pour it into a circle and then try to fill in the circle with some more batter. It will look netted.
• Alternatively, instead of using a laddle, you can sprinkle the batter using your hand. Take handfuls of batter and sprinkle all over the pan gently, filling all the gaps.
• Drizzle very little oil all over the dosa. Let it cook for till the bottom part is brown and crispy.
• Flip the dosa and cook for just half a minute. 
• Fold the dosa into  half and remove it on a plate.
• Clean the pan with a wet paper towel after each dosa.
• Serve with any chutney or pickle.

Variation:

• The other form of this plain rawa dosa is onion rawa dosa. 
• For that, add finely chopped onions to the batter and then make the dosa in the similar way as mentioned above.
• You can also add chopped curry leaves to the batter.

Masala Dosa

Masala dosa is made by stuffing or wraping the dosa with the potato-onion filling. 

To make the batter of the dosa please click on the following link.

Dosa Batter Recipe

Here is the recipe of the potato-onion filling.

Ingredients for the filling: 

• Potatoes - 3 large
• Sliced Onion - 1 large
• Green Chillies - 3 or to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Chana Dal - 2 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Ginger - 1 tsp grated or paste
• Chopped Cilantro - 2-3 springs
• Hing - a pinch
• Ghee or Oil - 2 tbsp

Directions: 

For making the filling: 

• Pressure cook the potatoes till tender. After cooling, peel them off and mash them coarsely with a potato masher. Keep aside
• Heat ghee or oil in a pan, and splutter mustard seeds, then add urad dal and chana dal. Fry till they slightly change the color.
• Add hing, onions, curry leaves, ginger, turmeric powder and green chillies. Saute till onions turn translucent. 
• Add the mashed potato and salt , mix well and cook for 3-4 minutes till all the ingredients combine.
• Add finely chopped cilantro in the end.
• The potato filling is done.

Now lets look at the method to assemble the dosa and the filling.

Dosa: 

• Heat the tawa or skillet on med-high heat.
• Sprinkle few drops of oil and take an onion cut into half and with the help of the surface of the cut onion, spread the oil drop all over the tawa.
• Now sprinkle a few drops of water on the tawa and the water droplets should sizzle and evaporate right away. You can repeat this step before making each dosa.
• Now pour a ladle of batter ( 1/4 cup ) on the hot tawa and gently spread it into a circle. ( spread it by the back of the ladle, moving into circular motion )
• When it is spread, spray or drizzle a few drops of cooking oil or ghee all over the dosa.
• Cook on medium till the bottom part of the dosa turns brownish. The sides of the dosa come off the tawa. 
• Take 2-4 tbsp of the potato filling and put it in the center of the dosa. 
• There are two ways you can flip the dosa. one, just fold the dosa into half ( like in pic ) or second, flip both the sides of the dosa one over the other so the the filling is totally covered.
• Serve immediately with sambar and chutney of your choice.

Besan Puda / Besan Dosa

Besan Puda is a savory pancake made of chickpea flour or besan and few other ingredients.
Perfect for breakfast or brunch.

Ingredients:

• Besan - 1 cup
• Sooji ( semolina ) - 2 1/2 tbsp
• Rice Flour - 1 tbsp
• Carom Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Yogurt - 1/2 cup
• Water - 1 1/2 cup or as required
• Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
• Finely Chopped Onions - 1/4 cup
• Chopped Cilantro - 3 tbsp
• Chopped Green Chillies - 1 -2
• Salt - to taste
• Oil Spray
• Baking Soda - a pinch

Directions :

• In a mixing bowl, mix besan, suji, rice flour, turmeric, salt, cumin seeds and carom seeds ( ajwain ) .
• Add water and yogurt and mix well with a whisk. Make sure there are no lumps.
• Adjust water to make batter of the consistency of pancake or dosa batter.
• Add in chopped onions, green chillies, cilantro, ginger and give it a good mix.
• Add and mix baking soda just before you start making pudas.
• Heat a skillet, spray oil all over.
• Pour a ladleful of batter on the skillet and spread it thinly like a pancake.
• Let it cook for a couple of minutes till the bottomside turns brown.
• Spray some oil over the puda and flip it over.
• Let it cook till the color changes to golden brown and it turns crispy.
• Serve immediately with any chutney or dip of your choice.

Variation:  You can add some more veggies to it, like grated carrots or chopped spring onions or grated zucchini or chopped spinach or anything you can think of.

Dosa / Dosai

Dosa is Indian pancake which a very common breakfast dish in South India made of a batter made of rice and lentils.
The process includes fermentation so it takes long time.
If I intend to make dosa for breakfast, then I soak the rice and dal the previous day in the afternoon.

Ingredients:

• Rice - 3 cups
• Split Urad Dal ( Split Black Gram ) - 1 cup
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cooking oil

Directions:

For batter :

• Wash rice and dal well. Soak rice, dal and fenugreek seed in enough water for atleast 6 -8 hours.
• Drain the water and grind it with very little water to a smooth and fluffy paste.
• Transfer into a big mixing bowl and add required amount of water to make batter. ( the consistency of the batter should be such that if you dip a spoon in it, the batter should coat the spoon thickly. )
• Add salt to taste and cover it loosely. The lid should not be air tight. Keep it in a warm place overnight for fermentation.
• It will be fermented by the next day morning and the batter is ready for breakfast.
• It may take longer, say around 15-18 hours if you live in cold climate. You will know it only with trial and error method. So if you do not get the right dosa the very first time, don't give up.
• You have to make sure you keep the batter for fermentation in a warm place. For example, the washer dryer room is little warm compared to the other rooms in the house or you can keep it in the oven and keep the light on. Do not turn on the oven, just the warmth from the light should be good enough.
• After fermentation the volume of the batter will almost be doubled, hence it is good to keep it in a large bowl so it has some space to rise.
• If you think the fermented batter is too thick , add little water till you reach the pouring consistency. But don't add too much otherwise it will be runny.

For making dosa: 

• Heat a non stick tawa or skillet on high heat.
• Sprinkle few drops of oil on the hot tawa and take an onion cut into half and with the help of the surface of the cut onion, spread the oil drop all over the tawa.
• Now sprinkle a few drops of water on the tawa and the water droplets should sizzle and evaporate right away. You can repeat this step before making each dosa.
• Now pour a ladle of batter ( 1/4 cup ) on the hot tawa and gently spread it into a circle. ( spread it by the back of the ladle, moving into circular motion )
• When it is spread, spray or drizzle a few drops of cooking oil or ghee all over the dosa.
• Cook on medium till the bottom part of the dosa turns brownish.
• Now, you can either turn into half or roll it up and remove from the tawa.
• If you like crispy dosas, you can flip over the dosa and cook the other side as well for just half a minute.
• You can also make it like a cone. Kids are amused by this shape. You need to make your dosa crisp to hold a cone shape.
• To make a cone shape, make a slit from the center to the edge ( radius ) and roll it up like a cone.
• Serve hot with sambar or coconut chutney or any other chutney you like.

This is a very basic recipe of dosa, also called plain dosa. You can make different variations from this one like masala dosa , set dosa and so on.... which I shall blog some time soon.

Idli

Idli , the most common breakfast in South India. In some homes, it is made almost everyday.
Since it is a steamed food and has no spices, kids love it. It sure is healthy.
If you have the batter ready, it doesn't take much time for preparation. However, it takes long to prepare the batter as it requires fermentation.
You can make enough batter on a weekend and store it in the fridge for upto a week. That would save you a lot of time during the busy weekdays.



Ingredients:

• Idli Rava - 4 cups
• Urad Dal (washed) - 1 3/4 cup
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1tsp
• Salt -to taste
• Water - as needed
• Ghee - to grease the plates

Directions:

• Soak idli rava in water for around 1-2 hours.
• In a separate vessel, soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds for 4-5 hours.
• Drain water from urad dal , grind urad dal mixed with little fenugreek seeds into a fine smooth paste adding little water at a time. Do not add too much water. The consistecy should be like that of pancake batter.
• Drain the water from the idli rava. Take handful of rava and tightly squeeze the water out of it and add it to the urad dal paste. Continue this process for the rest of the rava as well.
• Add salt and mix and pat the batter with your hands.
• Cover and leave overnight in a warm place for fermentation.
• Take the idli stand, grease the idli holder with a drop of ghee and fill each one 3/4 full with the batter. Do not fill it, because they need some space to swell.
• Heat around 2 cups of water in the pressure cooker and place the idli stand in it.
• Close the lid and cook it without the weight on high heat for 10 minutes and simmer it for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool down for 5 mintes before you open the cooker.
• Take out the idlis very gently with the help of a butter knife.
• Sprinkle a few drops of ghee on top of idlis and server them hot with chutney or sambar.

Enjoy !!! :)