Urad-Toordal Chutney (Lentils Chutney)

When I think of my newly wedded days, I cannot recall even a single day when I went out for vegetable shopping until my mom-in-law came to stay with us for couple of months. We were in Mysore those days & now I pity that I never went to KR Market even once for vegetable shopping. My mom-in-law was particular about every vegetable. She never agreed to prepare rasam without curry & coriander leaves. She used to make me or her son go to a nearby vegetable shop to get those. She was very specific about what she needed. She used to tell us that, without curry or coriander leaves, rasam doesn’t taste good.

Whenever we did not have vegetables at home, she used to come up with mouth-watering chutneys along with rasam. My mom-in-law & her relatives are chutney experts. She fine tuned my cooking skills, made me understand the importance of each vegetable, spices that go into a dish & many more things. I have learnt whole lot chutney recipes from her & I will let you all know. It’s just a matter of time.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp urad dal/ಉದ್ದಿನಬೇಳೆ/split black gram

1 tsp toor dal/ತೊಗರಿಬೇಳೆ
2 red chillies
1 tsp coconut oil (Any cooking oil could be used, but coconut oil adds the flavor to the chutney)
6-8 curry leaves
½ cup grated coconut.
1/4th tsp thick tamarind extract or a raisin sized tamarind soaked in water.
Salt according to taste.
For tempering/tadka/oggarane
1 tsp oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
3-4 curry leaves (optional)
A generous pinch of asafetida/hing


Method:

• Heat the coconut oil in the tempering pan, when oil is hot, add urad & toor dal to it. Fry till the dals turn golden brown. Add the broken red chillies, curry leaves & fry it again for a minute. Allow the mixture to cool.
• Make a paste out of the above mixture, coconut, tamarind & salt by adding little water.
• Scoop out the chutney to a bowl, prepare the tempering & pour it on to the chutney prepared.
• Mix well & serve it as a side dish for rasam-rice, curd-rice or roti.
  

Tempering Procedure:

• Add oil to a pan, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves. Switch off the flame, add asafetida. Tempering is ready to be poured on chuntey prepared.

Avalakki Pineapple Kesaribhath (Beaten rice-Pineapple Kesaribhath)

Let me tell you the entire story about how I find out my hubby’s first love from his relatives!! My hubby is crazy about sweet dishes, he loves any damn dish if it has sugar or jaggery(brown sugar) in it. Just after our wedding, we planned to visit his native to get blessings from the kuladevatha temple. The temple is in his maternal grandparents’ village.

Though, his maternal grandparents are no more, 4 of his uncle’s family were staying in nearby villages. As per my mom-in-law’s suggestion, we visited everyone’s home for either lunch or dinner. First, we went to mom-in-law’s brother’s house in Udupi. There, my hubby’s aunty served yummy south canara meals & kesaribhath. She mentioned that my hubby loves kesaribhath the most. Night, it was another relatives place, where we were invited & again kesaribhath. I remember going to four of their relatives place & all of them served us kesaribhath, be it morning breakfast, lunch, evening snacks or dinner. Huh!!, me being choosy about desserts, felt like puking after seeing kesaribhath everywhere.

Though, I knew him from college days, I was not aware that he liked kesaribhath so much. Everybody served kesaribhath with loads of ghee & love, mentioning “it is your hubby’s favorite dish”. This is how I got to know about my hubby’s first love, kesaribhath!!! Although, I don’t like this sweet dish much, I love to prepare it for my hubby. I take not more than 2 tbsp & the remaining kesaribhath finds its way happily inside his tummy.

I recently found avalakki kesaribhath(Beaten rice kesaribhath) recipe in Zee Kannada Channel. Noted down the recipe at once & modified a little by adding pineapple. Here, you see the mouth-watering avalakki pineapple kesaribhath.



Ingredients:
1 cup beaten rice/aval/avalakki/poha
1/4th cup pureed pineapple or finely chopped pineapple
1 cup sugar
1 cup full cream milk
1 cup water
½ tsp powdered cardamom
A pinch of saffron strands
1 drop orange color or 1/4th tsp saffron powder mixed in milk.
1 tsp fried dry fruits in ghee (optional)
1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter

Method:

• Powder the beaten rice (the powdered beaten rice should look like small rawa/semolina)


• Mix water & milk in a broad pan, allow it to boil.


• When milk starts boiling, add powdered beaten rice & mix it well. Keep stirring the mixture as it might stick to the pan & get burnt easily. Let the beaten rice cook in milk for 3-4 mins.


• Add pureed pineapple, saffron color, sugar & mix well.


• As soon as the sugar is added, the thick mixture loosens & becomes little watery or sticky.


• Add ghee at this stage & cook on slow flame, by constantly stirring until extra water is evaporated.


• Add saffron strands, cardamom powder, fried dry fruits & mix well.


• Serve it hot or warm.

I'm happy to send this recipe to "FIC-Orange" hosted by Aparna & the original creator tongueticklers. The orange ingredient used in my recipe is saffron strands & saffron powder.

Ukkarisida Akki Rotti (Rice flour Indian Bread)

My granny keeps telling this story whenever akki rotti is prepared, at our house. The incident happened when I was a toddler. My age was around 2 & ½ years. I was at my maternal grandparents place as my mom had just delivered my brother. Ajji (Grand mom) was preparing akki rotti for the entire family.

She normally keeps 2 rotti henchu (griddle or tawa) & 2 banale (kadai or pot) to prepare akki rotti. She pats the rotti on the griddle itself & keeps it on flame. To cook for 8-10 people at a time she needs minimum of 3-4 tawa or kadai. She lets one of the kadai to cool, pat on the other & third will be on flame. Even after removing the tawa from flame, she keeps the akki rotti on the tawa/griddle for a minute to make it little crispier.

As she says, she had kept it on the oralu kallu (grinding stone used those days). She was very busy preparing, so did not notice me entering the kitchen. I jumped with joy after seeing the steaming hot akki-rotti. I immediately went & held the tawa in both hands & yelled at once!! It was piping hot. Both my hands were burnt & my ajja (grandpa) was furiously looking at my ajji. Me being, the eldest grandchild of the family, was pampered with utmost love. My ajja took me to the hospital & fed me for 3-4 weeks (even after I was completely well). Though, I am not able to recall a single moment of this incident, I get the visual image when my ajji explains it.

Many years (couple of decades indeed) passed by & I went to my mom’s place post my delivery. My ajji had come there to help my mom. She used to prepare akki rotti, but it was not given to me since it had onion & coconut (My ajji had restricted me from eating coconut, onion etc.). I started craving for akki rotti & my ajji noticed that. She came up with the idea of ukkarisida akki rotti for me. This was my evening snack for almost one month & I never said “no” to it even for a day!!!



Ingredients:
2.25 cups rice flour
4 cups water
Salt according to taste.

Method:

• Add salt to water & bring the water to a boil.
• Put the rice flour to the boiling water. Don’t sprinkle the rice flour all over the boiling water. Just add the entire flour at a stretch to the boiling water.
• Reduce the flame.
• Partially cover the vessel with a lid.
• Allow the rice flour to get cooked for 6-8 minutes.
• Turn off the flame.
• Gently mix the cooked rice flour with water. If small lumps are formed, don't worry, it can be kneaded later.
• Allow the mixture to come to normal temperature.
• Knead the rice flour for 5-10 mins. The complete mixture must become like a single mass & will be similar to wheat flour dough (Note: rice flour dough would be softer than wheat flour dough)
• Make lemon sized balls with the dough.
• Roll the balls with a rolling pin by generously adding rice flour in between.
• Cook both sides of the rotti on a hot griddle.
• Serve it hot with any side dish of your choice.

Kokum Rasam

South Canara's unique culinary skills & spice utilization has been an eye-opener to me always. Each time I visit this beautiful place, I'm welcomed by unique south canara food to eat/drink or munch.

Two years before, we visited our relatives place in some place (sorry guys I have forgotten the name of the village). It was around 3:00p.m & sun was at his peak. That was the first time, I ever met them or seen them. They served a dark pinkish color juice to us. Me being not a fan of juices could never imagine to try a new type of juice! My hubby knew about this, but he didnot want me to disappoint them, he asked me to take the juice. I signalled my hubby that, once your glass is over, we will exchange. I cannot drink this juice.

As the host was infront of me, I had to forcefully sip a little. Wow!!, the juice tasted soo different, a little sour, a little sweet, mildly cool & soothing. I asked my mom-in-law as to what juice was that. She confirmed from the host that, it was punarpuli juice or kokum juice. That was the first time, I heard of something called "kokum". I thought, it was some medicinal plant used for preparaing ayurvedic medicines.

After reaching our place, I got details from my hubby's aunty. She showed me the dried kokum & asked me to lick it a little. It seemed to be soaked & dried in salt. It was like salted tamarind & was simply superb. Me being crazy about sour items like raw mango, gooseberry, amtekayi loved it immediately. Got the very simple rasam recipe from her & I donot know in these 2 years how many times I have prepared this. My sister & brother-in-law used to drink this even as a soup!!!

More information about Kokum, also known as punarpuli or baddupuli, can be found in wikipedia.

Ingredients:
5-6 pieces of dried kokum
2-3 broken red chilli
1/2 tsp pepper-jeera powder
1/4th tsp powdered jaggery
generous pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp coconut oil (highly recommended)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4-6 curry leaves
salt according to taste
cliantro/coriander leaves (optional for garnishing)

Method:

• Soak the dried kokum in 500-600ml of water for 15 minutes. (Amount of water mentioned is for 5-6 dried kokum only, increase or decrease the quantity accordingly).
• Add salt, jaggery, pepper-cumin seeds powder to water & boil the water along with kokum. (The sundried kokum contains salt, hence check the saltness in the water before adding additional salt)
• Once the water starts boiling, turn off the flame.
• In a small tempering pan, add oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add broken red chilli, curry leaves. When red chilli & curry leaves change color, turn off the flame, add asafoetida & pour this tempering on the rasam prepared.
  
• Add cliantro, mix well & serve this rasam with rice, papad & pickle.
  

Halasina Mulka (Deep fried jackfruit sweet): A quicker version

The name mulka makes my mom-in-law nostalgic. She starts recalling past days & she brings those memories in her words to us(particularly to her daughter-in-laws). She starts something like this, my son did his high school & pre-university in Manipal & as a result he had to stay away from me. But, when we went for selection for engineering seat, I had made up my mind that my son will be with me. So, it was me who decided him to study here & he was traveling a short distance(?!) of about 40kms everyday to reach his college. Later, she starts with his favorite food & cooking under 10mins dishes.

"I used to cook godi dosa (wheat flour dosa) along with chutney, avalakki upkari (beaten rice upkari), neer dosa & simple breakfast items to him. He used to sometimes leave home as early as 6:30 to 7:00a.m. He was not carrying lunch & he used to be back only by 5:00p.m or sometimes 6:00p.m. He did not like eating rice & I used to prepare golibaje or mulka for him every day evening."I get impressed by this, everyday golibaje or mulka?? Wow!!.

She continues, "his friends used to like the coffee & mulka that I prepare & used to tell me that, they came home just to drink the coffee & mulka that I made". There ends her flashback.
I have to accept that, my mom-in-law makes amazingly nice coffee & the best ever golibaje & mulka. Later because of health problems, the frequency of golibaje & mulka preparation reduced at home. Even now, if a guest visits our home, the first option for her is golibaje, mulka & coffee.

Recently my hubby visited India. He gave me a call from his place, saying that he is enjoying the mulka prepared by his mom. Not only that, my son is also enjoying the mulka prepared by his ajji(grandmom). Now, I am the only one being deprived of mulka. Hence decided to cook here & enjoy eating.

I knew that for mulka we need wheat flour, bananas & other ingredients. I did not have bananas at home, instead had a packet of jackfruit. I had bought jackfruit to prepare Mangalore buns & post it to AFAM:Jackfruit hosted by LG. I called my mom-in-law, confirmed if I could prepare mulka with jackfruit & went ahead preparing.

The first batch sticked to the pan, it made me really sad. Later realized, it could be because of the sugar I added to it. Also, the oil was not very hot. So, I heated the oil properly & then made the next batches, it turned out good. Here ends my long & interesting (boring??) story.


Ingredients:
1 cup wheat flour/atta/godi hittu
2tbsp maida/self raising flour
½ cup pureed jackfruit
3-4 tbsp powdered jaggery (increase or decrease the amount depending on the jackfruit used)
A pinch of salt
A pinch of baking soda
½ tsp powdered cardamom
Oil for deep frying

Method:

• Mix all the above ingredients (except oil) by adding little water. Prepare a thick batter out of it. (Batter should be of dropping consistency).
• Let the batter soak for 30-45mins.
• Heat oil in a broad pan, when the oil is hot, make small lemon sized balls of the batter using your fingers & drop it to oil.
• Fry on medium flame until they turn golden brown.
• Place them on absorbent paper & remove any excess oil.
• Serve it hot.

This recipe goes to Asankhana’s event “ Create With Luv for Luv“ as it is my hubby’s favorite & I cooked it for him.

Along with the above recipe, I’m sending the whole bunch of jackfruit recipes at my blog to AFAM:Jackfruit hosted by LG & to Maheshwari's blog. Here goes the entries..

Halasina Appa (Jackfruit Appa)

Gujje & hesrukalu Koddel (Raw jackfruit & sprouted green gram sambar)

Gujje Palya (Raw jackfruit stir-fry)

Gujje dosa (Raw jackfruit dosa)

Halasina Hannu Dose (Ripened jackfruit dosa)

Shavige Uppittu (Vermicelli Upma)

Planning for coming day’s breakfast becomes a tough task for all married women (so called Gruhini in Indian Language). It would become more complicated after having a kid. Morning breakfast should be healthy, filling & your child should also eat it without complaining!! So many restrictions!? Vermicelli upma is one such recipe shared by my chikamma (aunt).

This breakfast is filled with loads of vegetables, less oil, rich in carbohydrates. Don’t you think this is a perfect dish to be prepared for breakfast?

Ingredients:
· 2 cups vermicelli (I used bambino vermicelli packet)
· 1 cup chopped vegetables (Used carrots, french beans, peas, corn kernels)
· 1 medium sized onion chopped (optional)
· 2-3 green chillies chopped
· 4-5 curry leaves
· 1 tbsp oil
· ½ tsp mustard seeds
· 1 tsp urad dal
· 1 tsp channa dal
· Salt according to taste
· 1 tsp sugar (optional but highly recommended)
· 3 cups water
· 3 tbsp grated coconut
· 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves/cilantro


Method:

• Add 1 tsp oil to a broad pan, when oil is hot, add vermicelli & roast till vermicelli turns golden brown.
• Keep the vermicelli aside.
• In another broad pan, add oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds, followed by urad dal, channa dal & fry till the dals turns golden brown.
• Add chopped green chillies, curry leaves & sauté for 30secs
• Now, add onion to it & fry again till onion turns golden brown.
• Add all the chopped vegetables & sauté them in oil for 2-3minutes.Later, add water to the pan & allow it to boil. (Finely chop the vegetables to ensure it to get cooked in a short time)
• Press the vegetable to make sure it is properly cooked.
• Add salt, sugar & reduce the flame. Add the vermicelli 2 tbsp at a time & mix well.
• Close the lid & allow the vermicelli to get cooked properly (this process may take a maximum of 5mins).
• Switch off the flame; garnish it with coriander leaves & coconut.
• Mix well & serve it hot.

Notes:

• To reduce the cooking time, boiled vegetables could be used.
• If vermicelli is not properly roasted, the upma becomes very sticky.
• The vermicelli could also be roasted & preserved in advance for future use. Other easier option is to buy already roasted vermicelli ;) (Roasted bambino or MTR vermicelli is also available these days).

100th post Pasta Desi Version (Pasta Indian Version)

I kept on taking pictures of what I cooked & continued writing post after post without even realising the post count until now. Just like any other day, I logged in to my blog & pressed edit posts. I got a total surprise when I saw 99 posts & this is my 100th post..

I'm really really happy to come this far in blog world, I'm also delighted to say that I can cook 100+ dishes. Just like any other girl, I also never entered kitchen until I started working. But, my real experiments with cooking started after I got married. My hubby, my co-sister, my mom were a source of inspiration to me. They appreciated my work & I was happy putting more & more efforts.., huh..dont you think, I am talking like a manager!!

Lets celebrate....., Congratulations "Savi-Ruchi"

(Picture is taken from here)

Coming back to the recipe. I learnt this recipe from a dear friend of mine. She prepared this for lunch & served it to us recently when we visited her. I liked pasta for the first time then!!

I got the recipe from her & prepared it at home. It was just awesome.., it is not even 2 months that I learnt this recipe & I have already made it 3-4 times at home. Thanks a lot for such nice recipe "S".

Ingredients:

200gms penne pasta

1 cup finely chopped vegetables (I used broccoli, green capsicum, green peas, spring onions)

1/2 cup tomatoes

1 medium sized onion.

1.5 tbsp olive oil

salt according to taste

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp chaat masala
1 tsp dhania powder (coriander seeds powder)

cliantro/coriander leaves for garneshing

Method:

• Add enough salt to 1.5 litres of water & boil it in a broad pan.


• When water starts boiling, add 1 spoon of olive oil & penne pasta, cook on high flame for 8-10 mins.


• Switch off the flame & allow the pasta to be in water for 2-3 more minutes


• Drain out the water completely & keep it aside.


• Heat a broad pan, add oil to it. When oil is hot, add onions & saute till onions turn golden brown


• Add all the chopped vegetables, mix well & allow the vegetables to become little crisp. This process may take 5-7 minutes depending on the way vegetables are chopped & also on the choice of vegetables.


• Add tomatoes & saute for a minute or two. Dont overcook the tomotoes, the pasta becomes sticky.


• Add pasta, chaat masala, red chilli powder, coriander seeds powder, garam masala & mix all of together.


• Switch off the flame & garnesh it with coriander leaves.


• Serve it hot.

Tip to check whether penne pasta is properly cooked:

• Take a penne pasta from the boiling water & press it. If the pasta is properly cooked, it becomes soft & can be pressed easily.
• You can also try cutting the cooked pasta, if it cuts easily from spoon or knife, you understand it is properly cooked.

This desi Pasta goes to Vaishali's,"It's a Vegan World-Italian".

Kadalebele Chutney (Gram dal chutney)

Kadalebele chutney reminds me of my newly wedded days. Me, my mom-in-law, my mom & few other close relatives used to roam around Devraj Urs Road, Sayyaji Rao Road & other famous shopping streets in Mysore to look around for nice sarees to be purchased for ourselves & also to present our relatives. We used to stop by in Paras, Nalpak & other restaurants to satisfy our hunger pangs. And my mom-in-law used to always complain that I eat very less & she was right too!!.

After marriage, as I have told countless number of times before that I got introduced to a completely different & interesting cuisine. I started enjoying the new cuisine & got addicted to this food very much. Slowly, my apetite improved. One such recipe from the newly introduced cuisine is kadalebele chutney. My mom-in-law also noticed the change in my apetite & told my hubby about the improvement in me. Whenever we visit them, she used to either prepare this chutney or menthya chutney(will write about this very soon). This chutney tastes awesome with rice, rasam & also with shamige (home made rice noodles). I would consume atleast double my capacity when this chutney & rasam are prepared at home.

My hubby’s aunt knew about my love to shamige & this chutney. So, she has prepared shamige & sent it all the way from India few days back, when my hubby returned from there. I was elated & very happy seeing the fresh handmade rice noodles. As soon as I saw the rice noodles sent by her, you all would have guessed what I would have done?? I prepared this chutney at home & relished the rice noodles with kadalebele chutney all 3 times on that day.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp channa dal/kadalebele/gram dal
½ tsp cumin seeds
Generous pinch of hing/asafetida
8-10 curry leaves
3-4 red chillies
Salt according to taste
1 cup grated coconut (fresh/frozen)
1 tsp coconut oil ( You can use any cooking oil, but my personal choice is coconut oil as it leaves out that nice aroma & tastes great)
½ tsp thick extract of tamarind

For tempering:
½ tsp mustard seeds
2-3 curry leaves
Small pinch of asafetida
½ tsp oil

Method:

• Heat coconut oil in a small pan, when oil is hot, add cumin seeds & channa dal.
• Saute the channa dal until it turns golden brown. Add, broken red chillies, curd leaves & sauté for 30 secs.
• Switch off the flame & add asafetida. Allow the mixture to cool.
• Grind together the channa dal mixture, coconut, tamarind extract by adding little water. Make a smooth paste & scoop out the chutney to a bowl.
• Add salt to the chutney prepared & prepare the tempering by following the usual procedure.
• Pour the tempering on the chutney prepared, mix well & enjoy it with rasam rice, rice noodles.

If you need the tempering procedure see below:
Tempering Procedure:
Heat oil in a small pan, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter add curry leaves. When curry leaves become crisp, switch off the flame, add asafetida & pour the hot tempering on the dish prepared.

Palak Palya (Spinach Stir-fry)

Being a typical Kannadiga, I never used to cook or eat spinach. Both my mother and my mom-in-law rarely used spinach. Though we use lot of green leafy vegetables like menthya soppu(fenugreek leaves), dantu (amaranth), hongone (sessile joyweed), basale (a different type of spinach known as malabar spinach), sabsige (dil leaves), doddapatre (Coleus aromaticus ) ...this version of spinach was somehow missing from the list.

But, during my pregnancy, my doctor asked me to eat loads of palak(spinach) as it is rich in calcium & iron. I started cooking dal palak using the recipe from my colleagues. I learnt this particular dish from Tamkeen, one of my colleagues. This dish tastes so good that I have become a big fan of palak. We all needed a introduction to palak & now, the entire family is hooked to it :)


Ingredients:
1 bunch spinach (I used 250gms packet)
1 medium sized onion
2 dry red chillies
3-4 tbsp grated coconut
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
4-6 chopped curry leaves
a pinch of sugar
salt according to taste
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp chopped cliantro





Method:

• Wash the spinach leaves, chop them finely.
• Chop the onions finely.
• Tear the dry red chilli into 2-3 pieces.
• Heat the oil in a broad pan. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds, when mustard seeds splutter add urad dal, curry leaves. When urad dal turns golden brown add, torn red chillies.
• Add onion & sauté till onions turn golden brown.
• Add finely chopped spinach leaves & sauté well. Cook the spinach leaves for 5-7 minutes (or until soft) without adding any water (Spinach leaves out water, hence additional water is not required).
• When spinach is half cooked add salt, a pinch of sugar & mix well.
• Remove the pan from flame, add lemon juice. Mix well.
• Finally garnish it with coconut & cilantro.
• Serve this simple stir-fry as a side dish for rice, roti or any other Indian bread.

Broccoli Raitha (Broccoli in Yogurt)

When I saw "SWC- Salads under 15 minutes" event hosted by Lakshmi, lot of thoughts passed by. Thought of preparing this salad, that salad!!! But, never realised that days are passing by & last day is nearing.When I visited her blog today, I found today is the last day for sending the entries to SWC-salad. So, decided to post something that I have already tried, for which I had a photo taken already!! When I prepared this raitha for the first time, I had used the basic recipe from "SpiceIndiaOnline", later customized to meet our family needs.

Hope you all enjoy this as much as we do :)


Ingredients:
1 small cup broccoli (chop it into medium sized pieces)
1 cup curd/yogurt
1/2 tsp jeera powder/cumin seed powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
4 drops of olive oil
salt according to taste
1 tsp chopped cliantro (coriander leaves)

Method:

• Chop the broccoli into medium sized pieces & cook it by adding sufficient water for 2-4 mins.
• Meantime, beat yogurt. Mix cumin seed powder, red chilli powder, salt & keep it aside
• Drain out the water from broccoli & add olive oil to it. Mix well.
• Add the cooked broccoli, coriander leaves to the yogurt mixture.
• Mix well & serve it either with parantha or vegetable pulao.

Avalakki Paddu (Beaten rice balls)

The credit of this recipe goes to Kannadaprabha, a popular news paper of Karnataka. I don’t exactly remember the author of this recipe, but I quite remember that the lady was from Shimoga, Karnataka. Thanks a lot lady for the recipe. The paddu turned out extremely soft & not only that, it attracted my son towards the plate because of its golden brown color.

Paddu is also known as guliyappa, gundponglu in Kannada. It is called paniyaram in Tamil.

Ingriedients:

2 cups rice (I used raw rice, you can use sona masoori, boiled rice or any rice other than basmati for that matter)
3/4th cup beaten rice
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tbsp channa dal
1 cup yogurt/thick curd
A pinch of baking soda or ½ tsp of eno’s fruit salt.
Salt according to taste



Method:

• Mix rice, beaten rice, urad dal, channa dal.
• Wash them thoroughly by changing the water 2-3 times.
• Soak the rice, beaten rice, urad dal, channa dal in curd for about 4-5 hours(if curd alone does not suffice the purpose, add ½ cup of water to it). [Note: Don’t add more water as the water & curd used for soaking is not discarded in this case & is used while grinding the batter]
• Prepare a smooth batter with the above soaked ingredients (Ensure not to throw the curd + water, as curd plays a major role in the fermentation for this recipe)
• Allow the batter to ferment for 8-10 hours.
• Add salt, baking soda & mix well.
• Heat the mould, add 2 drops of oil on each mould. Pour a spoonful of batter on each paddu mould.
• Close the lid & cook it on medium flame for 1 minute.Open the lid, invert the balls prepared to cook on both sides properly.
• Serve the hot paddu prepared with coconut chutney.