Break, News & Bombay Saagu

Many of the fellow bloggers are taking a break as few of them are visiting India, others because of their parents' or in-laws visits. I was also thinking about the same, should I take a break or is it sufficient if I'm slow & steady? I personally do not want to take a break. Let us see how time & things make my way to blog during the coming weeks.

Now, enough of suspense, I do not want to keep your fingers crossed (really?? Was that a suspense??). My parents & in-laws are coming together for a visit. All 4 of them are landing here this week & I'm all excited !! We are currently settling in our new place (did I mention before that we moved to a new place??, if not.., here is that news too .., he he). At office, we also have an important release this month. So many things to do but so little time. I plan to be slow in publishing new recipes, reply to your mails & also, my visit to all the loved blogs would be limited :( There ends my news & task list for the current month.

Coming to the bombay saagu recipe. I donot know why it is named so?Please let me know, if you have an answer. I have seen this saagu in most of the food joints along with the very famous rawa idli or sometimes with poori. This saagu goes well with anything, be it.., plain rice, chapathi, poori, dosa, idli or roti.

Ingredients:
Potatoes: 2 nos
Onion: 1 medium sized
Tomato: 1 medium sized
Green peas: 1/4th cup (optional)
Green chillies : 2-3
Water: 1.5 cups (around 300ml)
Gram flour/besan: 1 tbsp
Salt: According to taste
Oil: 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds: 1/2 tsp
Urad dal: 1 tsp
Channa dal: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1 pinch
Curry leaves: 6-8
Lemon Juice: 1 tbsp (adjust according to your family needs)
Cilantro: for garneshing

Method:

• Boil & mash the potatoes roughly. Finely chop the onion & tomato.
• In a broad pan, heat oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds, followed by urad dal, channa dal. When dals turn golden brown, add green chilli, curry leaves & saute for 10secs. Add onion & saute till onion turns golden brown. Add tomato & saute till tomatoes are soft & yet firm.
• Add water & cook the tomatoes till soft. Add mashed potato, turmeric, salt & cook on a slow flame for 2-4mins.
• Add 4 tbsps water to the gram flour & prepare a paste out of it. Ensure there are no lumps.
• Add the gram flour paste to the pan & mix it thoroughly. The curry becomes thick in a minute or so.
• Turn off the heat, add lemon juice & cilantro. Mix & serve with idli, poori, chapathi, dosa or rice.

Shavige idli (Vermicelli Idli)

The preparation of shavige idli is very similar to the rawa idli/semolina idli. This idli is normally served with bombay saagu(curry) or vegetable saagu(curry).

Ingredients:
Semolina/Rava: 2 cups
Shavige/Vermicelli: 1 cup (I use Bambino or MTR vermicelli)
Buttermilk: 2 to 2.5 cups
Water: Around 1/2 cup (I didnot measure this)
Salt: According to taste
Grated coconut: 1 tbsp
Baking soda or Eno's fruit salt: 1/4 tsp

For tempering:
Oil: 1 tbsp
Cashew nuts: 2 tbsp (broken)
Gram dal/Channa dal: 1 tsp (optional)
Mustard seeds: 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves: 8-10

Method:

• Dry roast the semolina, vermicelli separately until light brown & allow them to cool.
• Mix together semolina, vermicelli, buttermilk, grated coconut.
• Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a small pan, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds, when mustard seeds splutter, add broken cashew nuts, channa dal/gram dal & saute until they turn golden brown. Add curry leaves & saute for 5-7secs or until curry leaves become crisp.
• Pour the tempering to the semolina-vermicelli mixture, mix well & keep the batter aside for 30mins.
• After 30mins, the semolina would have absorbed the buttermilk & the batter would have become dry. Add water & adjust the consistency of the batter (a little thicker than the normal idli batter).
• Finally add salt, baking soda to the batter, mix well & pour around 2 tbsp of batter to each idli mould & steam the idlis for 20-25mins on medium heat.
• Serve it hot with a chutney or curry of your choice.

Notes:

1. Ensure to use a little sour buttermilk to get spongy & soft idlis.
2. Baking soda could be replaced with same amount of Eno's fruit salt.
3. Add 1 cup water to 1 cup thick yogurt. Whisk well. 2 cups buttermilk is ready to be used. Keep it outside for 2 hours to make the buttermilk sour.

Other idli recipes here:

Pumpkin idli

Rava Idli/Semolina idli

Mallige idli/Soft idli

Rawa Idli Recipe (Without Yogurt or curd) | Vegan Rava Idli Recipe : South Indian Recipes

How to make the popular Rawa idli?

I got a sudden craving for rawa idli one day and decided to do it the same evening for dinner. As usual roasted the rawa, only to find out that there was no yogurt in my pantry. The determined me decided to make rawa idli without yogurt. The idli turned very spongy and soft even without the yogurt. Do want to know, what did I substitute yogurt with? Jump to the recipe!!

Some side dishes that go well with this idli are:
Bombay Saagu
Ginger Chutney
Kadlebele Chutney | Gram dal chutney

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 15 mins (for each batch)

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients: (Makes about 25 idlis)

Semolina | Rawa | Cream of Wheat: 2 cups

Quick cooking oats: 3/4 cup

Avalakki | Poha | Rice flakes: 3 tbsp, optional

Oil: 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp

Urad dal | Black dal: 2 tsp

Channa dal | Gram dal: 1 tbsp

Cashew nuts: 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves: 1/4 cup

Grated carrots: 1/4 cup

Salt: To taste

Eno fruit salt: 1.5 tsp, refer notes

Vinegar: 1 tbsp

Water: As needed

Other ingredients:

Oil: Few drops to grease the idli mould

Method:
Wash the rice flakes thoroughly and soak them in water for 5-10 mins.
Heat oil in a broad sauce pan or wok. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds, urad dal, and channa dal. When dal turns golden brown, add the cashew nuts and mix until the cashew nuts turn golden brown.
Add the rawa to the pan and roast the rawa on a medium heat for 3-4 mins. Add the oats and roast again for a minute.
Remove the roasted rawa from the heat. Allow it to cool completely.
Drain the water from the rice flakes (poha) and add it to the rawa mixture.

Add about 2 cups of water to the rawa and mix well to make a thick batter.

Mix the vinegar with a quarter cup of water and pour it to the batter. Mix again and allow it to rest for 20 mins.

Put water to the steamer (or idli cooker or pressure cooker). Turn on the heat and let the water boil.
Just before making the idlis, add the salt, more water, grated carrots, and finely chopped coriander leaves to the batter. Mix well.

Finally, add the Eno fruit salt to the batter. Whisk the batter well.

Grease the idli moulds. Pour about 2-3 tbsp of batter to each mould and steam the idlis for 15 mins.
After 15 mins, turn off the heat and allow the steamer to cool for 5 mins.
Scoop out the idlis and serve it with chutney of your choice.

Notes: 
If you are using pressure cooker to steam the idlis, refer this post.
You can substitute Eno Fruit salt with the same amount of baking soda. If you are making the idli in two batches, divide the batter into two. Add fruit salt only to the batch going to the steamer. Do not add the fruit salt at once.

Oats Idli | Oats Idly Recipe

...... How to make oats idli?

When I was in India last year, I happened to follow few of the regional cookery shows. Most of the cookery shows talked about being healthy; healthy foods & magical grains that helped the humans. Every single show talked about oats.  My question is are we encouraging the usage of oats at the cost of our staple food??

We have such wonderful grains like ragi/finger millet, jola/sorghum, bajra/pearl millet & others. They are all great for health. Why are those grains not encouraged? No, I'm not against eating oats. I too buy oats & use it regularly.What I mean to say here is, don't blindly follow what is said. Consume oats but at the same time analyze what is better for you!

Here is a reference of nutritional information of oats and sorghum. Refer here for more.

Oats vs Sorghum

Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 100g or 3.5oz Amount Per Serving Calories  389 Calories from Fat 58 % Daily Value* Total Fat  7g 11% Saturated Fat 1g 6% Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol  0mg 0% Sodium  2mg 0% Total Carbohydrate  66g 22% Dietary Fiber 11g 42% Sugars 0g Protein  17g Vitamin A 0% · Vitamin C 0% Calcium 5% · Iron 26% *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. Nutritional Data by SkipThePie.org

Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 100g or 3.5oz Amount Per Serving Calories  339 Calories from Fat 28 % Daily Value* Total Fat  3g 5% Saturated Fat 0g 2% Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol  0mg 0% Sodium  6mg 0% Total Carbohydrate  75g 25% Dietary Fiber 6g 25% Sugars 0g Protein  11g Vitamin A 0% · Vitamin C 0% Calcium 3% · Iron 24% *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. Nutritional Data by SkipThePie.org

Above information is taken from here.

Wasn't that too much of controversial discussion?! Let me get back to my business!
Here is the recipe of oats idli.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients: (Makes around 15-18 idlis)

• Quick cooking Oats: 1 cup
• Rava/Semolina/Cream of Wheat: 1 cup
• Yogurt: 1 cup
• Water: 1 cup
• Oil: 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Channa dal/Gram dal: 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves: 8-10 nos, coarsely chopped
• Cashew nuts: 1.5 to 2 tbsp
• Eno's fruit salt: 1 tsp (Refer notes below)
• Salt: As needed.

Method:
Dry roast the oats on medium heat until it changes its color. Allow it to cool. Once cool, grind it to a coarse powder.
Heat oil in a broad pan. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splatter, add the channa dal & cashew nuts. Roast until the dal & nuts turn golden brown. Add in the curry leaves & saute.
Add the semolina to the mixture & roast on medium heat until the semolina releases a nice aroma. The semolina will gradually turn to golden brown. Turn off the heat & scoop it out to a clean bowl. Allow it to cool. 
Once the semolina comes back to room temperature, add in the powdered oats & mix well. 
Beat the yogurt & add the yogurt, water & salt to the semolina oats mixture. Mix well & let it sit for about 30 mins.
The mixture will thicken after 30 mins, add little water to bring it to the normal idli batter consistency. 
Grease the idli plates/moulds & keep the steamer on medium-high heat.
Add in the fruit salt & mix gently. The batter will rise & become soft & fluffy. 
Scoop out around 2-3 tbsp of batter & pour it on the idli/idly moulds. Steam the idlis for 15-20 mins.
Allow it to cool for 5 mins. Serve it hot with a chutney/dip of your choice.

Side dishes that go well with this idli are:
Bombay Saagu
Vegetable Saagu
Ginger Chutney
Red chilli chutney

Notes:

• If you cannot find Eno's fruit salt, you could replace it with half the quantity of baking soda. 
• Once baking soda/ fruit salt is added to the batter, make the idlis immediately. The batter should not be kept for a long time unused.