South Indian Semolina Crepe... Also Known as 'Rava Dosa'

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach..."

So they say... Well, I don't know who "they" are, but they must personally know my husband because I cannot think of a truer statement relating to him, and especially to his love of South Indian food. So... this past weekend, I decided to surprise him by learning a new South Indian breakfast/brunch item to make - rava dosa.

If you've ever eaten in an Indian restaurant, then you've probably seen a giant crepe-like dish that looks something like this:

A giant restaurant dosa

Unfortunately, in general, dosa is a somewhat complicated item to make. The batter requires fermentation and there's a whole process that goes into its creation. Well, luckily for me, there is a somewhat similar cousin to the regular dosa known as rava dosa, and it is easy easy easy to make.

Rava dosa can be made the day of, and does not need any preparation in the previous day / days like regular dosa does. I found this great recipe on Pinterest and with a few adjustments, I made something that we both really enjoyed!

I started off making the batter right after my morning coffee, which was about an hour and a half before we actually started making and eating the dosas. I followed the recipe as is except I did not add any yogurt, onions or cashews.
 

My rava dosa batter consisting of rice flour, rava (semolina), all purpose flour (maida flour), cumin seeds, pepper corn (ground up), green chilies, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt.
 

Once you're ready to "fry" up the rava dosas, you take a flat pan / skillet put a few drops of oil (I used vegetable oil) on it and spread the batter out as thinly as possible while trying to avoid any holes and while trying to make it look like a nice circle (I'm still working on that part).
 

The thinner you can spread the batter, the better the rava dosa tastes.
 

Once you have cooked up the rava dosa, you can eat it with homemade chutney or pickle for a scrumptious and easy brunch. The only thing my husband didn't like about this recipe was the pepper corn, so I will probably leave that little ingredient out next time.
 

Rava Dosa with a little mango pickle.
 

Overall, I'd call this one a success. This was the first time I've ever attempted rava dosa and it came out pretty well! So, the next time you're wondering what to make for brunch and you don't feel like omelets, hop over to that link I posted above and check out this recipe... it's worth a try!

*Housekeeping*

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Another ABCD Mommy

The Curious Chayote Squash

Have you ever seen this interesting little item at the grocery store?

Chayote Squash...

It took me a while before I connected this strange looking vegetable to the curried version of this known in Kannada as "seeme-badhnakai palya" that I've been eating since I was a kid. Once I figured it out, it quickly became a staple in our house once in every two weeks or so... and cooking it up is so easy: 

What you need (enough for two to three people): 

- 2 chayote squashes (if you can't find it at your regular grocery store, you can probably find it at the Indian store)  

- 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil 

- 1-2 small green chilis (depending how spicy you want it) 

- 1 tablespoon of vangi bath powder (you can find this powder at your local Indian store)

- 1-2 teaspoons of mustard seeds 

- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 

- pinch of hing 

- 1 teaspoon of channa dal 

- 1 teaspoon udad dal 

- small amount of shredded coconut to garnish (if you want) 

- salt to taste

Here's what you do: 

- Peel, wash and chop the chayote squash into cubes and keep it to the side (the flat seed in the center of the squash is easy to overlook, but make sure you take it out when chopping).

- Warm up the oil with the mustard seeds, turmeric and hing within it (this curry is easiest to make in a deep dish open skillet like this one).

- When mustard seeds start to pop, add the vangi bath powder, channa dal and the udad dal to the oil for a few seconds before also adding in the chopped chayote squash (watch this step carefully because the dal will burn quickly).

- Add a bit of water (about a 1/2-3/4 cup of water), reduce to low heat, and cover the squash to let it cook. As the squash cooks, the water will boil out and disappear.   

- Keep monitoring the squash and add small amounts of water, when needed, until it is fully cooked and tender.

- Add salt to taste and a bit of shredded coconut (if you want) and mix it all together and you're done! 

The finished product - Curried Chayote Squash or "Seeme Badhnakai Palya"

I personally like to eat it with these Malaysian Roti Parathas that you get in the Indian store...

And, as a bonus! I also found this yummy-looking recipe for an egg and cheese casserole with chayote squash in it. I have not tried this yet, but it definitely looks like a good weekend recipe to try out some time! 

Egg & Cheese Casserole with Chayote Squash and Green Chilis

And finally, if you buy this squash and then don't like the way it tastes... you can always do this: 

Hahaha! I found this image online posted by some very creative person... 

If you end up trying it, hope you like it as much as we do! 

Trading Milkshakes for Nutrition

Have you ever substituted lunch with one of these:

High-Calorie Deliciousness

Well, I'm not proud of this, but I would be lying if I said that I have never swapped out a meal or some other form of nutritious food with a high-calorie, zero-nutrition, absolutely delicious McDonalds milkshake.  

But now, I know better. Now, if I'm in no mood to eat a proper meal, I'm craving something cold and sweet, and I still want to make sure I get some nutrition... I turn to an age-old drink from India.    And I love it.  

From the time I was a child, we would drink what is known as panchamrutha in our home. The drink is often given in temples in India and it literally means "a nectar made of five ingredients". The five simple ingredients that make up this drink are:  

You have probably noticed the sixth ingredient (bananas) in this picture, but I'll get to that later...

So the five ingredients that traditionally go into panchamrutha are: 

1. Milk 

2. Yogurt (Plain) 

3. Ghee 

4. Honey

5. Sugar    

Of these ingredients, four of them are very good for the body. Milk has calcium to keep our bones strong. Yogurt gives our digestive system necessary probiotic support (and also provides calcium). Ghee, when taken in small amounts, also has wonderful health benefits, and is often used in Ayurvedic medicine. Finally, honey is also well-known for having a number of both nutritional and medicinal benefits. Sugar, while not that great, makes the panchamrutha tasty, and is only added in small amounts.  

To make a good glass of panchamrutha for myself, I usually use the following (approximate) quantities: 

1. 2 - 3 cups of milk 
2. 0.5 - 1 cup of plain yogurt 
3. 1 - 2 teaspoons of ghee 
4. 1 - 2 tablespoons of honey 
5. 1 - 2 tablespoons of sugar 
6. Bananas are not an "official" ingredient of panchamrutha but they are also often mashed in to get even more nutrition into this awesome drink.

And there you have it, a delicious and nutritious replacement for a delicious but not-at-all-nutritious milkshake. The next time you're craving a cold, sweet drink, I highly suggest making a glass of this for yourself, you will love it.  

And, to not dismiss milkshakes completely, I found this do-it-yourself recipe online for my all time favorite McDonalds milkshake: 

Shamrock Shake 

I think it's ok to relish that once in a while too :-)  Enjoy!

 

Lemon Rice: A 10 Minute Dinner!

We all have those days where there is just no time left to make a decent dinner... or no time left to make any sort of dinner at all!  When these situations arise, I used to immediately reach for Kraft Mac & Cheese or Ramen Noodles, but now I reach for lemons instead and I end up with this:

Indian Lemon Rice!

 
In the same amount of time that it takes you to make a bowl of Mac & Cheese, you can make a delicious plate of lemon rice!  Lemon rice is quick, it's easy, and it's great on its own or as part of a larger meal.  Be advised that it's not that nutritious (as in, there are no veggies or protein in it)... but well, it's better for you than Ramen.  Much better.

This is what you need (makes enough for 2-3 people).  Note: I am measuring all of these ingredients approximately for 1 cup of rice.  If you make more rice, multiply the ingredients accordingly.

- 1 cup of cooked rice
- 1 lemon (or equivalent in lemon juice)
- Vagarne / Tadka which (approximately) includes
     ~ 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
     ~ 1 - 1.5 teaspoons of mustard seeds
     ~ 1 teaspoon of udad dal & 1 teaspoon of channa dal
     ~ 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
     ~ 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
     ~ 1 inch of ginger (grated)
     ~ 2 small green chilis (finely chopped)
     ~ 3-4 curry leaves

This is what you do:

1. Cook the rice and keep it to the side 
2. Make the vagarne / tadka by:
1. I like to first keep all the vagarne / tadka ingredients measured and to the side 
2. Adding the oil to the tadka pan and let it heat up a bit.
3. Add the mustard seeds and once they begin to pop...
4. Add the rest of the vagarne / tadka ingredients listed above (be careful to not let any of the ingredients burn - they heat up very fast!).  Note: If you want an excellent way to grate the ginger, check out my post on the best ginger grater ever.
3. Turn off the heat on the tadka pan and add the vagarne / tadka to the cooked rice. 
4. Squeeze one lemon or the equivalent of one lemon in lemon juice over the rice and mix it together.  
5. You're done! 

The main part of making this dish is getting the vagarne / tadka right.  If you're serious about Indian cooking, arrange all these ingredients in a corner of your cupboard, because you usually will always end up reaching for the same things when you're finishing off a dish with a vagarne / tadka.  Again, you can read my explanation on what a vagarne / tadka is in one of my first posts.

And I should also add, that lemon rice is great for a summer snack or part of a summer picnic.  It's also a great potluck item (you're lucky if you can score the spot of making lemon rice, because your job is super easy).  Finally, I have to mention that my sweet husband is the one who usually makes lemon rice in our house - and he makes it well!     

Give it a try the next time you are strapped for time, or if you just feel like a citrus-y and delicious rice dish to go along with dinner.  Enjoy!  

A Cool Dish for a Summer Dinner

When the weather is sweltering hot, the only thing that often seems appealing to me is something cool.  Also, ice cream is always appealing to me - but that is pretty much true the whole year round :-)

This Indian dish, called "Mosaru Bajji" in my house, can roughly be translated to a "savory eggplant yogurt sauce".  It works well as part of a larger meal, or as the main dish of a light meal of its own.  This is how you make it:

You will need: 
- 1 large purple eggplant
- 3-4 tablespoons of light sour cream
- 1.5 - 2 cups of butter milk
- salt

The vagarne / tadka for this will include (see this recipe for what vagarne is): 
- 2-3 dried red chilis, broken up - use less if you are sensitive to spices
- 1 teaspoon of urad dal
- 1 teassoop of chana dal
- A pinch of hing
- 1/2 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
- 3-4 curry leaves (if you have them)
**All of these ingredients can be found at your local Indian store**

Process:
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Spray an oven safe pan with Pam Cooking Spray.
- Cut the eggplant in half (lengthwise) into two pieces.  Brush both sides of both eggplant halves lightly with extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil.  Then cut two diagonal slits (on each eggplant half) in the white part of the eggplant.
- Put the eggplant in the oven for about 15 minutes.  Then turn it over and put it back in the oven for approximately another 15 minutes or until the purple eggplant skin has shriveled up.  At this point, take the eggplant out of the oven, and let it cool.
- Scoop out the white eggplant pulp from the skin and mash it up.  Add salt to taste.
- Add the eggplant to the portions of sour cream and buttermilk listed above and mix everything together well.  Add a little more salt to taste.
- Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to blend all the tastes together.
- Make the vagarne with about 2 teaspoons of oil and the vagarne ingredients (listed above).  Add this to the dish and your done!

The Finished Product

This dish might seem a little complicated but it's actually an easy one to make.  Mosaru Bajji goes great with naan or even on top of rice!  It's light, cool and just perfect for a summer meal out on the deck.  So give it a try, and let me know how it turns out! 

Happy Ram Navami!

Almost every Indian person I know has heard the story of Ramayana growing up.  Whether we read the story in Amar Chitra Katha books or whether we watched the TV mini-series or whether we were simply told the story by our parents and grandparents, we have all heard it.  We have listened to stories of Rama and Sita's wedding day, of their exile into the forest, of Sita's eventual kidnap and how Rama heroically fought Ravana to rescue her.  We have learned of the deep loyalty of Rama's brother Lakshmana, and of his most faithful servant, Hanuman. But before all of this happened, there was one very important day - and that was the day that Rama was born - and that day is celebrated today!

Ram Navami always falls in the Spring time and it is, essentially, Rama's birthday.  It is celebrated all over India, and as usual, there are some special food items that are made on this day.  I decided to list one (very simple) recipe for Rasayana, a light dessert that is usually made on Ram Navami.

Rasayana.  Different people make Rasayana in different ways.  In my house, it is made in this simple manner:

1. Cut up some bananas 
2. Add honey, jaggery (or sugar) and some coconut 
3. Gently mix it together (you don't want the bananas to get squished) 

In other homes, it may be made in a slightly different way with slightly different ingredients, but regardless, it is simple. 

I got this picture here.  Go there to see a very similar recipe.

If you want another prasada or dessert recipe for any Indian festival, check out my Ugadi Post for an easy Paisa recipe.

Regardless of what you eat on this day, Ram Navami is a special day where we celebrate Rama and his life.  He showed us how an ideal person should be in a very imperfect world, and I think that those are qualities that are more important than ever in this present day.  I wish all my readers a very happy Ram Navami and I'll see you back here on Monday!

For a cold, rainy day...

Before I start today's post, I have to take a moment to send my prayers to all the innocent people in Boston.  I pray for their speedy recovery, physically and mentally, from yesterday's sad event.

***

This week, the plan was to put up a Butternut Squash Curry recipe, but when I was getting ready to make it last night, there was a little mishap with the butternut squash...  So I decided to replace it with this recipe, which is a great and easy one.  You can expect the butternut squash recipe next week :-)

So, this dish is one that goes by many names.  In my house, we call it "Huggi".  In some places it's called "Kichdi".  I think some people call it "Pongal".  And to translate it to English, we can call it a "Lentil-Rice Porridge".  It is extremely easy to make and is best eaten on a cold and rainy day (according to my husband).  People make this different ways, but I've boiled it down (pun intended) to a simple strategy that I use every time.

This is what you'll need:
- 1 cup of rice (I usually use sona masoori, but any kind will work)
- 1/2 cup of moong dal (this is a lentil you get at the Indian Store)
- Milk
- Water
- Vagarne / Tadka (if you missed the explanation on this, check out my first recipe on Black Eyed Peas)

A Simple Set of Ingredients

- The vagarne / tadka for this recipe includes:
     - 1/2 teaspoon of black peppercorn
     - 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
     - 1/2 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
     - A few curry leaves (if you have them)
     - 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

And the method is...

1. Cook 1/2 cup of moong dal, 1 cup of rice and 3 cups of water in the cooker until you hear 3-4 whistles. 
2. Once cool enough to open - add 2 cups of milk and 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil. 
3. Let this keep boiling until you can mix the dal and rice together into a porridge like consistency.  This will usually take about 10-15 minutes.                                               
4. Here's the trick that we really like - I hate finding whole peppercorns in my food and so does my husband.  So I grind all the vagarne ingredients (listed above) in a small coffee grinder (like this one) until it's a mixed powder.  I put this powder into about 2 tablespoons of ghee in the tadka pan and wait until it sizzles.  Then I add it to the Huggi and mix it all together.
5. Add 2-3 teaspoons of salt (salt to taste)   

This is what the final product looks like (note the final consistency)

And that's it!  We love the taste of the Huggi that comes out of this recipe. The only thing I don't like is the incredibly thick layer of crust it leaves at the bottom of my pressure cooker.  It takes a lot of scrubbing to clean the cooker once this is done.  If anyone has methods of avoiding build up at the bottom of cookers, I'm eager to hear it!

So if you decide to make this, I hope you enjoy it. And remember, it's best eaten on a cold, rainy day!

Also, remember to check out my blog topics page, for an idea of what you can expect on a weekly basis.  Thanks for reading!