Vendakkai Dosai, Bhindi Dosa, Okra Dosa

          It's been more than a month, something or the other kept me away from the blog and now I think, I have lost the habit of blogging. I haven't cooked anything special for the blog in the last 2 months, even today's post is something that I had made sometime back, well slowly I have to get back to the blogging routine. Today's dish is another simple and delicious dosa, Vendakkai Dosai or Bhindi or Okra Dosa. I came across this recipe in a cook book by Mrs Chandra Padmanabhan, and I was surprised at the thought that one can make dosas with lady's finger/okra. The batter needs to be fermented and the resulting dosas are soft and fluffy and nobody would be able to notice the okra in it, until you actually tell them, and they go well with a spicy chutney and sambar..

Eggless Pav Buns, Pav Bread

          Pav Buns or Pav Bread has been on my do-list for a long time, and I don't know the reason for not baking them until now. We have Pav Bhaji for dinner, but whenever I made it, I bought the buns from the store and just made the bhaji only at home. But once I started baking my own bread at home, I wanted to make these buns also at home itself. For today's post, it's going to be Pav Buns made with plain flour or maida, but I am sure that, the next time I bake them, it'll be with whole wheat flour, but once in a while we can enjoy these soft and pillowy buns with all purpose flour..

Quinoa Adai

          Though I have been cooking quinoa for so many years now, I have been using it only, in the place of rice in pilafs or just cooked it as such or with some rice and used it with sambar and curries. Only now, I have started using it in dosa batter and muffins and the next in that list is this Quinoa Adai. This is not a big recipe, we make it the same way as regular adai, using quinoa in the place of rice, the adai came out well and the quinoa gave a nice taste to the it..

Eggless Quinoa Muffins

          It's been a long time time since I had baked some muffins or cakes, in fact I have not been doing much baking because of the hot weather also, but now the temperatures have come done, so might be I'll be baking more. Coming to today's post, I have wanted to use quinoa in baking for a long time, but the first time, I had used uncooked quinoa in baking and the results were not good. After that, for some reason, didn't do it again until now, this time I used cooked quinoa in these Quinoa Muffins and they turned out good and I was very satisfied with them. I have used whole wheat flour/ atta along with the cooked quinoa, and they are not too sweet, so they are perfect for breakfast or snack. I have also added some grated carrots, golden raisins and walnuts and they tasted very good with a nutty texture from the quinoa..

Quinoa Dosa (Crepes)

          Today's post is going to be another healthy and delicious dosa with quinoa and brown rice. The most common way in which I include quinoa in our diet, is adding a little to the regular rice that I cook for lunch. Now this Quinoa Dosa has become another regular in my kitchen. The dosa comes out very good, it has the perfect texture, perfect color and also tastes really awesome with any chutney of your choice..

Ragi Aval Puttu, Finger Millet Flakes Puttu ( Sweet Breakfast Dish )

          We all know that millets have become very popular now, we get them in many forms, whole millets, flakes, semiya, noodles, flour and semolina too. Till recently, I was cooking millet flakes just like regular rice poha, soaking them and then cooking them covered. Then I saw on a show, they just rinse the millet flakes and then steam them. This method seems to be more suitable for millet flakes. Today's post is Ragi Aval/ Finger Millet Flakes Puttu, it's a sweet dish served for breakfast. It came out really good, soft and tasted absolutely delicious..

Palak Aloo Parathas, Spinach Potato Parathas

          I have already posted spinach parathas and aloo/ potato parathas and this time, it's a  combination of both, Spinach Potato Parathas. Usually I would have added some mashed spinach and potato along with other spices directly to the flour while making the dough, but this time, I made the dough with the spinach puree and used the potato mixture as the stuffing. The parathas turned out really soft and delicious and we loved the combo of spinach and potatoes, serve them with a pickle or a chutney and some curd on the side..

Corn Rava Dosa

          Today's recipe is going to be another dosai or dosa, Corn Rava Dosa. This is an instant dosa, in the sense, the ground batter doesn't need fermentation. I have used Corn Rava or Corn Semolina for making these dosas. The corn semolina is a little coarse, so needs some soaking and grinding to make dosas. The dosas turned out really good and tasted good with a spicy chutney..

Kuttu Atta Roti, Buckwheat Flour Roti

          I have heard about buckwheat flour, when staying in the US, but never tried anything with it back then. Then after coming to India, I totally forgot about that flour, then again a couple of years back, I came across recipes with kuttu atta, but didn't know at that time that kuttu atta was buckwheat flour. Kuttu Atta is used for making rotis, puris and sweets during Navrathiri time ( vrat, fasting dishes ), in the northern states of India, in the South we do not use this flour, at least to my knowledge. Buckwheat flour is gluten free and hence these rotis are ideal for people with gluten allergy. But as with gluten free flours, it is very difficult to roll out rotis with it, so we have added some mashed potatoes while making the dough for these rotis. The rotis turned out soft and they would go very well with any kind of spicy curry..

Karuveppilai Dosai, Curry Leaves Dosa

          Whenever I get a good big bunch of curry leaves, I would always want to try out this Karuveppilai Dosai with it, but only now I made it. This is the second time I have made this dosa, the first time, I couldn't take decent pictures, so it didn't make it to the blog. The main ingredients for this dosa are rice and curry leaves, and it's an instant dosa, the batter need not be fermented. The dosa tastes best when served hot and like all instant dosas with rice, the dosa becomes rubbery when it turns cold. This time, I added some aval/poha/rice flakes while making the batter, this improved the texture of the dosa, still it's best to have this dosa when it's fresh and hot and it goes well with coconut, peanut chutneys or even with some tomato thokku..

Beet Yam Parathas, Beet Suran Parathas

          Usually I buy a slice of yam ( karunai kizhangu, suran ) and I make the masial or varuval with it. This time I had bought a whole one, I had used half of it for the varuval and with the remaining, I wanted to try something new and then I remembered seeing parathas made with it. The recipe that I saw used raw grated yam, but I decided to use cooked and mashed yam, I also added some grated beets and other spices and the parathas turned out soft and delicious. Serve them with some pickle and curd for a simple and delicious meal..

Rice Flour Rotis, Arisi Maavu Chappathis, Ukkarisida Akki Roti

          Rice Flour Rotis ( Arisi Maavu Chappathis, Ukkarisida Akki Roti ), my friend had made this for her son who had gluten allergy, it looked close to wheat flour rotis and it tasted good too. She had also mentioned that unlike the wheat flour rotis, these were a little difficult to roll out, because it lacked the gluten. So, instead of adding just hot water to the flour to make the dough, I followed the same way as I did for the ragi ( finger millet ) rotis. I cooked the flour and then made the dough. This made it a lot easier to roll out the rotis, but of course we have to roll it out carefully, keeping in mind that the dough will break ( lack of gluten ) if rolled out very fast. We can make them like phulkas without oil or cook it with oil too, and it goes well with all curries, but I love it with Baingan Bharta With Mustard Oil..

Green Peas Dosa, Pattani Dosai

          Will I ever get tired of eating idlis and dosas, never, and I am always ready to try a new one. Today's dish is yet another dosa, Green Peas Dosa or Pattani Dosa and what better time to make them, than now, when fresh green peas are still in season. I have already posted Moong Dal Dosa, Pesarattu and this Peas Dosa is a slight variation of the pesarattu. This is a very healthy dosa, rich in protein and also, we can make them immediately after making the batter as there is no need for fermentation. If fresh green peas are not available, we can make them with frozen peas too, so make and serve it with some spicy chutney..

Choliya Paratha, Fresh Green Chickpeas Paratha

          Choliya Paratha, this is the last dish that I made with the fresh green chickpeas ( choliya ) that I had bought, the other two dishes are Choliya Paneer and Choliya Kofta Curry. There are some more dishes that I would love to try out with these chickpeas, but they have to wait till I can get another batch of them. Coming to today's post, it's very simple, we make a mixture with the fresh chickpeas and other spices and use it as a stuffing for these parathas. As usual, serve these parathas with a vegetable curry, some curd, pickle or chutney for a simple and delicious meal..

Instant Oats Uthappam, Savory Pancakes

          Today, I had to make lunch just for me, of course, my daughter would have some too, after she came from school. I wanted to make something that was simple and at the same time a little healthy too and after thinking about so many things, I finally made this Oats Uthappam. Though the name has only oats in it, I have added so many other ingredients to it, starting with poha/rice flakes, rice flour, carrots, paneer and other spices. I just made a batter with all of them and made the uthappam, they turned out perfect and they would taste good with any kind of chutney/thokku or gravy..

Keerai Pongal, Spinach Pongal

          Today's post is going to be a simple and delicious pongal, Keerai Pongal or Spinach Pongal. I used to make this Spinach Pongal a lot when we were in the US. I always had frozen chopped spinach in the freezer and so this dish could be put together in minutes, here in India, I don't get frozen spinach, so I use fresh spinach. It's a very easy dish, serve it with some Onion And Tomato Gothsu for a complete and delicious meal..

Jowar Aloo Paratha, Jowar Potato Paratha

       
          After a weekend of rich festival food, I am going to start of this week with a healthy paratha, Jowar Aloo Paratha. There's already an Aloo Paratha using wheat flour on the blog, but today's paratha is gluten free since we are using jowar/sorghum flavor for making them. Jowar flour dough is difficult to roll out, so stuffing them with the potato mixture and rolling out would become messy, so I have mixed in the potatoes with the dough and then made the parathas. The parathas turned out soft and delicious, serve them with some curd/raitha and pickle for a filling and healthy meal..

Lauki Akki Roti, Bottle Gourd (Sorakkai) Roti

          Bottle Gourd/Lauki/Sorakkai is such a versatile vegetable, we can make so many dishes with this vegetable, starting from curries, koftas, idli, dosa, roti and halwa and I buy it almost every week. Today's dish, Lauki Akki Roti is such an easy dish and the main ingredients are rice flour and bottle gourd. I have given an easy method of making this roti, and they come out really soft, serve them with a spicy chutney for a filling and delicious meal..

Avarekalu Sooji Rava Adai, Field Beans Adai

          Another dish that I tried out using avarekalu/field beans was this Avarekalu Sooji Rava Adai. Again for this Adai also I have used hitikida avarekalu (I have peeled the beans and used ). It's a simple dish, we mix the semolina along with ground avarekalu/field beans and few other ingredients and make this adai. It comes out crispy and soft at the same time and tastes great with some chutney or even with some butter..

Avarekalu Idlis, Field Beans Idlis

          Now, again, it's that season of the year, I am not talking about the holidays, it's the Avarekalu/ Field Beans season here in Bengaluru, every year we get them during the months of December and January. Last year I got a chance to go to the Avare Bele Mela at VV Puram and tasted so many dishes made with these seasonal beans. Coming home, I tried to reproduce some of the dishes at home. I had posted some of them last year itself, but some of them, I couldn't post then, so since the season has started now, I thought I can post them now. Today's post Avarekalu Idli is a simple dish that you can try out with these beans. I have used the regular idli batter to make these idlis, also refer my post Hitikida Avarekalu Saaru to see how to peel and prepare the beans, which is a two step process, first you remove the pods from the vegetable and then you peel the skin of the beans. These idlis came out very good and they taste great with sambar and coconut chutney..