Ragi dose

Last weekend I had prepared dose batter for two days. But it was not enough for the second day. Suddenly I remembered my walking friend Sarojamma’s method of making Ragi dose. Here it is.

Ingredients

1. Leftover dose batter 2 cups (measurement need not be exact)

2. Ragi floor    2 to 3 cups (according to the need)

3. Salt to taste

Method

Mix Ragi floor with water so that there are no lumps. Add this to the leftover dose batter. Add salt to taste and mix well.If you like sour taste keep the batter overnight to ferment. Or you can keep it for 2 to 3 hours if you do not like sour taste. Prepare dose as usual.

If the batter is sour add finely chopped green chillies and finely chopped onion to the batter and prepare the dose.

Serve ragidosa with Coconut chutney or Chatnipudi or any pickle.

Kharada kadubu

Poori press and fillings

Kharada kadubu

For casing 

Follow the procedure as explained here

For filling

 Ingredients

Tovar dhal                      1 cup

Grated coconut               2 to 3 table spoon full

Diced coconut                2 table spoon full

Mint  leaves                   ( Chopped fine) 4 table spoons

Asafoetida                     1 pinch

Salt  to taste

Green chilli                   1(Chopped)                            

Byadagi chilli                         4

Coriander leaves           (Chopped)   2 table spoons

Turmeric                       1 pinch

Method

Soak Tovar dhal and Byadagi  chillies together for  an hour. Grind it into a coarse paste. Add rest of the ingredients and mix well. Dhal paste should not be stiff. It should be little soft.

Roll out the rice flour dough like poori and place the filling in the middle.Fold in to half. Press and seal the edges with wet fingers .Do not seal the two ends.

I did not roll the dough .I used poori press which I purchased recently. It is very easy to operate. I feel it is really worth buying.

Arrange these kadubus on grease plates and steam cook like idlies for 20 minutes .

Kharada kadubu is ready. Serve with coconut chutney.

Kaai kadubu

Kaai kadubu

Ingredients

 For outer casing

 Rice flour (Should be very fine)   1 cup

 Salt                                                1 pinch

Refined oil                                     1 table spoon

For filling

Coconut                                         1 big, grated

Jaggery                                          1/2 cup ( or to taste), powdered 

Cardamom powder                       1 pinch

Method

Preparation of filling

Take Jaggery in a pan and heat it with little water till Jaggery melts completely.

Add grated coconut and mix well.  As soon as you add coconut and Jaggery   mixture will become watery. Fry till water evaporates completely. Add cardamom powder and mix well. Allow to cool. This filling should be soft. Allow to cool.

Preparation of casing

Sieve rice flour and remove lumps if any.

Boil 1/½ cup of water in a thick bottom vessel. When water starts boiling remove ¼ cup of boiling water and keep it aside.

Add salt and oil to the rest of the water that is boiling. Dissolve one table spoon of rice flour in a little cold water and add this solution to the boiling water and stir.

 Sprinkle the rest of the rice flour on the boiling water slowly. Rice flour forms a layer. Do not mix at this stage. You can see water coming out here and there making holes.    Make some more holes in the flour layer with the handle of a wooden ladle, so that water comes out through those holes also. Cover the vessel with a lid and reduce the flame to minimum. Cook for ten minutes. This is a very important step. If flour is mixed with boiling water as soon as it is poured in, rice flour does not get cooked well and the dough breaks when we roll it.

Mix the flour and water well so that there are no lumps. Sprinkle the rest of water if needed, cover it with lid and cook again for 3 to 4 minutes. And cool for a few minutes.

 Grease your hands well .Place the dough on a big plate and knead it well when it is still hot. Wet your hands in between with cold water if dough is too hot to knead.

Make lemon sized bolls .Cover them with moist cloth and keep aside. Do not allow them to dry. Take a few bolls out and roll them like poori They should  not be  too thin or too thick .Place coconut and Jaggery filling in the middle  and fold in to half. You will get a semi-circular shape. Seal the edges pressing them with wet fingers, leaving gaps at both the ends. While cooking steam escapes through these gaps. Prepare many   more like this and place them on greased plates or idli stand and steam for 5 minutes. If it is steamed for a long lime kadubu breaks.

Kai kadubu is ready to serve .

Avalakki Khara pongal

Avalaki khara pongal

Ingredients

 Thick avalakki                           2 cups

Green gram dhal                         ½ cup

Coconut scrapings                      4 table spoons

Coriander leaves                        chopped

For seasoning

 Oil                                              2 table spoons

 Green chillies                             2- chopped

 Mustard seeds                            1 tea spoon

 Bengal gram dhal                       1 table spoon

 Black gram dhal                         1 table spoon

 Cashew nut  

 Broken in to pieces                    2 table spoons 

 Pepper                                       1 teaspoon

 Cumin seeds                              1 teaspoon

 Ginger                                        ½” piece chopped

 Turmeric                                    ½ tea spoon

For garnishing

Coriander leaves chopped           1 table spoon

Method

Wash avalakki well and soak it in 2 cups of water 15 minutes. To hasten the process you can soak it in hot water. 

Dry roast green gram till it gives out aroma and colour starts to change.

Transfer it in to a pressure cooker and wash it well. Pour 2 cups of water and ½ tea spoon of Turmeric powder and cook. After the whistle continue cooking for 3 more minutes under low flame.

When cooker cools open the lid. Add soaked avalakki, coconut scrapings salt to taste and 3 to 4 cups of water and continue cooking in open cooker for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally till salt mixes well. Add 2 more cups of water and cook if needed. Consistency of pongal should be like Dosa batter. Otherwise when it cools it will become a lump.

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When it splutters add Bengal gram dhal, Black gram dhal and pepper corns. If you want pongal to be hot you can pound pepper corns and use. When dhals become golden brown add cashew nut pieces fry for a minute. Cashew nut pieces will become brown very fast. Add chopped chillies, chopped ginger and curry leaves and fry for a minute .Add seasoning to the pongal mixture and cook. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. If you add Ghee pongal tastes great!!! Serve with Tomato and onion raitha. or Coconut chantey

Nimbe Avalakki ( Lemon beaten rice)

Nimbe avalakki

This is a simple dish and very easy to make. Long-time back in a temple they had distributed it as “prasada” in Dhanurmasa.I liked it a lot .When it is hot, the tangy taste of lemon and the pungent smell of green chillies make the dish very tasty.

Ingredients

Thick Avalakki                      2 cups

Lemon                                   1 big

Fresh coconut gratings          4 table spoons

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves chopped     2 table spoon full

For seasoning

Mustard seeds                      ½ tea spoon

 Gram dhal                           1 table spoon

Black gram dhal                   1 table spoon

Green chillies                       6- chopped

Ground nut                          2 to 3 table spoon

Asafoetida                           2 pinches

Curry leaves                        2 sprigs

Oil                                       3 table spoon full

Turmeric powder                ¼ teaspoon

Method

Grind Avalakki in to a coarse powder in a mixer grinder and remove fine powder by sieving through a sieve which has got fine mesh.

Transfer it into a dish .Pour plenty of water and squeeze the avalakki well to remove dirt and drain it through a sieve quickly. Press and remove water as much as possible. Keep it for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add mustard seeds. When it mustard seeds start spluttering add Bengal gram dhal and  Black gram dhal and fry for a minute .Add groundnut and fry till they all become golden brown in colour. Add chopped green chillies and curry leaves fry for a few minutes. Finally add asafoetida and tuemeric powder. Add soaked avalakki powder coconut gratings  and salt to taste. Reduce the flame and mix well. If avalakki is too dry sprinkle water as much as needed and mix. Cover it with a lid and cook for a few minutes .Switch off the flame and add lemon juice and mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot. It will be very nice to eat when the dhals and ground nut are crisp.

Rave dose with Black gram dhal

Rave dose

Ingredients

Black gram dhal (uddina bale)     1 cup

Fine semolina (Chiroti rave)        4 cups

Bengal gram dhal (kadale bele)   ¼ cup

Fenugreek seeds (Menthya)         2 or 3 table spoons

Salt to taste

Method

Soak back gram dhal, Bengal gram, and Fenugreek seeds for 2 to 3 hours and grind them to a smooth paste.

Dry cook semolina  as explained here.Take semolina steel box and close it with the lid. Do not add water to the semolina. Keep this box in a pressure  cooker and cook for 5 minutes .If there is place in the cooker you can keep it on the top and cook while you are doing your regular cooking. If the cooking time is more it does not matter.

Open the cooker when the pressure is reduced. Transfer the hot semolina in a plate and allow it to cool. Crush the lumps.

Add ¼ cup of water to the semolina and mix it well so that there are no lumps.

Add moist semolina to the ground paste and grind for 2 to 3 minutes more, so that semolina mixes with the dhal paste uniformly.

Add salt to taste.

Allow it to ferment overnight.

 Next morning prepare Dosa as usual.

Gojjavalakki / Huliavalakki

gojjavalakki  /  Huliavalakki

Ingradients

Gatti Avalakki     ( Thick Beaten rice)       2 cups

Mysore  sarinapudi    3 tea spoon full

Tamarind    I big lemon size

Jaggery       size of 1 big lemon

Salt to taste

For seasoning

Ground nut    3 table spoon full

Gram dhal      2 teaspoon full

Black gram dhal     2 tea spoon full

Mustard seed      ½  teaspoon

Asafoetida    2 pinches

Turmeric powder

Cumin seeds and fenugreek seed powder 1 teaspoon.
.

( equal quantities of  fried cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds are mixed and ground in to fine powder and kept in an air tight container and used when needed).

Dried coconut  3 table spoon

Black sesame seeds 3 table spoons

Curry leaves  3 springs

Coriander leaves  3 strands

Oil 3 table spoons

Method

Powder jaggery and keep aside.

Fry Black sesame seeds and powder.

Fry dried coconut and powder.

Boil tamarind in ½ cup of water, cool, and extract paste. Add  sarinapudi Jaggery  salt and boil till it becomes thick paste. This is tamarind gojju..

Grind thick Avalakki  in to coarse powder. Remove the powdered portion   by sieving  through  a sieve which has fine mesh. Powdered portion can be used while making dosa.

.Take the coarse portion in a big dish and pour plenty of water at once  squeeze it well under water and quickly drain the water through a plastic sieve and press  and remove as much of water as you can. This process should be done very fast. Otherwise gojjavalakki will become lumpy avalakki!!!!!!!

Add  tamarind gojju to the soaked and drained avalakki powder   and mix it well.

Keep it aside for 10 to 15 minutes so that avalakki powder becomes soft. Add dry  coconut powder, Black sesame seed powder and cumin and fenugreek powder and mix well.

Prepare seasoning by heating 3 table spoons of oil in a kadai ,add Mustard seeds, Gram dhal,Black gram dhal, and Ground nut. When the seeds become light brown in colour add asafoetida and finally add curry leaves.  Pour Avalakki mixed with tamarind gojju in to the  kadai and mix it with the seasoning. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Idli uppittu

This dish can be prepared from leftover idlies

Ingredients

Idli 10 numbers
Grated cucumber 1 cup
Onion 1 chopped
carrot 1 grated
Fresh Coconut grated 2 table spoons
Lemon 1

For seasoning

Black gram dhal 1 tsp
Bengal gram dhal 1 tsp
Mustered seeds 1/4 tsp
cashew nuts 12 broken in to pieces
Green chillies 3 or 4 chopped
Ginger 1/2 inch chopped
curry leaves 1 fist full
Oil 2 table spoon

Method

Crush idlies lightly till it resembles bread crumbs.
Heat Oil in a pan and add mustered seeds.When mustard seeds splutter add Bengal gram dhal

and Black gram dhal.Fry till they become golden brown.Add cashew nut pieces and fry for a few

seconds.Add green chilies,ginger pieces and and curry leaves and fry for a few seconds .Add idli
crumbs and 1/2 teaspoon full of salt and mix well till the mixture becomes hot(Idli contains salt
so we must be careful while adding salt) .Remove from fire .Add grated coconut and lemon
juice and mix well.Serve hot

Rave idli (idli with samolina)

Ingredients

Medium semolina 2 cup
Black gram dhal 1 cup
Salt to taste

Method

Soak black gram dhal for 2 to 3 hours.
Place semolina in a container and cover it tightly with a plate. Steel boxes can also be used. Cook this in a cooker for 5 minutes without adding water to the semolina.
Allow the semolina to cool.
Grind soaked black gram dhal to a smooth batter.
Add one or one and a half cup water to the semolina and mix well in to a thick paste taking care that there are no lumps.( If dry semolina is added to the batter lumps will be formed and it will be difficult to mix)
Add semolina paste to the black gram dhal paste in the grinder for a minute or two such that semolina is well mixed with black gram dhal paste.
Add 3 tea spoon full of salt (or to taste} and grind again.
Keep this batter overnight. Next day, pour the batter in idly plates and cook for 10 minutes

Tips.

If the weather is cool, to help quicker fermentation pour 2 cops of boiled water in a cooker and place the container with batter in it. Close the lid .Place the weight on top.
Smear oil for the idli plates on both sides. By doing so idlies will not stick to the bottom of the plate
If you are cooking idlies in a cooker do not put weight, just cover the vent with a steel cup.
Do not store idli batter more than a day, as batter will become sticky. Best thing is to prepare idlies and store them in fridge. We can re-heat them in a microwave or cooker again.
While re heating in a microwave sprinkle the idlies with water and cover well and heat for one or two minutes.