Khaman-Dhokla - A traditional Gujarati Dish - Split Chikpea flour mixed with curd, fermented, steamed and garnished

Khaman Dhokla

Next is a Gujarati dish named Khaman Dhokla. Its is a famous dish and anyone who has a Gujarati friend can relate to this dish... 
I came to know about this dish from my husband since he was in Gujarat for a few years and had eaten a lot of this... He used to tell me that this is the Gujarati equivalent of Idli since this is a steamed dish :)

I was not sure but decided to try it out since I wanted to prepare a Gujarati dish and since this was the Gujarathi dish one that my husband liked the most (apart from Thepla and Khakhra), I thought I must try this out.
I must admit that this dish tasted really good - I know that it has not come out the way a traditional Gujarati would make it, but still, the fact that I could make it itself is satisfying :)

Ingredients for Khaman Dhokla

Gram flour - 2 cups
Yogurt beaten -1 cup
Turmeric powder-1/2 tspn
Green chillies - 2 
Ginger Paste - 1/2 tspn
Cooking soda - 1 tspn
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsn
Mustard seeds - 1tspn
Fresh coriander leaves
Coconut Scrapled - 1/2cup
Salt as required

Steps to make Khaman Dhokla

Take gram flour in a bowl and add the yogurt and take one cup of warm water and mix it. Add salt and mix again.

Keep it aside for fermentation for 4 hrs. 

Take the green chillies and grind it. Mix with Ginger paste.

When gram flour mixture has fermented, add turmeric powder and green chilli-ginger paste. 

Take a vessel to steam the dhokla (a Idli making vessel or a pressure cooker w/o the weight can be used). 
Pour water in the vessel and heat in medium flame for the water to boil.
Take a thali/wide mouthed vessel and grease the inside of the vessel with oil.

In a small bowl, take lemon juice, cooking soda and one teaspoon oil and mix well. Add it to the batter and mix thoroughly. 

Now, pour the batter into the greased thali/vessel and place it in the steamer. 

Cover the thali/vessel with a lid and steam for ten minutes in medium flame. Turn off the flame and allow the steamer to cool.

When cool, take it out from the vessel and cut it into a squares and keep in a serving plate.

Heat one tablespoon oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds.
When the mustard seeds crackle, add sesame (til), slit green chillies and saute these.  Remove and pour over the Dhoklas.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and grated coconut (grated coconut is optional). 
Dhoklas can be taken as such or with chutney such as coriander chutney or pudina chutney

#gujaraticuisine, #breakfast, #indianrecipes, #vegetarianrecipes

Sukhiyan - Cooked Greengram-Jaggery balls dipped in wheat flour batter and fried

Sukhiyan (Sugiyan)

I remember the days when every tea shop in Kerala had a few standard snack items - Puttu (click here to view Puttu recipe), Pazham Pori (click here to view pazham pori recipe), Parippu Vada, Uzhunnu Vada, Appam (click here to view Appam recipe) and of course Sukhiyan. 

Now we are able to see this snack only in tea shops in village areas or small tea shops in cities... 

Many children today dont even know what a sukhiyan is... they want only junk snacks such as Kurkure, Lays etc :(

In fact it is a very nutritious dish because it contains green gram, jaggrey etc.

This is a typical tea-time snack... Children will also like it since its sweet too and hence can be given to school... 

Ingredients for Sukhiyan

Green gram/Moong - 1.5 cup
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Jaggery - 500gms
Cardamom - 4 nos.
Salt - 1/2 tspn

Process to prepare Sukhiyan

Clean the moogdal and cook in pressure cooker. Donot over-cook the moongdal. 

If the greengram gets overcooked, then it would become paste like while mixing and the sukhiyan would not come out well.

Powder the cardamom and keep it aside. 

Drain out the excess water (if there) from the moong dal.

Take a pan and heat in low flame. Powder/crush the jaggery and put it into the pan. Add 50ml of water into it and make it syrup-like. Add the cardamom powder into it.

Once it is ready, add the cooked green gram into it and mix it well. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until water vaporises and we get a dry mixture.

Allow it to cool down. Make small balls of this mix and keep them aside.

In a bowl, put the all purpose flour. Add salt and make a thick batter. 
I am sorry for not posting the pics of the batter...I could not take the photos since my hands were full of batter :(

Take a frying pan, pour oil (to fry the balls) and heat the oil in meduim flame. Once the oil is hot, dip each of the balls in the batter and fry them in the oil in low-medium flame.

Once the balls turn light brown, remove from the oil and drain the oil. 

Sukhiyan is ready... This is a typical tea time snack...

#sukhiyan; #keralarecipes; #teatimesnacks; #kidsrecipes

Indian Coffee House style Masala Dosa

Indian Coffee House Masala Dosa

Most women like Masala Dosa isnt it?? Most men dont!! There are many other things that men like!!
My mother's favourite is Masala Dosa and so is mine...

Click here to view my earlier blog post on Masala Dosa.

The Masala Dosa @ Indian coffee house tastes different since they use beetroot too in the masala...The way the masala is prepared is also different...

Unique ICH@Trivandrim

I heard about the Indian Coffee house (ICH) from my dad since this is his fav. hotel @ Ernakulam for snacks... My hubby also likes the ICH... 

In Chennai we used to go to the ICH @ T-Nagar often a few years back... Recently when we went to Pondicherry, we went to the ICH situated @  Jawaharlal Nehru Street (as shown on the right)... It was pure nostalgia...

Ingredients

Beetroot - 1 medium sized
Potato - 1 medium
Carrot - 1 medium
Onion - 1 medium
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tspn
ChillyPowder - 1/2 tspn
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tspn
Urad dal - 1tspn
Ginger - a small piece
Green chillies - 3 nos
Curry leaves - 8-10 small leaves
Salt - to taste

Process

Clean and wash the potatoes, beetrot and carrot. 

Peel them and cut it into 2-3 pieces and put them into a pressure cooker. Pour 200 ml of water and sook these in full flame for two whistles and in low flame for one whistle.

Once the pressure of the cooker is released, open the lid and mash the cooked vegetables. Keep it aside.

Chop onions and green chillies lengh-wise. Keep them aside.

Take oil in a frying pan and put the mustard seeds. once they splutter, put the urad dal. Once the urud dal turn brown, add the curry leaves.

Then add the chopped onions, add little salt for frying them faster. Once the onions becomes light brown, add the chopped green chillies and saute them for a couple of minutes. Then add turmeric powder and chilly powder. Mix these well.

Then add the mashed vegetables (potato,carrot,beetrot) into the sauteed onions and mix well... 

The masala for the masala dosa is ready.

Next we will prepare the dosa.

Take a dosa tawa and heat in high flame. Lightly brush it with oil preferably sesame (til/gingelly) oil. 

If  you are using a non-stick pan, do not brush the tawa with oil; if you do so you will not able to spread the batter on the tawa. 

Take a ladle (around 50 ml) of dosa batter and pour it into the dosa tawa. Spread it on the tawa to form a thin and large circle. Spread oil or ghee over the dosa. Ghee is more tasty and healthy.

When it is cooked, it starts to turn brown. Put 2 tablespoons of the masala prepared earlier and spread it on one half of the dosa. 

Fold the dosa in half to cover the masala... 

Indian coffee house Masala Dosa is ready. Serve with coconut chutney...

#indiancoffeehouse, #indiancoffeehousemasaladosa, #breakfastrecipes, #southindianrecipes, #dosarecipes, #vegrecipes

Bhaji for Pav Bhaji

In my previous post, I wrote about Pav - click here to view that post.

Now I write about the dish used to eat Pav with - which is called Bhaji in Marathi, which essentially means dish of fried vegetables.

Ingredients to make Bhaji

Potatoes - 4nos
Tomatoes - 4 nos
Cauliflower - 1/4 th
Onion - 2 nos
Pav bhaji masala - 1 1/2 tbsn (we used Everest Pav Bhaji masala)
Butter - 3 tbsn
Garlic - 10 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Green chllies - 4 nos
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Lemon - 2 nos
Coriander leaves-1/4 cup

Process to make Bhaji

Clean the potatoes and cut it into half and keep it aside.

Wash the Cauliflower with a bit of turmeric powder and salt in hot water (it helps to remove all the germs/worms if any inside it). 

In a pressure cooker, add these 2 vegetables, add enought water for it to cook and close the pressure cooker. Allow 1 whistle in high flame followed by 2 whistles in low flame. 

Keep aside.

Meanwhile, make the ginger -garlic paste by grinding in mixie. You can buy ready-made paste too but making these @ home is always better to avoid consuming unnecessary preservatives. 

Chopped the onions and tomatoes keep it aside.

Once the pressure in the cooker is down, open the lid and add peas. Here I used fresh peas, so I put it after the potatoes and cauliflower are cooked. If you are using the dry peas, you need to cook that separately in the cooker first. 

Heat oil in a pan and add 2 nos. of chopped onions. 
Saute them till they turn light brown. 

Add chopped green chillies and ginger garlic paste. Stir fry for half a minute. 

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes stirring continously or till oil  separates from the masala. 

Add the cooked potatoes and cauliflower and peas .

Bring it to a boil and simmer for ten minutes, pressing with the back of the spoon/ladle. 

Add pav bhaji masala into this, add salt to taste and mix it well. Cook it for 5-10 minutes.

Garnish the Bhaji with chopped coriander leaves, butter and serve hot with Pav.

#pavbhaji, #snacks, #maharashtrarecipes, #streetrecipes, #vegrecipes, #indianrecipes

Pav (a form of Bun) in Pressure cooker

Preparing the Pav (a form of bun) of Pav-Bhaji in pressure cooker

Click here to view my post on Bhaji used in Pav-Bhaji

My next item is also a item cooked in pressure cooker though not using the pressure of the pressure cooker :) 

Pav in pressure cooker...

First I thought it would not be easy, since Pav (a form of bun) is usually baked in an oven and not in a cooker...but I have managed to make it, thanks to a youtube video :) 

The idea of making the Pav came when I ate it @ Ganga sweets and it tasted good. The pav was so soft-I was impressed. Fortunately (thank god) the one that I made is also soft. The other reason for making this pav is that in our gated community there was a dandia programme during navaratri and many items such as pav-bhaji, bhelpuri, cholebhature etc. were being served. That too inspired me to give it a try!!

I cannot imagine that I made it since I thought its very tough... Now I can confidently say that you all can try and make it... 
In my next post, I will write about the Bhaji (side dish for Pav)!

For now, lets get into making the pav...

Ingredients for PAV

All purpose flour (maida) - 1 cup
Butter - around 90 gm
Milk - 100 ml

Milk powder - 1 tblspn

Yeast - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tblsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Milk and butter for brushing

Process

Take warm milk, add sugar and yeast. Stir and keep aside for 10 -15 minutes. This is to prepare proofed yeast mixture.

Next, take a vessel, pour the all purpose flour, salt & milk powder and mix these well.

Add the proofed yeast mixture into the flour with your hands and make this into a soft pasty kind of dough.

Next add the butter and knead it thoroughly. Continue kneading for 10- 15 minutes till it becomes soft.

After 10-15 minutes of kneading, this will become a very soft dough.

Place this  into a bowl and coat the dough on top with a little bit of oil, and cover it with a damp cloth. Keep aside and let it be there for 1 hour.

Once it doubles in volume, take the dough out, sprinkle a bit of flour and knead one more time.

Divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Roll them with your palms and shape each in one like  pav and place in the cake die.

Then cover the cake die with a cloth and leave for another 45 minutes or more, till its risen.



Once the pav is risen brush them with milk.

In a pressure cooker/pan, add 300 ml of water. 

Place a separator plate in the cooker and then place the cake die on the separator plate. The cake die MUST NOT touch the bottom of the cooker and hence the separator plate. 

Donot put the whistle. Put the cooker in high flame. Once the steam starts coming out from the cooker, switch to low flame and steam for 30 minutes.

Take them out once they are baked well. Brush the tops with butter. 

Now take a damp cloth and cover the die for  a minimum of 20-30 minutes.

This is the Pav used in Pav-Bhaji

Before serving with Bhaji, heat butter in a thick bottomed tawa. Slice pav horizontally into two and fry in a butter for half a minute.

Press the pav on the tawa a few times till the pav is little brown in colour and soft.

#pavbhaji, #snacks, #maharashtrarecipes, #streetrecipes, #vegrecipes, #indianrecipes

Idly

Idly using mixie (mixer)

My next recipe is how to make Idly (and Dosa too) batter in a mixie (mixer). This would be useful for those who do not have a grinder @ home. Most of us love idly - which is the staple food in most of South India; north Indians also love it. I have also tourists from abroad eating Idly with much enthusiasm :) Hope they too like this humble but very healthy and tasty breakfast dish.

So lets see how to make Idly batter in a mixie. The mixie that I am using is the good old Sumeet Mixie.

Usually I use grinder for preparing Idly/dosa batter. But, when urgent and when there is no time to use a grinder I use my mixie to make the batter. 

I like idly-sambar-chutney combination and my mothers special  ully chammanthi (shallots stir fried with red chilly powder). My mother makes this ully chammathi with the small onions (shallots) but i am so lazy to clean it and make this dish. Anyways lets come to the point.

Since Idly is a steamed dish, the batter quality is very important to make it soft and fluffy.

When I make idly in grinder I donot not add any thing - only the idly rice and urad dal. It  comes out well. 

But when I make the batter in mixie I add some cooked rice into it to make the idlis soft. 

However, the taste is greatly enhanced when the batter is made in grinder. 

Here  how i make in my mixie.

Ingredients for Idly batter

Boiled Rice (not raw rice) - 4 cups

Urad dal - 1 cup

Cooked rice - 1 cup

salt as required

Process for Idly batter

Clean and soak both rice and urad dal for 6-7 hrs separately. Drain the soak water completely and take the dal mixture in the mixie . Add 1/2 cup of water and grind for 3-4 minutes. Urad dal will grind easily. Open the lid and look it whether it has become a smooth paste. Other wise mix it for a minute or so. 

Then remove the batter in and keep it in a  big vessel.

Urud Dal Batter

If the mixie jar has got heated up, please allow it to rest for 5 min, else would have to take it soon to the repair shop :)

(I have had such bad experiences...)

Next, drain the water from the soaked rice and  put it into the jar. Add the cooked rice into the jar and pour 1/2 cup water and grind for 3-4 minutes. 

Now open the lid and check whether the rice is coarse or grainy. If its not very smooth, grind it till it becomes smooth. Add 1/4 cup of water if the batter is too hard. 
Add water only if required...Idly batter MUST NOT BE FREE FLOWING. It must be thick and viscous.

Rice Batter - before and after grinding

Remove the batter and mix it with the urad dal batter that you had prepared earlier and kept aside. Mix it well with your hands for easy fermentation. In the cold climates the batter will not ferment soon. Using your hands for mixing urad dal and rice batter aids in faster fermentation. 

Keep it for fermentation overnight.

final fermented batter ready for use

The next morning the batter will be fermented and raised. Add around 1.5 tablespoons of salt (you can add less or more as per your taste). Mix it thoroughly (the urud batter has a tendency to raise up and settle at the top and rice batter will settle at the bottom. Hence its important to mix the batter vigorously using a ladle. 
Now, apply oil using your hand on the idly plate. This is to ensure that the idly doesnot stick to the plate after steaming.
Once the batter is mixed thoroughly, take a ladle-full of batter and pour it into the idly plate as shown. Idly will bulge after steaming, so take the batter in small quantities to make small sized idlies. 

Steam it for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for around 5 min. Donot wait for the idlies to cool down. 

Take the idly plates one by one and sprinkle some water in all the idlies. Then take it out, one by one and it will come out very easily.

Hot Idlies are ready!! Can be served with Sambar, Chutney, Idli podi (spicy powder for idli prepared with lentils and spices)

#idlyrecipes, #breakfastrecipes, #ricerecipes, #indianrecipes, #kidsrecipes, #keralarecipes, #tamilrecipes, #vegrecipes

Pesarattu Dosa or Moong Dal Dosa

Pesarattu is a Dosa like preparation  native to Andhra Pradesh. It is made with green gram and eaten as a snack or breakfast meal. It is often served with ginger chutney and  Rava upma,  also known as MLA pesarattu. It is very easy to make and good for children because it includes moong dal or green gram.

Primarly, green gram has huge nutrition benefits and is one of the prime sources of protien. It can be eaten as a sprout mixed with lemon juice and a pinch of salt - its excellent for children as it improves memory power. It cooks fast and has a sweetish flavour.  

Ingredients for pesarattu

Whole Green Grams- 1 cup

Raw Rice - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 5 nos
Cummin seeds - one tea spoon
Ginger- 1 piece
Chopped onions - 1 no.

Process

Wash and soak green gram and raw rice in a two seperate bowl for 5 to 6hrs.

Grind the rice and dal in separately in a mixer/grinder and mix it well. Add required salt to the batter and and keep it for fermentation for 5-6 hours.
Wash and clean green chillies and ginger. Grind these along with the cumin seeds into a paste.
Mix this paste into the batter and add water if required to get the right consistency.

Chop onions into small pieces. Keep it aside.

Take a tawa/pan/griddle and Heat it. Take a ladle full of batter and pour it in the centre of the griddle and spread  the moong dal dosa batter into a round shape. Sprinkle some of the finely chopped onions.Drizzle oil at the sides and centre. Cook in medium flame. 
Once the dosa is half cooked, turn dosa on to the other side till both sides are well cooked and brown. It would be a bit crispy. Make it this way and serve it with ginger chutney, coconut chutney or coriander chutney.

#andhrarecipes; #moongdal, #greengram, #dosa, #kidsrecipes