Bisi Bele Bhath (BBB)

My version is a quick fix meal. One pot. 30 minutes. Ready to eat.

So here's what I do - a meal (or probably 2 meals!) for a family of 3.

Chop whatever veggies you have handy. I had: beans, potatoes, carrots, onion, broad beans, and green pepper. Large chunks are preferred. 

Wash and soak 2 small cups of rice. If you're not a fan of white rice, you may use broken wheat (lapsi / Godi nuchchu) / millets (pearl millets / foxtail millets). Set aside for about 20 minutes or so, if you have this planned out. Else, if this is a last minute quick fix,  wash and use immediately. 

My Masala mix: I also use a ready mix sambar powder**. 1 Tbsp of this sambar powder mix. To this I add 1 tbsp of regular BBB powder, 1 tsp dhania powder, 1 tsp jeera powder, a small piece of jaggery, 1/4 tsp garam masala.

In the rice cooker, heat oil, add a tsp of mustard and let it splutter. Then add jeera, turmeric and asafoetida (hing). Then toss in all the chopped veggies, the washed rice, the masala mix and water*. At this point, you may also add a lot of chopped / whole curry leaves. And let it cook away.

Keep stirring in between so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the vessel. Just as it is getting ready, after about 25 minutes, when you see that the rice and the veggies are cooked well, add 1.5 tsp of tamaring paste and give it a good stir. Top it with coconut milk or dessicated fresh coconut.

 In about 30 minutes, your BBB will be ready to eat.

If using a pressure cooker, the same procedure applies, then allow it to cook for 3- 4 whilstles. In this case, add the tamarind paste after opening the cooker and cook for a few more minutes till it gets incorporated.  

A lot of people prefer adding the tadka after the BBB is ready. You may do that too. I find it tedious and it's not really a 'one-pot' dish if I have to use a tadka pan ;)


*The usual proportion of water for my sona masoori raw rice is 3 cups of water to 1 cup rice. For BBB, i usually add 2 -3 extra cups of water in the end. 
**If this is not available, replace with 1 cup of uncooked and soaked tur dal + an additional spoon of regular BBB powder. 

Accompaniments: You can make this tastier by including khara boondi / bombay mixture / Sandige (traditional south Indian fryums)/ fried Balaka chillies / papad / potato chips. Anything fried is a good accompaniment :). Also a raita - boondi / onion-tomato raita goes well with BBB. 

Overall: Tess than 1 tbsp oil. a good serving of veggies. A full meal in itself. Can easily subsitute rice with broken wheat / millets. 

Enjoy!

Rava idli with Bombay Sagu

I'm not a huge fan of idlis. They're always a go to breakfast in most homes I know.  They are the preferred choice if you are ordering breakfast from outside, given the crazy number of darshinis around my home. They arr a saviour on days when you just don't want to cook. .but even on those days, I'd rather cook than eat idlis.

My husband and the kid totally <3 idlis. They can eat idlis all year long. Their love for idlis is somewhat like my love for noodles.  So I end up making idlis AT LEAST once a week an we always have a big dabba of batter in my fridge.  Just in case idli craving strikes at odd times.

Today, for a change, I decided to cook an elaborate breakfast. Complete with a fitting side dish. Rava idlis with Bombay sagu.

While the thought of ig seemed elaborate, it's pretty simple to make. And I prefer to take an easier way out.

The Rava idlis wete a no brainer as I used a ready mix and followed instructions on the pack. I prefer to add some salt, finely chopped green chillies and curry leaves to the ready mix. I like them spicy and so do the husband and kid. Steamed them in a pressure cooker on the 'idli' setting on my induction cooktop for exactly 12 minutes. After that, they need to rest for at least 5 more minutes before prying them off the idli plates.

The Bombay Sagu (potato and onion gravy) is also just as simple. I made enough for 4 adults with some to be eaten with lunch or dinner. Here's what I used:

4 large potatoes boiled, peeled and roughly mashed
4 large onions, thinly sliced into half moons
A fistful of boiled green gram (heserakalu) just because I had them handy. This is optional.
An inch long piece of ginger, julienned
Juice of 1 lime
A pinch of garam masala
Salt and sugar to taste
4 roughly chopped green chillies
For the tempering: a tsp of oil, mustard, ajwain, curry leaves, jeera and a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
A handful of finely chopped coriander

In a deep pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds.  Once the mustard is done with the crazy drama, add in other items mentioned to the tempering.  Add   chopped ginger, green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn pink annd start to wilt. Then add the mashed potatoes, boiled green gram, 1 cup of water, salt, sugar and garam masala.  Stir well and allow it to simmer for a few minutes on a low flame. Add the chopped coriander and lime juice and mix well.

If the sagu is too watery for your liking, here's a little trick. Mix a tsp of whole wheat flour in some water to make a thick paste. Add this to the simmering curry and stir well immediately.  Within a few minutes you'll notice the watery sagu turning into a deliciously thick gravy. OR add just enough water and not a whole green cup and resort to damage control later!!! :p

Serve hot idlis with a generous dollop of ghee and watch it melt. A bowl of hot sagu next to the idlis completes the picture.  Enjoy!!

Mixed veg akki rotti

Akki rotti (rice flour rotis patted down on a tawa and cooked) is a  regular item in our breakfast menu. And it is sooooo versatile.  You can have akki rotti with different combination of veggies every day for a whole week. The most common ones are with cooked avarekalu and dill. I usually make them with whatever is available in my fridge.

This one is with finely chopped capsicum , onion, grated knol khol and flaxseeds (yea..ever since the health scare, I've been using these magical seeds in almost everything)

Today's version had

1 grated knol khol
1 large onion and 1 small capsicum finely chopped
1 tbsp flaxseeds - toasted

Basic akki rotti recipe (to which you can add your choice of veggies)

2 cups fine rice flour (makes about 8-10 medium sized thin rottis)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp Ajwain 

2-3 green chillies finely chopped

Salt to taste
Fresh dessicated coconut (optional)
Finely chopped fresh coriander and curry leaves.

Its quite simple actually. Put all ingredients, including veggies in a large mixing bowl and bring it together with your hands, adding water as you go. It should resemble a dry chapati dough.

I prefer to let the dough rest for at least 30 mins as this allows the juices of the veggies to mix well with the dough giving it extra flavour. You can make rottis immediately if you are in a hurry.

Since the dough tends to stick to your hands as you try to pat it down on a non stick tawa , I like to keep a bowl of water next to me.  I wet my hands thoroughly and then pat a medium sized ball of dough on the tawa to form a thin round rotti.  I like to make 5 (exactly 5!! Am weird that way. .a creature of habit) holes in the rotti and put little drops of oil into those holes. This also helps the rotti cook evenly. Each rotti needs a max of half tsp oil... and if you ate using a non stick tawa, you can just add a few drops of oil.

Then it goes on the stove on high flame covered with a glass lid so that you can keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't burn.  It may take about 3-4 minutes. And the top gets cooked by the steam , so there's no need to flip the rotti.

We like our rottis soft so we take them off the stove sooner.  If you like them crispy, leave them on high flame for a few more minutes.

Once done , smearvrge rottis with ghee (clarified butter) and serve hot with any of the chutneys. Other great accompaniments with this are: jaggery and clarified butter, chutney powder mixed in thick curd or any simple subzi made of leafy veggies. The most popular accompaniment is the brinjal yennagayi (spicy purply brinjals in oil).

Rice noodles - with an Italian twist

My 3 year old loves noodles. Just like his mom. Both of us can eat noodles 365 days. I love maggi but I dont trust it enough to give it to my son. So we have south Indian maggi - akki shavige / rice noodles. :) I've managed to convince him that this is the real maggi! :p

I know it won't be long before he figures that akki shavige and maggi are not the same thing...but till then, this is what he's going to get every time he asks for maggi.
A local brands of roasted akki shavige (anil) is what I use. They also have a ragi shavige which is a regular in my kid's snack box. And its so versatile. ..it goes with any flavor, seasoning or gravy. And takes 3-5 minutes to make.

Today the wanted to eat pasta (yea he's born to foodie parents!) And we'd run out of pasta at home. So akki shavige came to the rescue.  And one more trick..I boiled it in milk instead of water so he had his share of milk as well! You've got to be clever with kids.

1 cup milk
Salt to taste
Chilli flakes
Any veggies that you may want to add (I didn't add any)
A pinch of garam masala
Any herbs that you might want to add
1.5 cups roasted akki shavige
A blob of butter

Put milk in a pan, add salt and and other ingredients and allow to come to a boil. Then add the rice noodles and allow it to simmer. After a minute , turn off the stove, add butter and cover with a lid. Let it rest for a few minutes befor serving.

My son enjoys spicy food. You can omit the chilli flakes and garam masala if you wish.

Note that the liquid should just cover the noodles so that you get separate strings. If theres too much water, it'll just be sticky and will look like one large ball of something.  Not noodles, for sure.

You can add shredded spinach and corn or peas or geated carrot to this right in the beginning. 

My son loved the twist and wasnt sure if he was eating pasta or noodles! :) served the purpose for me!

What do your kids enjoy eating?

Mint tomato & Flaxseed chutney

One more to my list of coconut free chutneys.

2 tbsp dry roasted chana dal
1 handful mint leaves - roasted
3 small tomatoes - roughly cut
1 onion roughly cut and slightly sautéed
1 small sized ball of tamarind / 1 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 tsp sugar / jaggery
1 tbsp dry roasted flaxseeds
Salt to taste

Ghee, hing, mustard and curry leaves for tempering.

Put all the ingredients in a mixie and buzz it till It becomes a smooth paste.  Transfer into a bowl and add the tempering.
Can be had with dosas, idlis, chapati, and as a bread spread. Ek teer, kaee nishaan ;) One chutney, many uses!

Note : In my house most chutneys are made in batches and excess put in the fridge immediately.  They stay for up to a week. I dont add the tempering to the batch that goes into the fridge as I like the mustard seeds to be fresh and crunchy.

Ridge gourd and peanut chutney

Ridge gourd (Heerekayi in kannada) is usually unpopular.  I remember eating this mostly as a chutney or as part of a mixed veg sambar...never on its own. Now that I've started cooking, I quite enjoy the simple flavours of a home style ridge gourd palya or a dal. But I always go back to making this chutney whenever I have ridge in my fridge! :p

The best part about this chutney is that you can substitute whole ridge gourd with just the peel. Yea..really! So when you peel a ridge for dal or subzi , set aside the peel don't discard it. Use it to make this yummy crunchy chutney.

You will need:

--1 medium sized ridge gourd, roughly cut into large chunks OR 1 cup ridge gourd peels
1/2 cup peanuts
1 tsp seasame seeds
A thumb nail size bit of jaggery
Juice of half lemon
Salt to taste.

In a dry non stick pan, toast the peanuts and seasame seeds till they turn brown. Set aside to cool. In the same pan, saute the ridge gourd or just the peels till they become soft and start wilting. You can add a few grains of sugar at this stage so that the ridges retain their beautiful fresh green colour. 

Then put all ingredients into the mixie and blend well. When it comes to this chutney am a little moody. I like to blend it into a smooth paste at times..to go with hot rice. At other times, I like to pulse it with a dash of olive oil and it becomes a tasty bread spread. So, d o what you want to! Once blended, add the line juice.

If you'd like to try it with hot rice and ghee, I would suggest topping it off with some wonderfully fragrant 'vaghaar' or 'vaggarane' (seasoning) of mustard, whole curry leaves and hing.

Enjoy!

Onion chutney

The husband is currently on a very strict diey and has been told to avoid anything with coconut.

The thing is we are South Indians and chutneys are an important part of all our favourite recipes. This is a big challenge for me..to make chutneys without one of the core ingredients. ..coconut. I made this onion chutney and it turned out quite well.  So I have it on my list and here's the recipe

This is enough to mage a big bowl of chutney

3 large onions cut into quarters. .
2 tbsp bengal gram dhal, dry roasted
3-4 Fresh green or dry red chillies
1 tsp tamarind pulp
1/4 tsp jaggery
Salt to taste
Mustard, asafoetida (hing) and curry leaves for seasoning

Take a non stick pan  and with a few drops of oil, sauté the onions until they turn pink. Then roast the chana dal. Once they have have cooled, pit all ingredients into the mixer an d blend well with just enough water. Then heat a vaghaar pan, add 1 tsp oil, mustard.  Once the mustard crackles and settles down, add curry leaves and hing and turn off thw heat. Pour this fragrant seasoning over tje chutney and mix well to incorporate.

This tastes great with dosas and idlys. I used aome leftover chutney as a bread spread and it worked well. :) so go ahead and try it out!

This chutney tastes good for when thick. I dont like it thin and runny.