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).

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.

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.

Experiment: Quick fix Peanut Onion chutney

 An experiment. A tasty one.

Late last evening, I was hungry and had to fend for myself. the in-laws had duties relating to their son's wedding which they had to attend to. Expecting them to return and then cook is unfair. Also, it was a chance for me to try out something new. We had some batter for dry rice rotis which my mom-in-law would have for dinner. Made some hot rice for the others. With rice, we had only rasam and no vegetables.

Quick idea: a chutney which can be mixed with rice and will also taste good with the rotis. Checked for the veggies and supplies readily available at home to mae it as simple and quick a preparation as possible.

Took a cup of peanuts and put them in the mocrowave to roast. 3 sessions of 1 min each and put it aside to cool. took about 5 onions and cut them into thich slices. Sauteed them in oil for just a bit, with green chillies and allowed it to cool.

Put the onions, chillies, peanuts, salt and an inch of tamarind into the mixer. After a minute of grinding, added some water. Figured it was tooooooooooooo salty (i can never get the proportions right with rock salt). So, chopped 2 more onions and put it into the mixie (without sauteing, this time, as i was in a hurry). This neautralized the saltiness. Also added a handful of roasted chana dal for taste. Ran all these in the mixie for one more minute till it became a thick fine paste. for those who want it liquidy, just add more water.

Garnished it with the regular seasoning (oil, mustard seeds, jeera, and asafoetida and a few curry leaves). This took me less than 10 minutes to make. My dad-in-law and sathys thoroughly enjoyed the chutney.

It's quite tasty when eaten with piping hot rice. Am thinking it'll also serve as a tasty dip with crudites / crackers.