Ganji Dosa with Ulli Karam, Aloo Masala | Porridge Crepes with Onion Spice paste, Potato Curry ~ 101 Dosa Varieties!

It was typically one of those moments when you felt you had the gold pot in your hand. Well not really a gold pot but rather a recipe that brings back golden memories. This happened when I was talking to Amma on her latest Dosa recipe that she was telling me. In passing she mentioned, "You know you always said you loved those Dosas that your Ammamma made, well to what I remember this was what she used to make". It was all said so casually that I might have missed if I hadn't paid attention to what she was saying.

I plead guilty of being distracted at times when either Amma or Athamma are in their recipe narrations. Not that I am not interested but in the sense I hardly can remember so many recipes that they tell me. Nor is my memory so accurate to recite a recipe with its proportion just like that. Well I was glad that I was paying attention because I had to make this Dosa and to finally write this post.

I can still remember that aroma whiffing out of my grandmom's chimney! During our summer holidays when we visit them, we used sleep on the terrace. They allow us to sleep late, hoping that we will be up when the hot sun shines on us. But much before that, I used to wake up with that delicious aroma of Dosa being made. I am not sure I can aptly put in words the way it smells. But imagine getting up from dreams to land into heaven again!

The Dosas look pristine white, so delicate and soft, yet taste so heavenly. Served with Groundnut Chutney that can only taste as good as it can be, if ground in mortar and pestle. The best combo I have ever eaten, the dosas would be porous and soft, with smoke infused smell as it was cooked on a stove that used wood, it leaves a unforgettable mark in your memory

Those days, as there were no grinders, the batter was made by pounding rice. The powder is then mixed with water and left to ferment. Amma says her mother used to make porridge with the final left out grains that doesn't get pound into fine powder. This porridge was then mixed into the batter.

We can call this Kanji Dosa with Onion paste with Kalagu Curry in Tamil.

Potato is called as Bangaladumpa in some parts of Andhra.

Ganji Dosa with Ulli Karam, Aloo Masala

Ingredients Needed :

Gaji Dosa

Raw rice - 2 cups
Urad dal - 50 gms
Methi / Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for making dosas
Rice flour - 1 tsp

Ulli Karam

To make paste enough for 4 dosas

Onions 1 medium
Green Chilis - 2 medium
coconut -  1/3 cup
Jaggary - 1 tsp

To make the Potato Masala

Method to prepare:

To make the Gaji Dosa/ Porridge Dosa

Wash and soak the raw rice for 4 hrs. Once done, grind the rice and ferment overnight.

Next morning make rice porridge with 1 tsp of rice flour. Allow it to cool and mix it to the fermented batter.

To make the Ulli Karam

Take green chili, onions in a bowl and boil till the chillies turn colour. Then cool the ingredients, add coconut, jaggary, salt and grind everything together


Make Potato Curry and keep it ready

To Make the Dosas

Heat a tawa and grease oil over it. Scoop a ladle of batter and spread into thin crepes, Sprinkle oil on sides.

Spread a spoon of the Ulli karam all over the dosa. Scoop the potato masala in the middle and roll the dosa as you do with the regular masala dosa.

Another entry for my Breakfast Mela!

Microwave Carrot Kofta Curry Recipe | Step By Step Recipe

I made this Carrot Kofta Curry to be paired with Subz Pulao. It was quite a combo, though I felt it would have been much better with Naans. I felt the pulao was spicy on its own and would be fine with a raitha. This was the first time I was ever making a Koftas with Carrot and I was wondering how a kofta would hold up it's shape in microwave. I was pleasantly surprised that the shape was retained.

Just two more days to go for the school to close for the boys and they are so restless. But imagine my plight when Konda's and the twins common holiday is only for May. Come June I will again have to plan for lunch boxes. It becomes quite a task getting them agree to something they will want to eat. So when I made this Subz pulao, one wanted only the beans, while the other carrot. So it was a lunch that was exclusively for the elders at home.

This was another recipe I adapted from MW recipe book. The recipe called for Raisins to be stuffed in the Koftas but I avoided it completely. Though later I realized that might have balanced the spice in the koftas.

The book has many such pretty looking gravies, that I am planning to make. so look out!

Step by Step pictures.

Microwave Carrot Kofta Curry Recipe

Ingredients Needed

For the gravy

Onion - 1 medium, puree
Tomato - 2 medium, puree
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves for garnish

For koftas:

Carrots - 2 medium, grated
Bread slices - 2 (churned in mixer)
Green Chili, chopped - 1
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Yogurt - 1 tbsp

Method to prepare:

For the gravy:

Mix onion paste with oil, turmeric powder, garam masla and red chilli powder in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes.

Add the tomato puree, mix and microwave for 5 more minutes.
Add 1 cup of water, microwave for 6 more minutes and keep aside.

For the koftas:

Grate Carrots. Then mix carrots with all the ingredients for koftas.

Mix well. Make round balls. Place them on a greased micro safe plate, microwave for 3 minutes.

At the time of serving, place koftas in a serving dish pour the curry over them and microwave for two minutes and serve warm.

Notes:
I made small koftas and got about 12 of them.
Original recipe calls for Chaat masala and Raisins to be added to the koftas but I didn't add them.
If you want to add the raisins, stuff them in the middle when you make the balls.

Sending this to Lataji who wanted us to make a lunch box menu using Microwave for Microwave Easy Cooking event that she is guest hosting this month.

Saboot Masala Subz Pulao in Microwave | Step By Step Recipe

When Lataji said she was disappointed that the Cauliflower Peas Pulao I posted was not made in microwave, I promised her that I will make a dish specially for her. So since it was off for me yesterday, I decided that I will make a combo meal for hubby dear in the microwave and please two birds in one shot. Meaning hubby dear says I am not using the microwave enough in actually cooking as such in making pulaos or curries. Imagine his pleasant surprise knowing that both the dishes were out from the microwave.

It was a hectic day at home, with kids wanting me to make them muffins and biscuits. I made both and it all vanished within minutes. One new version I made with baked biscuits I had sense enough to click picture and the muffins turned out super crumbly that I ate more than my share.

Microwave Subz Pulao with Carrot Kofta Curry ~ Our Lunch

Coming back to the Pulao, the Microwave oven came with a recipe book by Nita Mehta and has colourful pictures of dishes made completely in Microwave. I decided I should first try out all those recipes listed. Surprisingly this is the only vegetarian rice recipe in the book. It has many gravy ideas, most of them look really drool worthy.

This Pulao is very interesting as it uses Saboot Masala in a bag. The spice bad concept sounds very nice and I might be trying it out for my kid's pulao as we have tough job parsing all the spices from their plate. As I always say, cooking in microwave leaves your mind hassle free. Not that you don't have to worry what happens, yes you do have to. Yet somehow you can think of doing other chores as it gets cooked.

Update: Saboot by definition means whole and in this pulao it should be used as whole spices. The book asks us to crush the spices, I seem to have misunderstood and almost powered it.  But even otherwise, it is supposed to be used as a whole spice mix. Thanks Niv for the clarification.

In my case it works out great because I won't have the work on getting the spice out for the kids.

In a microwave safe bowl, take oil, ginger & garlic paste, potato, carrots and beans. Microwave for 3 minutes.

Crush the saboot masala in a mixer couple of times

Tie the masala in a small muslin cloth.

When the vegetables are done, add rice, chili powder, haldi, spice bag. Micro for 6 min.

Add tomatoes, mint, coriander green chillies. Stir gently with a fork. Microwave covered for 7 minutes.

Wait for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Remove spice bag

Subz Pulao with Saboot Masala in microwave Recipe.

Ingredients Needed:

Basmati Rice - 1 & 1/2 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Red Chilli powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp

Water - 3 cups

Vegetables:

Potato - 1 medium
Carrots - 1 long
French Beans - 5 -6
Tomato 1 medium
Green chillies 3 cut into thin strips
Mint leaves 5 leaves
Coriander leaves 5 -6 twigs

Spice Bag (crush together & tie in a piece of muslin cloth)

Black pepper corns  - 10
Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
Green cardamom - 4
Black cardamom - 4
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 2 sticks

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak rice for 20 - 30 minutes. When cooking in microwave, more it soaks it gets well cooked.

Then clean and chop the vegetables.

Pulse the spices in a mixer for couple of times. Take the spice blend in a muslin cloth and tie it together.

In a microwave safe bowl, take oil, ginger & garlic paste, potato, carrots and beans. Microwave for 3 minutes.

Drain the soaked rice. Add the rice, 3 cups water, turmeric powder, red chilli powder & salt to the bowl. Mix well. Add the spice bag. Microwave covered for 6 minutes.

Stir in between to make sure the rice is mixed well.

Then add tomatoes, mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies. Stir gently with a fork. Microwave for 7 minutes.

Let it rest inside the oven for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Remove spice bag.

Serve with raita. I served with carrot Kofta curry

Notes:

The original recipe calls for 5 tbsp of oil, which I don't think I will ever be able to add. You can add cauliflower, peas and lemon juice which I didn't. You can also cook the pan covered after adding the tomatoes, I didn't.

Since the rice tends to be spicy on its own, you can simply serve this with raitha.

Sending this to Lataji who wanted us to make a lunch box menu using Microwave for Microwave Easy Cooking event that she is guest hosting this month. Have you sent in yet? 

Happy Sunday to all!

Other Microwave Indian Recipes

Coconut Vada | Coconut Fritters Indian Style

It's been so hot this entire week, you can imagine how hot if 6.30 am looks 10 am. So it's been such a pleasant surprise to have the sudden showers blessing us. Since last night it's been raining and the city dwellers were in for a nice day. Most of them enjoyed the entire day by going out and I am sure it will continue so for couple of days. I dread the hot summer again.

Today being a holiday for the boys, they were out of ideas on how to spend the whole day. Athamma was worried how they will manage their summer vacation that will soon start shortly. Though they look short of ideas, you will be impressed on how they keep themselves so well occupied. Peddu made his breakfast clear saying he wants Appam, while Chinnu wanted Chocos, their latest addiction. Seeing him opt for that, Peddu cancelled his order and wanted the same as his brother.

Konda has thought them to say "Order Order" when they all sit down to eat. Which only happens for couple of dishes. Rest you can either see Athamma running around or me doing the honours of feeding them. They eat themselves only if its appams and when one is done, they will call out Order Order, they even tip me after their meal. So it's kind of fun to see how they go about. 

Coming to recipe today, since it's raining, I thought I might post this deep fried delight. An innovative dish that Athamma thought of and we ended up making it often.

It's made with Freshly grated Coconut with Besan and spices. You can shallow fry it, if you want to avoid the oil. Else it tastes great.

Ingredients Needed:

Fresh Coconut, grated - 1 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Besan / Gram Flour - 3 tbsp
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp
Fried Gram flour / Putnala podi - 1 tbsp
Ajwain Seeds/ Vamu - 1/4 tsp
Bread Crumbs as required
Corn Flour - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep fry

Method to prepare:

Grate the coconut fresh. Take it in a bowl along with ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, besan, fried gram flour, corn flour and Vamu. Mix well

Sprinkle little water just enough for it to hold together. Divide into equal balls, and flat them into round vadas. Make sure they hold their shape.

Roll these vadas over bread crumbs and deep fry them in hot oil. Remove these are fried on both sides

Notes:

Add just enough water for the mix to hold the shape.
In the pan, add very little oil for the vadas to be immersed and not as you deep fry your regular fritters.
You will feel the crunchy taste of Coconut when you bite into it.

Enjoy your Vadas with a cup of coffee!

Have a great weekend ahead.

Onion Dosa | Indian Crepe with Onions ~ 101 Dosa Varieties!

As a self professed hard core lover of Dosas of all types, I can't but get excited when I am trying a new Dosa variety. It was my aim to cover 101 types of Dosas, though I have only about 35 of them till date. This Onion dosa had always being on top of my mind, ever since I read about it in a paper cutting that has been with me for years now. But reading the recipe, I realised that the instructions weren't clear, which got me relook at my own instructions wanting to make sure my readers don't get into such soup! In the end I had to tweak the recipe as per our taste.

I had posted this in Beyondcurries When we choose the theme as Indian Breads. I looked up to know what gets covered as part of Indian Breads, I was pleasantly surprised to see that even crepes or Dosas are part of Indian Bread. So I was keen on expanding my knowledge by trying yet another type. This dosa is very similar to the regular Adai that is prepared, though its taste is elevated by adding onions and other ingredients.

I was particularly looking for one that doesn't require fermentation or long hours of soaking. Having a full time job, imagine the hassle you will have, if you have to worry about soaking the dals for hours and then again fermenting it. It surely ends up as a regular lengthy process.

Whenever I make Dosas that are instant, of course not as instant as Goduma Dosa or Rava Dosa which only needs 15 mins of soaking time, these are instant in sense you don't have to worry whether they ferment well or not. Of course the down side of this is that, you don't always have a crispy crepe in process. But then for a Dosa lover, any dosa is fine by standards.

You can still get these dosas crisp by adding Rice flour and making the batter really thin. But that again takes practice in spreading the batter properly. So forgot the hassle and enjoy as such. This dosa is one good variety to try if you are bored of the usual ones.

With the Breakfast Mela, I thought I should work on my list again to make it close to 101 Dosa varieties if not the entire number.

Onion Dosa ~ Onion Crepes

Soaking Time : For the dals 4- 5 hours
Fermenting Time / Resting Time for the batter : 30 - 60 mins
Preparation Time for batter : 10 mins
Yields : 10 medium dosas or more

Ingredients Needed:

Channa Dal - 50 gms
Toor Dal - 50 gms
Raw Rice - 50 gms
Fresh Coconut grated - 50 gms
Onions - 2 medium
Dry Red Chili - 4 nos (as per taste)
Salt to taste
Tamarind - small gooseberry
Fresh Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Oil for cooking the dosas

Procedure

Wash and soak the dals and rice for 4- 5 hours. Grind to fine paste and let to rest for 1 hour.
Soak Tamarind separately in a bowl till soft and extract pulp.
Grind Onions, Red chilis, coconut, coriander leaves to fine paste.
Then mix this onion paste, tamarind pulp, salt to the ground batter.
Heat a tawa or pan with oil, pour one ladleful of batter and spread as a dosa. Sprinkle oil on top.
Cook on one side and flip on the other side.

Coconut Chutney

Notes

The batter should be thin and cooked on medium flame so that the dosa comes out crispy.
The batter can be soaked for longer hours too but after grinding you can store it in the fridge.
Red chilies can be increased as per taste.
I have used only about 50 gms of all, yet after soaking and grinding I had more batter than I thought. So adjust accordingly to your requirement keeping in mind the proportions.

How to make Sambar - Tirunelveli Style | Step by Step Recipe | Lunch Box Series : LBS#61

Being from South of India, Sambar is almost a staple for us at home. Though in Andhra sambhar is not supposed to be a native dish. Yet these days it's quite common to hear it being prepared frequently. But when you talk about Tamil Nadu and the way Sambar is made, well it's inevitable that there are many ways to make this simple dish.

Even though I make Sambar almost twice or thrice at times a week, I was still tempted to learn the way this sambar was made by my colleague's mom. They hail from Tirunelveli, and this is the way they make their sambar. I am sure even this might vary from other families from the same city. Tirunelveli is famous for its Tirunelveli Halwa. I was happy knowing another delicacy from the place.

When I finally made it at home, I did forget some and by practice added some. Like my friend said they normally don't add tomatoes. But then I got it confirmed from her mom that tomato can be added. Well it's all what's available at hand finally I guess. Still this had lots of different steps involved. It tasted great with steaming Rice. I took this for my lunch and had fun.

Step By Step Pictures

Heat a pan with oil, saute shallot onions, Brinjal pieces, Green chilies till they turn light brown.

Add chopped tomatoes

In another pan, add 1 tsp oil, roast coconut, cumin seeds, shallot onions and 1/2 tsp bengal gram

Allow it to cool.

Meanwhile, stir the mashed tomatoes, add red chili powder, Coriander powder.

Next goes the tamarind extract and salt to taste

Bring it to boil

Add cooked toor dal to the pan, add required amount of water.

Make a smooth paste with the roasted ingredients. Add to the boiling dal.

Finally season it with curry leaves, methi seeds, Hing, Urad dal and mustard seeds.


Ingredients Needed:


Toor Dal, cooked - 1 cup
Tamarind extract - 2 tbsp (adjust to taste)
Shallot onions - 4
Tomato - 1 medium
Green chilies - 1 medium
Red chili  powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Brinjal - 3 medium
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Water - 2 cups

For the Ground paste

Coconut - 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Shallot Onions - 3

For Seasoning

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Asofoetida / Hing - a pinch
Curry leaves - 4- 5


Method to prepare:

Pressure cook Toor dal with twice its amount of water til soft. Keep it aside.

In a bowl soak Tamarind and extract the pulp from it. If you want you can mix the red chili powder, coriander powder and salt in this water and keep it aside. I normally prefer to add to the dal directly.

To make the ground paste:
In a separate pan, add 1 tsp oil, roast chopped Coconut, Cumin seeds, Small Onions and little Bengal gram. Allow it to Cool and grind to a smooth paste using water. This can be added raw but I wanted the roasted aroma of the coconut.

To make the Sambar:

In a pan, add shallot onions, brinjal pieces and green chilies. Sauté well.

Then add chopped tomatoes and fry till it's soft. Then add the Red chili powder, Coriander powder, tamarind extract and salt.

Simmer for 5 mins for everything to get cooked well. Then add the cooked dal, bring to boil.

Then add the ground paste required water to get required consistency.

Seasoning the Dal
Finally season by heat a pan with oil, add a pinch of hing, Curry leaves, methi seeds, Urad dal, mustard seeds. Pour this over the boiling dal.

Enjoy with Steaming Rice and vegetables.

Notes:
Different vegetables like Radish, Drumstick can be used.
You can make instant spice powder by roasting Dry Red chili, Coriander Seeds and Bengal Gram and powdering it to be added directly.
Tomatoes can be avoided if you want.

Check out other Rasam, Sambar, Kuzhambu 

Microwave Beans Paruppu Usli | Step by Step Recipes

Happy Sri Rama Navami to all my readers!

Panakam and Vada pappu are the Neivedyam that I made for today. Please check last year's Srirama Navami Pooja for the recipes.

Beans Paruppu Usili is one of my favorite poriyals that gets featured much in Tamil weddings. I make this poriyal in couple of different ways. Making it in Microwave was quite easy and you can spend your time doing something else.

Traditionally you steam the lentils before grating them. That version will follow suit. For today you can enjoy the microwave version.

Lataji wanted us to make a lunch box menu using Microwave for Microwave Easy Cooking event that she is guest hosting. And I am delighted to send her this dish.

Step by Step pictures

Bengal gram dal soaked, and to be ground with red chilies

 Ground dals

Finely chopped beans microwaved at 6 mins

Heat 1 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and micro for 1 min. then add the ground paste and micro for 3 - 4 mins

End of the cooking time, it has to appear well done, check and keep it for another minute if required.

Add the cooked beans to the dal and microwave for another 2 mins.

Mix well and it's all done.

Since I wanted it to come out very dry, I used the tray and spread it over it and microwaved for a minute. Though this is metal, for a minute using it is not a problem.

Ingredient Needed:

Beans, finely chopped - 2 cups
Bengal gram - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Red Chilies - 3-4 nos
Mustard Seeds, Urad dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 3-4

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak the dal for 15 mins.

Grind it to a coarse paste.

Finely chop the beans and microwave for 7 mins.

Then add 1 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves. then add the ground paste. Microwave for 3-4 mins. Check if it done.

Then add the cooked beans, mix well. Microwave for 2 more.

Beans paruppu Usli is ready to be served.

Enjoy for your lunch!

Celebrating 4th Blog Birthday with Breakfast Mela!

It's not everyday we end up thinking of how to celebrate a milestone right! I somehow seem to have got on a tradition to celebrate the blog birthday with a Mela and so be it. The Melas seems to have taken a break and I thought it was high time I started it again.

Reasons being I met couple of blogger friends who expressed that I should start back the Melas. I could not really say no and this seems to be a good way to celebrate the blog 4th Anniversary as well! Keeping in traditions and having fun on the way too.

So during one of my discussions with Champa, the different rhyming titles came up and she was cool enough to throw lots of ideas.

It's been a fun filled, completely addicted four years of Blogging. And I can't thank enough my readers, blogger friends and more importantly my family for the support they have given me all along.

It's been quite sometime in the recent days that I have actually cooked anything new or specially for this blog. I have a huge pile of pending recipes, all clicked, some recipes forgotten. I feel sad that I missed to note down the recipe of some of them. But I am sure I will get around making them again to post here. Off late my energy is spent more in getting Spice your Life awareness. Hence I thought a Mela will be motivating enough to get me cook new dishes for the celebrations.

So join me in celebrating the Blog Anniversary by making and sending me Breakfast dishes.

You can read about how the third Anniversary was celebrated, which also has the previous Mela entry stats.

So from now till May 20th 2011, post any dish that you serve for a Breakfast on your blog. This dish can be of any cuisine, both Veg and Non Veg accepted. Of any variety be it rice, cakes or whatever that you serve for your breakfast! For example, I often make Ragi Sangati with Groundnut Chutney for breakfast. So you get the draft!

Link back to this announcement and send me your entries to cooking4allseasons@gmail.com  with subject as Breakfast Mela. I will be happy if you use the logo.

Multiple entries are accepted, infact would be glad to get all different dishes that you have already posted. But please update the post with this post link.

The email can be in this format

Name
Post URL
Recipe Name
Link

Last date to send in your entries will be May 20th 2011.

I hope you will enjoy participating in this event and make it a success.

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Check out the Four part Round ups

Breakfast Mela Part 1 
Breakfast Mela Part 2
Breakfast Mela Part 3

Breakfast Mela Part 4

Broken Wheat Sweet Porridge | Samba Godhuma Sakkara Pongal | Ugadi 2011 Greetings!

Ugadi Greetings to all my dear readers and Friends.

Hope you had a great festival day today. With all of us not being in the best of our health, we just wanted to keep the pooja simple. Of course we can't let the day go off without us making the Poli, and Vankaya Urlagadda Kura,  Ugadi Pachadi,

We are slowly getting back to normal things. Never thought a simple cold and cough can be so terrible. The day is special in another way being I completed 6 years at my  current office. Our management has the wonderful gesture of sending flower bouquet and a signed card. Every year I get that, it makes me feel so good. More than my own reaction, I love the way my family reacts. 

Getting back to the sweets that one can make, this sweet pongal is made with Samba Godhuma. Turned out so well. 

 Broken Wheat

Broken Wheat Sweet Pongal

Ingredients Needed:

Broken Wheat - 1/4 cup
Jaggary - 1/4
Water - 1 cup
Milk - 2 tbsp

Dry ginger/ sonti (opt)
Fennal (opt)
Cardomon
Kopra,grated (opt)

Method to prepare:

Boil the broken wheat with water and milk until done.

Melt jaggary in another pan. Remove scum if any.

Once wheat is boiled, add the jaggary to the pan. Cook till everything gets well mixed. Finally add Sonti, Fennel and Cardamon.

Both Sonti and fennel are optional but adds great taste.

Enjoy the week ahead!

Ugadi Celebrations 2010
Ugadi Celebrations 2009