Hot Andhra Recipes

Rottis happen to be one of the popular breakfast / snack items in Karnataka and we grew up eating them very frequently. Though the rice/jowar flour rottis are more common, semolina / sajjige version taste equally delicious. I have tried adding oats to the classic sajjige rotti version to make it healthier and this version was appealing too.

Ingredients for about 7 rottis:

• 1 cup oat flour*
• 1 cup semolina / rava
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 cup shredded, fresh coconut
• 4 - 5 green chillies
• 1 cup finely minced onion
• 2 Tbsp finely minced cilantro

* Toast the quick cooking oats on medium flame for 2 -3 minutes. Cool the oats and grind into a coarse / fine powder.

Preparing the rotti dough:
Semolina can be lightly toasted before adding. Combine the oat flour, semolina, rice flour, turmeric powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Finely minced chillies can be directly added to the mixture. However if serving kids or do not like to bite on green chillies, grind the coconut and chillies adding a little water. Add this coconut - chillie mixture, onion and cilantro to the flour mixture. Form a firm dough adding water as needed.


Making rottis:
Pinch about a big orange sized portion from the prepared dough and shape into a ball. Pour about a tsp of oil at the center of a griddle and place the dough ball on it. Pat it into a thin, flat circle and pour a tsp of oil around the edges and cover with a lid. Now turn on the stove and let it cook on a low - medium flame, about 3 - 4 minutes. When it appears cooked on the bottom side, flip it. Again add a tsp of oil around the edges if needed. Cover it again and cook till the other side is done too.
Repeat the procedure with the remaining dough. Be sure to turn off the stove and cool the griddle slightly so that it is safe to pat the next dough ball on it. Or alternatively use 2 griddles. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.

Rava kichdi is a healthy breakfast item and ofcourse a quicky one from the kitchen. Again i made this long back and it was there in my draft for quite a long time. It's such a comforting and a fulfilling dish to start ur day with loads of veggies..



Ingredients :

• Rava -- 1 cup
• Onions -- slivered -- 1/2 no.
• Tomato -- chopped --1 no.
• Green chillies -- slit open -- 2 nos.
• Garam masala -- 1/4 tsp (optional )
• Turmeric powder -- a pinch
• GG paste -- 1 tsp or Minged ginger -- 1 tsp
• Green peas -- 1/4 cup (cooked)
• Green beans -- chopped -- 1/4 cup
• Carrot -- 1/4 cup
• Coriander leaves -- a handful
• Water -- 3 cups
• Salt -- to taste

For seasoning :

• Oil -- 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds -- 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal -- 1/2 tsp
• Channa dal -- 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves -- 1 sprig

Method :

Dry roast the sooji /rava until it turns colour and u feel the aroma. Switch off and transfer to a plate and cool it. Heat a wide karahi and add the oil. Do the seasoning with mustard seeds and pop it. Then add the urad dal and the channa dal . Fry until it turns pale golden colour. Add the curry leaves also. Now add the onions and saute for a minute.Drop in the minced ginger or GG paste now and saute for a minute. Then add the tomatoes and cook until it's totally disintegrated. Throw in the green chillies and stir as well. Dump in the vegetables one by one and saute the veggie for 3 minutes in medium flame. Now the veggie's must be half cooked and so add the 3 cups of water and the salt. Mix well. Cover the karahi ,raise the flame to medium and let the mixture boils and the veggie's are cooked fully. This will take another 4 minutes. Later slowly add the roasted rava /sooji and keep on stirring well so that no lumps formed. Make sure u keep the flame in medium low and incorporate well. Ur kichdi will be ready in a minute.Finally add the coriander leaves and mix well. Switch off the flame and Njoy !!!!

Note :

U may add garam masala, red chilly powder if u planning to make it for dinner...

Happy eating guys !!!

Minapa Rotti.

Roti batter is prepared with idly rawa and urad dal. The batter is then fermented and made into thick roti. The roti is layered with freshly prepared spicy sesame powder and the rotti is cooked till done. Serve rotti with spicy sesame powder as a breakfast.
Makes: around 5 Servings of Rotti with Spicy Sesame Powder.

Ingredients:

• Idly Rawa 1/2 Cup
• Urad Dal 1/4 Cup
• Sesame Seeds 2 Tbsps
• Whole Red Chile 1
• Cumin Seeds few Pinches
• Red Chile Powder 1/4 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil as required

Method of preparation:

Soak urad dal in water for 3 hours.
Grind the soaked urad dal into smooth paste adding sufficient amount of water.
Soak ildy rawa in water for couple of minutes and squeeze the excess water out of it and keep aside.
Mix together urad dal paste, soaked idly rawa and salt thoroughly.
Add water to not make the mixture thick and gooey.
Leave the idly batter in a warm place for around 8 hours.

Toast the sesame seeds on low heat till they change color. Add red chile and remove from heat.
Grind toasted sesame seeds, red chile, red chile powder and salt into coarse powder.

Heat a flat pan on medium heat, pour a big ladle full of batter on the pan.
Spread the batter into thick roti.
Layer the roti with cumin seeds, a tbsp or two of ground sesame powder.
Cook covered for around 5 minutes on medium – low flame.
Uncover, pour a tbsp of oil and turn over the roti.
Cook the roti for another minute or two on a medium flame.
Serve rotti with spicy sesame powder immediately accompanied with a glass of buttermilk if desired.
Notes: Make sure to cook the roti well.

Veggieplatter turned 4 this month. What started as a journal to preserve our family recipes has turned into an obsession now, to put it mildly. :)
I am not the kind who gets excited about birthday / anniversary celebrations and that's why prior to this, there have been no posts of that kind here. However, this time I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been a part of this incredible journey. I am sincerely thankful to each and everyone who chose to spend a portion of their valuable time at my space and have encouraged me through their valuable comments and emails. I hope your love and support continues. :)


I thought of celebrating the occasion with something sweet. A bowl of kheer entices more than a piece of cake and so thought of posting this delicious payasam / kheer recipe. Today's main ingredient of the payasam happens to be ragi vermicelli making it more yummy with the distinctive flavor of ragi and also healthier than the regular vermicelli version.

Ingredients:

• Ragi vermicelli - 1/4 cup
• Whole milk - 1 & 1/4 cups
• Sugar - 1/4 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
• Cashew nuts & raisins - 1 Tbsp each
• Ghee / Clarified butter - 2 tsp
  

The Cooking part:
* Roast the ragi vermicelli for a couple of minutes and keep it aside.
* Heat the milk in a cooking vessel or non-stick saucepan on a low-medium flame. Then add vermicelli and cook till it is done, stirring in between.
* Add sugar and cardamom powder to the vermicelli and continue to cook until the sugar melts. Turn off the heat.
* In the mean time, toast the cashews and raisins in ghee and add them to the cooked payasam and stir well.
This payasam tastes equally good warm / chilled.

Warning! This recipe is not for the faint hearted or the modern era 'smarties' who count their calorie intake on a day to day basis. The recipe has fat and calories written all over it and yet happens to be one of the popularly loved desserts in my home state, Andhra. This is an old world dessert / snack born when people didn't yet rely on machines to do their jobs and believed that people need to eat good food to keep them fit.
Probably there is no granny in Andhra who would say sunnundalu are not good for you in spite of the amount of ghee and the jaggery / sugar that goes into it. My mom would feed us sunnundalu as an evening snack saying that they are very nutritious because of the protein and iron content in them. Then we did not know ABCs about calories. Anyway even I knew, it would not have mattered since those sunnundalu tasted so yummy and besides I was thin as a stick during my teenage years.
Though 'sunnundalu' refer to the ones prepared with uraddal, they can be made using green gram as well. I love the dal with husk (either urad or moong) - jaggery combination when making sunnundalu and so have used green gram (moong with the husk) and jaggery in this recipe. They are equally delicious as the minapa sunnundalu (urad dal laddus) and can be made in a jiffy. Roasted and powdered green gram can be made ahead and stored in an airtight jar. Just mix jaggery powder and ghee when you love to have sunnundalu.

Ingredients:
1 cup green gram / pesalu
1 cup powdered jaggery (sugar can be substituted)
Ghee to shape the balls (We can't get stingy here. Shaping the mixture into balls becomes difficult when enough ghee is not added.)

Making sunnundalu:
* Dry roast the green gram on medium flame until they slightly brown.
* Cool and grind the green gram into a coarse powder. Then add the jaggery powder to the green gram powder and pulse it in the processor / blender so that they blend well.
* Melt the ghee. Add as much ghee as needed to shape the green gram - jaggery mixture into balls.

These yummy laddus are on their way to
Susan's MLLA - 30th edition hosted by Priya Mitharwal.

When I was going through breakfast recipes at Veggieplatter recently, I realized that many breakfasts that appear regularly in my mother's kitchen which are my favorites haven't made their way yet here. Vegetable upma happens to be one of them and my mom is well known in our family circles for her special upma where each semolina particle stands out separate.

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 2 cups semolina / rava / sooji
• 2 cups prepared and finely chopped vegetables - I used 2 onions, 1 small carrot, 1 potato, 20 green beans, 2 Tbsp of green peas
• Serrano peppers - 6
• Salt to taste (I used 2 & 3/4 tsp)

For tadka: 4- 5 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp cumin seeds, few curry leaves
4 cups water

Method:
* Dry fry the rava on medium flame till the rava turns light brown.
* Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan / kadai. Add mustard seeds, chana dal and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds start to splutter and the dals turn red, add chillies and curry leaves. Sauté for a few seconds and add the chopped vegetables. Cook on low flame, covered until the vegetables turn softer, for about 10 minutes.
* Now add water and salt to the pan. Set the stove to highest setting and let the water come to a rolling boil. Once the water is boiling, lower the flame. Add rava slowly in a steady stream, holding the rava container in your left hand while stirring with your right hand to avoid the lumps. Stir properly and cover the pan. Again continue to cook for a few minutes till the semolina is cooked, stirring in between once or twice.
Serve hot with chutney or chutney powder or daliya powder.