Carrot & paneer Oats uttappam

Oats doesn’t have to be turned into boring porridge. Try these carrot and paneer oats uttappams instead.

It’s no secret – everyone knows the goodness of oats. But not many people know that it is versatile and can blend with almost any type of recipe.

If you are someone who looks at oats only as a porridge then it’s time you wake up and smell the roses. Out of many recipes in the a booklet about oats I recently received, these pancakes/uttappam caught my eye. A very simple recipe to make, but it tastes sumptuous.

Carrot and Paneer Oats Uttappam

Oats doesn’t have to be boring. Try these Carrot and Paneer Oats Uttappams.

Ingredients

• For the Batter-
• Oats – 1 cup
• Wheat flour-1/2 cup
• Water to blend
• Salt- 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida powder (optional)- 1/4 tsp or dash of it
• For the topping-
• Grated Paneer 1/2 cup
• Chopped green chillies -1 tsp
• Curry leaves chopped- a few
• Carrot- 1 (grated)
• Additional-
• Oil for greasing the pan

Instructions

1. Grind the oats in a mixer to a coarse powder.
2. Mix all ingredients mentioned under batter together.
3. Add enough water to the batter to get a thick pouring consistency. Beat well and keep it aside for 1/2 hour.
4. Mix all ingredients mentioned under topping together. Set it aside.
5. Heat a non stick pan/tawa. Grease the pan with oil.
6. With the help of a ladle pour the batter on the pan and spread it a little into a round shape.
7. Sprinkle the topping and cook the uttappam/pancake on medium/low flame till the edges turn golden.
8. Flip the uttappam to other side and cook the other side.
9. Remove from pan and serve it hot with chutney/sauce of your choice

Carrot Curry (Wholesome goodness)

Yeah, yeah, it's been so long since I posted. Not that I haven't been cooking, it's just that I am turning into lazy bones. Too lazy to take a pic, sit down and post.... What inspired me all of a sudden is the movie- Julie and Julia. I absolutely loved the movie! I know, I have been pretty late to catch up on the movie- but the good part is I did not miss it. If you write a cooking blog then the movie is an absolute must. It just talks about cooking in a whole new light and I finally woke up from my slumber to push myself to do this post.
Anyways, I am back on track and it's wonderful to have a space to put my thoughts on cooking.

The dish is a side dish- shredded carrots with lentils (that's why I called it wholesome goodness). This is the first time I tried something different with the carrot- shredded them and used them with steamed lentils to create a wonderful side dish that will work great with roti/rice or simply like a salad. Pretty traditional side dish down southern India, the dish is also known as Carrot thoran/ Carrot poriyal or Carrot curry. I tweaked the traditional recipe to include some lentils and peas and it just tastes divine. So get creative and try something different with carrots-

Ingredients-

6-7 medium sized carrots (when grated it gets you around two cups)

1/2 cup frozen green peas - thawed ( take any standard/small cup that is available in your kitchen for measurement)

1 onion (medium sized)- chopped

3-4 slit green chillies

Salt according to taste

Oil for cooking

Mustard seeds (1 tsp)

Split yellow mung beans - 1/2 cup (take any standard/small cup that is available in your kitchen for measurement)

Curry leaves - few leaves (about 4-5 leaves)

Asafoetida powder/hing (dash)

1 tbsp grated coconut

lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp

Cooking procedure-

• First step will be to boil the lentils till they are soft and tender- you can put them in a cup and microwave it or simply put it in a pan with water and allow it to boil till soft.
• In a frying pan heat some some oil and add the dash of Asafoetida powder. The oil just picks up the flavor. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• As the mustard seeds begin to pop and roll all around your pan, add the onions, peas and green chillies.
• Saute them for a couple of minutes till the onions are golden brown.
• Mix the grated carrots and allow it to cook for 5-8 minutes (till the carrots are cooked and you don't get the raw taste)
• Blend in the cooked lentils (mung beans/moong dal) and mix them completely.
• Allow it to cook for a few minutes.
• Adjust salt and lemon juice to the mixture.
•  Add the grated coconut towards the end and serve!

Couple of points-

Asafoetida powder is completely optional and you can skip it if you don't have it.

You can simply cook the carrots without the lentils and peas.

Peanuts work great with this dish and you can add peanuts instead of lentils or peas.

Raw banana curry/poriyal

I love raw bananas- My mom is an absolute genius when it comes to making something delicious out of them! I have literally grown up gorging on the stir fry she would make of raw bananas. Funny thing is, my husband hates them :( - He abhors raw bananas and I seldom cook them. The other day, I was shopping and found these gorgeous looking green bananas. I don't like to cook for myself but then I decided to treat myself with a stir fry that would make my mom proud. So, this dish is just for my taste buds and boy did they feel pampered :) - When was the last time you cooked to pamper your own taste buds???

Ingredients-

500 gms Raw bananas
mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
1 green chilli (chopped)
1 dry red chilli broken into two
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt according to taste
curry leaves (couple of leaves, to enhance flavor)
cooking oil - 2 tbsp

Preparation-

Steam the raw bananas (with their skin) till they become soft and tender. Peel the outer skin and discard it.   Chop the inner pulp into cubes or slightly mash them (depending upon the extent to which they have been steamed). In a wok, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and allow them to sputter. Add red chilli pieces, green chilli pieces and curry leaves. Cook for a couple of seconds before adding the chopped/mashed raw banana pulp. Toss well. Add turmeric powder and adjust salt according to taste. Cook the bananas till light golden brown. Serve with hot steaming rice!

Beans Paruppu Usili - healthy south Indian dish...

This recipe is my mom's signature dish- Authentic south Indian dish with lentils and vegetables (paruppu usili). The lentils play a lead role and taste magical with green beans. Official verdict? It's healthy and sumptuous! It is generally made at home and hard to find in hotels/restaurants...If you love lentils and green beans, this dish is a must try- Beans Paruppu Usili (Tamil name for this dish)

Ingredients-
500 gms finely chopped green beans
3 red chillies (you can go with less spice and use 2)
1 medium cup Channa dal (yellow split chickpeas without seedcoat)
1 medium cup Toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)
asafoetida powder (pinch/dash)
mustard seeds (1 tsp)
curry leaves 4-5
salt (according to taste)
oil for cooking


Preparation-
The big fuss is on lentils here- You have to soak the lentils in warm water for at least half an hour. Coarsely grind the lentils in a mixer with red chillies and asafoetida powder. Make sure you don't puree it- it has to be lumpy and not a smooth paste. Steam the lentils paste for 5-8 minutes and set it aside. Allow the lentils to cool and crumble them with your hands/spoon. Steam the chopped beans separately. Heat oil in a pan and saute mustard seeds with curry leaves. As the mustard starts to sputter, add the crumbled lentils and saute it for 5 minutes. Add the cooked beans and fry it for 5 minutes. Adjust salt according to taste and enjoy! Some add grated coconut to enhance the taste....

Lemon Vermicelli

Small black mustard seeds merrily bouncing in a pan- happy, carefree till they meet up with rough and hot green chilli pieces. A savory story unfolds in my kitchen with the main star as vermicelli (type of pasta, thinner than spaghetti) and carrot pieces, green peas, green beans acting in a supporting role. The story becomes vibrant with turmeric powder in a special role and of course one can't undermine the role of lemon juice which becomes the whole essence of our savory story. The story rocks the box office with every bit of vermicelli lapped up by the hungry audience :) -

Ingredients-

Vermicelli - 2cups

1/2 cup green beans

1/2 cup carrot (sliced)

1/2 cup peas

curry leaves (4-5 leaves)

mustard seeds 3/4 tsp

cumin seeds 1/4 tsp (omit if you want)

1 tbsp lemon juice

turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

grated ginger (1/4 tsp)

1/2 tsp gram dal (yellow lentils) 

green chillies (2 ) chopped

coriander leaves chopped for garnishing

**Generally this dish is made without the vegetables- but then my savory story had to be different! 

How did I make it?

Cook vermicelli in boiling water with a little bit of oil (so that it doesn't stick together). Once cooked, drain excess water and keep it aside. This removes the starch and makes it non sticky! Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds. As they begin to sputter, add gram dal (yellow lentils), ginger, curry leaves and green chilli pieces. Add turmeric powder and mix well. Toss in the vegetables and cook on a medium flame till the vegetables become soft and tender- sprinkle a bit of water to cook the vegetables. Once the vegetables are cooked, add lemon juice. Mix in the vermicelli and adjust salt according to taste. Garnish with coriander leaves!

Tamarind fever

This is one recipe I was keen on making for such a long time. My mom makes great tamarind rice- though I got the recipe, I never got around to make it. You get instant tamarind powder mix at shops that can be added to your rice and the dish will be ready within 5 minutes. The joy of making a gravy from scratch and mixing with rice is lost in this fast paced world...In reality, I was cleaning my book shelf and found a notebook with some recipes from mom. The first recipe was tamarind gravy and I made it as my mom would make it- The best part is this gravy can be kept up to two weeks and I am enjoying some smashing tamarind rice whenever I feel like it- Enjoy!

Ingredients- Gravy

Tamarind paste (3 tsp)- dilute them in a bit of water
mustard seeds
yellow split peas (chana dal- 1tsp)
dry red chilli pieces- 2
salt
sesame seeds- 2 tbsp
groundnut- 3 tbsp
corriander seeds- 2 tbsp
paprika powder 1/2 tsp

Preparation -

In a wok, add some oil. Once the oil is hot throw in some mustard seeds and allow them to sputter. Add the yellow split peas, red chilli pieces and 1 tbsp of groundnuts. Fry for 1 minute and then add around 4 glasses of water to this. Add the diluted tamarind paste, 1/2 tsp paprika powder and salt (according to taste). Allow this tamarind water to boil. In a separate pan, fry the sesame seeds till light brown (in a bit of oil ) and set it aside. Fry the groundnuts and corriander seeds separately and keep it aside. In a mixer, grind the sesame seeds, groundnuts and corriander seeds to a fine powder. Once the tamarind water reduces to half, add this powder and stir it for few minutes. Keep it on a low flame and allow the mixture to thicken. Keep simmering the mixture till it becomes a good rich liquid gravy.

Now for the tamarind rice- Add the gravy to cooked rice...Simple! Vary the proportion of the gravy to your rice according to your taste-

South Indian snack

We south Indians have a special way to celebrate festivals- We cook different delicacies for different occasion and enjoy them with family and friends. Come Diwali (festival of lights) and my mom used to cook amazing snacks and fill up two full boxes for us kids to munch on- Within a week we would manage to complete every available morsel that mom made for the festival...Good old days! One of my favorites is murukku. Here I am, on a boring sunday afternoon trying to recreate some of my mom's magic in cooking- Enjoy!

Ingredients-

• One cup rice powder
• One small spoon gram flour (kadalai maavu/ besan)
• One small spoon Jeera or cumin seeds
• One big spoon melted butter 
• Salt according to taste

                  

You need a mold or murukku machine or acchu to make this dish- 

Preparation-

In a big bowl mix all the ingredients listed above with water and make it a super smooth dough- When I mean super smooth, it means the dough has to be non sticky and soft  (add oil while mixing if need be). In a deep frying pan, pour good amount oil and put it on a high flame on your gas stove. Once the oil is hot, fill the dough in the mold/ murukku machine and squeeze them in desirable shapes into the oil and fry them till they are golden brown on one side. Turn the murukku to other side and cook them till they are golden brown on both sides. Make sure they are deeply fried and not removed too early or too late from the oil. This snack has a good shelf life and ensure that they are stored in a tightly closed container.