Curry In Kadai ~ An Indian Cooking Blog

Potatoes are so much versatile and one can make an array of dishes be it fry, curry, stew, sambar, or raita. Chats and samosas are incomplete without them. Potato curry is bachelors and kids all time favorite. And my sister makes aloo fry atleast twice or thrice a week for sure( yes bava, sis husband loves fry that much and he can live on that for weeks i guess ). Even my husband loves to have aloo curry any meal of the day, but i limit it to once a week.


Coming to the origin of this recipe, my mom used to make this curry when ever we used to have powercut at night. She cooks this along with some sambar or rasam and we kids couldnt be any happier. You can whip up this dish in no time, said so you need not doubt the taste, its simply delicious.


The tangyness from the lime(lemon) and the zing from the mint makes the plain potato irrestible! To add some crunch my mom used to add sood amount of chana dal and urad dal in the tadks or popu. Since potato is every cooks best pal i am sure each one of us have our very own version for the potato fry. Here goes mine.,



You need:
2 or 3 red potatoes
1 lemon or lime
5 strands of mint leaves
2-3 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of turmeric
5-10 curry leaves
2 tsp red chilli powder
3 tbsp oil
salt to taste



How to:
Boil the potatoes, i use microwave for 5 min with less than 1/2 cup water cooked covered
Let it cool a bit or you can put in the refigerator until ready
Once cooled to room temperature chop potatoes into 2 inch cubes
In a kadai or pan heat oil and add chana dal, urad dal, cumin and mustard seeds. When they start to pop add curry leaves, potatoes and turmeric
Saute until the potatoes turn to golden brown
Add red chilli powder and salt
Switch off the heat and add chopped( i just tear them apart ) mint leaves and lemon juice
TIP: Never add lemon juice when cooking add them after the heat is switched off or before serving. Otherwise it would make the dish taste bitter-- from my grandmom


I usually serve this with hot rice( and ghee ) or roti/ chapathi. Feel free to add even more mint and lemon juice. This minty and lemony potato fry is so light on fat yet satisfying and tasty. No wonder if you start admiring the combination of lemon and mint and experiment with your cooking!!

This will be entry for weekend herb blogging event started by Kalyns Kitchen and this week hosted by Nami Nami

Tags:Aloo fry, Aloo pudina nimbu curry, Alugadda pudina kura, urlgadda vepudu

Maata Cha Paarvati Devi
Pitaa Devo Maheshvara
Baandhavah Shiva Bhaktaacha
Svadesho Bhuvanatrayam

The mother is Parvati and the divine father is Shiva. The devotees are the relatives. The land we are living on is the whole world.

Oh Goddess Sarasvathi, who is fair as a jasmine flower, the moon or a snow flake, who is dressed in white and whose hands are adorned by veena, who is seated in a white lotus, to whom Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara pray, please protect us.

Tags:Dusshera, Vijaya Dasami, Vijayadasami

Sorry guys, havent posted anything for a week since i wasn't feeling well. Anyway back to blogging with my Hot Pongal!! When it comes to finding alternative food as sumptuous and filling as rice and some curry, i will definitely vote for PONGAL aka Pongali in telugu. It is a simple combination of rice and moong dal( green gram lentils) seasoned with black pepper, cumin seeds, cashews and ghee or clarified butter. It is a common and very popular breakfast in our house( most south indian homes too ). My mom used to make pongal mostly in the weekends . Since pongali doesnt taste good when its cold she wakes up everyone in the early morning and make us relish it once done. At home, Sunday mornings are reserved either for pongal or dosas. My mom serves Pongal with allam pulusu( ginger in tamarind sauce ) and coconut chutney.

I usually use pressure pan/cooker to make pongal / pongali since its very quick and easy to clean. Alternatively you can use electric rice cooker or a big sauce pot/pan. Anything will work.

You need:

• 2/3 cup rice( sona masoori, never tried with american long grain rice )
• 1/3 cup yellow moong dal/ split green gram/ pesara pappu/ Payatham Parippu
• 4 cups water
• dash of hing
• 1 inch ginger piece chopped very finely

For tempuring( required ):

• 15 -20 cashew nuts
• 2 tsp cumin seeds( jeera )
• 2-3 tbsp ghee or 2 inches stick butter
• 10-15 peppercorns
• 2 tbsp oil / ghee
• 10 curry leaves
  
  

How to:

• Wash rice and moong dal and add to any pressure pan/sauce pan/electric cooker
• Add chopped ginger and hing
• Add water
• If its pressure pan cook it with the weight/whistle on for 3 whistles or if use a stock pot just cook them together till rice and lentils are cooked( not too soft )
• Switch off and keep aside
• Lets make the seasoning now. Take a small kadai or pan and add oil, ghee, cashew nuts, cumin seeds and fry until the cashew nuts are browned.
• Ground the pepper corns coarsely ( i use mortar and pestle )
• Add pepper corns and curry leaves and switch off the heat
• When ready to eat open the pressure pan and add the seasoning
• Adjust salt to taste
• Yes it is that simple!!
  

• Please do not avoid hing
• If u don't have curry leaves / kaju on hand postpone making pongal, yeah its that important
• Always open the pressure pan just before eating and add the seasoning otherwise it would get hard
• Before opening the pan boil a glass of water. When you find that pongal is thick and you want it a little thinner add the boiling water and stir( This works really good and its a tip from my MIL )
  

With the announcement of the CLICK: the photo event for EGGS, though i dont consume eggs directly(except in cakes ) i wanted to participate in the event. But i had to cook something people can eat, and then found my victim for the EGG recipe, my poor HUBBY! He wasnt sure if he can eat it at first when i said i was about to make french toast with peaches. But after a quick glance at this wonderful feast he couldnt say NO!!

How dare you?

I wanted to put together all of them in a kid friendly and appetizing breakfast. Thus i came up with my Peachy French Toast. Eggs provide 13 essential nutrients including highest quality protein. Using whole grain bread in this recipe add nutritional bonus - FIBER( has health promotiong phyto nutrients ). And never forget peaches they are wonderful source Vitamin C, Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Niacin and Potassium( Click here for more info ). Never actually cooked with peaches, since they are high in this season. I want to use the fresh peaches in my dish, hence came up with my PEACHY PEACHY FRENCH TOAST! The end product was absolutely delicious!! I got the recipe for plain french toast from Publix Green Wise magazine.

Ready to dig in?

• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 cup 2% or fat free milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1/8 ground cinnamon
• 8 1/2 inch thick 7 multi grain whole wheat bread
• 2 peaches
• 1/4 cup brown or regular sugar
• a dash of nutmeg

Oooo, its hot here!

• In a deep plate whisk eggs, cinnamon, milk, vanilla, orange zest and cinnamon
• Heat griddle or pan on medium
• Soak bread slices into the mixture. Let it soak on one side and flip it other side
• Spray the pan with non stick spray or little bit butter
• Allow excess mixture to drip back to plate and place on the griddle.
• Cook on both sides( if you are all making at once, cook these french toasts and put them in heated oven until actually served)
• Before serving add the glazed peaches( procedure below ) on top and decorate with mint!
• VOILA your hot and refreshing PEACHY FRENCH TOAST is ready!!!

Merry Go Round...!

• Cut peaches into length wise and in a pan add dash of butter and add the peaches in and cook for 3 min until cooked.
• Then add sugar and nutmeg and let the sugar melt.
• This should coat the peaches and form glaze.

Ahhh! my peachy peachy toast!!

I usually serve this Spicy And Crispy Aloo Fry as Appetizer and this is my husbands favourite dish. He can finish the whole bowl just like some snack. His grandma told me 'You need not cook any fancy dinner for my grandson, just some aloo fry and plain rasam would be more than enough. Do please learn these recipes'. I still remember and its true to every word even now. Before, i used to fry raw aloo in oil and it used to take so much time. Later i thought why not boil or microwave aloo(potato) and then fry in the oil. This one became a hit and he likes it very much. Potato fry and Tomato pappu are his all time favourites. My mom told me about "Bandar vepudu" which is done in a similar fashion. In bandar vepudu you should boil the potatoes with some tamarind and fry the potatoes with the peel on. And i instead add amchur( dried mango powder ) to get that sour effect of tamarind. I think it is acceptable!

My husbands favorite combo(Tomato Pappu And Aloo Fry )!

Looking for the above Tomato Pappu( Tomato Dal ) recipe? Click here!
I use red potatoes(boiling potatoes) for this dish, since i need to boil them first otherwise they would fall apart. If i am frying directly i would like to use Idaho potatoes. But back home i never knew the difference between boiling and baking potatoes. Just relish whatever my mom cooks hehehe!

You need:

• 2 - 3 large red potatoes or 6 small red potatoes
  
• 1 tbsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp amchur powder( dry mango powder )
• 4-5 tbsp oil
  
• Salt to taste

Boiled and cubed potatoes ready for oil bath

How to:

• First boil the potatoes. I cook in the microwave with potatoes in a microwave safe bowl covered with some water. I remember how long it used to take when cooked in pressure pan, and with the use of microwave boiling potatoes is no more time consuming and hard. Coudnt make it any easier!
  
• You can boil the potatoes even the day before and save it in the refrigerator.
  
• Let the boiled potatoes cool to room temperature
• Heat oil in kadai or flat bottomed pan
• Chop the potatoes into 1 inch cubes
• Fry these potatoes until golden brown
• Place these potatoes as just one layer and fry without stirring occasionally and then on the other sides. If you stir them often they are gonna fall apart. Just leave them undisturbed until they get golden brown on one side and repeat same thing on other sides.
• Drain them on paper towels
• Optional: You can fry 10 curry leaves in the same oil and mix with the potatoes
  
• Add red chilli powder, amchur powder and salt
• Adjust spices and salt to taste.

Ahh! Bon Appetit!!

This fry is simple yet very spicy, Crispy and yummy. You can have this as appetizerwith tooth pick on each one or serve with hot rice or pulka, chapathi or roti. The sourness from amchur powder takes the very basic and simple aloo fry to the next level.
This is my entry to Whats Your favorite Diet Food. Since i am boiling first and then sauteeing in oil, it takes very less time to brown unlike deep frying the raw potato. This itself cuts the fat by more than half( once in a blue moon we do count for the fat and calories ). I make this one when my husband asks for potato fry and he will finish even before eating with rice. You wouldnt even know the difference and i myself like this way better than complete deep frying.

MY TIP FOR BOILING POTATOES:
You can cook the whole potatoes if they were small or cut into half. Place them in microwave safe bowl with half cup of water and cook them covered for 5 min. Now check for doneness and turn them on the other side and cook for 2 more min. Let the potatoes cool and peel the skin off. You can even store them in the fridge for 2 days and these come very handy.

I boil the potatoes using microwave, alternatively sometimes i just rub some oil on the potatoes and add salt , red chilli powder and microwave for 1 more min. Tada spicy potatoes are done. Serve these potatoes as appetizer and hence this is my recipe for EASY MICROWAVE COOKING EVENT hosted by Srivalli.


Tags: Aloo fry, Alugadda fry, bandar vepudu, Bangala dumpa vepudu, Spicy Potato Fry, Urlagadda vepudu

Simplicity in this Tomato And Kasuri Methi curry speaks a lot, be it in taste, aroma, flavor, easiness or texture. Usually if we are going to have chapathis i plan ahead for curries like palak paneer, bendi masala, dal makhani, matar paneer. But sometimes out of the blue my husband asks for chapathi., then i have to whip up some simple quick and easy curries. In that list comes first Tomato And Peas Curry. You can play with the herbs, garlic or even kasoori methi , any of these would completely transform the plain tomato curry to a brand new recipe. Usually i add either peas or paneer. This time i added Kasuri methi. This gave unique flavor to the dish and i was surprised to learn adding a couple of tbsps of Kasuri methi enchances so much flavor and wonderful aroma into the dish. Wish i had used kasuri methi long back!

Methi Mutter Tamatar Curry

You need:

• 2-3 large tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp kasoori methi
• 1/3 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup milk / half n half / fresh cream
  
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander( dhaniya) powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala or curry powder
• a pinch of turmeric
• 2 stalks of coriander or cilantro
• 3 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste
  

This curry satisfies all the taste palettes. The sourness from tomato, sweetness( and creaminess ) from milk, bitterness from kasuri methi and spice from the red chilli powder. What else can we ask for in this simple dish?


How to:

• Chop onions and tomatoes very finely
• In a kadai or sauce pan heat oil and add onions
• Agg green peas and fry
  
• Saute onions till golden brown( TIP: you can add some sugar to let onions brown quickly )
• Optional: You can add 1 tsp ginger garlic paste and fry for 10 sec
• Add powders and tomatoes.
  
• When oil starts to seperate add kasuri methi leaves
  
• Add milk and cook until the gravy becomes creamy
• You can even add fresh cream or half n half if you dont count those calories
  
• Adjust salt and spice to taste.
• Garnish with chopped coriander/cilantro
  

Our dinner: Tomato And Methi Curry With Methi Paratha( Thepla )

Dont take my word how easy and delicious this Methi Mutter Tamatar curry is, try it for yourself. I am sure you will comeup with some new variations to the recipe and i would love to hear all that! Tomato Kasuri Methi Peas curry tastes delicious with hot rice or chapathi.

Tags:Kasuri Methi, Peas And Tomato Curry, Tomato Curry

Not many people like Cabbage. Its not the cabbage that tastes bad, since the way it is cooked defines its taste. Cabbage when properly cooked becomes an all time favorite. I myself hated to have cabbage curry when i was a kid and i used to pester my mom a lot. I used to make those faces and eat without any choice. Now i know the reason why i didnt like it. She used to boil cabbage and then saute with tadka. Somehow the smell when cabbage is boiled makes me nauseate. But later my mom started making without actually boiling cabbage.


Cabbage cooked along with potatoes, peas and sweet touch of coconut takes the plain cabbage to the next level. This following recipe is from my MIL and no wonder this curry is my husbands favourite. The funny part is he eats most of the potatoes and i eat the cabbage but we do share peas together in this curry(hehehe). Weird, he likes potatoes but not the cabbage but still wants cabbage in the curry.. CONFUSING right! Moving to the recipe..,


You need:

• 2 cups of tightly packed medium finely chopped cabbage
• 1 large red/boiling potatoes( No Idaho or baking potatoes please )
• 1/2 cup peas
• 4-6 green chillies
• 1/4 cup of grated fresh coconut
• 6-8 curry leaves
• 3 stalks cilantro
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin seeds( jeela karra )
• 1 tsp mustard seeds( Aavalu )
• 3-4 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste
  

• Chop cabbage finely, potatoes 1 inch cubes and green chillies length wise
• In kadai or pan heat oil and add cumin and mustard seeds
• When they start to pop add curry leaves, green chillies
• Add potatoes and green peas
  
• Saute for a min and then add cabbage
• Add salt and turmeric and mix together and cover with a lid
  
• Cook on medium flame stirring occassionaly. Make sure you dont burn cabbage
• When the potato is cooked add coconut and fry till all the water evaporates
• Adjust salt to taste
• Switch off the heat and add chopped coriander

I made this spicy okra indian curry for chapathis. I know not many people like to cook with Okra because of its mushy( gummy ) texture while cooking. If you follow these tips i promise you wont think about it in that way. To prepare any Okra curry, please follow these steps.

1. Wash and drain okra half an hour or one hour before.
2. Okra should be very dry and clean.
3. Never add salt when cooking okra, add it only when the curry is completely done.
4. Add some thick yogurt( curd ) when cooking.
5. Another great tip is to use lemon juice instead of yogurt. This worked like charm for me!
5. And never ever add water when making okra curry ( unless it is a stew, pulusu, sambar etc., )
Hope the above steps would give you the results.



This okra is very simple yet full of flavor and spice. A touch of fresh mint is a lively addition to the plain simple Okra Curry. Mint is like queen of herbs to me since just adding one leaf would add that ZING to any boring dish! Though you add a lot of cilantro instead of Mint, you would still be missing that unique flavor from fresh mint. The tanginess from tomatoes and the fresh flavor from mint makes this okra curry finger licking GOOD! This will be my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging Event!


Ingredients:
2 pounds okra( cleaned and dried )
1 big red onion
1 big tomato( seeded )
2 tbsp thick yogurt
1 tsp turmeric( optional )
1 tsp jeera powder( cumin powder )
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp red chilli powder or 4 chopped green chillies
1 tsp ginger chopped
1 tsp garlic chopped
4 tbsp vegetable oil



Procedure:

• Cut okra in 1/2 inch pieces.
• Chop onions into 1/2 inch pieces
• Chop tomotoes( remove the seeds and juice )
• Heat oil in kadai or wok and add onions, ginger, garlic and okra
• After 5-10 min add thick yogurt so that okra doesnt become mushy
  
• When okra starts to turn into golden brown add the powders and let them coat all the pieces in the curry
  
• Add tomatoes and cook the curry for a little while till the all the moisture id gone
  
• Add salt at the end and decorate curry with chopped coriander and mint leaves

Chapathi, by itself is very delicious and healthy. But you might get bored of eating the same plain chapathi everyday. Chapathi / roti can be used as a base to create wonderful variations. You can stuff chapathis with an array of fillings. One such popular stuffing is with Potato( Aloo / Alu ). These aloo parathas are so filling and plain yogurt would be good enough as a compliment. These parathas are bursting with potatoes, spices and full of flavor. My aloo paratha was born from my husbands memories and thoughts. Though he is not a good cook he could explain me about the ingredients and the taste of the food he had(even from years).

Stack of hot and fresh aloo parathas

• 2 cups fine whole wheat flour( atta )
• 3/4 - 1 cup warm water or milk
• 2-3 tbsp oil or ghee
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Some extra flour for dusting rotis when rolling

• Use food processor if you have one.
• Warm water or milk in a microwave.
• In a mixing bowl add flour, salt, sugar, oil or ghee and mix together.
• Slowly add warm water or milk and knead it into a soft dough.
• Knead the dough with milk/water for 10 minutes and cover it with a damp cloth.
• Let it rest for atleast 20 min.
• Divide dough into 12 equal portions and coat them with flour.

• 2 large red potatoes
• 1 small onion
• 1/4 cup peas
• 1-2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
  
• 1/2 tsp amchur ( dried mango) powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 cup chopped coriander
• salt to taste

• Cook the potatoes in microwave for 5 min with little water covered
• Peel off the skin chop them and keep it aside
• Chop onions very fine
  
• In a kadai or pan add jeera and fry it till golden brown. Add onions and saute well
• Once the onions are browned add peas and cook for a min
• Add the powders, red chilli powder, garam masala, amchur powder and blend well
• Add the chopped potato and mash it to become a paste
• Add cilantro and adjust salt and spice to taste
• Let this filling come to room temperature

• Roll out the dough into small palm sized rotis
  
• Fill it with potato filling and wrap it as shown in the picture
• Now roll out the potato filled dough ball just like a regular chapathi.
  
• Heat tawa or griddle and cook these paraths with little ghee or oil
  

Hot from the griddle: aloo parathas with beets curry, homemade yogurt and sliced onions

Dosas are always mouth watering. Its very easy to make dosas instantly ONLY if you have the batter ready. Yep to make dosas you need planning like soaking the rice, grinding to batter and never forget the fermentation( leaving the batter overnight ). There are no shortcuts for this whole process.

Yummy ravadosas with green chutney and putnala podi with ghee

But if you want to relish the delicious and crispy dosas instantly without any planning... comes to our rescue, "THE RAVA DOSA". Yes these dosas can be made any time of the day in a gif! These rava dosas are very thin, crisp and light. My mom makes the perfect crispy rava dosa. These do not require any fancy ingredients and i am sure you will have all these items in your pantry any time. All i can say is 'No one can just eat one rava dosa'!!

These holes are a good sign of perfect rava dosas..

You need:

• 1 cup sooji( Bombay ravva, Bombai Ravva )
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour( maida )
• 1/2 - 1 cup sour buttermilk
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 5 green chillies
• 1 inch ginger
• 1/4 cup oil
• 10 curry leaves
• 3 stalks of coriander ( cilantro )
• salt to taste
  

• Sieve sooji, rice flour, maida and salt keep aside
• Chop green chillies, ginger and coriander very finely
• Mix the sieved flours, cumin seeds, ginger, chillies, curry leaves, coriander and buttermilk
• Keep it aside for 30 min( optional, if done would give best results )
• Add water and the batter should be relatively thin
• Heat griddle or tawa.
• You should make sure griddle is SIZZLING HOT!!
  
• Pour add 1 laddle full of batter rapidly from center to outward edge of the griddle in a circular motion. You should not spread the batter like you do for plain dosa.
• Don't panic to fill in all the holes. Those holes are a sign of perfect rava dosa
• Dot the edges of the dosa with a little oil and fry till golden brown.
• Flip and brown on the other side
• Before making each dosa make sure you stir the batter and pour otherwise all the rava (sooji ) would sink to the bottom. This is very important.
• If you still find that dosas arent crispy enough you can add tbsp of rice flour and try again.

Yummy rava dosas with green chutney and putnala podi with ghee

Its okay if the first couple of rava dosas don't turn good, but i am sure its easy to get perfection(Even my first 2 rava dosas would be a big flop sometimes!). If you want you can even add some chopped onions to the batter. These ravva dosas are good when served hot and fresh. Serve this hot hot ravva dosa with chutney and pappula podi or sambar.

This onion chutney is so easy to make yet very delicious. This is my favorite chutney for dosa and idly. My sister and brother likes boiled onion chutney( I should ask my sister for this recipe ). My mom is expert in making this red chutney. Though i have been making this chutney for more than couple of years yet could not replicate that taste exactly. That's why they say 'Mother is the best teacher and the BEST COOK too'. And for now let me blame the onions we get here in US.. hehehe, its not me anymore. This onion chutney takes just 5 minutes to make with very few ingredients.


I would suggest using red onion for this chutney. If you use yellow onion it makes the chutney taste bitter. I have very bad experiences making this chutney with yellow onions. I would better prefer to switch to cooked version of onion chutney if i don't have red onions on hand.

You need:

• 1 large red onion
• 10 curry leaves
• 4 stalks of coriander
• 1 tbsp -2 tbsp red chilli powder( RCP spiciness varies )
• 1/2 lemon sized tamarind
• a pinch of sugar
• salt to taste

• Microwave tamarind with some water for 30 sec
• Chop onions ( should fit your blender )
• In a blender add onion, tamarind, curry leaves, coriander, red chilli powder and salt
• Do not add water from tamarind add the soft pulp, otherwise the chutney would become watery
  
• Grind coarsely( i use chopper to get the effect of using mortar)

Though we make various types of dosas, Atukula dosa aka Poha Dosa has been the most favourite of all. None of the other dosas can compete with the Set Dosa aka Poha Dosa in fluffy texture, size( thickness ) and that zing from sour buttermilk. On the healthy side, these dosas need very very less oil compared to other dosas. Just 6 drops along the edges of the dosa would do the trick(I dont know how that very less oil would be good enough, may be it gets oil from poha! ). And the best part, it melts in your mouth just like butter and we call it Sponge Dosa too. Thanks a lot Grandma for passing down this recipe!

The day before Diwali( Naraka Chathurdasi ) my mom makes these Dosas for sure. And on Diwali it would be mostly Pongal. We were allowed wear to new clothes only on Naraka Chathurdasi day, but not on Diwali. And another day where they make these dosas would be Atlataddi. Hope every Andhrite knows about Atlathaddi. Atlathaddi( Atlu = Dosa ) usually comes in October. This day all women wake up early in the morning, wear new clothes(teenagers in half-sarees ) and do some rituals and they give dosas(atlu vayanam) to other women. And we kids used to have so much fun swinging! They make hundreds of dosas and give them in some count( im not exactly sure how many ). Since the dosas should stay moist and soft for longer hours they usually prefer to make dosas with poha. Hope they have this festival even in Tamilnadu! This is my entry for RCI Tamil Festivals Event.

Kids usually sing this following rhyme about Atla taddi(Dosa Day).
Atlathaddoi Aratlaoi Muddapappoi Moodatloi
Chip Chip Gollu Singaraai Gollu
Ma Thatha Gollu Mandaparallu



Atukula Attu will be good even when packed for lunch. I usually apply putnala podi( Pappula podi ) on dosa and cover them with a lid once cooked and wrap in aluminium foil. It stays very moist and soft until lunch time. This can be served in any meal of the day. The dosa is crispy on one side and soft and tender the other side. This is an exact Indian version of good and fluffy American pancakes!




You need:

• 3 cups Raw Rice(American long grain rice would be better than sona masoori rice )
• 1 cup tightly packed atukulu aka poha( Indian Beaten Rice )
• 1 tsp menthulu( Methi seeds)
• 1/4 cup minapappu( Urad Dal )
• 1/4 cup sour beaten yogurt or thick butter milk
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• a pinch of baking soda

• Soak rice, methi seeds, and urad dal together overnight for 4-5 hours.
• Soak beaten rice or poha/atukulu in seperate bowl with buttermilk for 1-2 hrs
• Grind soaked beaten rice first to a smooth paste and set aside
• Grind soaked rice mixture into very smooth paste adding water
• Do not add too much water just add enough water to grind
• Add salt and baking soda
• Mix well with hand( No spoons or laddles please! Should use hand to mix making it easy to ferment )
• Store it in airtight container in a warm place overnight or until it ferments( almost doubles in size )
  

• Heat griddle or tawa in medium heat, cut onion into half and rub on griddle( This makes dosas to come off without sticking to pan )
• Pour a laddleful of batter. DO NOT SPREAD, a little dab would be good enough. Do it just like pancakes.
• Add very little oil INSIDE the edges of dosa
• Once the bubbles are formed put lid on the top as shown in picture
• Remove and check for doneness
• Flip and cook one the other side for just 2 sec

• Use sour buttermilk or beaten yogurt. This is important for fermentation. You can avoid buttermilk on whole if you dont like the sour taste. It will be good even without buttermilk.
• Always mix any dosa or idli batter with hand only( My moms tip! )
• Do not add too much water for dosa batter.
• To make no stick dosas, rub a half cut onion on the griddle before making each dosa after sprinking water.
• Do not spread batter for atukula dosa.
  
• Cover Set Dosa with a lid once the bubbles are formed., this makes the dose so fluffy but not dried out.