Bhakshanam

Tava – round griddle

Kadai – round bottommed deep vessel – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karahi

Long back  Ashwini, LG(if LG is checking the blogs, we miss you!!)  and Nabeela tagged me for a meme, and one of my all time favourite as I mentioned in the meme was Masala akki rotti.  This is one of the signature dish of karanataka. When we were young, moms made this dish an extra elaborate affair, considering the  present version, as this dish is even sold as hot stuffs  in selected restaurants in Bengaluru.  One such eat out is Ganesh darshan in Jayanagar 3rd block, (Can check rest of the eat out joints here in Vikram Chadga’s blog)makes this dish which is liked by all categories of people.  They make it neat and tidy too.  It used be Sunday breakfast dish as the preparation used to take time, and till the rottis reached our plate, stories would unfold on the table while savoring the dish.  One such was, my father when he was a school kid, would pack akki rotti smeared with butter and chutney powder and hide it in his trouser pocket to munch during  class hours.  And one of the day, cat smelled the rat and his teacher caught him eating and grabbed it from my father, but could not resist himself taking a bite!!

Of course,  my mother is a wonderful cook, always made these hot rottis and one of the hit tiffin food among us.  Any recipe why is it liked so much if it is made out of mom’s hand?  its simple. It is loads of love and lots of experience.

Take a look at the recipe

Raw Rice powder   -    1/4kg (fine powder)

Onion   -   3 small (finely chopped)

Cumin – 1/2 tsp

Green chilies  2-3 chopped

Coriander leaves -  one handful

Coconut – 2tbsp(grated)

Hot Water -  as much

To make:

Add hot water to the raw rice powder and keep aside with out mixing.  Chop oninons and grate all the vegetables.  Add onions, chillies,  cumin, coconut, coriander and salt to the rice powder and water.  Mix thoroughly with hand.  The consistency should be little soften than chapathi dough.  It sticks to hands.  Before patting on the tava or kadai make sure you make your hands wet with water or smeared some oil so that you avoid sticking back to your hands. Divide the dough into 4- 5 balls(in this recipe).

There are two ways of preparation one using Tava and another using Kadai.

For Tava:

This is the best and tasty preparation as we use plantain leaf.  Take half of the plantain leaf.  Smear it with oil.  Oil or wet your hands. Take a ball of rotti dough and pat it evenly and softly starting from the centre and patting out wards achieving required thickness.  Once done, slowly place the plantain leaf with rotti side on the Tava and dislodge the leaf with a flat spoon. Rotti should remain on Tava.  Fry both sides till golden brown. Even a thick plastic sheet can be used replacing plantain leaf, but have to be careful not to burn the same on the Tava.

For Kadai:

This is very old way of preparing and so is the name “tappaley rotti”(kadai rotti).  Pour a tsp of oil in a round bottommed vessel preferably alluminium. Oil or wet your hands. Take a ball of rotti dough place it on the oil in the centre of kadai.  Start patting from the centre, so that that the centre remain little thicker and proceed outwards little thinner.

This is to apply heat evenly from the centre to the sides and not to burn.  Make sure to put a small groove in the middle at the centre and pour some oil in it, so that the rotti does not get burnt. Keep it closed for few minutes.  Make sure to check in between.  Wait for the smoke to come and you can reverse the rotti to fry on the other side too.

Variations :

1. Couple of tbsp of cooked rice can be added to acheive extra softness. It should be nicly mashed and added at the time of mixing the dough.

2. Vegetables -(capsicum carrot cabbage) – 1 cup grated can be added along with the dough to make it more tastier and healthier.

3. Rice powder can be made at home by washing the raw rice and drying it in shade.  Mill it to fine powder.

For the past few months, I am realising photography is not my cup of tea..  Being very repulsive and pressurized about this blog thing, whenever I cooked something that comes out as expected (as a matter of fact, my cooking is not consistent ) I grab the camera and start clicking in all the possible positions, appears as if I am shooting an amateur model, ending up with 40 different pictures.  I am being honest. That is okay with me.  I just have to turn myself on to the learning mode,  cut out a bit of excitement about this whole thing and give a kind of pro approach to this concept of blogging. Isn’t it?.  I gusess that’s what you call a self confession.:) (You guys , Don’t snarl over there!)

Incidentally, I happen to visit this supermarket last week and again, I was confused about what to cook?…  to post a  blog (eating, relishing comes later!!) As I was loitering around in the vegetable section, those tomatoes looked so fresh and shiny red, lopsided on the crate. I piled up a lot of them for trying out two, three dishes together. Next day, with an absolute interest,  I cooked tomato rice first thing in the morning. Then comes my passion which turned into an obsession in recent days, slowly reaching to a point of frustration, i.e., On the verge of this photo mania, I had to hotfoot it all around the house holding the camera in different angles behind this raw, uncooked and cooked food items and what not.  Behind me was my tiny two year old cutie kept on yelling at me, ‘mamma, enough photos’ ‘ take a photo of my lamb, my doll …’ .. Gosh!! Life has never been so chaotic before blogging.

Thats fine, as its really fun and great way to laugh and learn. More than anything, some compliments, advices, exchage of words, earning new friends….

So, I took the puree out of these tomatoes and it was not thick and colourful enough as I expected. To patch up this I could have added little tomato puree from market, I had none at that time.

Main ingredient

Basmati Rice 3 cups

Cutting

Onion one medium(finely sliced, thin and long)

Tomato one medium (diced into small cubes)

Coriander leaves less than a handfull (finely chopped for garnishing)

Lemon   1/2 (sliced and twisted for garnishing)

Powders

Red Chilli 1tsp

Coriander  1tsp

Turmeric   1/2 tsp

Biryani    1 tsp ( Everest or Badsha or Mother’s recipe)

Blender/Grinder

Group I

Tomatoes   3 medium(skin peeled)

Group II

Coconut   1 tbsp (fresh or frozen, grated)

Ginger  1/2 inch (peeled)

Garlic   2 cloves(medium sized)

small oninons 2-3 cloves

Chillies  7-8 (medium length less spicy)

Coriander leaves less than one fistful

Ready Additions

Whole Garam Masala  1 clove, 1 cinnamon, 1 small cardamom, bayleaf, few grains of black  pepper and cumin seeds

Curds    1/2 cup(optional)

Coconut milk 2 cups

Water  3 cups

Peas  1/2 cup (frozen or fesh)

Preparation: ·

Start with, washing and soaking the rice in water.

Group I, to peel of the skin of tomatoes, I don’t blanch it, instead I burn the tomatoes on the flame, so that the skin loosen up and can be peeled off easily.  I feel, the puree after grinding tomatoes becomes thin and liquid by blanching.  But again it depends on juiciness of the tomato.  To thicken up puree, it can be mixed with ¼ cup of tinned tomato puree.

Group II, Grind coconut, ginger garlic and chillies to fine paste.  Add fresh coriander leaves, and  use pulse button twice or three times, so that the leaves are ground and mixed well enough.

Coconut milk, can be fresh or powder or canned. I use Eastern coconut milk powder, which is a product of Kerala, with two table spoons in a cup of warm water to dissolve.  This gives a good consistency. When fresh coconut milk is used, make sure to take the thick milk only.

1. I use Hawkins pressure cooker (4Litre or more) as i have a quick method for cooking.
2. Take 5 tbsp oil in the preheated cooker, and toss in whole gram masala. Wait till it crackels.
3. Add chopped onions, to fry till transparent.
4. Add  ground Group II paste, Fry them for two minutes until it leaves raw smell of the masala.
5. Empty 1/2 cup of peas by adding it to cooker and fry for a minute.
6. Pour in tomato puree, roast until whole mixture leaves oil from the sides.
7. Sprinkle the powders and fry for few seconds, till it blends with the mixture.
8. Drain the water from soaked rice, add it in to the cooker and start mixing thoroughly and swiftly.
9. When it is mixed well, pour two cups of coconut milk and 3 cups of boiled water. Stir in, chopped Coriander leaves and tomato. To make it more rich, half a cup of curd can be added
10. Give one good complete stir after adding required amount of salt.
11. Close the lid tightly without putting the pressure regulator or weight to the lid.
12. Increase the heat till the steam comes out of the nozzle, reduce the flame to simmer.
13. Steam it for 7 minutes on timer, turn off the heat and allow it to cook with lid closed for about 10 minutes.
14. Slowly open the lid after 10 minutes, and fold in rice with a flat laddle, immediately empty the contents into a serving dish.  If left in the cooker, it gets over cooked.
15. Serve with lemon, coriander leaves and tomato slices, garnish unto your imagination

Notes:  This rice served with cucumber raitha or some spicy curry. Instead of pressure cooker, this recipe can be cooked in a thick bottomed vessel, but to keep a check regularly so that it does not stick to the bottom.

I was thinking which could be my first recipe to blog. Me being from karnataka and married to a keralite , I was looking for a recipe that is common in both of these places. Found one!!. People from Kannur,North kerala, call it as ari pathiri, is mostly a common dinner or heavy evening snack especially among muslims.  On the other hand, in karnataka, it is known as home made heavy breakfast.  Even the curries goes along with this also differs according to the places.  In Bangalore, akki rotti is eaten with curry made from aloo or saagu(Vegetables).  Back in Kerala, pathiri is savored with spicy traditional chicken curry. Ari pathiri one of my favorite and my mother is ‘mother’ of this recipe. However, it is slightly procedurous preparation but good for taste buds of all ages.

Grab some:

• Rice powder          2 cups

• Cumin seeds         1/2 tbsp

• water                    3 and 1/2 cups

• salt to taste

And follow here:

For various good reasons, use an aluminum vessel.  Add up water and salt. Bring it to boil on medium heat.  Mix rice powder and jeera. When heated up water starts to form water bubbles, just then slowly pour rice powder mix into boiling water and start mixing the contents swiftly with a wooden spoon, so that it does not form lumps with in the dough.  Keep mixing till the the consistency is as equal to chapathi dough.  If the dough looks liquefied or pasty, add up little rice powder to tighten it. Cover up with a tight lid and allow it cook for two minutes. Turn off the heat and keep it covered for five more   minutes.

The tedious or rather an effortful process follows.  Now that the dough is cooked, wet the hands with cold water so as to divide dough into two parts. This has to be done when dough is still warm (I mean ‘hot’, I cannot say it loud ). One of the two parts has to be tempered by rolling on a slab with wet hands a few number of times, so that it softens without having any lumps.  Kneading does not work here as the dough will be hot or warm.

Divide the dough again into three parts.  Knead each part with wet hands couple of times more to make small dumplings, before rolling out with rolling pin on flat surface.  While rolling on slab, Pat the dumplings, with flour generously.

Dusting is required, when you turn sides while rolling.  Roll it out to required density.  Edges of rottis should not break while rolling.  You can quick fix it by joining together, just dust it with some powder and roll over it.

Fry on the hot pan on the both sides, until golden.  Use of oil while frying is optional.  Frying takes couple of minutes  depending on the density of the rolled rottis. Thicker the density, longer is the frying time.

I would like to have these rottis with chicken curry.

Note: Rice powder I used is Nirapara Pathiri podi, which is made in Kerala.  This can be made at home also.

Additions: Half a cup ground coconut and a piece of onion along with Jeera and Rice powder for the dough.