Broken wheat dosa

               

                         Broken wheat or cracked wheat is the cracked berries of whole wheat. You should not confuse between broken wheat and bulgur wheat. Bulgur is also made from wheat kernel which is cracked after they are steamed and cracked. But in cracked or broken wheat, the whole raw wheat is cracked. So it contains outer bran which is rich in nutrients. Cracked wheat is also rich in fibre.

                       Broken wheat helps in maintain body weight. It helps to decrease the metabolic syndrome when it is included in daily diet. It is also a source of magnesium.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup broken wheat
• ¼ cup chana dal
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 green chillies chopped
• Small piece of ginger, chopped
• ¼ cup grated coconut
• Salt to taste

Method

      Take broken wheat and chana dal in a bowl. Wash properly. Soak it for 1 hour. After 1 hour put broken wheat, chana dal, grated coconut, chopped onion and ginger in a mixi jar and prepare dosa batter. Transfer the batter to a bowl. Add required salt. The batter should not be too watery.

      Keep a non-stick dosa pan over alow flame. Pour 1 spoonful dosa batter. Make it round using the back of the ladle. Use a spatula to lift the dosa and flip it over. Let both the sides become light brown colour. Transfer the dosa to a plate. Prepare dosa with the remaining batter. Serve hot with coconut chutney.

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Sweet rice flakes

         

                   Rice flakes or flattened rice is de-husked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes. These flakes of rice swell when added to liquid, as they absorb water, milk or any other liquids. Sweet rice flakes or ‘Aval vilayichathu’ is very popular in Kerala.

Ingredients

1 cup rice flakes

2 lumps of jaggery

1 1/2 teaspoon ghee

¼ cup grated coconut

A pinch of cardamom powder

A pinch of dried ginger powder (Chukku podi)

A pinch of cumin seed powder

4 cashew nuts

Method

         Keep a pan over a low flame. Pour 1 teaspoon of ghee into it. Add rice flakes and roast it. Prepare jaggery syrup and transfer it a bowl through a sieve to remove impurities if any.

Add roasted rice flakes to this syrup. Now add grated coconut, cardamom powder, cumin seed powder and dried ginger powder. Mix all the ingredients. Now fry cashew nuts in ½ teaspoon ghee. (Split the cashew nuts). Mix it with the rice flakes. Serve the sweet rice flakes with banana and papad.  

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Broken wheat-Rice Upma

                        Broken wheat or cracked wheat is the cracked berries of whole wheat. You should not confuse between broken wheat and bulgur wheat. Bulgur is also made from wheat kernel which is cracked after they are steamed and cracked. But in cracked or broken wheat, the whole raw wheat is cracked. So it contains outer bran which is rich in nutrients. Cracked wheat is also rich in fibre.

Broken wheat helps in maintaining body weight. It helps to decrease the metabolic syndrome when it is included in daily diet. It is also a source of magnesium.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup broken wheat
• ¼ cup rice (pachari/pacha araisi or unangalari)
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 green chillies chopped
• Small piece of ginger, chopped
• 1 sprig curry leaf
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon ghee (optional)
• 2 cups water
• Salt to taste

Unangalari: Rice not boiled in the husk, before husking. (Unbranned rice)

Method

Take broken wheat and rice in a vessel. Wash thoroughly to remove impurities. Place the pressure cooker with coconut oil over the flame. Add mustard seeds. Let it pop in the oil. Sauté chopped onion curry leaves, chopped chilli and chopped ginger. Pour 2 cups of water and add salt. Now add broken wheat and rice to it. Close the pressure cooker. Remove the cooker from heat after the first whistle. Wait till all the pressure inside the cooker is released. Now open the cooker. Transfer the upma to another vessel. Add ghee and mix gently.

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Nullippittu

                 Nullipittu is a special type of snack prepared especially by the ‘Chetti’castes of Wayanad district in Kerala. It is prepared using rice flour and ripe banana. (Rice flour used for making ‘puttu’. i.e.; the rice flour should not be very fine. It should be roasted at least for 5 minutes.) But I use to prepare ‘nullippittu’ by adding jaggery and grated coconut, in addition to banana and rice flour. The presence of jaggery and coconut gives a special taste to the ‘nullippittu’.

Ingredients

8 teaspoons of rice flour

Jaggery syrup prepared from 2 lumps of jaggery

4 teaspoons of grated coconut

1 ripe banana (Palayankodan, Mysore poovan or Poovan)

Coconut oil for frying

Method

Take rice flour in a bowl. Add grated coconut to it. Peel the banana and squeeze it with your hands. Ten mix it with the flour. Pour the jaggery syrup into the bowl through a sieve to remove unwanted impurities if any. (The syrup should not be too watery. Add only less water while preparing the syrup.) Now mix all the components together with your hand. It should be tight dough.

Place a fry pan with oil over a low flame. When the oil has heated, put small portions of the dough either with a spoon or with your hands into the oil. Slightly increase the flame. Stir gently with a turner till they become light golden brown. Now transfer them to a plate. Repeat the process with the remaining dough. You can prepare 2 or 3 at a time. You can store it for 2 to 3 days.

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Ragi Sweet Dosa

                                                                          Ragi or Finger millet is especially valuable as it contains the amino acid Methionine, which is lacking in the diets of hundreds of millions of the poor who live on

starchy staples such as cassava,plantain, polished rice, or maize meal. Finger millet can be ground and cooked into cakes,puddings or porridge.  The straw from finger millet is used as animal

fodder.  Ragi is cleaned , dried and powdered. This ragi flour is used to make different dishes.

Nutritional value of Finger Millet per 100g 

Protein 7.6g

Fat 1.5g

Carbohydrate 88g

Calcium 370 mg

Vitamins - A: 0.48mg

Thiamine (B1): 0.33mg

Riboflavin (B2): 0.11mg

Niacin: (B3) 1.2mg

Fiber 3g

Ingredients

1 cup ragi flour

1/4 cup wheat flour

3 lumps of jaggery

Ghee

Method

                  Mix ragi flour and wheat flour in a bowl. Pour thick jaggery syrup (cooled) to the bowl through a sieve to remove impurities if any. Mix well. If necessary add water to the mixture. The mixture should not be too thick or loose. Keep a non-stick dosa maker over a low flame . Pour 1 spoon of mixture to it and make it round like a dosa. Cook both the sides. Apply ghee on the surface of dosa. Transfer it to a plate.  Repeat the process with the remaining mixture.

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Boiled rice upma(Choru upma)

                                                                  When my brother was a small boy ,everyday he demanded different types of snacks after returning from school. My mother may not get enough  time everyday to prepare different snacks or some days there may not be enough things to prepare snacks. during such occasions she used to prepare boiled rice upma because there will be already boiled rice which she had prepared for lunch.Boiled rice upma is a very tasty dish, very easy to prepare and needs less ingredients. It can be had as breakfast,for lunch or for  dinner, when there are no enough side dishes or curry. It can also be had with evening tea.

Ingredients

1 cup boiled rice

1 onion or 2 small onions

1 sprig curry leaf

1 papad

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Salt to taste

2 dried red chilli

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon ghee(optional)

Method

         Keep a pan over low flame. Pour coconut oil into it. When oil becomes hot, put mustard seeds into it. let it pop in the oil. Cut the papad into 4 or 5 pieces with your hands and put them in the oil. Stir well and allow them to fry. Put red chilli into the pan after cutting it into small pieces and stir well. Add curry leaves and salt. Now add boiled rice and stir well for 2 or 3 minutes. Add ghee and mix well with the rice upma. Switch off the flame. Remove the boiled rice upma to another vessel. Serve hot. If want , you can serve it with coconut dry chutney or pickle or vegetable stir fry or anything you have at home  like chutney powder fish, papad etc.

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Tapioca fry

               

 

                                 This tapioca fry is not the tapioca chips that we usually buy from market. In order to prepare this tapioca fry, we should first boil the tapioca after cutting it into cylindrical pieces.  Then it has to be cut into fine pieces and dried in the sun for 4 to 5 days till it is dried properly. Since all  the water content present in tapioca gets evaporated, it can be stored for months. Usually we dry tapioca during summer season.

Ingredients

1. 1 tapioca.
2. Salt as required.
3. Water required to boil tapioca.
4. Coconut oil required to fry tapioca.

Method

• Peel tapioca and wash thoroughly in plenty of water 2 or 3 times.
• Cut it into 3 or 4 cylindrical pieces.

•  Take water in a vessel and place it on the stove.
• When eater starts boiling put the pieces into it.
• Add required salt.
• When tapioca has cooked properly(Do not overcook), drain water from the vessel.
• Transfer the tapioca to a flat vessel.
• Let it cool.
• When cooled, cut each piece into two, vertically.
• Slice it into fine pieces.

• Spread these pieces on a cotton cloth or plastic sheet and keep it in the sun for 4 to 5 days till all the water has evaporated completely.
• Keep a  pan over the low flame.
• Pour coconut oil required to fry tapioca.(Take only the required amount of tapioca pieces)
• When oil becomes hot, put tapioca pieces into the oil.
• Stir gently.
• Fry till  golden brown color comes. Do not over fry.
• Transfer them to another vessel.
• When cooled , store in air tight container.

Note:   Fry only the required quantity of dried tapioca and keep the remaining for future use.

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Idli Vada

Ingredients

1 cup rice

1/2 cup urad dal

Salt as required

Water as required

5 teaspoons Chana dal

Finely chopped onion(1 big)

Finely chopped ginger(11/2 teaspoons

2 sprigs of curry leaves

Coconut oil

Method

Soak rice and urad dal for 3 to 4 hours. Wash them properly. Prepare a thick  idli batter. Keep the batter in a bowl for 3 hours. Keep a pan over a low flame. Pour 2 teaspoons of coconut oil. add Chana dal to it and stir it till it become golden brown. now Add onion, ginger and curry leaves and stir again for 3 minutes. Transfer it to the idli batter. Add required salt and mix well. Take oil in a pan required to  fry the vada. Keep the pan over the flame. When oil becomes hot pour one spoonful idli batter to the oil(Just enough to prepare one dosa).  Fry it as you fry vada. Let both the sides become golden brown colour. Repeat the same with the remaining batter. transfer it to a plate. Serve hot. You can serve it with coconut chutney, mint chutney or curd.

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Banana Ada

Banana Ada

Usually we make 'ada' using rice flour. Here ripe banana is  also used along with rice flour to make ada. It gives a special taste. Here I have used ripe palayankodan banana( Ponnan banana), rice flour and ragi flour to prepare ada.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup rice flour
2. 1/2 cup ragi flour
3. 2 palayankodan bananas
4. a pinch of salt
5. 2 lumps of jaggery
6. 1/2 scrapped coconut
7. 1/2 tablespoon cardamom powder
8. a pinch of cumin seed powder
9. 1 tablespoon of ghee
10. Plantain leaf

Method

• To prepare filling

Pour 1/2 glass of water in a pan.Add two lumps of jaggery to it. Keep it over the flame to prepare jaggery syrup. Stir it continuously. When When jaggery has melted completely, switch off the flame. Drain it t another pan through a sieve. add cardamom powder , cumin seed powder and coconut to it. keep the pan over the low flame . Stir it till all the the water gets evaporated . Add ghee and stir well. Switch off the flame.

• Take  rice flour and ragi flour in bowl.
• Add a pinch of salt
• Take two palayankodan banana and squeeze it with you hands.
• Mix it with the flour.
• Kneed the flour with your hands. Since we have adde banana there is no need to add water.
• Mix thoroughly and make the dough.
• Wash the plantain leaves and cut it into 4 or 6 pieces    according to the size of the ada you want to prepare.
• Place a small lump of dough on the plantain leaf.
• Spread the dough on the leaf with your hands.

• Spread 11/2 spoons of filling over it.

• Fold the leaf.

• Repeat the process with remaining dough.
• steam cook it in an idli cooker for seven to 10 minutes.
• Transfer them to a plate .

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Banana bajji

Banana bajji

We know different types of “bajji”s that can be served with rice and eaten as snacks. Banana bajji is also of that kind. Here I have used ‘palayankodan’ banana because it is very soft and tasty. Raw banana should be used to make bajji.

Palayankodan banana

Ingredients

1. 1 palayankodan banana
2. ½ cup of wheat flour
3. 1 teaspoon of chilli powder
4. ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
5. 1 petal garlic
6. 1 small onion
7. Salt as required
8. ½ cup of water
9. Coconut oil required to fry banana

Method

Peel the banana. Slice the banana vertically into thin pieces as shown above.

Make a paste of galic and small onion. Add required salt , a pinch of turmeric powder and ½ teaspoon of chilli powder into paste. Add a small quantity of water and mix well. Put banana slices in the plate and using the hands apply the mixture on the banana slices.

Take another vessel and add wheat flour into it. Add required salt, ½ teaspoon of chilli powder, a pinch of turmeric powder. Make a thick paste by adding required water.

Keep a kadhai over the flame. Pour coconut oil into it.  Take each banana slice and dip it in the wheat flour paste. Apply the flour on the sides of the slices.

When the oil gets heated put the pieces of banana one by one. Stir it with a turner. Let both the side s become brown in colour.

Transfer it into another vessel. Repeat the process till all the pieces are fried.

It will be crispy when served hot.

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Pazham Pori (Banana pancake)

Everybody likes "pazham pori" ie; banana fry which is a common snack of  Keralites. But nowadays most people are unable to eat it because of diabetics and 'cholesterol'. Here is a method to prepare pazham pori without using oil.

Ingredients

1. 1 banana(nendra pazham)
2. 2 teaspoons of sugar(optional)
3. 4 or 5 teaspoons of wheat flour
4. Water as required

   

   Nendra banana

5. A pinch of cardamom powder
6. A pinch of cumin seed powder

Method

Take wheat flour in a bowl. Add sugar'cardamom powder and cumin seed powder. Pour required water and make a thick paste of it. Cut the banana vertically into 4 pieces. Dip the pieces of banana in the batter.add enough water in the idli cooker. Grease  idli mould. Place  the banana pieces over the mould.  close the idli cooker. Keep it over the flame for 5 minutes. Remove the cooker.from the stove. Take the banana from the idli mould  and place it another vessel.Now our steamed pazham pori is ready.

Note: You can have this "pazham pori" with coconut chutney,mint chutney or even with "chicken curry"!!

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Puffed rice Upma (Pori Upma)

      When I was a school child, my mother used to prepare special tasty dishes for me. One day, I was surprised to see puffed rice upma on the table. It was very tasty. When I grew up, I also started experimenting with different recipes. It is not only tasty, but also very easy to prepare. 

Ingredients

1. Puffed rice                            : 2 cups
2. Salt                                        : as required
3. Curry leaves                          : 1 sprig
4. Onion                                     : 1 finely chopped
5. Ginger                                    :1 small piece finely chopped
6. Red chilli                                :1 cut into 3 or  4 pieces
7. Roasted gram                         : 1 teaspoon
8. Mustard seeds                        : 1/2 spoon
9. Coconut oil                        :1 teaspoon

Keep the kadhai or pan over the flame. Pour oil into it. When it is hot add mustard. Let it pop in the oil. Add red chilli and roasted grams and stir it. When roasted gram becomes slight brown colour, add finely chopped ginger,chopped onion and curry leaves and stir it. Add puffed rice into kadhai , sprinkle salt over it and stir it. Close it with a lid. Reduce the flame.After 2 minutes, remove the lid and stir it. Switch off the burner.Transfer the upma into a bowl.Now it is ready to serve.

Note: If a yellow colour is needed for the upma, add a small pinch of turmeric powder into the pan Just before putting puffed rice.

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Puffed rice mixture(Bhelpuri)

       I tasted bhelpuri for the first time from Mumbai. In every street there will be a bhelpuri seller. It very tasty and very easy to prepare. Children as well  as grownups would like this. Lemon juice and chilli powder adds taste to the puffed rice.

Ingredients

1. Puffed rice            : 1 cup
2. Red chilli powder : 1/2 teaspoon
3. Salt                        : as required
4. Lemon juice          : 2 teaspoons
5. Roasted gram(pottukadala): 2 teaspoons
6. Mixture                 : 4 teaspoons
7. Coriander leaves   : 3 or 4 small pieces

Method

Take puffed rice in a bowl. Add chilli powder,salt, roasted gram, Mixture and coriander leaves.then mix well using a spoon. Add lemon juice and mix well.Now bhelpuri is ready.

Note: Those who want a slight sweet taste, you can add 1 or 2 teaspoons of sweet mixture  that we get from bakery.

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Jack fruit fry

I tasted it for the  first time on a Vishu day. My mother was  frying banana.When she finished  doing that ,she asked me "Why don't we try with jackfruit?" Actually it was a trial. But the result was "tasty". I request all of you to try this.

Ingredients

1. Ripe Jack fruit arils(Varikka)   : 4
2. sugar                                                               : 2 teaspoons
3. Wheat flour                                                 : 1 cup
4. Water                                                               : as required
5. Coconut oil                                                   : just enough to fry the item
6. Cardamom powder                                   : a pinch

Method

Take t he wheat flour in a dish. Add sugar and cardamom powder. Make a paste with the wheat flour by adding enough water.Remove   the seeds from the jack fruit arils. Divide the jack fruit arils into by cutting vertically. It is better to use 'Varikka' jack fruit than 'Koozha'. Keep the pan over the flame. Add enough coconut oil. Let the oil  become hot. Dip each piece of jack fruit in flour paste put it in the oil one after the other.Let both sides become golden-yellow colour. stir it using a turner. transfer it to a dry vessel. Fry other pieces in the same way. Serve hot. It will be very crispy when served hot.

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Aval upma

                                            Aval upma is a very tasty dish.My mother used to prepare this dish often. Also, it is very easy to prepare. I like it very much and Iam sure that all of you will like Aval upma. Why don't you try this today itsel?

Ingredients

1. Flattened rice :1 cup
2. Onion              :1 finely chopped
3. Mustard seeds:1/2 spoon
4. Curry leaves    :1 sprig
5. salt                   :as required
6. Oil                    :1 teaspoon
7. Dried red chilli:1
8. Water as required.

 Method

Keep the pan on the flame.Pour oil into it. Add mustard seeds. Let it pop in the oil. Now add Finely chopped onion.Stir it till it attains golden yellow colour. Add red chillie which is cut into pieces.Then add the currry leaves and stir it for 2 minutes. Now add flattened rice into the pan.Add required salt. Sprinkle water, close it with a lid . Reduce the flame and simmer the upma for 2-3 minutes. Keep stirring. If the flattened rice is very hard, sprinkle some more water and close it with a lid. After 2 minutes remove the lid.  Now the upma is ready. Transfer it into another bowl and serve hot.

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