Go to Breakfast - Rava Uttapam - Savory Pancake

This is the easiest breakfast I've ever made, it is my son's absolute favorite since he was a 1 year old and now it's my hubby's favorite too. Anytime, I am out of breakfast ideas in the morning or I didn't feed the family a good dinner or I need to see a bright cheery smile on their face 'coz they have had a bad night - I just put this one together!

It never requires planning in my kitchen 'coz it requires only TWO Ingredients - yeah, you got that right!
Rava - Cream of Wheat or Semolina flour & Ordinary Yogurt - I think you can make this with all rice flour too but I haven't tried it. For my international users, when I lived in the US, I used to buy some groceries online at Patel Brothers - but I don't know if they ship to the UK.

Perfect for bachelors and for a meal you want to put together when you are alone and don't want to cook something elaborate.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Rava - Cream of Wheat
1/2 cup ordinary yogurt - any kind - it just shouldn't be sweet
1-2 teaspoons oil - optional
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 onion & tomato finely chopped - optional
finely chopped coriander for garnishing - optional


Method:
Mix the rava and yogurt together to form a batter. It should have the consistency of pancake batter - so add a couple of tablespoons of water to this to make the batter easily spreadable. Add the salt and the oil. Mix and let rest for 20 mins on the counter.

You can use this immediately but I've noticed - letting it sit makes it taste better.

Heat a skillet you use for making pancakes or dosas. Pour a ladlefull of batter and spread a bit. Add the chopped onions, tomatoes and coriander. You can also sprinkle some sort of spice at this time - I sprinkle some finely ground paprika or sambhar powder. Add 1-2 teaspoons of oil around the edges for cooking.

Let it cook for a couple of minutes on one side and then flip. All in all, this takes longer to cook than a pancake but if you're cooking it for more than 10 minutes you're going to get a burnt pancake!
Cook for another couple of minutes, till the batter looks set.

This is a very forgiving recipe, it tastes great even without all the veggies - just plain or with a little grated cheese.

Garnish with coriander (or without) and enjoy!

Tips:
I've started adding oil to the batter as I noticed it slips of the skillet easily and is very moist.
You can add some chopped capsicum, grated carrots and grated cheese to this too while cooking.
If you're making this for the first time, it may not come of the skillet easily but just wipe the skillet with a wet cloth and try it again...

Just realized I wanted to send it as an entry to Breakfast Mela hosted by the very talented Srivalli at Cooking 4 All Seasons so re-posting it.

Chocolate Yogurt Cupcakes

So, since I recovered from Typhoid all I can think of is food. I feel like eating all the time... almost non-stop! Sometimes you go through an event or a personal high or low or an illness that makes your body rhythms go funny and puts your body into a high stress zone - anyone been there? Body reacts to stress in different way - but mine goes into EAT mode.

I will get up to a cup of tea with toast, then have a bad have breakfast, then go for a 20 minute walk and get the munchies, then play with my toddler and want lunch. Phew! Sweets are on my mind before I've completed lunch and by the time I put my toddler to sleep it's tea time again... you get the drift...

So, I decided I would have to take stock of my life on my own and can't blame events in my life for eating. Now, with all the baking I do it is difficult to resist. And I love the smell of creaming butter and sugar for cakes but I decided to start baking healthy till I lose some of the weight I have been beginning to gain. Another commitment I have made to myself is to walk twice a day for at least 30 minutes and not get lazy about it - no short cuts to losing weight, I say.

I am going to bake only twice a week and cook healthier meals - I already do but I will eat the healthy meals and fried food will only be twice a week. I guess thats fair.. lets see how long it lasts.

So, I googled up some healthy recipes and I couldn't find the perfect recipe for the perfect Chocolate Cupcake recipe. Some didn't have whole wheat flour, some didn't have eggs, some didn't have yogurt and some didn't have fruit... so I thought to myself - lets just take the basics and make the rest along the way.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil (canola or olive)
1/2 cup yogurt
1 small jar Heinz pear baby food (thats the only pureed fruit I had lying around)
1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg (optional)
1/3 cup small chocolate chips (on my son's insistence!)

Recipe:
Beat the oil and sugar together. Add egg and beat till fluffy. (I used a wooden spoon for all my mixing and definitely do not over mix.

Then add the yogurt and the pear puree and beat well for a couple of minutes or use your electric mixer.

Now to this add the dry ingredients - bit by bit (sifted mixture of the two flours and cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder).

In the end add the chocolate chips.

Bake for 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 177 F.

I must say they tasted great warm with a slight drizzle of low fat cream mixed with some cocoa powder and a spoonful of icing sugar! Cold - they were not that great - so maybe I will try it again without the whole wheat flour.

Also, I added a couple of M&M's to give you something to think about when you're baking for Easter... maybe you could use chocolate eggs?