Wordless Wednesday: Dreaming of some a nice broth and warm pasta (trying to recover from the sniffles...)

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.

Namak Paare (Mathri) / Crispy Savory Bites

Though I am a North Indian, I am born and brought up in Mumbai, a very cosmopolitan city, still has a staple of typical Gujrati and Maharashtrian snacks that we savor during tea-time - chivda (sauted flattened rice with peanuts) , bhel (puffed rice), idlis, dhoklas. These are very different from what North Indians like to snack on - it's usually fried fare like samosas, fried savories like pakodas, namak paare, mathri's etc

This is something my son was introduced to after we came to Delhi and though he hasn't take a big fancy to it, we make it occasionally for a lunch box treat. It's mighty yummy and full of oil and deep fried so you may want to stay away from it if you're on a diet of some sort and cook it only for the kids. It's like a very crispy savory cookie.

I am giving you a rough recipe for this 'coz everything that likes to be fried, I like to keep away from. I give my cook (yeah, I have someone to help me with my kitchen chores) some basic instructions and he whips them up from me. My MIL makes some yummy ones too - she makes them round. These are more bite sized so they can be packed as a snack.

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour / rava
2-3 tablespoons oil
1/4 tsp carrom seeds
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup water

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients. Make a well in it and pour the oil or ghee (please do not try this with butter) and mix it all together with your hands. Now, add water to this mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time to bring the dough together into a stiff dough. Use a rolling pin and take 1/2 of the dough and roll it out as thin as you can - about 1/4 inch into a round. Then cut it length and breadth wise into strips to make these tiny sized pieces and pour into hot oil and fry for a couple of mins each side till nice and browned. Remove onto a tissue paper and when absolutely cooled store in an air tight box.

These are very rough instructions and not detailed at all but email me and I can answer all your queries on this.

This is a pic of a plateful of namak paare's sitting on my son's favorite chair waiting for him to attack!

First Award Ever!!!!

I wanted to thank Reva from kaarasaaram.com for the lovely event she hosted and the appreciation it got my way! I have never won an award at my blog and am super duper excited!!!! YAY!!!!


I am really looking forward to receiving my cookbooks :D!!!!
    

Sunny Side Up - Eggs n' Chips for the hungry baby!

They are some foods that bring back memories of childhood and are categorized as comfort food. They don't necessarily have to be butter and sugar laden but just foods that comfort you and make you happy. I remember my #1 comfort food is simple tur dal and chawal (Yellow Lentils with Rice) and then the list goes on...

Now, to be fair to my mom, she is a great cook but hates stepping into the kitchen or even cooking that much. But with dad it is another story... he lovers pottering around in the kitchen - throwing together anything that's there on hand and coming up with some brilliant food to eat... be it simple things like egg and vegetable fried rice, anything with chicken and these eggs. I don't know how they originated in our house but they are a great treat for my hubby and son who get to eat Chip (Wafers) N' Eggs all in one first thing in the morning!

Today was a holiday in India and to surprise the family I prepared some Eggs n Chips and well there isn't much to the recipe there is a technique which I will let you figure out yourself  - though they are some clues and that's why I put up the pics of the eggs in my pan!

And it's almost the weekend so hang in there...

Crepes, a regular on my breakfast table

A little time back I did a post on Crepes (click, for recipe), a great simple dish to put together whether you want a chic dessert or want to given in to a special craving or want to cook something special for your loved one. I didn't seem to get pics on my camera...so they are some on my phone that I haven't been able to transfer yet! But, these seem to have been a regular on my table nowadays. I like them with fruit and honey and fruit of the season as usual is "Strawberry" - am sooo sure you are tired of being snowed down in a pile of strawberries from my blog but they seem to have become my weakness (umm, after Chocolate, ofcourse!).

I would have loved to drizzle this with some icing sugar and chocolate sauce and added a hint of strawberry jam inside the crepes to sweeten the slightly tart strawberries but as you see I have decided to keep it simple... no maple syrup also - only Honey!

Now, a little while back I chanced upon a brilliant blog called What's For Lunch Honey and I have been wanting to participate in the Monthly Mingle forever... it is a great event and gets hosted by a different blogger each time! It helps you meet new bloggers and brings to you a variety of new recipes to feast your eyes on. This month's mingle is being hosted by Maison Cupcake and this blog is a must visit too. Now, when I looked at the Think Pink theme - I was left wondering about what is something that I haven't already created with strawberries this month and I had something like a writer's block and couldn't think of something very innovative. Also, my son seemed to be in a mood of pancakes and I have been trying to be on a so called health trip so thought about re-creating these crepes and they made a perfect Sunday brunch!