Balloon Vine Pancake / Mudaikathan Keerai Dosa

Its a well known fact that food acts as medicine and its important to include ingredients such as greens in our weekly diet plans to keep fit.

Balloon Vine / Mudaikathan keerai is one such greens which is absolutely healthy and is proved to cure joint pains.

I still remember the childhood days when we used to pick these greens and pop the balloon seeds on each others forehead and play :P This time I picked up some greens fresh from the garden when I visited my native a couple of weeks back and tried to make green pancakes with them. They looked pretty attractive and were tasty too. So here is yet again a healthy dish from my kitchen for you all :)

Ingredients:

Balloon Vine greens / Mudaikathan Keerai - 2 cups
Par boiled rice - 2 cups
Green chillies - 3
Curd - 1 cup
Salt - for taste

Method:

Soak rice in water for atleast two hours.

Clean the greens and measure two cups full.

Grind soaked rice along with greens, chillies, curd and salt into a fine batter.

Allow this batter to ferment over night.

Add enough water to the batter to make it into pouring consistency(just like rava dosa batter). Heat the skillet and pour a ladle full of batter starting from the edges in a circular way. Since the batter is loose it will automatically fill the middle portion. Add a spoon of oil to roast it. Turn the dosa and roast it on the other side too.

Serve hot with garlic or onion chutney.

Enjoy making a healthy dish :)

Tips:

Click here for recipe of Garlic chutney and Onion chutney.

Use metal skillet for such dosas since non stick will not allow it to spread much.

You can replace the green with other varieties too.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Fenugreek Pancakes / Vendhaya Dosa

Yupeee!! It looks like I have changed from being a sinful eater to sensible foodie ;) My previous post and this post are super healthy recipes that can make a lot of difference to my diet plans.

Ouch!! but its not going to take long before I get tempted to bake or cook some high calorie food, so enjoy this momentary conscious cook's recipes :)

Fenugreek has various benefits and is said to be good for diabetic people and it has also been used to treat arthritis, asthma, bronchitis, improve digestion, maintain a healthy metabolism, increase libido and male potency, cure skin problems (wounds, rashes and boils), treat sore throat, and cure acid reflux too.

When a small spice or herb can do so much, then why not use them in everyday cooking!! :)

I bet it dint even have a hint of bitterness. Trust me and go ahead trying :)

Ingredients:

Par-boiled rice - 2 cups
Urad dhall - 1/4 cup
Sprouted fenugreek(vendhayam/menthulu) - 1/4 cup
Salt - for taste

Method:

Soak the fenugreek seeds in water for 8 hours and drain the water. Close the bowl with the lid and leave it for a day or two for it to sprout nicely.

Soak par boiled rice and urad dhall in water over night.

Grind the soaked urad dhall and sprouted fenugreek together into a fine batter. Follow it by grinding the soaked rice into a smooth batter too. Pour both the batter and add enough salt to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Close with lid and leave it untouched for minimum of 5 hours to max of a night to ferment.

Whip the batter ones and make small pan cakes on the hot skillet and roast it on both the sides by adding few drops of oil or ghee.

Serve it hot with Onion chutney.

Super soft and healthy fenugreek dosa is ready. Enjoy making healthy food :)

Tips:

Sprouted grams have more nutritional value which makes this dosa very healthy.

You can add some freshly ground pepper corns to make the pan cakes spicy too.

Grind the dhall along with few red chillies to make spicy version.

Soak the fenugreek seeds in drinking water and strain the water into a bottle and use it for drinking. The water carries a lot of minerals too.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Watermelon Dosa

Yupeeeeeee! its the melon season and I'm enjoying them every day :)

Water melons are one of the best body coolants and are filling for the evening grumble too.

I made melon cake for my blog's birthday and really dint want to throw away the white rind portion of the melon. So came up with an interesting dosa with it :)

It was equally tasty and awesome :)

You can also check out the Moar kolambu that I made long back with the white rind of the melon. :)

Ingredients:

Par boiled rice(pulungarisi) - 1 1/2 cup
Melon pieces(white rind portion alone) - 1 cup
Scrapped coconut - 1/2 cup
Salt - for taste

Method:

Soak the par boiled rice in water for two hours.

Puree the white portion of the watermelon.

Grind the soaked rice, coconut and melon puree together into a smooth batter.

Add salt to the batter and mix well. The batter doesn't have to ferment.

The dosa can be done in two methods.

Keep the batter consistency slightly thick and pour a ladle full of batter in the center of the skillet and spread it like normal dosa. Add a tsp of oil and roast on both the sides.

You can add a little water to the batter and pour a ladle full of batter starting from the edges in a circular way. Since the batter is loose it will automatically fill the middle portion. Add a spoon of oil to it. Turn the dosa and roast it on both the sides. (Like rava dosa)

I personally liked the second method better :)

Yummy melon dosa is ready to serve. Serve it hot with tomato onion chutney.

Ingredients:

Tomato - 2
Onion - 1
Red chillies - 2
Salt - for taste

Method:

Chop onion and tomatoes roughly.

Take a tsp of oil in a pan and drop the red chillies followed by chopped tomatoes and onion. Fry for few mins until the raw smell leaves. Switch off and allow it to cool for a while.

Grind them with enough salt. Temper with mustard seeds.

Tomato onion chutney is ready to eat :)

Note:

Make the dosas just before serving and enjoy them hot. They have a tendency to harden after a while.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Vegetable Oats Pancakes

Oats has always been my last resort or life saving ingredient ;) I mean to say I resort to them only when mom makes breakfast that I really hate ;)

But just as every story has a twist, my oats story too has one. Once I realized tat oats is not just for boring porridges and it can be incorporated in many other yummylicious dishes, I couldn't stay away from it :)

Being a south Indian, dosa or pancake is something so inevitable. Hence oats in dosa has become my family favorite now. :)

Handy to make, yummy to eat and healthy to the core. :)

Ingredients:

Oats - 2 cups
Chickpea flour(Basen/Kadalamavu) - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Carrot - 1
Onion - 1
Bell peppers(Capsicum) - 1/2
Cabbage shredded - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - 2
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
Salt - for taste

Method:

Powder the oats in the mixie. Grate carrots and chop all the vegetables finely.

Take all the three flours, shredded vegetables, salt, finely chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves in a bowl and add just enough water to make a slightly thick batter.

Heat a tawa or non-stick pan and pour one laddle full of the batter and spread slightly with the laddle. Add few drops of oil and roast on both sides.

Healthy, quick and yummy vegetable oats pancakes are ready to eat :)

Serve hot with pickle or chutney of your choice. :)

Happy making :)

Note:

You can also reduce the amount of water and make a thick dough of the same and pat them on plastic sheets. Transfer them to the pan and roast them too.

You can also replace the chickpea flour with corn meal.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Cornmeal Dosa

Yellow yellow yummy fellow!! :)

Corn meal is a really healthy and tasty ingredient that we can use in a variety of dishes. This dosa was a mere experiment to me but I just loved it. :) It came out so well and its a simple and healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:

Cornmeal - 1 cup
Rice flour - 3/4 cup
Maida(all purpose flour) - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1 Green
Chillies - 2
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt - for taste

Method:

Take a tsp of oil in a pan and crackle cumin seeds. Then add finely chopped onion and chillies and saute for a while until the onions turn golden brown.

In a bowl, mix corn flour, rice flour, maida and salt together and dilute it pouring in enough water to it. Now add the onion cumin mixture to it and mix well. The batter should be of rava dosa batter consistency.

Heat the skillet and pour a ladle full of batter starting from the edges in a circular way filling the empty portions in the center by pouring little batter. Pour little oil and turn over and roast till it becomes crisp on the sides.

Cornmeal dosa is ready to eat. Serve it hot with chutney. Happy making :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Black Gram Dosa / Azhagar Kovil Dosa

Azhagar kovil is a lovely divine temple found in Madurai. Black gram dosa is specially made in a very authentic style and is offered as prasadam to the lord in this temple. This dosa taste unique and its absolutely a treat. Its healthy as well as tasty. :)

Ingredients:

Black gram (with skin urad dal/black urad dal/karupu ullundhu) - 1 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Curd(Sour) - 1/2 cup
Gingelly oil - 1 tbl spn
Ghee - 1 tbl spn
Pepper powder-1 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Curry leaves
Salt

Method:

Soak rice and black gram separately in water for 2 hours. Grind them one by one coarsely. Now mix both the ground mixtures, add the curd and salt and allow it to ferment overnight.

Next day, add gingelly oil, ghee, pepper powder, chopped ginger and curry leaves to the batter. Add adequate water to make the batter to dosa batter consistency. Now make dosa in skillet and roast both the sides adding little ghee to it.

Azhagar kovil dosa is ready to eat. Serve it hot with garlic chutney.

Thanks to Malar Gandhi who writes a lovely blog called Kitchen Tantra for passing this cute award to me.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Tomato Dosa

Is red your favorite color??? Its my favorite. I just love dishes that are in red. So here is a red colored gorgeous tomato dosa for your eyes and tongue to enjoy :)


Ingredients:

Par-boiled rice - 1 cup
Tomato - 4
Red chillies - 6 nos
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt - for taste


Method:

Soak the rice in water for two hours. Grind it along with the other ingredients and make a watery batter.

Now heat the skillet and pour a ladle full of batter starting from the edges in a circular way. Since the batter is loose it will automatically fill the middle portion. Add a spoon of oil to roast it. Turn the dosa and roast it on the other side too.

Yummy tomato dosa is ready to eat. :) Serve it hot with pickle or chutney.

Happy making. :)




Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Andhra Pesarattu

Andhra food is know for its spicy flavors and for the very different combination. This one is a special dish made locally in Andhra.

The greenish dosa attracts our eyes and the crispy onion filling make it more interesting. This could be a highly nutritious breakfast for all. :)


Ingredients:

Whole green gram with skin - 1 cup
Onion - 1 medium sized
Ginger - 1/4 inch piece
Green chillies - 5
Raw rice - 2 tbl sp
Salt - for taste



For Filling:

Finely cut onions - 3/4 cup
Finely cut green chillies - 1 tbl sp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbl sp




Method:

Soak green gram and rice together for atleast 8 to 10 hours in enough water. Grind with onion, ginger and green chillies. Add salt at the end of grinding.

For filling: Heat oil in a pan and fry cumin seeds, green chillies with diced onions for 2 to 3 min and keep it aside.

Heat a heavy dosa pan and make dosa by spreading from center. Add a tsp of oil around and roast. Sprinkle the onion mixture on top and press with a flat laddle. Roast in midium flame till the dosa becomes crisp. Fold and serve hot with ginger chutney or onion chutney.

Note: Do not turn over the dosa after adding the filling.

Variation:

You can also make pesarattu uppuma. Just replace the onion filling by 2 to 3 tsp of uppuma and fold the dosa. Serve this with onion chutney or coconut chutney.
In Andhra they fondly call it as MLA Pesarattu. :)




I am sending this Andhra special dish to Shanthi Krishnakumar's lovely 'State special' event.



Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Wheat Bread Dosa

Bread is nice.. But remix of bread is all the more yummy :)

Got this idea from Ganga of 'My Favourite Foods' who had recently invented this bread dosa. Thanks to Ganga for her cool new idea. I have a slightly modified version of this inspirational dish here.

Enjoy bread in a different form :) Happy cooking :)

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Bread (choose sandwich bread or salt bread)- 10 slices
Maida - 1 cup
Tomato - 2
Chilly powder - for taste
Salt - for taste




Method:

Grind bread, maida and tomatoes together adding some water to it. Finally add chilly powder and salt to the batter. The batter should be like dosa batter.

Now make dosas in pan by adding oil. I made small dosas since its really attractive and fun to eat. You can make normal dosas as well. :)

Top it with coconut chutney or tomato sauce and enjoy eating wheat bread dosa :)



Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Sago Dosa

Do you want your dosa to be white, yet paper roast and spicy???? Then say SAGO DOSA :)

If you are bored with all the typical varieties of dosa, then you need to go for a change, try this simple one.

Ingredients:

Sago(Javarisi) - 1/2 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Par-boiled rice - 1 cup
Green chilly - 1
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
Salt - for taste




Method:

Soak sago, raw rice and par boiled rice together in water for 6 hours minimum. Leaving it over night gives the best result. Now grind it into a smooth paste. The batter should be in the consistency of rava dosa batter(watery). Add chopped chilly, coriander leaves, curry leaves and salt to it and mix well.

Now heat the skillet and pour a ladle full of batter starting from the edges in a circular way. Since the batter is loose it will automatically fill the middle portion. Add a spoon of oil to roast it. Turn the dosa and roast it on the other side too.

Sago dosa is ready to eat. :)

Serve it hot with chutney and idly chilly powder(Idly molagapodi) :)

Note: Eat these dosas hot. It will harden when it cools down.

I am sending this dosa to 'Dosa corner' event of Padma's Recipes blog.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com