Rotte (A Rice and pulse pancake from South India)

Rotte (A Breakfast dish from South India) 

I love food. Over the years I have known that for me comfort food doesn't expressly stay within the dishes that I was first introduced to as a child. In my 9th standard while reading 'Gone with The Wind' I fell in love with the description of fried chicken and once I made it that became my comfort food. Then sometime down the line I fell in love with Shepherd's pie etc etc Basically according to me to really know a particular food you have to respect where it came from that is if its made with lamb substituting it with goat meat unless and until there is absolutely no way you can get your hands on lamb meat changes the dish.

Anyway the point is I have always liked Idlis and Dosas. There are very few dishes that I do not personally like. In fact right now I can't even think of one dish I dislike per say.

When I got married it was mishmash of culture. I am from Calcutta , living in a world of English literature, soaps, movies  , growing up hearing my father playing the violin in preparation of concerts after coming back from the chamber (he is a doctor) cooking from an age of 14 years since the time I told my father that I wanted a taste of world food and he told me he would allow that if I cook it myself while my husband was brought up in Ranchi and is originally from Andhra Pradesh in South India.

Anyway when my mother-in-law had first made this for me I fell in love with it. It was  crispy golden outside and soft fluffy inside.

I noted the recipe from my mother-in-law and I love this. Its easy, soak, grind, ferment and your batter is ready.

So her goes the recipe for Rotte as given by my mother-in-law :-

Cups used hold 250ml liquid

1 cup whole husked Urad Dal
2 cups parboiled rice
Oil for frying
Salt as per taste ( I need 2 tsp)

Soak the pulse and rice separately for 4 hours . Drain the pulse and rice and keep in separate containers but reserve the water in which you have soaked them.

Grind them separately.  First start with the pulse. grind it without any water and then slowly add water to make this creamy smooth soft paste. I usually do not measure the amount of water required but you have to add it slowly to get the fluffy soft consistency and when you touch the mixer grinder it should have become hot. I grind it , stop the mixer and grind ti again and it pretty much takes me 15 minutes to 20 minutes to get the perfect consistency.

Down South I have seen most houses having a wet grinder dedicated for making Idli/dosa batter but for the rest of us its not impossible even with the normal mixer grinder . All you need is patience.

Once the pulse is done keep it in a container. Take half the drained rice and start grinding forst on its own. It will give a gritty mixture then start adding water slowly and steadily. Grind , stop , check the mixture, add water and do this till it reaches a smooth ribbon stage. It should be ultra soft and fluffy to touch.

The entire success of this batter used for Idlis, dosas , Rottes and Uttapams depends on the consistency of your batter and the consistency depends on your grinding.

When the rice is done now grind the Pulse and rice together taking half of each for easy grinding and grind till its fluffy and laves a trail.

It should be ultra soft to touch.

Divide the mixture between two containers filing them till half the container. Add salt about 1 tsp per container , mix with your clean hands and let it ferment for 8 hours.

To know whether your fermentation has gone as expected you shall see it having risen and then there is that smell.

For the Rotte simply take a deep bottomed wok not a flat vessel. Add  a little bit of oil and ladle some of the fermented batter in the wok and cover and cook for 3 minutes to 4  minutes on one side , till you see small bubbles on one side and then   flip and cover and cook for another 3 minutes to 4 minutes  minutes and its ready. Make sure its cooked on absolute low hat else instead of getting crispy golden outside you shall have a burnt outside.

Serve it with some Tomato chutney or 'Podis' (Spicy pulse mixture available in South India) or Onion chutney or any type of chutney of your choice.

I have a sneaky feeling this will team very well with some Mutton stew or chicken stew.


P.S. I have made it with split husked Urad Pulse and it gives the same result.

Please note that I stay in a tropical country where I do not place a problem with fermentation. In case you stay in a cold country keep the mixture in a warm place for fermentation.

You may check out my post on detailed step by step process for the batter here

Important tips :-

1. Always start the grinding with no water and add the water bit by bit else it will never be the soft fluffy mixture that is required for the dish. 
2. Cook on slow flame throughout. You cannot hurry the dish. 
3. You know one side is done when it fluffs up and then you flip it. It might take you less than 3 minutes per side depending on the size of the wok. 

Upma (Savoury semolian pudding)

Upma (Savoury semolian pudding) 

I got introduced to this dish from the Southern states of India only after I was in college. Honestly while growing up, my idea of cooking semolina aka sooji was to make halwa a sweet dish - ghee laden halwa which is extremely good for your soul but not so much for the body and then once I grew up I came across magazines recommending upma a savoury semolina dish for a healthy breakfast or rather a healthy meal.

Turns out, it is actually low in calories and high on nutrition

So here is one of the easiest recipes ever and youjust take less than 15 minutes to prepare it

Serves 1

1 medium sized onion
1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 green chilies finely chopped
1 large tomato
Half a cup of chopped vegetables (carrots, beans , small cauliflower)
A little less than half a cup of semolina

For tempering :-

1/4th tsp black mustard seeds
A few curry leaves
Salt as per taste
Lemon juice as per taste (I needed 2 tsp)
1 tsp oil (I use olive oil but for a traditional recipe try some sesame oil or coconut oil)


Heat the oil and lower flame and add the ginger and saute it and then add mustard seeds , curry leaves , chopped green chilies and onions and cover and cook for 1 minute. Keep checking to make sure it does not burn and then add the tomatoes and beans and saute and cook covered with 1/4th cup water till the water evaporates and then add the semolina and stir well and finally add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil and add salt and keep stirring on medium flame till it becomes a dry dish. Add lemon juice and enjoy a healthy meal. 

Tips

1. Covering and frying makes sure you fry the onions yet need the minimum of oil 
2. You must always add salt before you add the water to the semolina because it cooks fast and if you add it later it won't mix evenly in the dish. 
3. Cubing the vegetables as small leads to quick cooking. 

Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken 

 The truth is that,  I had called one of my favourite cousins over for lunch and what binds us two together is our immense love for food. The universal  truth is that taste is subjective and so when people with the same culinary taste meet up they usually have lunch make merry and dive headlong into culinary discussions. He suggested that I try this delicious recipe handed to him by a former colleague of his who is married to a person from the Southern region of the country. Truth be told India has an impressive variety of cuisines and the Southern cuisine has its own charm with the use of curry leaves, mustard seeds, chilies etc.

I especially liked the recipe since it reminded me of this gorgeous chicken dish which I had when I was in Vizag which was delicious in its own way yet very different from most of the chicken curries I have known and prepared.

And so on a Friday morning I decided that it would be the day when I cooked this dish. To be fair the recipe which had been passed down to me had no specifications of the amount of ingredients to be used and so in a way this is my adaptation of the adapted recipe by this former colleague of my brother's

I am calling it Curry chicken due to usage of curry leaves twice in the recipe.

Serving 7 to 8

Basically what you need is :-

1 kilogram of medium sized chicken pieces

150gm whisked curd
1 tsp turmeric
Salt as per taste
1 heaped tsp red chili powder

12 to 15 Indian medium sized garlic
Ginger the size of half the little finger
3 medium sized onions
20 peppercorns
2 tbsp whole  coriander
7 to 8 whole red chilies
4 to 5 green chilies

1 tbsp mustard seeds

4 stalks of curry leaves
8 tbsp refined oil / groundnut oil

Juice from 1 lemon

Wash the chicken and marinate it with the curd , salt , turmeric and chili powder for 2 hours. In the meantime heat 4 tbsp oil and add the whole peeled garlic , ginger and onions which have been roughly chopped and add the peppercorn, coriander , curry leaves from 3 stalks of curry leaves , whole red chilies and 2 green chilies. Fry till the onions are softened and then let it cool and blend it to a smooth paste.

Now heat the rest of the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add the rest of the curry leaves , the remaining green chili and then add the chicken and seal the juices on high heat for 5 minutes on each side and then add the spice paste which you have prepared earlier and mix well and taste and add salt if necessary and stir from time to time till the oil separates and then cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes to 20 minutes till the chicken is cooked inside out and is rendered juicy and delicious. If you find a bit of gravy and prefer the dish to be extra dry simply take off the lid and keep stirring on medium flame till it reaches the desired consistency. Add the juice of lemon and serve it with hot rice.

I for one am in love with this dish.

Variety from the Kitchens of Coastal Andhra

I firmly believe that variety is the spice of life. Even the best of recipes can become a monotonous affair. This theory was put to test by my father when I was quite young and would always want chocolates. He fed me chocolates for an entire day for all the meals and then immediately I started eating normal food again.

So bhendi , the ladyfinger which we might fry or use in a curry can be cooked in a greater number of ways than most of us can imagine. This time I got a bit creative. My in-laws are from a coastal state mostly famous for it's Nizami cuisine but there lies hidden these simple delicious food items.

They use 2 part sesame seeds, 1 part rice, 1/2 a part of mustard seeds and red chilies as per taste and soak them in rice and later make it into a paste. Then cucumber is chopped and soaked in this paste and it tastes delicious, mild and very unique. They of course temper the dish with mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal and curry leaves fried in ground nut oil. And as far as I have seen the vegetables are almsot never sauteed but boiled and mixed with the paste , only in the case of cucumber does it require no cooking.

I decided to use the paste for my bhendi. I gave the recipe a twist by not tempering with the usual mustard seeds and urad pulse and chana pusle and curry leaves.

Instead my twist requires:

Bhendis cut in broad pieces
Cumin seeds
Cumin powder
Lemon

For the paste :
2 tbsp of sesame seeds
1 tbsp of rice
1/2 tbsp of mustard seeds
2 whole red chili

So one starts off by first soaking the ingredients for the paste in water and letting it rest for 4 hours to 5 hours. One basically grinds it to a smooth paste.

One chops the bhendi and sautes it lightly with cumin seeds and cover sit to make sure it gets cooked well but retains its crispness but is not fried. Once cooked well set it aside.

Then one adds the paste and water as per one's decision and brings it to a boil and adds the vegetable and simmers it to a thick gravy. The gravy thickens very quickly and so one must keep an eye on it. It tastes delicious with steaming rice.

I shall share a small trick which not only ensures that you get the little traces of curry left behind in a  wok but helps clean the woks easily. Once done add very little water to the wok in which the dish is prepared and put the flame on high and stir continuously to get all the traces of the curry and add a slit chili and then when the wok looks clean drop the green chilies in the container in which the prepared item is kept.