Akki Roti

Akki roti is nothing but roti made up of rice flour. Its a very tasty and great Karnataka dish. I have a strong liking for this dish from my childhood. There is no specific timing for making this dish. I prepare, whenever i want to eat it. I like all rice flour recipes say, Puttu, Kadubu, Akki Vada, Appam, Idiappam, etc. which have an excellent taste when prepared using fresh flour.

You can prepare Masala Akki roti by adding some veggies to it. But, I like the pure white akki roti with finely chopped green chillies and karipatha. It tastes great along with onion/red chutney.

All you need:

Rice flour - 1 cup
Red onion - 1 medium (finely chopped)
Green chillies - 3 (finely chopped)
Curry leaves - 3 (roughly chopped)
Jeera - 1/2 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt and Oil

Method:

Combine all the above ingredients except oil. Mix the flour thoroughly after adding salt. Now add water little by little and make a soft ball like a chapati dough. You can add a tbsp of oil while preparing the dough. Now, heat the tawa in a medium flame and grease it. Take a portion of dough (which must be bigger than the size of a lemon) and make a ball out of it.

Now, spread the dough directly on the tawa by touching water in your fingers and make sure, it is not too thin. Now add little oil over the edges and slightly increase the heat. Cook for 1 minute and flip it on the other side. It's done when you can see light brown spots on the roti.



If you are not comfortable in spreading the dough directly on the tawa, try spreading it on a grease paper or on a plastic sheet. Grease the sheet and then spread the dough by pressing using fingers touched in oil and then slowly transfer the roti onto the tawa. Be cautious, if tawa is too hot, it will burn the sheet.


For Red Chutney:

All you need:

Red onion - 4 (medium)
Tomato - 2 (medium)
Red Chillies - 4
Tamarind paste - 1/2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tbsp
Urad dal - few
Curry leaves - few
Salt

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add red chillies and roughly chopped red onions. When they become translucent, add chopped tomatoes and fry till the tomatoes get mashed. Let them cool and grind it along with salt and tamarind. Now heat the tadka and add mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves. Transfer them into the red chutney. Serve Red/onion chutney along with hot akki rotis.



Note: Heat one tbsp of ghee and then add it to the flour which gives a nice and fresh aroma over the flour. Adjust the salt and chillies acc. to your taste. Akki roti tastes great when served hot.

Plum Cake

I want to share my most favorite plum cake recipe with you all. I tried this cake for the first time and it came out very well. I hope everyone will enjoy this cake made from scratch.


All you need:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tbsp of butter (At room temp)
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
3/4 cup of chopped plums (Available in stores)
1 tablespoon grated lemon or orange zest
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
Beat the vegetable oil, butter, eggs, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, milk,vanilla essence and salt into the mixer and gradually beat at medium speed for 1 minute and at high speed for 2 minutes. Make sure that there is no solid part in it.Finally add the plums into the mixture and gently mix it with a spatula.

Preheat the oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit. Grease the baking pan with vegetable oil / butter. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake it for 40-50 minutes. Keep checking inorder to avoid over baking. Insert a toothpick into its centre and if it comes out clean without sticking, then the cake is done. Cool the cake completely in the pan for another 20 minutes.


Now turn the cake pan upside down on a clean plate.The cake will come out of the pan like this.


Turn it down and remove the upper crust with a sharp knife.


Cut them into desired shapes as you like and store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.


You can serve it along with some cream on its top. Enjoy!

Mint Bhath

All the credit for this recipe goes to my sister. She is a psychologist but at the same time great cook too...I learned so many recipes from her. I enjoyed those days when she made "Puttu", especially for me. I really miss her a lot......

I used to make chutney and spice dal powder from mint leaves. But always try to do something different from that. I feel- Now, I have the right recipe in hand to do with mint leaves. This recipe really impressed me. This recipe is very easy to cook, less ingredients and tastes great. Absolutely ,right comfort food for lunchbox and as the picnic recipe. Thanks to my sister.



All you need:
Rice – 1 1/2 cups
Mint leaves – 1 bunch
Red chilli – 2 to 3
Tamarind – lemon size
Mustard Seeds – 1tsp
Hing
Salt, oil

Method:
1. Cook the rice separately.
2. Grind mint leaves, tamarind, red chillies and salt with very little water.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and put mustard seeds .
4. Now add the grounded masala along with hing powder till the oil separates from it and it forms thick mass (like chutney).
5.Now add rice, mix well and serve.

Ragi Mudde 'n' Avarekaalina Sambar

While surfing, I found Ragi Mudde in " Yum blog " and got attracted by it and thought of making it today for our meal. Ragi Mudde with Avarekaalina Sambar is the favorite meal in our house. But my mom makes this sambar in a different way,which tastes great with mudde and along with white rice too. Gojju, kootu,Spinach dal (Soppina hulie) and avarekaalina sambar are the greatest combinations for Ragi mudde.My grandpa and grandma used to eat ragi mudde as their daily meal which was the secret of their healthy life.We used to eat this as the meal and at the end of the day my mom prepares "Ambuli "(salty porridge like) from the left over mudde which is another great drink for the evening.


Ambuli is prepared by adding a cup of curd / buttermilk and salt to the mudde ,by mashing well everything in a container.We can add two tbsp of cooked ice too......Pour in a glass and serve.Easy to prepare and great to taste......

Ragi Mudde:
Raggi mudde is the traditional food of karnataka and is loved by all. We can prepare it in two ways.Either by adding the flour directly to the boiling water or by adding the ragi paste to the water. First method is comparatively difficult for the beginners.I have explained the second way which is easier to all.You can make perfect ragi mudde's without any previous experience.The trick is in the correct measurement.Otherwise,it will be watery and you can't make perfect balls out of it.

All you need:
Ragi flour - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Salt -1 tsp

Method:
1.Add a cup of water to a wide opened pan and bring it to boil.
2.While boiling add a pinch of ragi flour and tsp of salt to taste.
3.Add another cup of water to a cup of ragi flour in separate vessel and make it into a thick paste.
4.Now simmer the heat and add the prepared paste into the boiling water and keep stirring continuously using a wooden spatula.
5.Keep whisking till the flour forms a soft dough without any lumps.
6.Now cover the vessel and allow it to cook for further 2 to 3 minutes at very low heat.
7.Care should be taken otherwise dough will stick to the vessel.
8.You can see a solid dough while whisking.
9.Now wet your hands with cold water and take some dough and make the ball.
10.Finally, dip your fingers with a tsp of oil and shape it well .
11.Serve with Avarekaalina saaru.

Avarekaalina Sambar :
Val dhal is known as Avarekaalu or Avarebele in kannada.This is such a yummy curry which is a great combination with Ragi mudde.It goes well with plain rice too.....Fresh dhals tastes much than the dried ones. If they are not available, you can use dried ones too.......or frozen ones , available in indian stores as indian beans / valor lilva. Soak it for 4 to 5 hours and then remove the skin by pressing the dhal with your thumb and fore finger.

( Val dhal / Avarekaalu soaked and skin removed )
All you need:
Valor lilva / Avarekaalu - 1 cup
Dhania / Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
Chana dal / Bengal gram dal - 1 tbsp
Shredded Coconut - 2 tbsp (fresh)
Methi seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 5
Hing - a pinch
Curry leaves - a few
Salt

Method:
1.Roast coriander seeds, methi seeds, 4 red chillies and chana dal with a tsp of oil and let them to cool.
2.Pour 1 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and 1 broken red chilli to it.
3.Add avarekaalu / val dhal to it with a cup of water and tbsp of salt.
4.Cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
5.Meanwhile, grind the roasted ingredients with little water.
6.Add that masala to the boiling dhal .
7.Add 1 more cup of water to it and let it to cook under low heat.
8.It will take 8 to 10 minutes.Then add hing and curry leaves to it.
9.Serve hot with Ragi mudde and enjoy your meal.

Garlic Naan

Naan is an leavened indian flat bread which is common in most of the indian cuisine.It tastes great when you eat hot.Still,I can remember those days when I ate naan with Paneer butter masala ,for the first time ...with my sister.I surfed a lot in internet and find this recipe as perfect for making best naan.Breads are really too soft and tasty and to make garlic naan, I just brush the top side of the bread with some olive oil and topped with some chopped garlic and coriander leaves for its richness. Serve this delicious bread hot with some spicy gravy.I made palak paneer as a combination,for a perfect balanced diet.



All you need:
2 cups of white or all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried active yeast
2 tbsp of milk
3 tbsp yogurt
1 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp of veg.oil
2 tbsp of olive oil
1/4 cup chopped coriander
2 tbsp of minced garlic
( From this you can make 6 Naans).


Method:
1. Mix 2 tbsp of warm water with the yeast and sugar until the yeast dissolves.
2. Put the bowl in a warm place, and leave it for 5 minutes, until the yeast is covered with froth.
3. Mix flour, salt and baking powder.
4. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add yogurt, ghee, milk and yeast mixture.
5. Knead well until it forms a smooth dough. Now add a tbsp of veg. oil and continue kneading until the dough fully coated with oil.
6. Cover the mixing bowl with a damp cloth and leave it in a warm place to rise. This would take around minutes.
7. Now the dough will be double in size.
8. Knead the dough and divide into around 6 equal portions.
9. Flatten each portion to 1/2" thick with a rolling pin by sprinkling little flour on it.
10. Preheat oven to 450 degrees .
11. Brush the top side of the bread with some olive oil by using pastry brush and sprinkle a little bit more minced garlic and chopped coriander.
12. Now bake them for about 10 minutes in oven or heat the grill pan in medium and keep the flattened dough over it, wait till it unevenly puffs up which will take approx. 2 minutes.
13. Cook on both sides and serve hot with your favorite curry.