Kerala Parota/Parata

Whenever we travel from Bangalore to Coimbatore , after salem usually we find small shops on road side with green tube lights (!!!). These green lights indicate that they are selling food there.They will do idly,dosa but usually everybody would like to have parathas here which are very famous. I always ate North indian style parota like aloo parota,gobi parota..but these parathas are very different from that.Kerala paratas are very crispy and thin and they prepare it in a different way.

My hubby likes it so much so one day I tried it at home.It takes time but once in a while you can do something which is different and delicious :)

Ingredients:

Maida - 1 cup

Oil- 8-9 spoons

salt

Add water and make a dough.Add little oil while making dough so that dough is not sticky.Cover the dough with wet cloth [so that it should not get dry] and keep it aside for 1 hour.

First make small balls of the dough.Then spread it on the roti/chapati stone and make a very thin layer.You should use your hands.[Sprinkling little oil makes the job easy].Then fold it like sari pallus Fold and make a ball out of it as shown in the picture and again flatten it on the roti/chapati stone.

Now you get a layered paratha..just bake it like chapati.

Akki Rotti

Akki roti is basically a north karnatka dish.Easy to prepare and good for health also.
Ingredients :
Rice flour - 4 cups
Maida flour - 4 tbsp
Onions [chopped ] - 2
Green chillies- 3-4
Grated coconut - 2 cup
Jeera - 1 tbsp
Corriander [finely chopped] - 1 cup
Salt
Mix all the above ingredients with water and make a fine dough.Then make small balls of it and roll it on tawa using fingers.Bake it like chapatis by adding little oil.Always we should make rotis using hand then only it tastes real good.

Avalakki Oggarane

Oggarane avalakki is one of the breakfasts I make regularly at home.For this I buy the dappa avalakki/poha.Before buying make sure that avalakki is not broken too much.When i was in delhi I bought Super Brand Poha which was good compared to what we get here in Bangalore.

Ingredients

Avalakki/Poha - 1 cup.

Oil - 5-6 tbsp

Haldi – 1 tbsp

Mustard – 1 spoon

Curry leaves – 8-10

Coriander leaves – ½ cup finely chopped

Tomato – 1

Onions -2

Aloo / Potato – 1 [optional]

Peanuts – 20 [optional]

First wash the avalakki/poha with water, drain the water and keep it aside for 30 min.

Chop the potatoes in to small pieces and boil for 5 min with a pinch of salt.

In a pan,heat oil add haldi,mustard,curry leaves.when the mustard starts to splutter add onions,tomatoes and semi boiled potatoes.Fry all till onions turns in to golden brown colour.

Now add the drained avalakki,salt and cook for 5 min.Since avalakki is very soft it will be cooked easily.Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix it.I also add 3-4 spoons of grated coconut for taste.

Chapati

Chapatis are good for health and if you are on diet docs surely advise you to have chapatis instead of rice.Making soft chapatis requires time as well as patience.Preparing a soft dough is important while making chapatis.




What you need is
Atta - 3-4 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - 2tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 tbsp
warm Water - 3 cups
Mix the atta [ 2 cups] with 2 spoons of oil,salt and 1 spoon of sugar. Add sufficient amount of warm water.Knead it till it becomes soft and is not sticking to your fingers.Keep it aside for 1-2 hours.Make small round balls and roll it on the chapatti stone. Now add 1 spoon of oil on top of it and fold it in a triangle shape the way it has been shown in the pic.Again roll it and make a triangle chapatis. Bake it on a medium flame.

Capsicum Upma/Uppittu

Upma/Uppittu is easy to prepare. Usually I have seen people making it sticky.Making a tasty upma depends on the rava you choose. You should always choose bansi/ upma rava and should heat it slightly before cooking. Heating makes the rava little crispy which adds to the taste. I have put the recipe for capsicum upma.If you like vegetables then you can add all the vegetables like aloo,carrot,cabbage,peas and make vegetable upma also.

Ingredients

Rava [ Upma rava/Bansi rava] - 1 cup.

Oil - 5-6 tbsp

Turmeric Powder – 1 tbsp

Mustard – 1 spoon

Curry leaves – 8-10

Coriander leaves – ½ cup finely chopped

Tomato – 1

Onions -2

Capsicum – 1 [finely chopped]

Peas – ½ cup [optional]

Cabbage – ½ cup finely chopped [optional]

Potatoes – ½ cup finely chopped [optional]

Salt

Water – 1:3 ratio

Initially heat the rava in a pan and keep it aside.

Chop the potatoes in to small pieces and boil for 5 min with a pinch of salt.

In a pan,heat oil add turmeric powder,mustard,curry leaves.when the mustard starts to splutter add onions,tomatoes ,capsicum and semi boiled potatoes. Fry all. Make sure that capsicums are turned slightly golden brown in colour.Now add required amount of water and salt.When the water begins to boil,add rava.Lower the flame and allow it to cook slowly.Add chopped corianders and 2-3 tbsp of grated coconut for taste. Easy to prepare and a good breakfast.

Appam and Vegetable Stew

Appam is a traditional kerala and tamilnadu style food. In karnataka they dont prepare this.So this is a new dish I learned from mom-in-law after marriage.Appam is one of my favorite dish as it is easy to prepare and good for health also.
For appam you need special tava called Appam tava which we will get in all the stores.



Ingredients:
Idly rice - 1 cup
Raw rice - 1 1/2 cup
Urad dal - 1/4 cup
Methi seeds - 2 spoons

Soak all these for 5 hours and grind it to a nice paste.
Then leave the batter for 10-12 hours as it has to get fermented.

Putting appam is little tricky.Take the appam tava , put a spoon of oil
Put one small cup of batter in the center,take the tava in hands and rotate the tava in circular motion so that the batter spreads equally.Cover the tava with lid for 2 minutes.Appam is ready!!

Best combination for appam is Vegetable stew.

Ingredients :

Finely chopped vegetables like beans,carrot,gobi,aloo and peas.
Tomato - 1
Onions - 2
Green chillies - 3
Garam masala powder - 2 tbsp
Coconut milk - 2 cups

Oil
Turmeric powder
Mustard seeds
Urad dal
Chana dal
Curry leaves

First of all boil the vegetables with salt.
Heat oil in kadai, add the above ingredients and fry onion,green chillies,
Add vegetables to it.
Add 2 cups of coconut milk .
Add garam masala powder and salt and boil it.