Raagi Idiyappam & tomato masala curry

Idiyappam/Rice noodles is a favorite of both me and my hubby. As a child, I had always looked forward to the idiyappams prepared by my neighbor, V aunty. She used to send me few. At my home, it was always Sevai, which is also rice noodles but cooked in a different way. I shall shortly post Sevai too.

Post marriage, I found DH also very fond of this. So I learnt to make those. Got myself the idiyappam press and steaming plates & stand specifically for idiyappam. Here I am giving the recipe for Raagi Idiyappam, which is equally tasty like the rice variation.

Some nutrition facts on Raagi

Raagi contains about 6.7 % protein. Raagi protein is reported to be a good quality. Ragi is rich in methionine, which is an amino acid lacking in most of the other cereals. Raagi is also found to have liberal amount of calcium. Raagi has been traditionally used in infant feeding.

Sprouting of Food Grains increases their digestibility and nutritive value. The vitamins content in food grains, like riboflavin, nicotinic acid and pyridoxine and phosphorus increase appreciably during sprouting.

(Source: bawarchi)

Raagi flour - 2 cup

Rice flour - 1/4 cup

salt

hot water - 2 cups

I used store bought sprouted raagi flour. Steam cook the raagi flour by tying it in a cheese cloth for 10 minutes.

Mix rice flour and salt to the steamed raagi flour. Keep mixing the flour while adding the hot water. You may require little more than 2 cups of water. Adjust the water to get a soft dough.

Pinch a golf ball size dough and with the help of a idiyappam press, press on to idli/idiyappam moulds. Steam cook for 10 minutes.

Serve with chutney/kurma/stew. Any coconut based gravy will suit idiyappam.

I served with tomato masala. The recipe is adapted from Mallika badrinath's Tomato masala kootu. I tweaked it to suit the ingredients in my pantry.
Onions - 2 nos

tomatoes - 4 big

turmeric powder

salt to taste

Seasoning

oil - 2 tblspn

mustard seeds

urad dhal - 1 tsp

red chilli powder - 1 tsp

curry leaves - few

Grind together

grated fresh coconut -1/2 cup

poppy seeds- 1 1/2 tblspns soaked in hot water for 10 minutes

green chilly - 4

cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

mustard powder - 1/4 tspn
Chop onions finely and tomatoes into 1 inch cubes. Heat oil and add mustard urad dhal, curry leaves. When it splutters, add chopped onions and fry till crisp. Add chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and ground paste. Cook till you can smell the aroma of the cooked gravy. Finally add tomato pieces and enough water. Cook till gravy thickens.

I am sending the idiyappam to Mansi for her Healthy Cooking event.

As per the rules, these are the facts I think the 'healthy' tag suits my recipe.

1. I have replaced rice with raagi , where rice is being used commonly

2. Sprouted raagi flour is used.

3. The dish is steam cooked.

4. Oil free.

10 Grain Loaf

I bought few packages of Red Mill whole grain flour from the Market Place Supermarket weeks ago. There are rye flour, wholemeal flour and 10 grain flour. I've used rye flour for a rye bread in my previous attempt whereas wholemeal flour had been used for wholemeal bread or pancakes.

Yesterday, I tried to make another loaf with the 10 grain flour which contains wheat, rye, triticle, oats, corn, barley, soy, brown rice, millet and flax seed. There are finely grounded grains which is quite different from the wholemeal flour I've been used for some time ago. Perhaps the dough would be much smoother.

I purposely left the bread rise without a lid-on as my other half like the caramelized bread edges. Finally, it rise absolutely tall and end up we've got quite a big slice of bread. As for me, I love the outlook of homemade country loaf.

The bread texture was soft as I used a recipe which contains milk and egg. I could hardly tell what is the flavor as too many grains had combined together. Sometimes, it tasted like soy, sometimes like brown rice and sometimes barley. Well, whatever it is, it's a healthy bread.

Recipe:

250g bread flour
80g 10 grain flour
30g sugar
5g yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
65g ice water
100g milk
30g butter

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Gradually add in all the wet ingredients and mix it by a flat beater at low speed until everything just combine.
2. Add butter continue to mix for 1 or 2 minutes. Change to a dough hook continue kneading for about 20 minutes at medium speed.
3. Off the machine and clear the sticky dough at side of the bowl. Continue kneading for few seconds.
4. Knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface until the dough smooth but not sticky then shape it into a smooth round dough, cover with cling film and let it rest for 20 minutes.
5. Knead the dough and punch out the gas.
6. Flatten a dough and roll out into a longish shape. Roll up the dough like a Swiss-roll.
7. Flatten the rolled-up dough and roll out again into a long rectangular shape then roll up the dough tightly.
8. Place the rolled dough in a greased bread tin.
9. Spray water around the tin. Place it in the oven with door close, proof for 60 minutes without lid on.
10. Proof until it rise over the top of tin then take out the tin from the oven and preheat the oven at 180'C.
11. Bake approximately 40 minutes or until golden brown (used an aluminium foil to cover the top after 25 minutes to prevent burning at the top).
12. Take out the bread to cool down before slicing into pieces. Store leftover bread in airtight container without slicing it into pieces to let it stay fresh for the next serving.

Koottus - Mildly Spiced Mixed Vegetables and Lentils

Koottus - Mildly Spiced Mixed Vegetables and Lentils

Koottu is the name given to mildly spiced boiled mixed vegetables, and is usually prepared as one of the side dishes in an elaborate feast. With the addition of dal (lentils) it becomes a course in itself when served with rice. The spices are usually fried and ground with coconut and thus it is also known as Poricha (fried) koottu.

Koottu can be prepared with assorted mixed vegetables, such as carrots, beans, peas, chow-chow (marrow), cucumber and so on. The sight of so many varieties of fresh vegetables soon after returning from the green grocers inspires me to prepare koottu. The same feeling takes me over when I see the itsy bitsy left over vegetables at the end of the week!

Koottu can even be prepared with any one vegetable. Since raw green papaya was abundantly available in our garden we were treated to papaya koottu very frequently. We children and our great grandmother loved the dish very much as it was not very hot or tangy. It was very gentle on our palates, especially when it was prepared with half ripe papayas, which lent a sweet taste to the koottu. We ate and ate the koottu and ripe papayas until we developed an aversion to it, which of course lingered only up to the next season.
Koottu goes very well with chapattis, poories and rice. Here are three variations.

1. MIXED VEGETABLE KOOTTU
INGREDIENTS:
For Dal

Tur dal (Red gram dal) – ½ cup

Mung dal (Green gram dal -½cup
Turmeric powder -1 pinch
Assorted cleaned and chopped vegetables – 2 cups
(Carrots, beans, peas, marrow, cucumber)
Kabuli channa (chick peas) that has been soaked for at least 12 hours – ¼ tea cup
Salt – 2 tsps
For seasoning:
Oil – 1tsp
Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp
Urad Dal (black gram dal) – 1 tsp
Red chilly -1
Curry leaves – 6 to 8 leaves
For the spice paste
Cooking oil -1 tsp
Urad dal (Black gram dal) -1 tbsp
Jeera (cumin seeds)-1 tsp
Red chillies -3
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Freshly grated coconut – 2 tbsps

METHOD:
1. Wash and tur and mung dals. Cook until soft and mushy with turmeric powder, in 3 glasses of water and set aside.
2. For the spice paste, heat oil and drop in asafoetida, black gram dal, cumin seeds followed by red chilies and fry them till they are reddish in colour. Fry carefully on low flame, till it emanates an aroma. Do this carefully, browned dals loose their flavour and become bitter.
3. Grind the fried ingredients with grated coconut, and set the spice paste aside.
4. Cook the vegetables, along with the previously soaked channa, in a vessel with just enough water.
5. When the vegetables and channa are, add the mushy dal mixture, salt and the spice paste and stir well.
6 .Bring to a boil (2 to 3 minutes) and remove from flame.
7. For seasoning, heat oil and add mustard seeds to splutter; then add the black gram dal and red chillies. When the seasoning becomes red and crisp add curry leaves and pour the whole seasoning into the koottu.



2. SIMPLE MIXED VEGETABLE KOOTTU
INGREDIENTS:
For dal
Cleaned and chopped vegetables – 2 cups (eg. carrots, beans, peas, marrow, cucumber)
Salt - ¾ tsp
Split Bengal gram dal – 1 tbsp
For spice paste
Jeera (cumin seeds) – 1 tsp
Freshly grated coconut – ½ cup
Green chillies – 2
Rice flour -1 tsp
For seasoning
Cooking oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Black gram dal – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – a few

METHOD:
1. Soak the split Bengal gram dal in water for at least 20 minutes until soft.
2. Grind the ingredients for the spice paste viz. green chillies, grated coconut and cumin seeds with a teaspoon of rice flour and keep it aside.
3. Cook cut vegetables and the soaked split bengal gram dal in enough water.
4. When the vegetables and dal are soft, add the ground spice paste and salt and boil for 2 – 3 minutes until till every thing blends.
5. Season with mustard seeds, black gram dal and curry leaves.


3. MUNG DAL ‘COOKER’ KOOTTU
INGREDIENTS:
For Dal
Mung dal (Split green gram dal) – 1 cup
Mixed cut vegetables of your choice- 1 tea cup (eg. carrots, beans, peas, marrow, cucumber)
Black pepper – ½ tsp
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - ½ tsp
Asafoetida -1 pinch
Sambar powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
For seasoning
Oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Urad Black gram dal – ½ tsp
Red chilly – 1
Curry leaves – a few

METHOD:
1. Take dal and turmeric powder in the separator of a pressure cooker, add 3 cups of water and set it in the pressure cooker.
2. Arrange the cut vegetables in another separator and sprinkle the sambar powder , and set it above the dal separator.
3. Close the lid, and place the weight and pressure cook until 3 whistles.
4. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool.
5. Coarsely crush pepper and cumin seeds with a mortar and pestle, and keep it ready.
6. Open the cooker and take out dal and vegetables, and pour them into a vessel.
7. Add asafoetida, crushed pepper and cumin seeds and boil for 3 minutes.
8. Remove from flame and season with mustard seeds, black gram dal, broken red chilly and curry leaves.
Enjoy the cooker koottu with rice or chapattis.