Dasha Ratna uttappa - a super pancake made with multi grain flour and vegetables

I admit, I am such an OCP(Obsessive Compulsive Planner) :-). I feel lost and think it is very inefficient executing things when I don't have a plan. I sometimes feel jealous of people that do things quite differently, on the fly, especially those who seem to go into the war zone without a clear plan of action :-). I know these kind of people, BH being a prime example. For all my thinking ahead and planning, he comes in and changes things at the last minute. But it works well with the two of us complementing each other except when one of us decides to be not s(u)p(p)ortive about the other's approach :-), well that is another story for another day.

In addition to being an OCP, I am a visual person too, may be they coexist.  For example, I get into the kitchen having completely drawn a picture in my head of what I use from the pantry, refrigerator, to the details of which pans and pots and all the way down to the sequence of how I will clean, chop to make the most of my time. I actually close my eyes and picture my entire menu before I go into the kitchen. Any given point in the week, you can tap me on the shoulder and I will tell which exact corner of the refrigerator you will find the ingredients you are looking for, same with the pantry. I told you I was an OCP. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying this because I am on a boasting spree, I know I can be a pain in the neck for people around me, it is just who I am. I think about the cooking I will do when I get home while I am on my way home on the bus, not that it always turns out the way I saw it in my head but it helps me going in to have a plan and I am ready with a backup if there was to be a turn of events. To my credit, I can be flexible and adapt quickly to changes too, I can shift gears and still go. Ok, I agree that was quite a bit of bragging :-) and so I stop right now.

I had to give you all that introduction so you have the context for what I am going to tell you next. A couple of weeks back, as the weather turned warmer, both of us grandiosely signed ourselves up for some much needed spring cleaning around the house and also some long pending home improvement work. We went around and pulled all the things down at once and thought we would finish all the cleaning in one weekend. Only later did we realize, it was a tall order and definitely not to be done in one weekend :-). The living room and the bed rooms have been looking as if a storm went through them. Busy week days rolled in, BH got attacked by some seasonal allergies and has been coughing & sneezing. Thankfully there were no visitors to see the mess of the house and we have been managing ok. I didn't cook much at all and when I did it was the simplest, blandest stuff you could imagine. As the week finally wound down, I wanted to make my man happy again and chose to take the short cut to his heart via the stomach by cooking a sumptuous meal :-). I had soaked some black chana on Friday night to make my kadala curry with yummy rolls of puttu for Saturday brunch. After slowly getting up in the morning, was getting ready to start on it.  As I put my soaked chana into the cooker and close the lid, he breezes in and announces in a chirpy tone that he was feeling fit and was ready to get on the home improvement, AND needed a lot of help from the wifey.

This is how these things go in our family. There are certain activities I hate to do and there are some he has no interest in and we let each other be. While I love cooking in the kitchen, I feign dumbness when it comes to lifting heavy things, wielding hammers, electric drills etc and let the man of the house do the job. In all fairness, he is very good at these things and infact has a flair for building things with his hands. But he needs me, the moral supporter and cheer leader to be around him even though I don't help much except for maybe lift a couple of tools and hand it to him, stand away and confirm things are straight or aligned as they need to be :-). So when he said he needed my help I knew I wouldn't be able to spend my planned time in the kitchen making puttu and needed to come up with an alternative quickly. Our man's home improvement activities keep expanding based on his energy levels and I could see he had a good supply of it especially this sunny morning which also meant I needed to have something that would be easy to make, keep us full for longer without tasting like rubber :-). I quickly changed my plan of puttu & kadala curry and made this quick brunch.

Let me jump back to the title of the post here and break it down a little for you so you don't think I am anything less than claritin clear today:-). If you enjoy Indian curries in restaurants, I am sure you are no stranger to a side dish called 'Navaratan korma', it is a delicious curry made with (Nava)9 vegetables including nuts and dry fruits which makes it a slightly sweetish curry. You probably have also tried the famous panchmela dal made with (panch)five different lentils, I have my version of it here. I liked the numbering system in these dishes and wanted to create one for a long time :-). As I was mixing up the flours and adding vegetables, I couldn't help counting and thought the 10 ingredients in this recipe were screaming me to be creative while naming the dish.

I have tried this dasha ratna dose multiple times before and it is infact one of our favorite breakfasts. Dasha (=Ten), Ratna (=Jewels because all the ingredients used are a dream come true for a healthy, low carb diet food). If the name is a tongue twister, go ahead and call it simply 'vegetarian pancake'. There are 5 different flours I used in this recipe and 5 different vegetables making a total of ten main ingredients. This is my own home made multi grain flour, completely gluten free (Yay, you can eat this even if you have gluten allergy) and doesn't have white rice or semolina(bonus, if you are looking to reduce your carbs). To top it all, it has a good dose of the probiotic gold in the form of yogurt that every health coach tells you to eat regularly. You can increase/decrease any flour or replace with another of your choice, there will be variations in taste and texture. I do that all the time and encourage you to find your best fit too by experimenting. As far the vegetables are concerned, I grated a whole big zucchini - my favorite summary squash and added other vegetables I had on hand. You can replace the vegetables I have added with those you prefer, this uttappa will certainly not complain :-).

I chose to call this uttappa since it is spread thicker than regular dosa/dose. So here is how I made my dasha ratna uttappa this weekend. A couple of these eaten with the kadala curry on the side kept us going until we cleaned up most of the mess in the living room, great progress!!. Sorry, I can't share any pictures yet, they will come later, we want to keep it a surprise for someone and not put a spoiler on the blog :-). It took me no more than 10 minutes to get the batter ready while the curry was cooking and I would spread an uttappa, reduce heat to low and let it cook while I was helping BH assemble, disassemble and such.

What do you need to make Dasharatna uttappa? 
1 cup oats flour (quick oats powdered in blender)
2 Tbsp ragi (finger millet) flour
2 Tbsp jowar (sorghum) flour
1 Tbsp Rajgira (amaranth) flour
1 Tbsp Bajra (pearl millet) flour

1 packed cup grated zucchini
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped tomato
1 cup finely chopped bell pepper (any color)
1 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 cup plain yogurt (a day old, slightly sour is best)
2-3 green chilies finely chopped
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 - 3/4 cup water
2-3 Tsp oil to roast uttappa

How do you make Dasharatna uttappa? 

• Wash and remove the end of zucchini, grate it with the skin on the large hole side of a grater. 

• Chop the remaining vegetables finely. 
• Take a cup of rolled oats and powder them in the blender. 
• In a large mixing bowl, add all the flours, salt and the prepared vegetables. 

• Mix together with your fingers so the vegetables start to leave water. Let it sit for 5 minutes. 
• Add the yogurt and mix well. Let this sit for about 10 minutes. 

• If you have the thick pouring consistency, do not add any water. If not, add water slowly to get the consistency you need to spread. 
• Heat a flat griddle on medium heat, season it with a few drops of oil spread evenly all over. 
• Take a ladleful of the batter and put it in the center of the hot griddle, spread it lightly with the back of the ladle in about 2mm thickness. 

• Fill any gaping holes if they get formed with extra batter. 
• Put a few drops of oil around the edge of the uttappa, cover it with a lid, lower the heat and let cook for 2-3 minutes. 

• Lift the lid off, check the bottom side to see if it has reached your desired color and flip the uttappa gently over. 
• Do not cover, let it cook for a further 2 minutes before taking it off on to a plate. 

• This tastes great without any accompaniments also. 

Notes: 

• You can add other flours such as rice flour, maize/corn flour, semolina if you prefer
• Other vegetables that work well in this recipe are grated carrots, grated mooli/radish, grated bottle gourd or lauki, sauteed chopped fenugreek or spinach.
• The vegetables used here leave a lot of water content and the batter tends to get slightly liquidish over time. So do not add water if you don't need to. 
• Due to the yogurt and the vegetables, this will be a soft uttappa. You can cook longer on low heat to get a nice golden color but it will not be crispy. 
• Always cook this on low heat, covered on the first side for 2.5-3 minutes to let the raw vegetables get tender. 
• Spread them small to make it interesting and also avoid breaking while lifting off the griddle. 

Masala Dose (Dosa) - a food coma inducing vegetarian thanksgiving brunch

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

Thornton Wilder

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers celebrating the day!

Long ago when the immigrants declared peace with the natives and broke bread together, started this celebration of oneness, giving thanks and saying grace together. The holiday itself has morphed into a cacophony of retail business with stores opening at the wee hours of dawn on Friday luring customers with promises of never before 'low prices'. This year, it is getting pushed to Thursday evenings, I personally think that is a shame! After all this research shows, these black Friday (now Thursday) sales do not really lift the profit margins that much anyways. All I would say is 'consumerism ' is good for the economy but take some time to be together with family, friends and live in the joy of the moment before you rush towards the malls :-)

Like always, the month of November brings in not only a nip into the air but also the festive jingles. Twinkling lights, bouquets of cheerful Poinsettia make their way into the living rooms. I like to slow down a little bit and count my blessings, they are many and I am extremely grateful for the life that I have. 

Many years ago, we landed here as the proverbial 'new immigrants' leaving behind the known and the familiar trying to make a life with the unknown and unfamiliar, hoping every step of the way the decisions made would stand us strong for years to come with dreams in our young eyes. Every day was a new experience, a learning as we got immersed in the new culture, people, practices. Now after all these years, it is a second home. While my home far away comes in dreams every night and I yearn for the family back home, I also love waking up every morning and take in what my second home has to offer. Things could have gone differently but for the grace of the power I believe in and for that I am thankful. I am grateful for all the rich experiences I have had in these many years of being alive, I am grateful for the love I have received from people near & far away. Thanksgiving is a special time for me to slip slightly into the years gone by as I count the happy moments and look forward to continued joy going forward. 

Being a vegetarian in a very 'meat' friendly environment is not an easy task. While vegetarianism and veganism have become mainstream now, 15 or so years back, it was unheard of and I would have spent many a get together dinners munching on just the leafy greens and filling my stomach (and waistline and then some..) with the desserts as I feared touching any of the main courses doused in non-plant based fats and showcasing different varieties of meat. I am not intolerant to non vegetarian, I have many good friends that love only non vegetarian meals, BH enjoys his share of non vegetarian too. I just have not felt a need to try or taste the stuff. 

We attended a Thanksgiving dinner once back in Michigan as part of a spiritual group and I was taken in with the ingenuity of the hostess who served major concepts of Thanksgiving in a completely vegetarian way. DD loved it too and that is how our Thanksgiving brunches have been now for many year. Did I say brunch? yep since we skip breakfast, the little girl declared holiday which means she gets up when she feels like and we go directly to our meals which is somewhere in between BF & lunch. Our main course is always potato stuffed dosas, sided with different combinations of chutneys and dips, some form of sweet potatoes (baked, roasted etc). I didn't make the corn bread this time. This meal is a great alternative if you are a vegetarian. I have had some of my friends make stuffed paranthas as another variation. 

We had this masala dosa, chutney & sambar and feeling as stuffed as a turkey (err,, tofurky may be) and as I type this away, I hear the gentle snore from a fully satiated and overstuffed BH who declared that a siesta was the best thing that could happen immediately after eating such delicious dosas and true to his words, went to lie down right afterwards :-). This is a carb heavy meal and oh I am thankful for the starches and carbohydrates in my life, they make me happieee. 

Masala dose (as we call it in Kannada) does not need any introductions to most people. They have been popularized world over by the numerous Udipi cafes, Saravanabhava restuarants and other South Indian joints. Masala dosas are so versatile that people have gotten creative and stuffed them with stuff such as broccoli, cauliflower, paneer etc :-) which goes to show that it is nothing but a concept that you can tailor to suit your taste. I come from the small town of Mysore which valiantly tries to hold on to the traditional roots (sometimes good and sometimes not so good) and you normally don't see stuffings other than the "forever in demand" potato masala in my kitchen. 

If you were to see any restaurant menu card worth its salt dosa, it will have a plain masala dosa and a Mysore masala dosa. What is unique about the Mysore masala dosa is the fiery red chutney spread liberally on the inside of the dosa before placing the potato masala. A bite of that is a step closer to heaven for spice lovers like me. Oh, btw, I have seen many masala dosa posts in the blogs which call out for a crispy thin layer of dosa. For us from Mysore, masala dose is always thick, pulpy while being crispy as it is doused with oil/ghee. 

This post is already growing long in length and I will reserve all my chatter about dosas for another post and another day but in parting, I will say this - it is very hard to get the even, golden brown color on the dosas at home. If you are trying to mimic the restaurant served dosa at home, be prepared to use inordinate (and unhealthy) amounts of oil. Another reason for that golden hue is the controlled and uniformly distributed heat in a big kitchen. However you can get a better tasting dosa at home by using quality ingredients and following a few tips. Use an iron skillet or tawa for making dosas, it not only cooks evenly but also adds to the flavor. I swear by my cast iron pans, they grow increasingly better as they age and you keep working at the seasoning of the pan. I do not make dosas on non-stick pans anymore. Contrary to popular belief, the cast iron pans are not oil guzzlers, if you follow good seasoning practices and keep the pan in good condition. And once you have a good seasoned pan, do not ever part with it :-).

So here is a recipe of good masala dose with its accompaniments, Be prepared to spend some time reading the recipe below as it has many details and tips to making a good dose at home especially if you are a newbie to this South Indian delicacy. There are many different proportions to a good dosa batter and here is mine that yields a perfectly fool proof and yummylicious dose every time. 

Let us start by making the dosa batter, this is a 2 day process so planning is crucial. You need to ferment the batter for atleast 8-10 hours or more if the weather is cold. I do not favor the short cut practices of adding cooking soda or baking powder to the batter without fermenting it, somethings in life are best when done in a certain way. So, 

What do you need for the dose hittu or dosa batter? 

1 cup urad dal (I use whole white urad)

1/4 cup toor dal

1/4 cup chana dal

1/4 cup thick poha (avalakki or beaten rice)

3 cups rice (I use sona masoori) 

1 Tsp fenugreek seeds

1 Tsp salt

1/2 Tsp sugar

How do you make dosa batter? 

• Take all ingredients listed except for salt & sugar in a big vessel, wash them a couple of times and soak them in double the quantity of water for 4-5 hours. 
• Drain the water and grind the ingredients together into a smooth paste (use water as needed to make a thick batter of dropping consistency).
• Mix once, cover and keep aside in a warm corner of the kitchen to ferment for 8-10 hours or until it starts forming a nice convex layer in top with a few bubbles. 
• Before making dosas, add salt & sugar and mix the batter, adjust with water to get a nice consistency to spread on the pan. 

What do you need to make potato palya? 

4 medium sized potatoes

1 big onion 

1 inch piece ginger

2-3 green chilies

1 Tsp chana dal (for crunch, omit if you do not like it or use cashew nuts)

few curry leaves

1 Tbsp oil

1 Tsp mustard

1 Tsp cumin 

1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)

1/8 Tsp Asafoetida

1/4 Tsp turmeric powder

Optional ingredients: 

few sprigs of cilantro chopped

few cashew nuts

fistful of cooked green peas

How do you make potato palya? 

• Wash, cut into half and cook the potatoes until soft. 
• Let cool, peel the skin off and mash into a smooth paste. 
• Remove ends of the green chilies, slit them vertically in half (or chop them into pieces if you prefer)
• Wash, peel and grate ginger. 
• Heat a pan, add oil, when the oil is hot, add asafoetida, chana dal, mustard and cumin. 
• Let the seeds pop, add cashews, green peas if using, add slit green chilies and curry leaves. 
• After 30 secs, add thinly chopped onion, salt, turmeric powder and mix it well. 

• Let cook on medium heat until onions turn limp. 
• Add mashed potatoes, mix and if too dry add a couple of spoons of water. 
• Taste test for salt and adjust. 
• Add chopped cilantro on top and keep aside until ready to use. 
• You can add a spoon of lemon/lime juice if you like the tart taste, do it after the stove is switched off.

What do you need to make red chutney? 

1/4 cup of roasted gram dal (Kadle in kannada, putnala pappu in Telugu)
1 medium onion (use the red onions as they are milder in flavor)
1 small tomato
4-5 dry red chilies soaked in warm water for 10 mins

1/2 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)

Optional 

1-2 cloves of garlic (I do not use it)

How to make the red, fiery chutney? 

• Drain the water from the chilies, take all the ingredients and blend them into a smooth paste. 
• Do not use water to grind, juice from the tomato and wetness of the onion will be sufficient. 
• Onions and tomatoes add flavor and also give volume to this chutney, if you want use a little bit more of roasted gram dal. 
• This is a spicy chutney, use red chilies based on your heat tolerance. 

What do you need to make white/green chutney? 

1 cup coconut

1/2 up roasted gram dal

1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)

1 clove garlic (omit if you don't like)

3-5 green chilies (adjust to taste)

fistful of fresh cilantro (if you want slightly green chutney, else omit this)

water to grind

How to make white chutney?

• Take all the ingredients in a blender and blend it into a smooth paste of desired consistency. We like it a little thinner so the dosas can be easily dipped into them. 

I made some quick fix sambar to go with the meal today, recipe in another post. 

Bringing them all together: 

• Heat a flat (preferably cast iron) pan on medium heat. 
• Sprinkle a few drops of water and it should immediately sizzle up. 

• Mix the batter, take a ladle full of batter, pour it in the center of the pan and with a swift motion, spread it circularly all around the pan. 
• Drop spoonfuls of the red chutney in different places around the dosa (do not try to spread it at this time), add a few drops of oil all around, cover (yes cover it and see the notes below) and let cook for 45secs - a min. 

• Take the cover off, the batter would be cooked with no hint of rawness, now with a flat spatula, spread the red chutney all around the dosa. 

• Check to see if the bottom has attained a golden brown or any desired color, put a big heap of the potato palya in the center of the dosa, fold it and remove it onto a plate. 

• Serve it with the white/green chutney and sambar. 
• Repeat the above steps for as many dosas as you need, eat them hot. 

Notes: 

• Masala dose batter is slightly thicker than regular dosas to achieve that pulpy, crispy layer. 
• A wet grinder works best to make good idli, dosa batters but a strong motored mixer/blender would work well too, do it in batches if you need to. 
• We like the potato palya to be soft but not watery, use good, mature potatoes with less starch. 
• I always make extra potato palya as it seems to somehow reduce in quantity from the time I started on it and by the time I am ready to make dosas. A very believable disappearing act :-)
• Keep a watch on the heat and the tawa temperature, these vary from kitchen to kitchen, you will become an expert over time. 

• It is important to cool the pan slightly down when you pour the batter or else, it will get stuck in lumps on a very hot tawa and also cooks unevenly - remember how all the restaurant chefs spray about a cup of water between batches of dosas and spread it all around with a broom :-), the idea is to control the temperature. 
• Masala dosa is never cooked on both sides, it dries up the final product. You need to cook the dosa enough so it is neither burnt nor under cooked. Covering the dosa as soon as it is spread helps to get a nicely cooked dosa where you can easily spread the red chutney and also ensures the bottom browns up in the process. 
• Adding a half spoon of sugar to the batter helps get a nice hue to the cooked dosa. 
• I use a cut onion to spread oil in between dosas on the pan, this gives a nice color to the dosa too. 

Minestrone soup - a deliciously hodge podge Sunday brunch

I not only love to bake bread but also enjoy eating different kinds of bread. The crustier and hardier they are, I like them better. It is no wonder I am always willing and ready to try out new places as long as there is a promise of good bread. It was on one such expeditions that I went to "Olive Garden", a popular chain of Italian food in North America and on BH's recommendation tried the unlimited soup and salad lunch there. But I mostly ended up filling myself with the soft, warm bread they serve at the beginning of every meal.

Olive Garden has been a regular joint for us as family as we can all satisfy our veg and non-veg preferences. Over time, I dug my spoon into the piping hot minestrone soup and fell in love with the various flavors in that super delicious vegetarian soup. Until I tasted minestrone soup, my view of soup was limited to the 'Tomato soup' from India which is creamy, tangy but doesn't have any floating vegetables. The minestrone knocked out all my notions about soup and opened up my eyes to the world of soupy possibilities. Minestrone has been a favorite for many years now and is part of my order whenever we go to Olive Garden along with their Eggplant Parmigiana.

I am not much of a pasta person, nor is cheese my favorite. Don't judge me :-), that is who I am. I order eggplant parmigiana, as soon as the plate comes, slide out the hot cheesy layer off the top of the eggplants and eat the crispy baked eggplants with black pepper sprinkled on top of them. Why order the dish when I don't eat half of it, you may ask and also when I take out the best part of the dish according to DD. I do not mean any disrespect to the recipe or the chef but I just don't enjoy the gooey cheese on top :-). I love the fresh salad though with the grated cheese on top that they invariably offer to every guest and that I politely decline every single time.

I had it on my list of things to do for a long time to make the minestrone soup at home. I collected a few recipes but every time I thought of making it, something wouldn't align such as it was the hot summer and not soup weather, or I didn't have something in the refrigerator/pantry that I deemed necessary for a good minestrone and etc.., so it kept getting pushed and finally today made it. DD says she doesn't mind having a lunch such as this every day for the rest of her life which I take as a compliment. So here I am with some pictures and a recipe for minestrone soup. A totally vegetarian and full of veggie goodness and flavors of fresh and dried herbs, this soup makes a very filling lunch. Pair it with some bread and you have an Italian lunch in your own kitchen.

Here is what happened to the bread, I have a wonderful pizza dough recipe (source: Peter Reinhart) that I have been using for a while now - will post the recipe sometime and I also use the same dough for making bread sticks, they turn as soft and delicious as the warm breads served in Olive Garden. I made a big batch of the pizza dough earlier this week and was planning to keep aside half of it for the bread sticks but since both BH & DD loved the texture of the pizza, they ended up making it twice in the week and the dough got over which put a small dent in my plans of an Italian brunch for the weekend. But like I said, stars were aligned perfectly this time for my minestrone soup and so when I was strolling in the food market here yesterday, I found some freshly baked French baguettes being filled into the basket, picked one up and came home. A slight change of plans, no Olive Garden style bread sticks but I made some fragrant bruschetta by slicing the baguette and it was a wonderful side for the extremely delicious minestrone soup.

Minestrone is a very versatile soup, it is almost like throw in any vegetables you have and still tastes good recipe. I used Giada's recipe from here, eliminating all non-vegetarian ingredients and making some changes to suit my personal palate. So mine is a completely vegetarian soup and tastes just like the one you get in Olive Garden. Try it out yourself and let me know how you liked it.

Here is why I call it hodge podge brunch, though it was Italian in every intent and theme, I used French baguette to make the bruschetta, made a very Indian, non-cheesy version of crispy eggplant and a fresh veggie salad that was dressed with a dressing from nowhere :-). I also had a bunch of fresh, organic fingerling potatoes that I par boiled and sauteed in olive oil and coated with chutney pudi and garnished with fresh cilantro :-).

What do you need to make Minestrone soup?
Makes 4-5 servings
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion/shallots
2-3 medium sized carrots
1 medium zucchini
2 celery sticks
2 cups (tightly packed) greens such as chard, spinach or Kale
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium sized potato
2 big tomatoes
1.5 cup cooked canellini beans (Italian white kidney beans)
1/2 cup cooked pasta (typically shells are used)
4-6 basil leaves
1 sprig of fresh Rosemary
A small piece (about 1/2 Oz) of good quality Parmesan cheese
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 Tsp freshly ground black pepper

How do you make Minestrone soup? 

• Wash, peel and chop carrots into bite sized cubes. 
• Wash, remove hard ends and chop celery into bite sized pieces. 
• Peel, crush and chop garlic. 
• Roughly chop the greens. 
• Par boil tomatoes for 3-4 minutes and once cool, remove the skin and chop into chunks. Reserve the water for use in soup. 
• Puree 1/2 cup of cooked beans with 1/4-1/2 cup of water into a smooth paste. 
• Wash and chop zucchini and potato (i use the skin) into bite sized chunks.
• Heat a sturdy pan or soup pot with olive oil. 
• Add the chopped onions and saute for 3-4 minutes until it softens. 
• Add chopped carrots and celery, saute for 5-6 minutes until they turn just soft. 
• Add chopped garlic, zucchini, potatoes, cooked beans and tomatoes. 
• Add salt, pepper and 3-5 cups of water, piece of cheese and pureed beans. 
• Simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Slower you cook, better the soup tastes. 
• When you reach the last half hour of cooking, add the chopped greens and let it wilt. 
• Add cooked pasta about 10 minutes before you switch off along with chopped basil leaves. 
• Switch off, cover and let stand for 10-15 minutes. 
• Serve piping hot soup with a side of bread and garnished with extra grated cheese on top. 

Notes: 

• I used canned beans which are pre cooked and salted. I wash them a couple of times under running water and drain before adding to the soup. 
• Usually shell or bow pastas are used in Minestrone, you can skip this totally without affecting the taste. If using cook pasta following package instructions and add it towards the last 10 minutes or so before switching off the soup. 
• You can use any greens mentioned above but the cooking time for chard or kale might be a little longer than spinach, so use your judgement. 
• Adding Parmesan cheese is optional but gives a really authentic and rich taste to the soup. 
• I like the slightly acidic taste of celery in soups and add them to most of my soups. 

Ottu shavige - Dreamy white, Indian angel hair pasta with rice flour

Some memories are a full 4D IMAX experience, don't you agree? They have picture, sound, smell and taste. All I have to do is close my eyes to relive those moments. Some other memories leave you searching for details but you can't forget the impact they have had on you. Both are good and needed for a wholesome experience. Since the time I posted my Lemony rice noodles recipe here using a short cut, I have been craving to write about the real deal. What is the big deal, you may ask? It is, it was a huge deal growing up and lot of planning and preparation went into making those melt in the mouth ottu shavige(ottu~pressed, shavige~noodles).

Anna spent a year in Mangalore as part of the usual government transfers while we stayed back in Mysore for schools & other things. Anna used to visit us once a month or so and we would all be eagerly waiting for him to reach home from the bus stand. Once when he came, he had a heavy box on his shoulder and we were all dying of curiosity until he had his dinner and opened the box. He had bought a ottu shavige maker in Mangalore (I don't think it was easily available in Mysore at that time) and brought it with him on the bus and carried it home. Thus started our ottu shavige experiences. This sturdy machine dished out huge quantities of ottu shavige for many, many years until it was retired to a top shelf (to give company to many other 'not anymore used' large family utensils) quite recently.

While Anna didn't really cook on a regular basis, there were days he would enter the kitchen and make something so delicious and spoil us that we refused to eat if nammamma made the same dish equally well :-). Making Ottu shavige was like a festival, it would be on the menu if family was visiting or if there was a reason to celebrate. I have a picture of my parents in our Mysore kitchen both bent around the ottu shavige machine on the floor, nammamma feeding the steamed balls into the machine and moving the plate underneath to ensure the noodles didn't form a lump in one place while Anna kept turning the handle above to produce those thin noodles - well I don't have an actual photo, it is in my heart. Making the basic noodles is only half the job done, and there several options to serve it depending on whether you like a sweet shavige or a savory one. Nammamma usually prepared one sweet kind and one savory kind, look for serving suggestions below.

There are 2 ways of making the ottu shavige, the first one involves preparing the dough, making the noodles and then steaming them which is very popular in Tamil Nadu & Kerala and the second one is where the dough is prepared, balls steamed and then noodles made which is what nammamma does and I follow this 2nd method. If you have the press kind of murukku maker, the first one is better suited and if you are using the rotate kind of murukku maker, the second option works well. I don't have a ottu shavige maker but make do with this fantastic murukku maker I found in my Indian store, if you get the dough right and employ a strong, muscular person in the kitchen you can make this on large scale without breaking a sweat :-).

When nammamma made the ottu shavige, she prepared the rice powder at home. Rice would be washed, drained and set to dry inside in shade until the moisture is gone. Then it is fine powdered and used in Ottu Shavige or Bili Rotti. I buy the idiyappam flour from the store which works perfectly well and skip one step to make it easier. If you have the time and inclination, go ahead and make the rice powder at home, see detailed procedure at the end of this post.

What do you need to make basic Ottu Shavige? 
Serves 4 adults for a heavy breakfast, makes about 6-8 steamed balls
3 cups idiyappam flour** or home made rice powder
4 cups water
1/2 Tsp oil
**I used Nirapara brand and the proportion of water & rice powder works perfectly.

How do you make Ottu Shavige?

• Heat water with the 1/2 Tsp oil in a big pot and bring it to boil.
• Add the rice flour and let it cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes while the water boils over the flour and makes it all wet, do not disturb this for the 2-3 minutes. 
• When water has bubbled over all the dry powder, take a strong wooden spoon and vigorously mix the powder in to the water to form one big mass.
• Switch off the stove and let it stand for a few of minutes until you can comfortably handle the dough (the dough should not cool off though).
• Keep a wide bowl of cold water ready to dip your hands in. 
• While the dough is still warm, dip your hands in the cold water (but do not carry any extra water to the dough)and pinch off tennis ball sized dough, knead a little to make a smooth cylindrical shape, arrange them in a pressure cooker or steamer vessel. 

• When all the dough is made into balls, steam it in the pressure cooker or steamer for 15 minutes - Do not use the pressure cooker weight, this is similar to making idlis. 
• Switch off the stove, get your murukku press ready and wet the inside walls of the murukku press with a few drops of water. While the steamed balls are still hot, put them inside the murukku maker and press into strings of thin noodles. 
• We like this thin and I use the smallest hole plate for the murukku maker, you can change it according to your preference. 

• Press the shavige into a wide plate, moving the murukku maker around the plate so the strings form a sparse layer and not become lumpy. Transfer over to a big bowl by inverting the plate on top of the bowl and leave it to become cool before you season them. 

How do you serve Ottu Shavige (some suggestions, follow your heart and taste buds)?

Savory variation 1: Lemon Shavige

Heat 2 Tblsp of oil, add 1/4 Tsp asafoetida, 1 Tsp mustard, 1 Tblsp chana dal, 1 Tsp urad dal, 2 Tblsp peanuts, a few curry leaves, 1/4 Tsp turmeric, 2-3 chopped green chilies. Roast them until the dals and peanuts are crisp. Pour it over the ottu shavige, add salt to taste, lemon juice, 2 Tblsp grated coconut and mix gently breaking the long strands ever so softly. 

Savory variation 2: Hasi chutney shavige

See procedure here

Savory variation 3: Chutney pudi shavige
Take a bowlful of the white noodles, add a couple of spoons of home made chutney pudi, 1/2 Tsp oil and a pinch of salt to taste. Mix  it in gently and enjoy.

Sweet variation 1: With Gasagase payasa

Serve the rice noodles with a bowl of warm gasagase payasa. Pour the payasa on top of the noodles, mix gently and slurp it in. 

Sweet variation 2: Ellu-bella

Roast 2 Tblsp of white sesame seeds for 2 minutes. Powder them in a dry grinder, add 2 Tblsp of grated jaggery, a pinch of cardamom powder, 1 Tblsp grated coconut and mix it all with fingers. Add this to the white noodles and enjoy the flavorful sweet shavige.

Others: In Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu, the white noodles are typically served with stew.

Procedure for making rice flour at home for ottu shavige:

• Wash 2 cups of rice in 2-3 changes of water and drain the water. 
• Spread a thin cotton cloth inside the room and spread the washed rice on top of it. 
• Let the moisture go away by drying it in shade for a couple of hours. The rice should feel dry & brittle to touch.
• Make a powder of this dried rice and sieve it get a very fine powder, take the residue back and run it in your blender. Repeat until all the flour is superfine. 
• Store it in air tight containers for use in ottu shavige or rotti etc. 
• 2 cups of rice yield about 2+1/4 cups of the powder.

Notes: 

• There is a very huge difference in taste and texture between the store bought rice noodles and the home made ones and it is definitely worth the effort. 
• If you are using store bought idiyappam flour, follow the rice to water proportion on the package. 
• Do not let the dough become cool before making balls or before pressing them into noodles. This will render shavige hard and also make it very difficult to run the murukku maker. 
• I don't put salt while making the dough as we usually eat it both sweet & savory, mixing salt later works as well. 
• As you can see, this is a 2-people task atleast until you get comfortable with it. So make sure you ask for help in the kitchen.

Rave idli or is it Rava idly - definitely not the MTR mix

Don't get me wrong, I love MTR brand, it has been my go to amma for many masala powders when I don't have the energy/time to make it at home. I trust them to be a close replacement for my masalas and hope they will continue to hold up the standards of their products always. However, my patronizing does not extend to their line of ready to eat mixes, I find no cost or time saving in bringing home the vada mix, rava idli mix or the rava dose mix etc. The other reason is that we are hearty eaters at home and I am not used to heating up one cup servings of dishes :-). I can list a whole bunch of advantages to making these at home - you know exactly what goes into the final product, flexibility to vary ingredients to please your near & dear ones to name some..

I am sure you will all agree that it is not cost effective (come on, MTR is a for profit company, they are not running charity) but do you believe you won't need much time to prepare delicious, melt in the mouth rave idlis, all it takes is a little bit of planning and working together in the kitchen. The key ingredient required is good sour curds(yogurt) without which you will probably not get good idlis even if you used the branded mix.

Long back, when I was just out of college and my parents took on the task of finding me my BH, I had gone to meet a prospective groom. Nammamma made rave idlis for brunch  that day as we were leaving before lunch, for some reason the rave idlis all turned out placid and had a yellow tinge making nammamma tearful. Though she didn't say anything at that time as we hurried out to meet the guy, she blurted out after a week 'I knew this wouldn't work out when the rave idlis didn't come out good', I gaped at her for a minute before I made sense of what she was saying and then laughed out aloud :-).

She took the badly turned rave idlis as a sign for the following event but the reason the idlis turned out pathetic that day was because she was out of the fluffing agent (cooking soda) and didn't have sour curds for the recipe, also turns out she mixed everything with a turmeric coated hand which explains the color of the idlis. No harm done, I found BH soon after that which turned out fabulously though there were no rave idlis involved in making it happen :-)).

Before you start on the rave idlis, make sure you have a day or two old curds (preferably home made) and cooking soda on hand. 

What do you need to make Rave idli? 
Makes about 15-18 rave idlis
2 cups upma rava/uppittu rave
1 cup sour yogurt - whisked smooth
2 carrots - peeled & grated
handful of cilantro - chopped fine
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tblsp grated coconut - fresh or frozen (optional)
1 Tsp cooking soda
Seasoning:
1 Tblsp chana dal/kadle bele
1 Tblsp (6-8) cashew nuts
1 Tsp black pepper corns
1 Tsp ghee/clarified butter

How do you make rave idli?

• Dry roast the upma rave on medium heat until it is slightly pinkish and gives a toasty smell,  Let it cool.
• Heat the ghee on medium, add chana dal, pepper corns and cashew nuts and roast them until the nuts and dal turn light brown.
• Add grated carrot, prepared seasoning, salt and cooking soda to the roasted rave. 
• Add coconut if using, mix everything together. 
• Put drops of oil into your idli plates and prepare them.
• Mix yogurt little by little and bring it to the regular idli dough consistency, scoop it into the idli plates. If your idli stand cannot hold all the idlis in one go, you do not want to mix yogurt at once because combination of yogurt and cooking soda works together the longer you leave them outside and renders the idlis limp. 

• Steam the idlis (no weight or whistle) for 20 minutes, for perfectly done idlis, a toothpick inserted should come clean.  
• Let the idlis stand for 5 minutes off heat before removing them from the idli plate. 

• Classic Karnataka resturant menu is rave idli with potato sagu and chutney, I made peanut chutney with it.
• Serve delicious home made idlis with your choice of side dish.

Variations: 

• Sometimes I skip grated carrot but increase the chopped cilantro to get a different fresh flavor. 

Tips: 

• Roasted rave can be stored for a long time and comes in handy for quick uppittu, rave idli etc. I usually roast the rave when I bring it from the store. Roasting also extends the shelf life of rave.
• If you are roasting rave on the stove, you will feel the difference as it gets done. In the beginning as you stir it, it feels very heavy on the spoon however roasted rave becomes very light when you mix it.
• Alternatively, you can spread rave in a microwave safe plate and MW it for 2+1+1 minute, taking it out to give it a stir. This timing works for my MW power setting and 2 cups of rave. Use your judgment in your kitchen.
• If your yogurt is very thick, add about 1/2 - 3/4 cup water while whisking it smooth. When you mix in the yogurt, the resulting consistency should be that of the regular idlis.