Ragi or Nachni Idiyappam / Red Millet String Hoppers

Our today’s recipe is a healthy breakfast made with Red Millet. Finger millets/Red millets are more commonly known as Nachni or Ragi in India. The speciality of these tiny deep red pearls is the abundance of nutrients present in them. In the hills of India they are part of regular diet regime no wonder people living in these hills are so fit and rarely fall ill.

Red millet / Ragi has a very low glycemic index thus making its digestion process slow and helping in keeping the blood sugar levels at a constant ratio. It is a highly respected food amongst diabetes patients.

Red millet/ Ragi are healthier and safer to eat as there are no harmful chemical fertilizers or pesticides used in growing them hence they can be eaten with a free mind.

Idiyappam / String Hoppers is a common breakfast dish in Kerala, southern India. I have a made a variation to idiyappam by adding red millet / ragi to it. This red millet/ ragi idiyappam is a healthy dish cuisine made with minimal ingredients. You could serve this with vegetable kurma, chicken stew, egg or chicken curry.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 1 cup

Ragi / Red Millet – 1 cup

Boiling water - 2 cups 

Salt to taste

Coconut oil or oil - 1/2 tsp

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup (approx)

Coconut oil for greasing

Method:

Boil 2  cups water with salt and oil. Then slowly pour the hot water little by little into the rice flour & Ragi/Red millet mixer. Mix it immediately with an wooden spoon and then use clean hands to shape it to a ball. Place the lid and leave it aside for 15 mins.

While the dough is resting, grease the idiyappam maker and the idli plates. Sprinkle little grated coconut into each depression of the idli plate and keep aside.

The dough will be easier to handle once the heat reduces. Knead the mixture into a smooth yet firm dough. Stuff the dough into the idiyappam maker, close the lid and hand press the dough into swirls onto the idli plates.

Steam for 12-15 mins and allow to cool a bit. Serve warm with  Chicken curry / Egg curry.

Egg bhurji / Indian Style Scrambled Egg

Egg bhurji or Anda Bhurji, is a popular dish in north and western India and Pakistan. The popular egg bhurji is an Indian style of cooking scrambled eggs with onion, tomato, ginger, chillies and garam masala.

This is a delicious quick recipe and can be made in a jiffy. It can be served with rotis/ naan or even with Toast. It also makes a fantastic sandwich filling. Another variation of this is paneer bhurji or cottage cheese bhurji, I will be adding the recipe for that very soon.

Ingredients:

Eggs – 4 nos

Onion, chopped – 1 large

Tomato, chopped – 1 large

Capsicum/Green bell pepper, chopped – 1 small

Green chilles, chopped – 2 medium

Milk – 2 tablespoon (optional)

Ginger, finely chopped – ½ tablespoon

Garlic, finely chopped – ½ tablespoon

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Red chilly powder – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Oil / Butter – 1 tablespoon

Coriander leaves, chopped – 1 tbsp

Curry leaves – 8 to 10

Preparation:

Break the Eggs into a bowl and beat the eggs. Now add milk and salt then once again beat the mixture well. Keep it aside.

In a shallow frying pan, heat oil / butter and add the onions. When they are partly cooked, add the green chillies, tomatoes, capsicum/green bell pepper, curry leaves, ginger and garlic, sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Then add chilly and turmeric powder and sauté for another minute.

Add the chopped tomato and fry till the tomatoes get soft and mushy. Now add the beaten eggs and stir the mixture. The eggs will start to cook very fast, so keep on stirring.  Otherwise the eggs will start sticking to the bottom of the pan (Its preferable to use non-stick pan so that eggs does not stick).  Once the eggs are cooked and firm, transfer it to a serving bowl.

Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve the Egg Bhurji hot with buttered toast or Roti

Chessy Egg Toast

Toast is a common breakfast item at most of our kitchen. Chessy egg toast is quite similar to our normal toast with little variation. It’s a wholesome food and can be made in minutes. This is a best breakfast to make when you are too lazy to cook or in a hurry. Since there is chesse in it, kids will definitely love this.

Ingredients:

Egg – 2 no’s

Chesse, grated – 2 tbsp

Bread, whole wheat – 5 to 6 slices

Salt to taste

Pepper powder – a pinch

Butter – 1 tsp

Preparation:

In a bowl beat the eggs, then add grated cheese, salt and pepper powder. Mix well. Heat the tawa/griddle add butter, when the butter melts dip the bread in the egg mixture (you need to only coat it with egg, don’t soak it) and put in on the griddle / tawa. Repeat the same for remaining bread slices. Cook the bread slices till both the sides turn golden brown.

Serve hot with Tomato sauce / mustard sauce.

Idli & Chutney

Idli was a traditional breakfast for people in the southern part of India. But now, its no longer just a South Indian favorite, Idlis are loved and can be found just about anywhere in India. Its now become a common dish made at Indian households. Most often eaten at breakfast or as a snack, Idlis are usually served in pairs with chutney, sambhar, or other accompaniments. Mixtures of crushed dry spices such as milagai podi are the preferred condiment for Idlis eaten on the go.

          Idlis are made with uncooked rice and split black lentil which are soaked separately for at least four hours. Optionally, to improve taste, half a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds are added to the lentils at the time of soaking. They are then ground to a fine paste. It’s then left overnight to ferment. Next day morning you could see the batter has expanded to about 2½ times its original volume. Then are then poured into a mold and cooked by steaming.

I have listed below the ingredients required and the preparation method in a detailed form. I have also included a picture of Idli mold, in case you have not see one. I hope you find this helpful… Please share your feedback.

Ingredients for Idli:

Skinned urad dal, whole - 1 ½ cups of whole,

Par boiled rice – 4 cups

Fenugreek seeds - 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Water, as required

Method- to make Idli:
1. Wash and soak  the rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds separately for about 3-4 hours.

2. After 4 hours wash and prepare to grind. You could use a wet grinder or a food processor with wet grinding attachment.

3. First grind the urad dal well until it is light and fluffy. Check in between and add water as required. I usually grind urad dal for about 40 minutes. Then remove the grounded dal from the grinder. The urad dal batter should not be sticky but light and fluffy. Then add the soaked rice and fenugreek seeds along with little water. Do not add too much water in the initial stage of grinding. You have to add water little by little, while it grinds. Now grind rice to a smooth paste. Once rice is ready, add the grounded urad dal to the grounded rice and grind for another 5 minutes so that it gets mixed well. Remove the batter from the wet grinder, add salt and mix well.

4. Now transfer the ground batter into a container and allow it to ferment. Ensure that you fill only up to half in a container and leave it in a warm place to ferment. You must give at least 6-7 hours for the batter to ferment. This duration may vary depending on the climatic conditions. In winter it may need longer time and in peak summer it may require less time. The batter would have doubled the size, if it has fermented well.

5. The Idlis are cooked by steaming. An Idli pot or Idli steamer is used to cook the Idlis. Grease the Idli plates with oil and pour the ground Idli batter on to the plates. Steam for 10 to 12 minutes. After which remove the plates from the steamer and transfer it in to the serving plate / container.

6. Your soft and spongy Idlis are ready. The Idli can be served with Sambhar / Chutney / Idli podi.

Ingredients for Coconut & Garlic Chutney

Grated coconut – 1 cup

Bengal gram – 1/3 cup

Garlic cloves, whole – 4 to 5 nos

Green chilli – 2 to 3 nos

Oil – 1 tablespoon

Mustard seeds – ¼ teaspoon

Salt to taste

Water as required

Method – to make chutney

Grind all the above ingredients in a fine paste. Then it into a bowl, check and adjust the seasoning. Now splutter some mustard seeds in oil and add to the ground paste.

This can be served as an accompaniment for Idlis/ Dosas.

Kanda poha or Aval / Pressed Rice Upma

Kanda Poha is a very popular Maharashtrian breakfast, Kanda means Onion. It is made from flattened/beaten rice and tossed in caramelized onions, green chillies and peanuts.

I was introduced to this by one of my friend in Mumbai. It is a very tasty and easy to cook dish. When you are pressed to time in the morning, this is an ideal breakfast dish. Some also prefer to eat this as a teatime snack. You can always spice it up or down depending on your taste.

Ingredients

Pressed rice/ Poha, thick  - 2 cups

Onions Chopped  -  2 medium

Oil – 4 tablespoon

Asafoetida  - a small pinch

Mustard seeds   -  1 Teaspoon

Cumin Seeds   -  1 Teaspoon

Curry Leaves   - 6 to 7

Turmeric Powder   -   ½ teaspoon

Green chillies, chopped   - 1 teaspoon

Salt    -   to taste

Sugar  - 1 teaspoon

Lemon juice    -  1 tablespoon

Fresh coriander leaves, chopped    -   2 tablespoon

Method

Place poha in a colander and pour water over to moisten it. Chop onions and green chillies. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add cumin seeds and mustard seeds to the oil remaining in the pan. When the seeds splutter, add asafoetida, curry leaves and onions and sauté till lightly browned. Add turmeric powder and green chillies and stir for ½ minute. Add poha, salt and sugar and mix well. Squeeze the juice of a lemon and mix. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Masala Dosa

Masala Dosa was originally a south Indian breakfast, now it’s on the menu list of many North Indian specialty restaurants too. Though making Masala Dosa is a long process, but its worth the effort.

Masala Dosa's are thin lentil and rice crepe rolled and filled with a savory potato filling. It is an all-time favorite south Indian snack liked by people all over the world.

There are different types of Dosa one can make like Plain dosa, Masala Dosa, Paper dosa and egg dosa etc. You can have dosa for lunch, dinner or for breakfast on a holiday. Dosa can be eaten along with Sambar, Coconut Chutney, Tomato Chutney or Mint & Coriander chutney.So let us start preparing Masala Dosa.

Ingredients for Dosa

Raw rice   -   4 cups

Urad dal  -  1 cup

Fenugreek seeds -  1/2 tsp

Water as required

Salt to taste

Method:

Soak raw rice, urad dal, fenugreek seeds in enough water for 4-5 hours. Wash and grind everything together to a smooth texture adding water, as required. Now leave it overnight to ferment. The fermenting time differs according to the climatic conditions, its gets fermented faster during warm weather.

Next day, add salt, little water and mix well to get the dosa batter in pouring consistency. The batter is ready to make dosa/ Idly / Uthappam.

Ingredients for Potato Masala

Potatoes - 500 grams

Onion -2 medium size, chopped

Ginger – ½ tbsp.  chopped

Green chilli - 2-3 (silted)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves -  8 to 10 nos

Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp finely chopped

Salt needed

Oil -2 tbsp + Extra Oil / Ghee  for making dosa

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad dal -3/4 tsp

Channa dal - 3/4 tsp

Method:

Wash and cut potatoes into medium sized cubes and pressure cook with 1/2 cup water for 3 whistles. Peel off the skin and mash it well. Heat a pan with oil and temper some mustard seeds, urad dal and channa dal. Once they turn golden, add chopped ginger, green chilli, onion, turmeric powder and fry well for a minute.  Now add the mashed potatoes, salt and 1/4 cup water mix well. Fry for 2-3 minutes. The masala need to become a semi dry mixture. Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves

Now heat the dosa pan, pour one full ladle of dosa batter and spread it thin in a circular motion, drizzle ghee on the sides. No need to flip and when it gets cooked, heap 2 tablespoon full of masala prepared in the middle. Fold both the sides of the dosa into the middle, such that the masala is wrapped inside the dosa.

Serve hot with chutney & sambar.

Kerala Palappam

Ingredients:

1.    Raw rice– 2 cups

2.    Cooked rice – ½ cup

3.    Grated Coconut – ¾ cup

4.    Semolina – 2 tablespoon

5.    Yeast – 1/2 teaspoon

6.    Sugar – 1/2 tablespoon

7.    Salt to taste

8.    Water – 2 glass

Method:

Soak rice for 2 to 5 hrs. Then grind it with cooked rice, grated coconut using required amount of water. The batter consistency should be similar to dosa batter.

In a small cup add yeast, sugar and 2 tablespoon of warm water and mix well till the yeast and sugar melts.  Keep it aside for 15 minutes.  In a pan cook semolina with ½ cup water. Cook until it becomes sticky. Keep it aside to cool. Add this and yeast mixture into the batter and mix well.

Keep the batter overnight in a warm place to ferment. Next day morning, first mix the batter well & add water if required. Please note that the batter consistency should be runny, much thinner than the dosa batter. Add salt & sugar to taste.

Heat Appachatti (Appam Kadai) and pour 1 or 1 & 1/2 ladle  of batter into it and  rotate the appachatti immediately and making sure the batter is spread in a circular form. Cover & cook it in low flame. Once the middle portion is cooked, remove from fire.

Serve hot with chicken/vegetable/mutton stew or curry.

Idiyappam / Rice String Hoppers

Idiyappam / String Hoppers is a common breakfast dish in Kerala, southern India. It is also served during dinner time and is made with roasted rice flour, ghee or oil and grated coconut. Idiyappam is a healthy traditional cuisine made with minimal ingredients. Making plain idiyappam had become a breeze these days. Idiyappam is usually served with a variety of side dishes like vegetable kurma, chicken stew, egg or chicken curry.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 2 cups

Boiling water - 2 cups 

Salt to taste

Coconut oil or oil - 1/2 tsp

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup (approx)

Coconut oil for greasing

Method:

Boil 2  cups water with salt and oil. Then slowly pour the hot water little by little into the rice flour. Mix it immediately with an wooden spoon and then use clean hands to shape it to a ball. Place the lid and leave it aside for 15 mins.

While the dough is resting, grease the idiyappam maker and the idli plates. Sprinkle little grated coconut into each depression of the idli plate and keep aside.

The dough will be easier to handle once the heat reduces. Knead the mixture into a smooth yet firm dough. Stuff the dough into the idiyappam maker, close the lid and hand press the dough into swirls onto the idli plates.

Steam for 12-15 mins and allow to cool a bit. Serve warm with  Chicken curry / Egg curry.

Broccoli Quiche

Quiche is a savory, open-faced pastry crust with a filling of savory custard with cheese, meat, fish or vegetables. Quiche has a pastry crust and a filling of eggs and milk or cream which, when baked, becomes a custard. Quiche can also be prepared without the pastry crust. Though the word “quiche” comes from French, this classic dish originated from Germany.

When I was in Toronto, a family from our church invite us for breakfast. That’s when I was introduced to this dish. Once I reached back home I goggled up to find the recipe. This was my first attempt in in making a quiche, I am so glad it turned well.

Quiche can be made in using any kind of vegetables or meat. Here in this recipe I have made a Broccoli Quiche without the pastry crust.

Things you need:

4 eggs

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 cups shredded Cheddar or Swiss cheese

1/4 cup sliced green onion

1 cup - broccoli florets

1 tablespoon soft butter

Preparation:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, flour and seasonings; beat until well blended.  Stir in cheese and onion. Pour into a lightly buttered 9-inch pie plate Bake in preheated 175° c oven 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli florets and drain it. In a pan melt butter and toss broccoli into it. Arrange broccoli in spoke fashion on top of pie. Serve immediately.