One of the easiest and quick snack in the evenings (or even breakfast) is Akki rotti (rice flour rottis), very famous in Bangalore. Back home in Tamilnadu we call it as arisi rotti. My mom made it as a quick after school snack when I was a kid. This year when I had time to roam around Bangalore, I was surprised to see the demand for these rottis in AS Iyengar stores in Jaynagar. People were standing in a queue and ordering anywhere between 12-50 rottis. The ones sold in the shop are paper thin, and as crunchy as a masala dosa, served with a coconut chutney, these are favorites of almost everyone. This is the favorite breakfast of N’s grandmother too!

Couple of days ago, I cooked brown rice to make some fried rice and had a cup of cooked rice left over and staring at me. I know for sure it I stored it in the fridge, its going to stay there for 2-3 days and then go to the bin. Instead, I just thought of using the rice in rottis.

Usually, rice flour is cooked in boiling water and then made as rottis. Since the rice is already cooked, I just mashed it in the blender and made rottis like the regular ones.

Ingredients: (Makes 6 rottis)
Cooked Brown rice- 1 cup
Salt to taste
Chopped onions- 1/4 cup
Chopped green chilies- 1 tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)- 2 tbsp
Chopped Ginger- 1/2 tsp
Regular rice flour- 1 tsp

For tempering:
Oil- 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Hing- 1 pinch
Curry leaves- 1 or 2

Method:

Pulse the cooked rice in the blender so that it gets to the consistency of a paste, but not like baby food. Add chopped onions, ginger, green chilies, salt and cilantro.

Heat oil in a pan and add hing and mustard seeds, when they splutter, add curry leaves and add this tempering to the mashed rice.

Mix all the ingredients well. If the mixture is too mushy, add a tea spoon of rice flour to bind them well.

Heat a frying pan and add a couple of drops of oil.

Keep a bowl of water handy.

Make a lemon size ball of the rice mixture. Place the ball on the pan. Dip your fingers in the water and quickly pat the ball into a round shape, almost like a crepe. Make sure that you do not make the rottis too thin, as it will be tough to flip them and your fingers will get in touch with the pan if the rotti is too thin!

(Alternatively you can make rottis in a ziplock bag/plantain leaf and transfer it to the pan, like how we make vadais)

Keep the flame on medium-low and let it cook slowly. If you need oil, you can add it on the sides like we do for dosa. Do not keep moving it or turning it, once it is ready to turn (after 2-3 minutes on the first side), gently flip it to the second side and cook it for another 2 minutes till both sides are golden brown.

Transfer to a plate and serve it with any chutney, or with pickles. It actually tastes good on its own!

Note: You can make the rottis thick like cutlets or thin like dosas. Tempering is optional.

This brown rice rotti is on its way to Priya’s Only Low oil/Low calorie event , started by Pari.

Nutritional information for Brown Basmati can be found here and here and from whole foods, here.

Looking at the picture without the title, you’d think it is some kinda soup right? But it is the simplest and flavorful- spicy-tangy sauce called arachu kalakki, usually made to go with molagootal in pakalad families. It’s super simple, arachu means grind, kalakki means mix..and that’s it!

Now since I grew up in Tamilnadu, my mom makes something similar with mango called azugina manga pachadi (almost rotten mango pickle chutney), the speciality of the recipe is the really ripe and soft mangoes in mango pickle(mavadu), mixed with chilies and yogurt which makes a wonderful side dish from lemon rice to adais.

There is not much of a difference between arachu kalakki and the mango pachadi my mom makes. Only thing is that arachu kalakki may or may not need mangoes(depends on your taste) while the main ingredient in pachadi is mango from the pickled mavadus. You gotta use only mavadu pickle, not avakkai mango pickle.

Looking for something that you can make out of nothing? Then this is your chutney/sauce. Pair it with milagootal, kootu, coconut rice, lemon rice or even as a raitha.

Let’s start the clock and look and the ingredients shall we?

Ingredients:

Medium size mango from mavadu pickle(very soft and ripe mango) – 1-2 pieces (you can leave it out using plain yogurt)
Red chilies- 4
Ginger- 1/2″ piece
Coconut- 4 tbsp
Sour yogurt- 1 cup
Tamarind paste- a dash, less than 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

The first minute mark:
Chop the mango pickle in to two, add red chilies, salt, ginger,tamarind paste, coconut to the blender. Make a coarse paste.

Second minute:
Add half the yogurt, blend the ingredients to a thick, smooth paste, add the rest of the yogurt and beat well.

Third minute:
Transfer to a bowl..Hah! See you don’t even need 5 minutes!

Tempering is optional, you can use cumin or mustard seeds and curry leaves. But this tastes good on its own.

Note:

If the yogurt is really sour, you do not need the tamarind paste. Have a taste and alter the recipe according to your taste, make it more tangy or spicy or with more coconut or more yogurt. This almost tastes like the gravy of aviyal, but without adding vegetables or even cooking it!

If you do not have mango pickle(vadu mango), use peeled and cubed mango slices(1 or 2). Check the salt, as pickled mangoes already have salt in them.

Since this sauce is made with leftover yogurt/pickle, this is my entry for PJ’s Scrumptious delights from Left over’s event.

I had reserved drumsticks only for Sambars/Vathakozhambus, Poricha kootus, Aviyal and BiseBela Bath. I mean, look at the vegetable, you cannot make a gravy with it, you cannot stuff it or fry it, cant add it to chinese dishes or pastas…So pretty much my mind had set aside drumstick for those 4-5 dishes, that’s all. Nothing exciting about it..or so I thought till I saw this stir fry at Indo’s. It was on my list for a long time and finally when I was craving for some spicy- tangy food, I couldn’t resist and made it.

Needless to say, it was a new dish that I have added to my list of “make more often” and it is so simple to put together. I made it like a stir fry but you can lightly thin it out and even use it like some sort of thogayal to mix with rice. The aroma of this stir fry is heavenly!

Ingredients:

Drumsticks (I used frozen)- 1 cup
Shallots- Finely chopped about 1/4 cup
Tomato- 1- Finely chopped
Garlic- a good 2-3 cloves
Sambar powder- 1 tsp
Salt- to taste
Turmeric powder- a pinch or so
Asafoetida- 1 pinch
Oil- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Water- 1/2 cup

Method:

Heat a oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and asafoetida, when the seeds splutter, add the finely chopped garlic and shallots. Stir fry well, adding salt.

Once they look translucent, add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, sambar powder and mix them in. Then add the drumsticks, mix well again, add the water, cover and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes (since I used frozen)
or till the water evaporates and drumsticks are cooked through.

Serve hot with either paruppu podi(dal powder), ghee and rice. We had it with some pappad vathakozhambu, cucumber-tomato salad and rice.

This stir fry goes to Vegetable Marathon-Drumstick event, hosted here and started at anita’s kitchen.

Like everybody else, N and I love to eat this delicious, aromatic rice dish, made at home or at a restaurant. Though I make variations like Paneer Kofta Biryani and Nargisi Biryani, since I make them in a clay pot, it takes me time to put each and every layer if I am making it for a party. Most of the times, I take the responsibility of bringing a main dish to a potluck dinner and I look for dishes that taste good but takes little time to make.

This Cooker Biryani is one such recipe I came across at Srikar’s Kitchen and the method was so easy that off I went to the kitchen to try this biryani. Believe it or not, it takes only about 30 mins or so to put this dish together, so even if you are looking for a change in your Sunday Lunch, this could be it!

Ingredients:(serves-2)

Rice- 1.25 cups (I used ordinary ponni rice, did not use basmati)
Tomatoes -2
Onion-1
Ginger- 1″ piece
Garlic -1″ piece
Potato,Carrot,Peas,Beans,Cauliflower- all together 1 cup
Green chilies- 2
Red chili powder- 3/4 tsp
Biryani masala- 3/4 tsp (or use garam masala powder)
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt 1 tsp(approx)
Water- 3 to 3.5 cups
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Canola oil- 1 tbsp
Fennel Seeds- 1 tsp
Clove and Cardamom- 2 each
Bay Leaf- 1
Coriander leaves- to garnish
Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Method:

You can make this biryani directly in a cooker, or you can stir fry in a pan and then cook it like normal rice in the rice vessel of the cooker.

Soak rice in water for 10-15 minutes. Since this was a trial, I wanted to make it with plain rice, you can use basmati rice like we normally do for biryani’s.

In the mean time, finely chop the onions.

Blend tomatoes, ginger and garlic into a thick paste. No need to blanch the tomatoes.

Chop all other veggies into desired shape. Slit the green chilies in to two lengthwise.

Heat ghee and oil together in the frying pan, add fennel seeds,bay leaf, cardamom and clove, saute for a minute, then add the sliced onions, salt and fry really well till onions are golden brown in color.

Now add the tomato paste,green chilies and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add the red chili powder, turmeric powder, biryani masala and stir fry well. Add the chopped veggies and coat the tomato-masala powder well on to them.

Keep stir frying for 5 minutes so that veggies will get cooked. But at any point, do not add water to these veggies.

Now drain the water from the rice, add it to the tava and fry the rice for 2 minutes. The trick is to stir fry the veggies well before adding the rice so that they all cook evenly. Transfer the contents to a cooker pan, add 3.5 cups of water and cook for 2 whistles in the cooker.

Garnish with cilantro and lemon juice and serve hot with any raitha! You can also add fried paneer or nuts to the biryani.

This delicious plate of Biryani goes to BB#6 Pot Luck hosted by Nupur.

This 30 minute Biryani is also my entry for Priya’s CWS-Cooking with Fennel Seeds event.