Aappam

Raw rice (Basmati or regular) - 1 cup

Grated coconut 1 to 1 1/2 handful 

Cooked rice 2 tbsp

Sugar 3 tsp

Yeast 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Soak rice for 4 hrs.

Grind it w/other ingredients (except yeast) to dosa consistency.

Add yeast and keep aside for fermenting for 6 to 8 hrs.

Add water to bring it to the right consistency.

Make aapams.

My friend Anu's recipes

Dosa

Soak 1/2 cup Poha

Rice 1 cup
Urad dal 1/4 cup
Methi seeds 1 tsp

Soak the above 3 together for 4-5 hrs.

Grind poha first for 5 mins and then add the rice mixture and salt and grind.

Keep for fermenting.

Pudina chutney

For 1 cup coconut, use 15 pudina leaves.

In a little oil, fry urad dal, green chilli or red chilli and pudina.

Grind the above with coconut, tamarind and a little cilantro.  Temper with mustard seeds.

Moong dal paratha

1/2 cup moong dal soaked for 3 hrs
Jeera 1 tsp
Dhania powder
Chilli powder
Fennel seeds
Hing
A little crushed kasuri methi
A little oil
Whole wheat flour

Mix the above and knead into dough.

Kalyani Athai’s Idli

3 cups idli rice

1 cup urad dal w/o skin but whole, not split

1 tsp methi seeds

Add just enough water to cover the rice.  Do the same with the
urad dal & methi seeds combined.  Put both in the fridge
overnight. In the morning, grind them separately and mix.  
Then keep outside for a day and night to ferment. Make idlis
the next morning.

Note:  For regular idlis, can use idli rava in place of the idli rice.  
In that case, just mix the idli rava with the ground urad dal and
methi seeds.

Note:  For dosas, use rice (can use regular rice or rice flour).

Rava dosa as per Sangi's mom-in-law

2 cups rice flour

1 cup rava

About a handful of atta to bind

Mix.  Give tadka of jeera, ginger, green chilies

Ragi dosa per Sangi's mom-in-law

2 cups ragi

1 cup urad dal

Soak both separately for a couple of hours.  Grind urad first, then add ragi and grind. 

Adai with millet

1 cup different dals, 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup millet

Neer Dosai

I first had Neer Dosai at Kanua restaurant in Bangalore. It was so good that we could not have enough of it. Kept ordering plate after plate of Neer dosais. I tried making it at home the other day and it turned out ok. It was not as thin as the restaurant ones but still very tasty. And it is very simple to make.

Neer Dosai (makes approx 15 dosais)

1 cup raw rice, soaked
salt to taste
oil

Soak rice for atleast 2 hours. Drain and grind to make a very smooth batter. Add salt and water to make a very thin batter. Heat tava (I used my cast iron tava). Grease the tava with a little oil and pour a ladleful of batter. Do not spread the batter with a spoon. Make it like rawa dosai. You need to cook on one side only but if you want, you can flip the dosai and cook on both sides. But be careful not to brown the dosai. Fold it twice to make a quarter circle. Serve hot with chutney or stew.

Upma Kozhukattai with Sambar

When I told K I was making upma kozhukattai for dinner he was confused. Kozhukattai, to him, means the sweet South Indian dish that is filled with coconut and jaggery. Upma is a dish made with rawa and is usually had for breakfast. Upma kozhukattai is steamed rice flour balls and can be served with chutney or sambar. Traditionally, raw rice is soaked, dried and powdered and used for making these kozhukattais. But there is an easier method for making this dish for lazy people like me. I got this recipe from my mom who makes it for breakfast once in a way.

Upma Kozhukattai

 
2 cups idli rawa
1 tbsp bengal gram dal
1 tbsp toovar dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 green chili
 Pinch of asafoetida
1 sprig curry leaves

Soak bengal gram dal and toovar dal in water for 1/2 hour. Drain water, add green chili and grind coarsely. Keep aside. Heat oil in a large kadai. Add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add asafoetida and curry leaves. To this, add 2 1/2 cups water (you might need to add more water) and salt and bring it to a boil. Keep the flame on sim, and add the ground mixture and the idli rawa slowly, constantly stirring. Keep stirring till all water is absorbed and the resulting mixture does not stick to your fingers, about 5 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Take big handfuls and shape it into ovals. You will get about 16 kozhukattais. Steam for 10 minutes. Serve hot.

For the sambar

I made mixed vegetable sambar to go with the kozhukattai. I am not giving the recipe here but just wanted to share couple of tips with you. When pressure cooking the dal, cut a  tomato into half and add to the dal. Later, peel the skin, mash the tomato and add to the sambar. The sambar comes out thicker this way. Also, add small piece of jaggery to the sambar when adding tamarind.