Thattai

Ingredients:

Rice Flour- 240 ml
Urad flour- 60 ml (dal roasted, powdered and sieved)
Ghee or butter- 60 ml
Channa dal – 1 tablespoon
Coconut grated- 1 tablespoon
Chilli powder- 1/4 teaspoon
Salt- 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida powder- 1/4 teaspoon
Oil for frying

Method:

Soak channa dal for one hour. Take a wide basin and mix salt and asafoetida powder in 1/4 cup of water. Add the flours, chilli powder, drained channa dal, coconut and butter and mix well. Add more water as needed and make a firm dough. If the dough is too dry, cracks will form on the thattai and it will break. In that case, sprinkle a little water and mix well. Adjust salt if needed. Divide the dough into small balls- bigger than marble but smaller than a small lemon.Keep covered.

Spread a smooth cloth, keep a ball of dough on it. Place an oiled polythene paper on the ball and press with a flat bottomed cup (dabara would be ideal). Remove the paper and repeat with 3 more balls. Heat oil in a frying pan and when hot enough to fry, take and slip 4 or 5 thattais gently into the oil. Fry on medium heat, turn both sides and remove when golden and the noise subsides. Drain on paper. Repeat with the balance dough. After the first batch is over, check for crispness. If not crisp, add a little more of butter.

Cool and then store in a air-tight container.

Obbattu

Ingredients:

Maida 120 ml
Channadal 60 ml
Coconut grated- 45 ml
Jaggery powdered- 60 ml
Oil and ghee for smearing, cooking
A pinch each of salt and turmeric powder
A pinch of cardamom powder

Method:

Take maida in a bowl, add salt and turmeric powder, 2 spoons of oil and mix well. Add water and make a pliable dough. Pour two teaspoons of oil over the dough and let it soak for an hour at least.

Soak channa dal in water for 30 minutes and then pressure cook. Drain and grind in mixer till powdery.

Heat jaggery with a spoon or two of water in a pan, add coconut, channa dal powder and cardamom and keep mixing until a homogeneous mass is formed. Take care not to let the jaggery burn. If needed a little ghee can be used. Cool and divide it into 10 balls for filling.

Divide the dough also into 10 balls. Take one ball of dough and pat it with hand on a plastic sheet smeared with oil into a 3? diameter circle. Put one ball of filling. Bring the edges of the dough over the filling and fully cover it. Pat this ball into a 5? circle using oiled fingers or use a flat bottomed cup to press and make the obbattu. Heat a tawa. Take the made obbattu carefully and cook on both sides on the tawa using a little ghee. Repeat with the rest of the balls of dough/ filling. Spread a little melted ghee when serving.

Appam

Ingredients:
Dosa Batter – 500 ml
Semolina- 2 tbsp
Onions-2 medium
Green chillies-3
Ginger- 1/2″ piece
Curry leaves-10
Mustard- 1tsp
Channa dal-1 tsp
Oil for cooking
salt to taste
A pinch of soda bi-carb

Method:

Chop onions, ginger and Green chillies fine. Heat a little oil, crackle mustard seeds, add channa dal, saute and add the curry leaves. Add this to the batter. Add all other ingredients except oil to the batter and mix well.

Heat the appam mould and add a tsp of oil in each depression. Pour batter till just below the rim in all the kuzhis and cover with a lid. Keep the flame on medium. After a minute, check if one side is done. If done, the appam will come out easily when moved. Turn over all the appams and cook for half a minute more. Remove, drain the appams and make a fresh batch. Eat with coconut chutney, green chutney or onion sambar.

Cashew Cake

Ingredients:
Cashewnuts- 50 gms
Gram flour- 160 ml
Sugar- 400 ml
Ghee- 160 ml
Grated Coconut- 80 ml
Vanilla essence- a few drops
Cardamom powder- 1/2 teaspoon

Method:
Dry roast the cashew cool and powder in a mixer. Keep aside. Fry the gram flour in half the ghee until fragrant and keep aside. Make sugar syrup of one string consistency. Add grated coconut and mix well. Add the Gram flour and ghee and keep stirring for a few minutes. Lastly add cashew powder, essence, cardamom and stir without burning till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and is ready to be poured for setting. Remove from fire and pour on to a greased plate/ tray. Allow to cool and set a little. Cut into pieces before it completely sets. Remove the pieces after it cools completely and store airtight.

Dokla

Ingredients:
240 ml Bengal gram flour
40 ml Bombay rawa
3 tsp sugar
salt to taste
2 tsp Enos fruit salt

For tempering-
1 tablespoon oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 green chillies slit
a few curry leaves

For garnishing-
1 tbsp grated coconut
1 tbsp chopped coriander

Method: Mix the bengal gram flour, rawa, sugar and salt well. Add enough water to make a thick batter- like idli batter. Add Enos fruit salt. Sprinkle water on it and blend in well. Pour batter in a greased thali and steam for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove, cool and cut into squares. DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE PLATE. In a pan, heat oil, add mustard and when it crackles, add chillies, curry leaves and add 30 ml water, a pinch of sugar. Bring it to boil and then pour all over the cooked dhokla. Decorate with coconut and coriander leaves. 

Green Chutney: Roast 120 ml of ground nuts until fragrant. Cool and grind with 2 green chillies, salt, 1 tsp sugar and a handful of coriander leaves. Add 5 to 8 drops of lemon juice and mix well.

Tahini

Ingredients:
100 grams sesame seeds
50 grams Bengal gram dal
3 green chillies
3 cloves garlic
6 tbsp curd- should not be sour
2 tsp vinegar
2 tsp oil
salt to taste

Method:
Roast the sesame seeds and gram dal separately until fragrant.Powder in a mixer. Add all the other ingredients and run the mixer for 10 seconds. Garnish/ decorate with chilli powder and a little oil. Serve with Carrot, cucumber sticks and potato fingerchips.

Murukku and Thenkuzhal

Thenkuzhal:

Rice Flour-400 ml
Urad flour-100 ml
Salt- 1 tsp or to taste
Ghee or butter- 1 tbsp
Cumin- 1 tsp
Hing powder- 1/4 tsp
Oil for frying

Method:

Mix salt and hing powder in 1/2 cup water. Add the flours, ghee/butter, cumin and mix into dough. Add water little by little. The dough should be more pliable than for chapatis; or else, it will not be possible to press. Heat oil in a pan. When it is hot, fill Thenkuzhal mould with the prepared dough and make into two or three murukkus. Keep the stove on medium heat and turn the murukkus after a while. Both sides should cook and turn golden. Usually it is time to remove the murukku from the oil when the sound subsides. Remove and drain on tissue. Make further batches similarly. Store in an airtight container when cool.

Note: If Urad dal is lightly roasted and ground into flour, it will be very fragrant. Remember to sieve the flours before mixing.

Muthusarai or Mullu Murukku:
Rice flour-400 ml
Gram dal flour-100 ml
Moong dal flour- 75 ml
Fried gram flour- 25 ml
Butter/ghee- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Hing powder- 1/4 tsp
Oil for frying

Method:

Lightly roast gram dal and moong dal before powdering. Mix the dough like for Thenkuzhal and follow the same procedure for frying. You should use the correct plate in the mould. You can also make the murukku on a cloth or plastic sheet into perfect circles like Kai murukku and remove and put in hot oil and fry.