Methi Thepla

I tried methi thepla for the first time and fell in love with it. This would be an ideal recipe to use in travels since the theplas stays fresh for a long time. For kids, we can just apply jam and roll them and pack it for lunch. This way we can also give them some healthy food which otherwise they won't eat.

I understand that the subtle difference between methi thepla and methi paratha is that in thepla we add little gram flour along with wheat flour. Also we add little curd or buttermilk to the thepla while mixing. This thepla comes out really soft and also stays soft for a long time. I had it without any side dish. But I served it along with chakka varatti and tomato sauce. Thakkali thokku would also be an ideal combination for this.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cup
Besan / gram flour - 1/2 cup
Methi leaves - 3/4 cup
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Salt - As needed
Oil - 3 tbsp
Butter milk / curd - As needed

Method:

• Remove the methi leaves from its stem,clean it and chop it finely.
• Add the chopped leaves, wheat flour, gram flour, salt, turmeric, garam masala powder, coriander powder, chilly powder, jeera and oil and mix well. 
• Add required butter milk to make a soft dough, just like we make for roti/chappathis.
• Make equal sized balls and roll to thin rotis.
• Heat a tava, sprinkle little oil and just toast the rotis like we usually do for chapathis.

Methi thepla is ready!! Serve with raitha and pickle of your choice.

Notes:

• In case you are adding curd instead of buttermilk then add a portion of curd and a portion of water.
• Separate the leaves and take only the the leaves for making thepla. I took the stem also and the chopped stem comes in the way of rolling the theplas. So better to avoid it.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#67

Thengai sevai | Rice string hoppers with coconut

The second recipe that I have come up with is Thengai Sevai - easy to make breakfast item. Kids will love this because I have cheated my nephew saying this is another form of noodles :-)

In olden days sevai was made at home. My mother and my grand-mother used to make it. I am not sure how many of us are making this sevai at home in today's generation since a lot of ready made sevai is available today. I shall try to make this sevai at home and post the recipe later.

For the below recipe I used MTR ready made rice sevai. Concord rice sevai is also very famous in south India. The packet says to add the instant sevai to boiled water and keep it for 5 minutes. I additionally also steamed it to get a softer result. Do try it out.

Ingredients:

Cooked sevai – 2 cups
Coconut – 3/4 cup
Salt – As needed

To Temper:

Oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard – 3/4 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tbsp
Cashew nuts – 6
Asafoetida – A generous pinch
Green chilli – 5
Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Method:

• Soak ready made sevai in hot water along with little salt for 5-7 mins. Drain water completely and steam cook it, by placing in a greased idli plate for 2 mins or until done. 
• Heat oil in a pan and temper the items under 'To temper' table in order. Add curry leaves, asafoetida and finely chopped green chillies once the cashew nuts turn golden.
• Add grated coconut and give it a stir in medium flame for a minute. Sprinkle little salt.
• Add cooked sevai and mix well. Switch off the flame.

Serve with chutney or a nice gravy of your choice.

Notes:

• Don't skip the cashewnuts. It gives a nice flavour to the dish.
• We can add gram dal also to temper.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#67

Chow Chow bath

I am just starting with this month's Blogging Marathon and I have chosen Kid's friendly breakfast recipes to start with. Today I will be blogging about Chow Chow Bath.

I heard this recipe name for the first time after I started living in Bangalore. Initially I thought this is a rice item made with the vegetable chayote (chow chow, bangalore kathrika). Later I got to know that in Karnataka a combination of rava kichadi and kesari is served and this combination is called chow chow bath!!

I guess we can serve either rava kichadi or rava upma for this recipe. We call it kichadi if the rava is cooked with vegetables, tomato and lots of ghee/ oil with more water. And upma if the water ratio is less and simple without any vegetables or tomato. Here both the recipes are made with lot of ghee.

When I tasted this, it felt awesome to eat this savory khara bath and sweet kesari bath side by side. And with coconut chutney, its just out of the world. Do try this out for your kids breakfast and I am sure the kids will love it!!

I am posting a recipe how to prepare this together. You can check out the individual recipes in the links below

Rava upma

Rava kesari

Coconut chutney

Ingredients:

Rava (roasted) - 1 cup

Onion - 1

Tomato - 1

Carrot - 1

Beans (chopped) - 1/4 cup

Green chillies - 5

Ginger, chopped finely - 2 tsp

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Salt - As needed 

Water - 5 cups

Ghee - 1/4 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

cardamom powder - A pinch

Cashew nuts - 7-8 nos

Raisins - 10 nos

mustard - 2 tsp

curry leaves - few

tamarind - a pinch

Method:

• Grate coconut, chop all the vegetables needed for the khara bath / kichadi.
• First grind the coconut chutney. In a mixer jar add grated coconut, ginger, pinch of tamarind, green chillies and salt. Add little water and grind it into a smooth paste.
• In a kadai, pour 1 tsp ghee. Fry the cashewnuts and raisins and keep aside.
• Add 1 tsp ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add mustard and curry leaves. Once the mustard splutters pour 1 tbsp of this to the coconut chutney.
• In the remaining ghee add the chopped onions, green chillies and ginger. Fry until the onion turns translucent. Add all the remaining chopped vegetables. Fry for a minute. Add 2 cups of water. 
• Add salt and allow the water to boil.
• Parallely heat another kadai. Add 2.5 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiled add 1/2 cup of rava. Mix well. Lower the flame. Close and allow the rava to get cooked.
• Meanwhile in the other kadai, water would have boiled. Add 1/2 cup rava, mix well. Cover and cook until all the water is absorbed.
• In the second kadai -  the rava would have cooked now and would be in a semi-solid consistency. 
• Add the sugar, keep the flame in medium and stir well.
• As soon as you add sugar, the rava mixture will again become watery and you may notice 2-3 lumps again formed. Stir well as in a way to mash those lumps.
• Open the first kadai. the rava kichadi would be ready now. Add 2 tbsp ghee, mix well and keep aside.
• To the kesari, stir well for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ghee, cardamom powder and the fried cashews and raisins. Mix well and switch off flame.

Chow chow bath is ready!! Serve 1 cup of kichadi, 1 cup of kesari  and 1 cup of coconut chutney. I served it along with banana.

Notes:

• You can add food color to kesari to give it an orange color. I generally avoid adding food color.
• Both the kichadi and kesari should be made with lots of ghee and more amount of water to get a soft texture.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#67