Rava Dosa / crispy semolina pancake

Rava Dosa is a crispy pancake of South India. It is a derivative of the popular Dosa. This variety of dosa does not require fermentation. It is usually considered as a light meal which can be served for breakfast or dinner.

Ingredients: 

Semolina/ Sooji rava/ Farina- 1 cup 

Maida / All purpose flour- 1/2 cup

Rice flour- 1 cup

Ginger- 1 inch (chopped)

Green Chillies- 2-3

Cumin seeds- 1-2 tsp

Crushed black pepper- 1 tsp

Few broken cashew nuts (optional)

salt to taste

water

oil / ghee to make dosa

Preparation:

Mix the above ingredients with water and bring it to butter milk consistency. Heat a flat pan and sprinkle the batter evenly on the pan with your hand. Add ghee or oil  and cook it on a medium high flame. You would get a crispy Rava Dosa. Rava Dosa can be served with coconut chutney and sambar.

Suggestion: Finely chopped cabbage can be used as a topping for the dosa.

Home-made Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun is a popular Indian dessert served at festivals and major celebrations like marriages. I got this recipe from my very good friend Janaki who got it from one other common friend of us Nitai Prem. Janaki often says that "Nobody can go wrong with this recipe" and I ackwoledge her statement that its very very simple and easy to make it. We often make this for our spiritual gathering and I assure that "no one can eat just one".

Ingredients
gulab jamun
2 cups-  milk powder 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
oil for deep frying


 syrup
2 1/2 Cups sugar
4 cups water
few strands of saffron
cardamom powder 1/4 tsp (optional)

Method:
In a bowl mix the ingredients of gulab jamun and make it into a dough and leave it for an hour. Grease your hands with ghee and and make small balls out of the dough. Heat oil in a pan in high flame and then reduce it to medium flame and fry the balls in a medium flame until the balls become evenly brown. The balls doubles its size once dropped into the hot oil so give enough space for the balls to fry. In the meantime, dissolve the sugar in water and boil them. Keep stirring until it dissolves. Add cardamom powder and safforn strands. Allow the syrup to boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat. Drop the fried gulab jamuns in the syrup and let them rest for 15-20 minutes prior to serving. 


Note: Adding whipping cream makes the gulab jamuns soft. But be careful not to add too much as this might make the gulab jamun so soft that it might not be a firm ball.

Spinach Noodles

These green spinach noodles have a very interesting texture and flavor--but they taste better . Use in soups, or serve noodles they are great either way. This is an easy recipe, and you'll get lots of compliments . You would never have thought of this combination! But spinach noodles tossed with cheese and colorful vegetables results in an absolutely delightful treat.

Ingredients

Spinach Noodles - 1 packet
Yellow Bell pepper - 1 ( cut them Length wise)
Green Bell Pepper - 1 ( cut them Length wise)
Red Bell Pepper - 1 ( cut them Length wise)
Carrot - 1 ( cut them length wise)
Broccoli - one cup
Bean Sprouts - 1/2 cup
Asparagus - 1 cup
Oregano - 1 tsp
thyme - 1 tsp
Black pepper crushed - 2tsp
Parmesan Cheese - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil



Method

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and refresh in cold water.
In a wok add oil ,once it becomes hot add veggies except Bean sprouts and fry it for 2 mins.
Then add oregano , thyme , boiled & drained noodles.. Toss it well .
Now add black pepper ,salt and bean sprouts . Mix well until all the dry leaves blend well with the spaghetti. Before serving add Parmesan cheese.
Serve hot.

Ragi(Finger Millet/Red Millet) Dosa

Ragi is rich in calcium and extremely good for vegans and vegetarians. It is the best source of calcium. 100 gms of ragi contains approx 350 mg of calcium. We make ragi dosas very regularly at home to get our required calcium intake. Women should have a good amount of calcium in the diet as with age and deficiency of calcium, the bones become porous and cause problems. This recipe is from my mother. Very simple to prepare and goes very well with the Tamarind Cilantro Chutney that I had posted earlier.

Ingredients:

Ragi Flour (Red Millet/ Finger Millet) – 2 cups
Urad Dhal - 1/2 cup
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Salt according to taste

Method:

Soak the urad dhal and fenugreek seeds for 45 minutes and grind the same like we do for our regular dosas adding water in a mixer. Next mix the ground urad dhal, ragi flour and salt together. Add water and mix everything well. The batter should be slightly thin than the regular dosa batter. Keep this batter covered overnight.




In the morning mix the puffed up batter very well. On a medium hot tava pour the batter with a help of a ladle and spread it slowly.

Sprinkle some oil on top. Flip and cook the other side. Serve hot with chutney or sambhar.

The above picture shows the ragi dosa served with the Tamarind Cliantro chutney.