Cucumber idli - a no soak, grind or ferment sort of idli

We are almost done with a whole entire month of the new year :-). India celebrated 69th Republic day recently and we are ready to move into month 2 of the year. Where does time go??? BTW, how is everyone's resolutions going? I wish you all the strength to stay on top of your list. I didn't have any to start with, made some in the last 28 days and have already broken many of them :-). I totally suck at this resolution thing!!

Let us jump right into food today, shall we? I grew up on mosaranna (yogurt rice with left over rice from the night before) early in the morning to be followed by a hot breakfast later in the morning :-). Now that I have to make it all myself, and also because BH & I like oats, it is pretty much oats cooked the previous evening for the two of us. I do make variations with the base oats just for variety. Our proper breakfasts are reserved for weekends or holidays at home.

If you ask any true blue South Indian to list 5 of their top breakfast choices, idli (these are the light, fluffy, pearly white steamed savory cakes made with rice and lentils) would most definitely make the list atleast 99 times out of a 100 people surveyed, do you agree? This humble breakfast is popular as it is wholesome, has the right mix of carbs and proteins and is oil free to start your day on a perfect note. Though idlis are by themselves pretty close to tasteless, there is a universe of difference between a good idli and a bad one and they can go bad for any number of silly reasons - your grinding of the batter was not correct, temperature was not right for the fermentation, you didn't mix it well, proportion of urad dal and rice was not right, and so on. On the bright side, if you got the batter right and made some fluffy idlis you can serve them with a range of side dishes and take the idli from a simple homely breakfast to something worthy of a spot on a royal buffet. There is so much creative freedom the Idlis provide to mix and match the side dishes ranging from a piping hot sambar to chutneys to pudis to exotic dishes like kadappa or vada curry.

Why this passionate rant about idlis today, you ask? Because I have a recipe for a different kind of idli for you so you can give a break to the normal idli and still appease those die hard 'only idli for breakfast' fans at home :-). Long before MTR and Maiyas made Rave idli (semolina idli) as the no soak, no grind, no ferment alternative to the staple South Indian urad dal idlis, there was a well kept secret in the cozy malnad and coastal Karnataka homes. An idli so soft and delicious, that was a deviation from the regular (and almost boring due to the frequent appearance) urad dal idli, one that was much lighter compared to the traditional fermented idli and one that used up a commonly found vegetable from the backyard. This secret recipe was for the quick akki tari (or broken rice/rice rave) idli, flavored with either the mild and innocuous cucumber or the slightly sweetish pumpkin depending on the season.

The cucumber idli or sautekayi kadubu as it was known in local languages had the dual distinction of being either a savory or a sweet version depending on the eaters' choice. If the household had a sweet tooth or was made of younger kids, the sweet version with a generous amount of jaggery (bella or brown sugar) made its hot appearance for the chilly morning breakfast and if the folks at home preferred a mildly savory/salty version, it was spiced with a few green chilies and cumin. Sometimes I add a small carrot to mix up the colors a little bit.

I am told that cucumber idli is an acquired taste and you should first like cucumber to like this idli. I love cucumbers and so does the family. We like to mostly eat it raw in kosambri or raita but also cook it as part of a majjige huli or regular huli/sambar. So, if you belong in the category of people that turn their nose up at cucumber, this may not be for you. However if you are like me and like the subtle taste of cucumbers, this is a recipe you don't want to miss.

I made this recently for the new year day as we were home and wanted to start the new year off with a healthy start. We usually like to eat it with a side of some spicy chutney like the cilantro+coconut or red chili+coconut or a tangy mint chutney. You can eat it with a good chutney pudi and some home made yogurt too.

So, here is one of those old world recipes that you won't find on any restaurant menu. I like this better than the rave idli because there is no frying, you don't have to add any baking soda or eno to fluff this idli up. And it is obviously a gluten free, vegan recipe if that is a criteria.

What do you need to make cucumber idli? 
Makes 12-13 standard size idlis
1 big tender green cucumber (I use slender English cucumbers with skin on)
1.5 cups of idli rave/rice rave
1 Tsp salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
4-5 green chilies (adjust to taste)
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1/2 Tsp cumin

How do you make cucumber idli? 

• Wash and cut the ends off cucumber. 
• I do not peel cucumbers for this recipe as I like the slight green tinge it gives to the idli. If you are using regular cucumbers and the skin is thick, go ahead and peel it before grating. 
• Grate the cucumber in the bowl you are going to mix the batter so no liquid is wasted. 
• Coarsely grind shredded coconut and green chilies without adding any water and add it to the bowl. 
• Add salt, chopped cilantro and idli rave to the bowl and mix well. 
• Cover and set aside for 20 minutes. 
• Prepare your idli plates by brushing them with a couple drops of cooking oil. 
• After the resting period, pick up a large lemon size portion from the batter and press it into a ball in the palm of your hand. It should hold the shape without breaking apart. If it feels too dry, add a spoonful of water. 
• Put the ball into the dip of the idli plate and repeat for remaining batter. 
• Steam the idlis in medium heat for 18-20 minutes. 
• Switch off and let cool for 10minutes before removing them. 
• Enjoy with any spicy chutney or sambar of choice.
• Sweet idli version: If you have a sweet tooth, skip the green chilies and coarse grind coconut with 2 Tbsp of jaggery (indian brown sugar) and add it. Reduce the amount of salt in this version. Rest of the process is same as above. 

Notes:

• Depending on the water content in your cucumbers, you may need to adjust the idli rave quantity slightly. Remember you are looking for a batter(after the resting period) that comes together into a ball and is not dry. Hold a portion of the batter in your hand and if you can set it into the idli mould without it breaking all over you, you are good to go. 
• Resting the batter and steaming idlis on medium heat is important, it gives the time to the raw rave to cook completely and not stay grainy or dry. 
• Use medium sized (not too fine but a little grainy) idli rave for this recipe. If it is too coarse, the idlis turn dry and a fine rave will make your idlis go flat. 

Delectable mini bites - cheesecakes or apple tarts with a cheese cake base, decision is yours

If you are celebrating Makara Sankranthi/Bihu/Lohri, I wish you all a very Happy festival and harvest season. May this usher in a bountiful year in your lives. We are ready to celebrate Sankranthi tomorrow with ellu bella and some huggi. Look in the recipe index if you are need of recipes for tomorrow, search by Sankranthi. 

During Christmas vacations, I was cooking up a storm every day as DD was home for her vacations. I am sure I have mentioned this before, I feel that cooking for just the two of us is a very different proposition than cooking when the little one is home. My attitude to cooking is 'less is more' when it is just the two of us and I cook more varieties, more meals, spend more time in the kitchen, and I am generally more enthusiastic about cooking when she is home as if to make up for all the days she spends eating crappy food at the school cafeteria. She is a foodie like her parents and enjoys pretty much everything I make though she has her favorites and is very very loyal to some dishes.

I am sure many of you moms and dads can relate to this. I usually have a long list of recipes noted in my oneNote that I want to make waiting for DD to come home. Of these, there are always some 'not to be missed on every vacation' kind of recipes that she is a hard core fan of and then there are some that I would have gathered from different media as 'definitely to be tried when DD is home'.  I am glad both BH and DD are always game for all flavors of my cooking. Sometimes these lists grow so long that I obviously cannot get to all of them, this time however there was a lot more opportunity to cook as she was home longer than usual.

This particular recipe popped up on my pinterest one day and the cute pictures just had me bowled over. I have been dying to make cheese cakes for longer than I admit and glad I finally shook off the lazy mask and tried this one. I had the link to my board for a while now and was waiting for an occasion to make it. So when during the last Christmas weekend, we not only had DD at home for her vacation but also had a bunch of young nieces and nephews from the extended family visit us, the time for cheese cakes just seemed ripe. The entire gang enjoyed it very much but they called it mini apple tarts instead of cheese cake, I don't blame them :-). I was disappointed for sure but not offended. Here is what happened.. I had an 8oz pack of cream cheese on hand and didn't want to buy more incase the trial didn't turn out well and I had to chuck the entire batch down the trash, so decided to make do with it and hence my cheese layer was kind of "there but not there" and the apple at the top and the streusel layers were prominent making it more of an apple tart and less of a cheese cake. But they all liked it so much and my entire batch was gone in one sitting.

Then DD told me that it was so good that I had to blog and since I didn't have any pictures taken from the first attempt the only way I could do that was to make them again :-). How can I argue against such lucid logic from my child? I decided to make them again and this time went and got a 12Oz package of cream cheese and decided to make 12 minis instead of the 16-18 the original recipe promised. Also, added some fresh lemon rind and lemon juice as that is our all time favorite flavor of cheesecakes and Oh boy, it really was delicious.

If you know me via my blog posts, I have said it sufficiently to impress upon everyone that one of my quirks is that I don't like cheese and paneer. I have had both my Indian and non Indian friends stare at me like I was an anomaly when I share this piece of information about myself. for some unexplainable reason, my palate has been fighting the taste and and texture of cheese & paneer for ever and I stay away from them. But cream cheese in cheese cakes is a different story altogether. That is one kind of cheese I love :-) and can gorge on like there was no tomorrow. So the mini cheese cakes are my personal favorites too.

As one of my wise friends quipped, "There is nothing good in this recipe but it tastes sinfully delicious" :-)", these cheese cakes are loaded with sugar and butter and cheese every step of the way but the fact that they are 'mini' are the saving grace as you will be serving responsibly small portions of this and hence can be rest assured that you are indeed controlling the calories. What about the 2nd and 3rd helpings, you ask? There is always this wonderful thing called 'Tomorrow' is for exercising :-), enjoy the food while you are at it.

I have to make an honest disclosure here, I don't follow recipes & ingredients exactly. Over years of cooking, I have developed this sense of knowing what works or doesn't work and which taste would be well received by my family, so I usually end up tweaking the ingredients or proportions as I see fit. So the second batch of cheesecakes had me eliminating an extra layer of streusel with AP flour but instead use the left overs from the crust. It not only gave the top a golden crisp layer but I ended up using the remaining crust mixture without wasting it. I have given both options below, choose the one you like most.

Here is my take on the mini apple cheese cakes with some modifications from the original recipe. The best thing about this recipe is that it is so versatile with the flavors and fruits you can use. Think of all the different seasonal berries instead of apples or go for lemon or key lime if you are like us. You can make this with any topping or no topping at all, it would still taste yummy. I have broken the ingredients and the recipe steps by the layer to make it easier to follow.

What do you need to make mini cheese cakes?
Makes 12 single serve cheese cakes
For the crust: 
1 cup powdered graham crackers
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup/1 stick butter - melted
For the cheese cake layer: 
12 Oz cream cheese - softened
2 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar (or use just the brown sugar or all white sugar if you prefer)
2 Tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp lemon rind grated
1 Tbsp lemon juice
For the apple crisp topping (OR you can use the left over crust mixture to top the chopped apples and get a golden crispy layer): 
1/4 cup AP flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp coconut oil (or melted butter if you prefer)
1 big firm apple (I used sweet Gala apple)

How do you make the mini cheese cakes? 
Recipe source: Cakescottage.com
Getting the crust ready: 

• Preheat the oven to 350F
• Line the small muffin cups with liners and spray a thin coating of your favorite baking spray
• In a mixing bowl, add all the contents listed for the crust (powdered graham crackers, brown sugar, rolled oats and melted butter) and combine them well. 
• Take small spoons of the mixture and press it inside the liner to form a crust layer of about 2mm. Make sure to press them in firmly so there are no cracks. 
• Bake in the preheated oven for 5 mins and take them out and set to cool a little. 

Getting the cheese cake layer ready: 

• In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients listed under cheese cake layer 
• With a hand held whisk or using an electric mixer blend the mixture until the cream cheese is well incorporated. Take care not to beat the mixture vigorously (this does not have to get airy/frothy), the mixing is to incorporate the cheese and make it fluffy. 

• Scoop out spoonfuls (I used my small ice cream scoop) of the mixture on top of the baked crust and spread it evenly. 
• The first batch I made, the layer of cheese was pretty sparse and that is why the kids called it apple crisp instead of the cheesecake :-). My second batch had a good amount of cheese and passed the cheese cake test with flying colors. 

Getting the apple crisp/streusel layer ready: 

• Wash, pat dry and peel the apple. Remove the center vein and the seeds. 
• Chop the apple into tiny bits. 
• In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients listed under apple crisp except for apples and mix into a crumbly mixture. 
• Lay chopped apples on top of the cream cheese layer (as thin or as much as you like) in an even layer. 
• Top this with the apple crisp mixture or the left over crust mixture. 

Final baking: 

• Bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes. 
• Take out from the oven and let it cool for an hour. 
• Refrigerate overnight before serving

Notes: 

• Keep the butter and cream cheese out of the refrigerator for 4-6 hours to get them completely soft. Do not use cream cheese directly form the refrigerator. 
• The first time I made these cheese cakes, I followed the recipe to T but reduced the quantity by half as I had only 8oz of cream cheese on hand. The second time I made some modifications to eliminate the refined AP flour from the crisp, instead used the same mixture as the crust on top of the apples and it tasted delicious. Go ahead and make the streusel layer as described above or use this short cut alternative if you like. 

Compare this topping to the above picture, this is the left over crust spread on top of apples while the first one if the full on streusel layer

• I added the lemon rind and lemon juice to the cheese cake layer as we like that hint of tartness and the freshness lemon imparts. The original recipe had ginger powder and cinnamon. Use those for flavoring if you like. 
• These keep well in the fridge for over a week. DD made it her afternoon snack every day until the dozen of them lasted. 
• When the cheese cakes come out of the oven, the top layer looks a tiny bit collapsed, this is perfectly normal. Refrigerating overnight makes the tastes mingle together well. 
• If you like caramel with apple (soooo yum!!), warm up the caramel sauce in microwave for a few seconds and pour it on top of the cheese cake before serving. 

Back to some basics and alternative grains - Ragi Rotti

Are you all now well versed in writing 2018 in the year column :-)? I am not, it usually takes me over a month before I start to hear the warning bell ring in the head telling me that a new year has come. But I am noticing that with each passing year and the rarity of hand written notes, it is taking me longer to get used to writing the new number. Ready or not, here is 2018 and well on its way to being a entire week old too. Hope the new year is treating you well and vice versa. I hope you are all keeping up your resolutions for "a better you" if you are the resolutions person. Mine are more 'make it today, break it tomorrow' types :-)

I alluded in my last post that I was doing some experimental cooking, some of it was driven out of necessity. Growing up I had never heard of the nut allergies or gluten intolerance that seem to be so prevalent now. I am a person that grew up eating and enjoying everything vegetarian and edible. On one of the regular annual visits to the doctor where I was whining about that eternal problem of the expanding waist line, she suggested (I think more in the way of getting me off her back than anything) that I stop eating any wheat or wheat products. Looking at my incredulous look she made it sound more gentle than it had the first time by saying that I might want to reduce the wheat in my diet. Thinking back, I am convinced that what she was really telling me was to cut down on the portions and start spending some of those calories by way of exercise :-).

I get it that the medical professionals have to be political in some of these situations and make their professional advice sound less harsh and not as a personal attack on how I choose to live my life! The risk of being overly diplomatic especially with people like me is that their advice gets misconstrued to my personal advantage which is exactly what happened here too. I took what I liked from her expert advice, discarded the rest and twisted some of her advice to what I wanted it to be :-). Poor doctor and then I go back to her again in a year with the same complaints!! I remember the elderly doctor we had in Mysore when we were little kids, I am sure he had no such qualms about sugar coating his treatment or dispensing his advice gently. He infact had pushed the needle into my arm when nammamma had taken my feverish little brother to him for check up and I had simply toddled along side. Why he was giving a shot for a common clue is a question I have asked my physician sister, but..:-). We both survived the experience without any lasting harm :-)

So buoyed by my physician's advice, also because I have been seeing many friends and relatives start talking about gluten allergy and intolerance, I came home resolved (see what I mean by me being a resolute person, I have these multiple resolutions going all through the year and don't need Jan 1st to tell me it is time) to eat less gluten, cut down on bread and wheat in other forms. Instead of taking my doctor's advice for what it was, I decided to erase wheat out of my plate and replace with something else that was equally delicious (and possibly have the same effect since I wasn't reducing any quantity!!). That is how I landed on my other favorite grain aka raagi or finger millet. This is called poor man's food in many rural areas in India especially rural Karnataka. I love raagi mudde and so does DD. Give us both a platter of hot raagi mudde and pour  ladles of spicy bassaru, we will happily GULP it. But BH is in a different category. GULPing is what he cannot do and chewing a raagi mudde is not a pleasant experience. So, I usually make rice on days we have raagi mudde at home.

I will be honest that when I first tried my hands at raagi rotti, the edges tore and there were cracks all over the rotti surface, not a beautiful presentation. But over multiple trials I have perfected the ratio of water to dry flour and some kneading techniques to roll out a puffy, layered and perfectly soft rotti. Here is the recipe with all my tips and tricks written down. Oh, before I go on I want to clarify that rotti is not the 'pat on a griddle' type of rotti (ofcourse you can make raagi rotti similar to akki rotti which is one of the dishes that gets instant attention because of its popularity in Karnataka) but this one is more like 'rolled flat with a rolling pin' type of roti/rotti. BH fell in love with these soft rotis, so now we make this very often at home. It works perfectly for any meal of the day and stays soft even when it gets cool making it a great candidate for lunch boxes or travelling. I have made this for dinner and carried left over in my lunch box and they remain soft.

After all the elimination of wheat and re-introduction of raagi, if you thought I will be posting a Before and After picture, it is not happening. Mainly because Before is still the same as After :-). The expanding waist line is not going anywhere except in circles. That is a story for another day.

But all jokes aside, raagi is traditionally considered a super grain and also due to its low glycemic index, it is released slowly into the blood stream making it a great food choice for diabetics as well. If you are looking for gluten free options but love your rotis and leavened breads too much, this is a great replacement for the wheat rotis that are so common. One of my little nephews was recently diagnosed with Celiac which instantly removes wheat and all gluten sources from his plate :-(. It is plain hard for the mom to tell him he can't have his favorite pooris in lunch box anymore. We made these raagi rottis when he came home last time and my little nephew loved these hot off the griddle with a smear of tuppa (home made ghee/clarified butter), brought a big smile to the mom's face and made the aunt's day :-).

Note on pictures - As you can clearly tell these are pictures from different days, it goes well with any kind of side dish. Also there are 2 different batches of raagi hittu or flour and the color in one is brown-pink while the other is darker tending towards black but both tasted delicious.

What do you need to make raagi rotti? 
Makes 5 standard size rottis
1 cup water
3/4 cup raagi flour + 1 Tbsp for dusting
1/8 Tsp salt (optional, skip it if you prefer)
2 Tsp oil (divided use)

How do you make raagi rotti? 

• In a sauce pan, add water, couple drops of water and salt (if using) and bring it to a gentle boil on medium heat.
• Add dry flour as the boiling starts and reduce the heat to low. 

• Do not touch the flour at this point, let the water continue to boil and soak the sides of the dry flour. 
• Once all the dry flour looks wet, with a stick of a strong ladle (I use the wood churner called kadegOlu), starting from the center of the heap using a circular motion, mix the flour with the water briskly so there are no lumps and everything comes together. 

• Switch off the stove, cover and let it rest for 2-3 mins, this dough doesn't have to get cooked completely as in raagi mudde since it gets cooked again on the griddle. 
• Take a wide plate and add a tsp of oil and scoop out all the dough on to the plate and leave it for just a minute so you can handle the dough with your hands. 
• Knead the dough using the palm and fingers of your hand as you do with wheat flour dough for rotis/bread for about 3mins to get a soft, non breaking pliable consistency. 

• Break the dough into equal sized portions and roll them into balls. 
• Use a wet paper towel to keep the remaining dough balls moist while you are working on one rotti. 
• Take a ball on your rolling surface, dip it in dry flour, flatten it slightly and using a rolling pin roll them into a uniformly thin rotti. Use a light hand and you will see this dough spreads easily into shape. Use dry flour to dust as needed.

• Heat a flat griddle/tawa and shake off any extra dry flour from the rotti and place it on the hot tawa. I always roast these on medium flame to give it time to cook. 
• Once the underside of the rotti starts to get some bubbles, turn it over. Cook on both sides until you get light brown spots on the surface. 
• This rotti puffs up easily with a gentle press with a soft cloth or a flat spoon. 

• Take it out and smear a light dab of ghee before serving. 
• These stay fresh and soft for a day. Serve it with any dry or gravy side dish of choice.

Notes: 

• What I have described above is one way of making lump free dough. If you feel uncomfortable with this here is an alternative way to ensure no lumps are formed: Mix a Tsp of flour in the cold water along with drops of oil and salt and bring it to boil. Lower heat and start adding dry flour in spoonfuls and continuously mix until all the flour is used. Proceed with the next steps in the recipe instructions above. 
• 3/4: 1 ratio works well for most batches of flour, sometimes it make take a couple of spoons more or less depending on the quality of flour. Pics show the consistency of the dough, the idea is to get there by adjusting the water as needed. 
• If the dough feels very soft and watery when you have used up all of the 3/4th cup, add a bit more dry flour, mix it in cover and cook. If the dough feels very tight while mixing the first time, add a couple of spoons to make it softer.