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Tag: Breakfast

  • Neer Dosa

    Neer dosa, meaning water dosa in Tulu, is a breakfast staple of the Mangalore and Udupi region. The batter is made only from soaked rice and a little coconut, ground fine and thinned with water until it is almost like milk. It needs no fermentation, so it can be made the same morning.

    The dosas are thin, soft and delicate with a lacy surface full of tiny holes, and they are cooked on one side only, never crisped or browned. They are folded into triangles and served with coconut chutney or, in Mangalorean homes, with chicken curry or kori gassi. The mild flavour makes them a perfect partner for rich, spicy gravies.

    At a glance

    RegionKarnataka
    CuisineMangalorean
    DietVegan
    CourseBreakfast
    Prep time15 minutes
    Cook time25 minutes
    Total time40 minutes
    Serves4
    Spice levelMild
    DifficultyMedium
    Gluten-freeYes
    Key ingredientsrice / coconut / water

    Ingredients

    • 1.5 cups raw rice (dosa rice or sona masoori), soaked 4-6 hours
    • 1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
    • 3/4 tsp salt
    • about 3 cups water
    • oil for greasing the tawa

    Method

    1. Drain the soaked rice and grind it with the coconut and 1 cup water to a very smooth batter. Rub a little between your fingers; it should feel completely fine with no grit.
    2. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and stir in about 2 cups more water to get a very thin batter, like thin buttermilk.
    3. Heat a nonstick or well-seasoned iron tawa on medium-high heat. Grease lightly with oil.
    4. Stir the batter well each time, since the rice settles at the bottom. Take a ladleful and pour it from the edge of the tawa in a circle, moving inwards to fill the gaps. Do not spread with the ladle.
    5. Cover and cook for about 1 minute until the top looks set and white, with tiny holes, and the edges start to lift. It should not brown.
    6. Without flipping, fold the dosa in half and then in half again to form a triangle, and lift it onto a plate.
    7. Grease the tawa lightly again and repeat. Do not stack hot dosas flat or they stick; keep them folded and slightly apart.

    Tips

    • The batter must be very thin; if the dosa is thick or does not form holes, add more water.
    • A hot tawa is essential for the lacy pattern, but reduce heat if the dosas start browning.
    • Use the batter within the day; it does not need or benefit from fermentation.

    Serve with

    Coconut chutney, kori gassi (Mangalorean chicken curry), or jaggery with grated coconut.

  • Puttu and Kadala Curry

    Puttu and kadala curry is the breakfast most Malayalis grew up with. Puttu is coarse rice flour, moistened and layered with grated coconut in a cylindrical steamer called a puttu kutti, then steamed until it holds its shape. It is pushed out as a log and broken up at the table. Kadala curry, made with small black chickpeas, is its most popular companion.

    The puttu is soft, crumbly and lightly salted, with sweetness from the coconut. The curry is earthy and robust, thickened with coconut roasted until dark brown, which gives it its colour and nutty depth. People mash the puttu with the curry by hand, sometimes adding a ripe banana or pappadam on the side.

    At a glance

    RegionKerala
    CuisineKerala
    DietVegan
    CourseBreakfast
    Prep time20 minutes
    Cook time45 minutes
    Total time65 minutes
    Serves4
    Spice levelMedium
    DifficultyMedium
    Gluten-freeYes
    Key ingredientsrice flour / coconut / black chickpeas / shallots

    Ingredients

    For the puttu

    • 2 cups roasted puttu podi (coarse rice flour)
    • 3/4 tsp salt
    • about 3/4 cup water
    • 1 cup freshly grated coconut

    For the kadala curry

    • 1 cup kala chana (black chickpeas), soaked overnight
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1 cup grated coconut
    • 1 tbsp coriander powder
    • 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
    • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
    • 1/2 tsp garam masala
    • 2 tbsp coconut oil
    • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
    • 8 shallots, sliced
    • 1 inch ginger, chopped
    • 2 green chillies, slit
    • 2 sprigs curry leaves
    • 1 small tomato, chopped

    Method

    1. Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas with salt and 2.5 cups water for 6-7 whistles on medium heat, until soft. Keep the cooking water.
    2. In a dry pan, roast the grated coconut on medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly, until deep brown and fragrant. Add coriander powder, chilli powder and turmeric, roast 30 seconds more, cool and grind to a fine paste with a little water.
    3. Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, then add shallots, ginger, green chillies and one sprig of curry leaves. Saute for 5 minutes until golden. Add tomato and cook until soft.
    4. Add the chickpeas with their water and the coconut paste. Simmer for 10-12 minutes on low heat until the gravy thickens. Mash a few chickpeas against the pan to thicken it more. Stir in garam masala and the remaining curry leaves.
    5. For the puttu, mix the rice flour and salt. Sprinkle water a little at a time, rubbing with your fingers, until the flour is evenly moist and holds together when pressed but breaks apart easily. It should feel like wet sand, not dough.
    6. Fill the puttu kutti: a layer of 2 tbsp coconut at the bottom, then rice flour up to about a third, then coconut, repeating until full, ending with coconut. Do not press down.
    7. Steam on high heat over boiling water for 6-8 minutes, until steam comes out steadily from the top holes. Push the puttu out onto a plate with the rod.
    8. Serve hot with the kadala curry.

    Tips

    • If you lack a puttu kutti, steam the moistened flour in idli moulds or a pressure cooker vessel with a coconut-shell attachment.
    • Rubbing the flour with water is the whole technique; too wet and puttu turns heavy, too dry and it falls apart.
    • Roast the coconut evenly and patiently; it is what makes the curry dark and nutty.

    Serve with

    Pappadam and a ripe small banana (poovan pazham), or a cup of hot tea.

  • Appam with Vegetable Stew

    Appam and stew is the classic breakfast of Kerala's Syrian Christian homes, and it is the dish served on Easter and Christmas mornings. Appam is made from a fermented batter of rice and coconut, traditionally raised with toddy, and cooked in a small round pan called an appachatti, which is swirled to give it its bowl shape.

    A good appam has a lacy, crisp, golden rim and a thick, spongy, slightly sweet centre. The stew, or ishtu, is mild and fragrant: vegetables simmered in thin coconut milk with whole spices, green chillies and ginger, and finished with thick coconut milk. Nothing is fried brown or heavily spiced, so the coconut flavour leads.

    At a glance

    RegionKerala
    CuisineKerala
    DietVegan
    CourseBreakfast
    Prep time30 minutes
    Cook time40 minutes
    Total time70 minutes
    Serves4
    Spice levelMild
    DifficultyMedium
    Gluten-freeYes
    Key ingredientsrice / coconut / coconut milk / potato / carrot

    Ingredients

    For the appam batter

    • 1.5 cups raw rice (pachari), soaked 5 hours
    • 1 cup fresh grated coconut
    • 1/2 cup cooked rice
    • 1 tsp instant yeast
    • 2 tbsp sugar
    • 3/4 tsp salt
    • about 1 cup water

    For the stew

    • 2 tbsp coconut oil
    • 1 inch cinnamon
    • 3 cloves
    • 3 green cardamoms
    • 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
    • 1 large onion, sliced
    • 1 inch ginger, julienned
    • 3 green chillies, slit
    • 1 sprig curry leaves
    • 1 large potato, cubed
    • 1 carrot, cubed
    • 1/2 cup French beans, cut
    • 1/2 cup green peas
    • 1.5 cups thin coconut milk
    • 3/4 cup thick coconut milk
    • 1 tsp salt, or to taste

    Method

    1. Grind the soaked rice, grated coconut, cooked rice, sugar and yeast with water to a very smooth, flowing batter. Cover and ferment in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight, until doubled and bubbly. Stir in salt; the batter should be like thin pancake batter.
    2. For the stew, heat coconut oil in a pan on medium heat. Add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns and fry for 20 seconds.
    3. Add onion, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves and saute for 3-4 minutes until the onion is soft but not browned.
    4. Add the potato, carrot, beans and peas with the thin coconut milk and salt. Cover and simmer on low heat for 12-15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
    5. Lower the heat to the minimum and stir in the thick coconut milk. Heat for 1-2 minutes until just hot; do not let it boil, or the milk will split. Switch off.
    6. To make appam, heat an appachatti on medium heat and grease lightly. Pour in a ladle of batter, lift the pan by its handles and swirl once so the batter coats the sides thinly and pools in the centre.
    7. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes until the edges are golden and crisp and the centre is set and spongy. Do not flip.
    8. Loosen with a spatula and serve straight away with the stew.

    Tips

    • The cooked rice in the batter gives appam its soft, spongy centre.
    • Thick coconut milk goes in at the very end on low heat to keep the stew creamy and white.
    • In cold weather, ferment the batter in an oven with only the light switched on.

    Serve with

    Serve the stew poured over the appam; chicken or mutton stew is the festive alternative.

  • Adai

    Adai is one of the oldest dosa-type dishes of Tamil Nadu, made from a mix of rice and lentils that is soaked and ground coarse, then cooked straight away without fermenting. Because it uses toor, chana, urad and moong dal, it is far more filling than a plain dosa, and many families make it for dinner when they want a one-dish meal.

    It has a slightly grainy, crisp exterior and a soft centre, with a savoury, spicy flavour from red chillies, ginger, asafoetida and curry leaves. Adai is traditionally eaten with avial, which is why the pairing adai-avial is famous, or with jaggery and butter, a combination many Tamil grandparents swear by.

    At a glance

    RegionTamil Nadu
    CuisineTamil
    DietVegan
    CourseBreakfast
    Prep time20 minutes
    Cook time30 minutes
    Total time50 minutes
    Serves4
    Spice levelMedium
    DifficultyEasy
    Gluten-freeYes
    Key ingredientsrice / toor dal / chana dal / urad dal / moong dal

    Ingredients

    For the batter

    • 1 cup raw rice (or half idli rice)
    • 1/4 cup toor dal
    • 1/4 cup chana dal
    • 2 tbsp urad dal
    • 2 tbsp moong dal
    • 4-5 dry red chillies
    • 1 inch ginger
    • 1/4 tsp asafoetida
    • 1 tsp salt, or to taste
    • 1 sprig curry leaves, chopped
    • 1 small onion, finely chopped (optional)
    • 2 tbsp grated coconut (optional)

    For cooking

    • coconut oil or gingelly oil, about 1 tsp per adai

    Method

    1. Wash the rice and the dals together and soak in plenty of water for 3-4 hours. Soak the red chillies along with them.
    2. Drain, reserving a little soaking water. Grind the rice, dals, chillies and ginger with minimal water to a coarse batter, like fine rava. It should not be smooth.
    3. Transfer to a bowl and mix in salt, asafoetida, curry leaves, onion and coconut. The batter should be thick but pourable; add a few spoons of water if needed.
    4. Heat a cast-iron tawa on medium heat and grease it lightly.
    5. Pour a ladle of batter and spread it in a circle a little thicker than a regular dosa. Make a small hole in the centre with the ladle tip so heat reaches the middle.
    6. Drizzle 1 tsp oil around the edge and into the centre hole. Cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until the base is golden brown and crisp.
    7. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes, then serve immediately.

    Tips

    • A coarse grind is the key to good adai; a smooth batter makes it heavy and dense.
    • Cook on medium, not high heat, as the dals need time to cook through.
    • The batter can be used straight away or kept for a few hours; it does not need to ferment.

    Serve with

    Avial, coconut chutney, or jaggery with a dollop of white butter.

  • Onion Uttapam

    Uttapam, or oothappam in Tamil, is the thicker cousin of the dosa. In many homes it is made on the last day of a batch of batter, when it has turned sour and thick and will no longer spread thin. Onion uttapam is the classic version found on every darshini and tiffin centre menu across South India.

    It is about the thickness of a pancake, soft and spongy inside with a golden, crisp base and a topping of onions that turn sweet and slightly charred where they touch the pan. The slight sourness of well-fermented batter is part of the appeal. It is eaten for breakfast or dinner with sambar and chutney.

    At a glance

    RegionTamil Nadu
    CuisineTamil
    DietVegan
    CourseBreakfast
    Prep time15 minutes
    Cook time25 minutes
    Total time40 minutes
    Serves3
    Spice levelMild
    DifficultyEasy
    Gluten-freeYes
    Key ingredientsdosa batter / onion / green chillies / coriander

    Ingredients

    For the batter

    • 3 cups thick fermented dosa batter
    • salt to taste

    For the topping

    • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
    • 2 green chillies, finely chopped
    • 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
    • 3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
    • few curry leaves, chopped
    • 1/4 tsp salt
    • oil or ghee for cooking

    Method

    1. Mix the onions, chillies, ginger, coriander, curry leaves and 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl. Keep aside.
    2. Check the batter: it should be thick and pourable, thicker than for plain dosa. Add salt if needed.
    3. Heat a cast-iron tawa on medium heat. Sprinkle a few drops of water; when they sizzle away immediately, wipe the tawa with an oiled onion half or cloth.
    4. Pour a ladle of batter in the centre and spread it gently in a circle about 15 cm wide and 1 cm thick. Do not spread thin.
    5. Immediately sprinkle 2-3 tbsp of the onion mix on top and press it lightly into the batter with the back of the ladle.
    6. Drizzle 1 tsp oil around the edges and over the top. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes until the top looks set and the base is golden brown.
    7. Flip carefully and cook the onion side for 2 minutes, pressing lightly, until the onions are browned in spots.
    8. Flip back, transfer to a plate and repeat. Lower the heat slightly between uttapams so the tawa does not overheat.

    Tips

    • Sour, 2-3 day old batter makes the softest and tastiest uttapam.
    • Covering while cooking helps the thick centre cook through without burning the base.
    • Grated carrot, chopped tomato or podi sprinkled on top are popular variations.

    Serve with

    Sambar, coconut chutney and tomato chutney, or a sprinkle of idli podi with gingelly oil.

  • Kuzhi Paniyaram

    Kuzhi paniyaram is closely associated with Chettinad and the Madurai region, where it is a standard evening tiffin. The name refers to the kuzhi, the round pits of the cast-iron pan in which the batter is cooked. Most homes make it with idli or dosa batter that has turned a little too sour, which makes it a clever way to use up leftovers.

    Each paniyaram is golden and crunchy on the outside and soft and spongy within, flecked with onion, green chilli, ginger and coconut. It is eaten hot as a snack or light dinner with chutneys. A sweet version made with jaggery and banana is equally popular, but the savoury kara paniyaram described here is the everyday one.

    At a glance

    RegionTamil Nadu
    CuisineChettinad
    DietVegan
    CourseBreakfast
    Prep time15 minutes
    Cook time25 minutes
    Total time40 minutes
    Serves3
    Spice levelMild
    DifficultyEasy
    Gluten-freeYes
    Key ingredientsidli batter / onion / green chillies / coconut

    Ingredients

    • 2 cups thick idli or dosa batter (slightly sour is fine)
    • 2 tsp oil, plus about 4 tbsp for the pan
    • 1 tsp mustard seeds
    • 1 tsp urad dal
    • 1 tsp chana dal
    • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
    • 2 green chillies, finely chopped
    • 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
    • 1 sprig curry leaves, chopped
    • 2 tbsp grated coconut
    • 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
    • 1/4 tsp salt, if the batter needs it
    • 1/4 tsp baking soda (optional)

    Method

    1. Bring the batter to room temperature. It should be thick, like idli batter; if it is runny, stir in 1-2 tbsp rice flour.
    2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a small pan, splutter mustard seeds, then fry urad dal and chana dal until golden. Add onion, chillies, ginger and curry leaves and saute for 2-3 minutes until the onion is translucent.
    3. Add this tempering, coconut and coriander to the batter. Check salt, add baking soda if the batter is not very fermented, and mix gently.
    4. Heat the paniyaram pan on medium heat and pour about 1/2 tsp oil into each pit. The pan is ready when a drop of batter sizzles immediately.
    5. Fill each pit about three-quarters full with batter. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes until the edges are golden and the top looks set.
    6. Using a skewer or spoon handle, turn each paniyaram over, drizzle a few drops of oil around it and cook uncovered for another 2-3 minutes until the second side is golden and crisp.
    7. Lift them out onto a plate and repeat with the remaining batter, re-oiling the pits each time.

    Tips

    • A well-seasoned cast-iron paniyaram pan gives the crispest crust; nonstick works but browns less.
    • Keep the heat at medium-low, or the outside browns before the inside cooks through.
    • Batter that is 2-3 days old and slightly sour gives the best flavour.

    Serve with

    Coconut chutney, tomato kara chutney or Chettinad kara chutney with shallots.