Upma Kozhakattai with Thuvaiyal - a mouthful of joy

What you'll need:
1.5 cups Idli Rava
2-3 small dried red chillies
2 T grated fresh / frozen coconut
1 tsp udad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
a small piece of jaggery
Water to cook the rava is used in proportion of 1:3, for one cup idli rava, use 3 cups water
1 tsp oil
1 1/2 tsp of salt/ salt to taste

Method:
1.Heat 1 tsp oil in preferably a large non-stick wok. Splutter the mustard seeds. Add the udad dal and fry till golden brown, and then saute the dried red chillies and asafoetida for a few seconds.

2.To this, add 4 1/2 cups of water. In the water, put in the coconut, jaggery and salt. Bring it to a rolling boil.

3. Keep the flame on sim, and add the idli rava little by little with oonstant stirring to avoid any lump formation. Stir the rava for 5-6 minutes like how you would make an upma. All the water must get absorbed and the resulting mass shouldn't stick to your fingers.

4. Remove the 'upma' onto a big dish / thali and cool off for 5-10 minutes. Once cooled, take a big handful of upma and shape it into ovals / spheres. You will get roughly 14-15 such kozhakattais from 1 1/2 cups of flour. Arrange this in a steamer and steam them for 10 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

5. Serve hot with lentil-coconut-tamarind chutney and a nice cuppa 'extra strong' filter coffee. Don't forget to play some old Tamil songs in the background togive that finishing touch to the atmosphere.

You would find this recipe in any of the Udipi hotels, so the only way to experience this bliss of a breakfast is to make it yourself

For the Thuvaiyal:
1.Heat some oil in a pan. Splutter some mustard seeds, add 2 T of bengal gram lentils (chana dal), 2 T of udad dad (split black gram lentils), 4 dried red chillies. Saute till the dals are golden brown. Add a pinch of asafoetida. Remove from flame and cool.
2.In a chutney grinder, place 1 cup grated coconut, 1 tsp softened tamarind, 1 tsp of jaggery, the sauted mix, salt to taste. Grind till the mixture is fine.
3.You can do a tempering with mustard seeds and curry leaves to this chutney after you remove it into a bowl.
This chutney goes very well with most other South Indian tiffins like Idli , Dosai and Adai.

Kuzhi Paniyaram with FriedGram Chutney

For Kuli Paniyarambr />
Ingrediantsbr />
Finelly chopped Onion -1 medium onion
Finelly chopped Green Chillies - 4
Finelly chopped Curry and Corinder Leaves - 1 1/2tbsp
Mustard seeds - 3/4tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp

Methodbr />
1) Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and curry leaves and allow it to crackel

2) Then add the chillies and onions and sauté for a few minutes.

3) Add this sautéed mixture to the idli batter and mix well.

4) Heat the Kuli Paniyaram Chatti and add little oil in each hole and pour 1 spoon
of batter in each hole.

5) Cook them on both the sides.


FriedGram Chutneybr />
For Chutneybr />
FriedGram - 1 cup
Greenchillies - 4-5
Garlic - 3-4 pods
Tamarind - a small grape sized
Salt - To taste

For Tadakabr />
Oil- 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6leaves
Urad dal - 1/4tsp
Hing - a pinch

Methodbr />
1) Grind togther all the ingrediants for the chutney to a smooth paste along with the salt.
2) Do the tadaka and add it to the chutney.

Vadakari

Ingredients:

chana dal 1 cup
coconut milk 1 cup
onions 2
tomatoes 2
chilli powder 1 tsp
coriander powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
oil as required

To grind to a tight paste:
ginger 1 small piece
garlic 8 flakes
saunf 1 tsp
chillies 3
cinnamon and cardamom and cloves : 1 each

Method:
Soak the chana dal for 1 hr and then grind to a coarse paste. Slice the onions and tomatoes. Take one tsp of the ground masala paste and mix with the chana dal paste and add salt.Fry this in oil as a vada shape and keep aside. Next heat some oil and add the rest of the ground masala and once it is well fried add the tomatoes and ground paste and chilli powder and turmeric and coriander and saute well. Add coconut milk along wiht this and bring to a boil once. Now, divide the vada balls into a haphazard manner and add some water and once it boils remove from the fire.