Instant Oat vermicelli dosai and Instant fabric art :-)

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Sometimes when I am working on my site and am wondering what to write, I end up staring at the walls in my pc room hoping inspiration strikes. Well staring at my bare walls definitely provided inspiration...........but of a completely different kind, I got inspired to do something to dress up my bare walls. A while back, I had come across an idea on television to use fabric to make quick art and ever since I saw it I have been wanting to try it. I ordered some fabric, bought a canvas in the right size and stapled the fabric to the canvas and voila, instant, quick and simple fabric art:-) Now my dressed up wall looks like this........:-)



If any of you are interested in seeing the step by step pics of this art,  let me know and I will update this post or separately post the steps in the future.

Moving on, a couple of months back, I had dosai (Indian savory crepes) planned for dinner, but the only things I could decide on about the dosai was that it would be the instant kind and be something with oats in it. At the last minute I decided to glance through my reader to see if any of my friends had something unique that I could try. I came across this recipe on my friend EC's site that caught my interest and sounded perfect for a light dinner. I tweaked the recipe a little, changed a few ingredients and quantities and added flax for some added nutritional punch. The verdict...... vermicelli added a very unique dimension and some crunch to this dosai, and the dosai was both interesting and delicious. If the idea of giving vermicelli a completely different avatar appeals to you, give this dosai a try :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make oat vermicelli dosai
2 cups one minute oats dry roasted (or quick oats)
1 cup vermicelli (semiya) dry roasted
1/2 cup rice flour
salt to taste ( I used approximately 2 tsp)
1 cup plain yogurt (curds/ dahi/thayir)
1 1/4 cup plain water (or as required)
1 inch ginger
3 thai or Indian variety green chilies (or to taste)
7 -8 Curry leaves cut into small pieces
2 tbsp finely cut cilantro (coriander leaves/ kothamalli)
3 heaped tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax/ alsi/ ali virai) (optional)
a little sesame oil to shallow fry the dosai

Dry roast oats, cool to room temperature, powder in a spice grinder/blender/mixer until fine and add to a large bowl. Dry roast vermicelli and add to the powdered oats.

Add salt to taste, curry leaves, cilantro and flax seed meal and mix well. Mince together ginger and green chilies and keep aside.

Whisk yogurt until it is smooth and keep aside. Add yogurt to flour mixture slowly making sure it mixes well with the flour mixture.

Then add water to the flour mixture and mix slowly to make a thick-ish batter. Add ginger- chili to it and mix well.

Allow this mixture to sit for a little while. Heat a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa on medium heat.
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Pour a little batter in the center and quickly make a circle as thin as possible. If you find that you are not able to spread easily, pour the batter around the tawa in a wider circle (as you would for rava dosai) and spread to form a thin circle.   Pour a few drops of sesame oil around the circumference of the dosai. Flip over when the lower side cooks to a golden brown and cook the other side. When the other side as light golden brown spots, remove from heat.


Serve hot with chutney of choice/ molaga podi /sambar of choice

Notes:

The thicker the batter, the easier the dosai is to handle while flipping over, it also results in a more crisper dosai. If the batter is slightly more runny the dosai turns out soft but a little more difficult to handle. So do keep that in mind when you are adding water to the batter. When in doubt err on the side of a thicker batter it is much easier to correct than a runny batter.

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Maharashtrian style Rava Ladoo ~ Indian sweet made with semolina and coconut

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One of the nicest things about the apartment complex I grew up in, was this multi cultural atmosphere there that was fascinating. It was such a nice way to learn about different cultures and practices followed in  different parts of the country. It was a very rewarding experience in more ways than one, after all I got to taste the cuisines from different regions of the country too :-)

One of the items I remember that I tasted and loved was a Maharashtrian style rava ladoo that a family friend made for us one day. At that time I just enjoyed it and never thought to ask for the recipe. Later though when I started cooking I used to think about that ladoo and wonder how it was made :-(

Anyway some months ago my sister in law Anu mentioned that her Maharashtrian neighbor shared her recipe to make Rava ladoo. She in turn shared the recipe with me and I immediately gave it a try hoping to recreate the sweet that I remembered from time to time. I tweaked the recipe a bit, reduced the sugar quite a bit and waited for the sugar syrup to achieve a single thread consistency. I love how this rava ladoo does not require much clarified butter / ghee at all and yet is soft and delicious.

This delicious rava ladoo that has become my new favorite and yes it tastes just like the rava ladoo that I mentioned earlier :-)  I have already made this a few times and this is one of those easy peasy recipes that I am sure is going to remain a favorite in my home for a long time to come :-) So whether you are looking for a quick sweet to make for Diwali or something you want as an anytime sweet, this one is totally worth a try :-)

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Ingredients and Method to make Rava Ladoo
1 cup medium rava (semolina)
1 to 2 tsp clarified butter (ghee/ nei)
3/4 cup unsweetened grated fresh or frozen coconut (if frozen thaw to room temperature) (nariyal)
3/4 cup sugar (shakkar)
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp cardamom seed powder (elaichi/ ellakkai)
handful dark raisins (optional) (see notes)

In a heavy bottomed pan heat clarified butter (ghee), then add semolina and lightly roast the semolina on low to medium low heat until it emits an aroma. Remove and keep aside.

In the same pan lightly dry roast the coconut for a few seconds until it turns slightly creamy. Remove and keep aside along with the roasted semolina.

In the same pan add sugar and water and place on heat. Allow the mixture to simmer until the sugar syrup achieves a light one string consistency. To check to see if the right consistency has been achieved pour a drop of the syrup on a plate. Blow slightly to cool and then take the syrup between your fingers, if it forms a light thread then it is the right consistency. (see notes)

When the syrup achieves a light thread consistency, add cardamom seed powder, coconut +semolina, raisins if using and mix well. Remove from heat and cool a little.
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 When the mixture is touchable yet still warm, shape into small balls of desired size. Cool thoroughly to room temperature and store in an air tight container. This does not require refrigeration if consumed in a couple of days. Any longer and it would be better stored in the refrigerator.

Notes:
If the thread is too thick then the ladoo will be hard, if it is not yet a light thread, that is if you take it off the heat too soon then it will not be possible to shape the ladoo. Getting the right consistency is important to get this sweet done correctly.

 Most times when I make this rava ladoo I skip the raisins just because I like the taste of the ladoos without raisins more, so it is just personal choice if you want to use the raisins or not :-)

If you are looking for Indian sweet recipes, here are a few more

Moong dhal ladoo ~ Indian sweet made with mung bean lentil

Besan Ladoo ~ Indian sweet made with chick pea flour

Easy Rava Ladoo without sugar syrup ~ Indian sweet made with semolina and coconut

Oats Poha Kheer ~ Oats Aval payasam ~ Beaten rice flakes pudding

Gajar kaju kheer ~ Carrot cashew payasam

Badam Kheer ~ Payasam ~ Indian almond pudding

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Banana Raisin Bread with spelt flour (Egg free and Butter free)

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Using spelt flour instead of apf or whole wheat flour is now becoming a more  frequent occurrence in my kitchen. In fact I have to admit that it has become somewhat of a default choice when I am baking quick breads and quick muffins. Spelt flour is so much lighter than wheat flour and has a very nice texture, making it a perfectly  healthy choice for quick breads or muffins. To know more about spelt flour check out this apple banana muffin post where I explained about this flour in a little more detail.

This bread turned out very well, it was soft , tasty and very quick to make. The only problem I had with this bread was that it did not last very long and it just seemed to disappear soon after it was made :-) As a result I was not able to take very good pictures of this bread, the lighting when I took it was just not too good and the resulting pic is not too good too :-(  So please do not judge this bread by its pic, it definitely tasted way better than it looked :-)

Updated on May 10, 2013: Finally got a chance to update this post with a better picture :)
 

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Ingredients and Method to make Banana Raisin Bread
Dry Ingredients
2 cups spelt flour (can be substituted entirely with all purpose flour/ maida or 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins

Wet Ingredients
2 large overripe bananas mashed (yielded 1 cup mashed banana)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (curds/ dahi)
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

a few drops of oil to grease the loaf pan.

1 tbsp turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top (can be substituted with any other type of sugar) (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a loaf pan with a few drops of oil and keep aside.

In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well.

Whisk yogurt and keep aside. Add mashed bananas and whisked yogurt to the dry ingredients and mix in slowly. Add oil and vanilla essence and mix well. Do not over mix as I have heard that over mixing caused spelt flour to get a more crumbly texture. So just mix until all the ingredients are mixed in.
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Pour the mixture into the pregreased loaf pan, sprinkle turbinado sugar on top if using and place in the oven to bake.

Bake about 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (It took me 45 minutes)  If you make these as mini loaves then the baking time is considerably lesser.

Cool, slice and enjoy :-)

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