Sooji - Poha Cheela / Savory Semolina - Flattened Rice Pancakes

All devices with internet access in my home are usually filled with bookmarks, loads of them. Thanks to my craziness for collecting recipes and reading books, as my family points out. I usually bookmark recipes with an honest intent to attempt them sometime in the near future but it seldom happens. This recipe for instance has been on my 'to try' list for quite sometime now (maybe years) that I couldn't trace it back to the original blog from which I jotted this recipe down. 

I made some changes to the recipe when I tried them for our lunch yesterday with least expectations. I thought it was going to be another dosa variety but to my surprise, my husband was all praises for it and wanted to see these cheelas being made frequently. My husband exactly doesn't fall in the spinach loving category and I had second thoughts after adding it to the batter. I had earlier left out cabbage from the recipe keeping him in mind and started to wonder if I should have left spinach as well. It turns out that one cannot taste it if these pancakes are cooked really well on both sides. Finely chopped onions and green chillies would be a nice addition if preferring spicier version.The original author of this recipe have meant these cheelas as a kid friendly snack and so, she seems to have left them out. 

I found fine variety semolina is well suited here though it is optional. One can go with regular semolina/rava. Either thick or thin variety poha can be used. The thick variety poha available in south India needs more soaking than the one I get in USA. The batter can be used immediately to make cheela or can be prepared ahead and refrigerated for 2 to 3 days. Skip yogurt and use water instead if looking for a vegan version. Serve these cheelas or chillas with spicy accompaniments like chutney and sambhar to make it a wholesome and tasty meal.

Ingredients: (Yield 12)
1/2 cup flattened rice flakes / poha
3/4 cup semolina (Preferably fine variety.)
1/2 cup yogurt 
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh spinach / chopped frozen spinach
Salt to taste
Oil / Ghee to make cheela

Directions:
* Rinse poha once with water and drain. Soak it in yogurt for about 5 minutes or until it softens. (I was busy with something else and by the time I took care of it, the poha had absorbed all the yogurt and was dry.)
* Add poha-yogurt mixture, semolina, salt and enough water to a blender and grind until the poha is ground fine. The batter should be of pouring consistency like pancakes and not too thinner. 
I had to add about 2 cups of water since my poha had absorbed all the yogurt. Buttermilk can be substituted for water.
(Or poha and yogurt can be ground smoothly first and then semolina, salt and water can be added to the blender and pulsed enough just to mix.)
* Add spinach and carrot to the batter and mix well. If using frozen spinach, thaw it before using.

* Heat a non stick tawa / flat pan / griddle and when it is hot enough, pour a ladle / 1/4 cup of batter at the center and spread it as much as possible. No need to make it thinner. Pour a few drops of oil around the edges, Cook until the bottom side browns and flip it. Cook until the bottom side is cooked. Transfer the cooked cheela onto a plate and repeat the steps of making cheela.
* Serve hot with chutney and sambhar.

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Baghrir / Beghrir

 
Baghrir / Beghrir is an ancient berber pancake originating in North Africa and are popular in Algeria and Morocco. 'Baghrir' means too soft in the Berber dialects, a reference to the soft and spongy texture of the pancakes. The traditional method of preparing baghrir is time consuming though the modern version is quick and easier with the use of a blender. Baghrir are eaten as a breakfast or snack dipped in a honey - butter sauce. While these are prepared all year round in Algeria, they are a popular part of a iftar during Ramadan in Morocco.
Baghrir, the pancake with a thousand holes is prepared using a yeast based fermented batter of semolina and flour. They are cooked only on one side without flipping on low flame and care is taken to keep them light colored. The number of holes on the pancake depend upon the consistency of the batter and they start to appear as soon as you pour the batter on the hot pan. A thick batter would not result in the holes. 
 
Baghrirs are usually served by dipping them in a honey - butter mixture.  The holes on the surface of baghrir soak up the syrup poured on it. The sauce is prepared by heating equal quantities of butter and honey until the mixture comes to a boil. 
 
Ingredients for baghrir: (Yield 10 - 12 pancakes)
3/4 cup semolina flour / very fine semolina
5 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. quick rising yeast
1 & 1/2 cups warm water

 Method:
* Blend all the ingredients into a smooth. lump-free batter. Allow it to rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes. It would have turned frothy and there would be an increase in the volume of the batter.
* Heat a non stick pan or a griddle. Pour a ladleful of batter and gently spread it with the back of the ladle. They can be made larger or smaller.
* Cook on low flame until the top appears dry and cooked. Remove it with a spatula and serve warm with honey-butter syrup.

* Repeat the steps with the remaining batter.
* Don't stack the pancakes when they are warm since they stick to each other.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 56.

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T for Tunisia ~ Tunisian Donuts / Ftira

Event: BM #44, Around the world (A - Z Series)

Choice of Country: The Tunisian Republic
Capital City: Tunis
Official Language: Arabic 

From West African nation of Sierra Leone, I am moving towards the northernmost region of Africa for my alphabet 'T". Tunisia to be precise. For the uninitiated, I am on a blogging marathon with a few other bloggers this month with the theme "Around the World in 30 days". Each day we pick a nation to cook from, going in an alphabetical order. And today we have reached the alphabet "T" in this culinary journey and I am going with some yummy donuts from the Tunisian region. 
Tunisia is situated on the Mediterranean coast of Northern Africa, midway between the Atlantic Ocean and Nile Delta. Tunisian cuisine is a blend of culinary traditions of Mediterranean and the desert dwellers and is quite spicy compared to other African nations. It offers a "Sun Cuisine", based mainly on olive oil, spices, tomatoes, seafood and lamb. A popular condiment / ingredient extensively used in Tunisian cooking is harissa. Cooking varies region wise and the couscous is the national dish.

This is one of the dishes that got made first for the marathon but I later kept contemplating whether to go with this choice or not. I had decided to try this version called ftira once I saw this recipe without researching anything about it. Later to my dismay I found out that there are other versions and the traditional versions of Tunisian donuts are supposedly called yo-yos / bambalouni. It got more confusing when the world "Ftira" kept leading me to flat breads from the Malta region. However after exercising my brain a little I realized that both the countries are in the Mediterranean region and probably because of the geographical proximity, there are chances that two different dishes may go by the same name. And being from India, I should have known about regional variations of a dish. This recipe had originally come from a Tunisian and so I guess it must be as authentic as it can get and truly Tunisian. :)

Ingredients: (yield about 10 - 12)
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup semolina flour
1 tbsp olive oil + about 2 tbsp extra
1.5 tsp dry instant yeast (I used active dry yeast instead of rapid rise yeast.)
3/4 cup lukewarm water (I used only 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp water.)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Method:
* Add yeast, sugar and about 1/4 cup lukewarm water to a bowl. Mix well and leave it in a warm place for about 10 to 15 minutes, until it is frothy.
* Add flours, 1 tbsp oil, salt, yeast mixture and about 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Mix well, transfer it to a work surface and knead it to a smooth dough. 
(Add extra water in tbsp. increments if needed. I added about 5 - 6 tbsp of water excluding the 1/4 cup used for the yeast mixture. It still was on a sticky side and added about 1 tbsp extra oil.)
* Grease a bowl and transfer the dough to it. Flip the dough to cover it with a thin film of oil and cover the bowl. Set it aside for a few hours or overnight.
 
* When ready to make doughnuts, punch the dough down to deflate it. Roll it into a circle of about 1/3 inch thickness and cut circles out of the rolled out dough.
* Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is ready (about 375 deg F), drop the circles into the pan and fry on low flame until it is golden on both sides. They puff up while frying.

* Drain on absorbent towels. Serve hot with chocolate sauce / powdered sugar or honey.

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Batani Vada / Green Pea Fritters

Event: Blogging Marathon #41
Theme: Pick one ingredient and cook for 3 days
My choice: Green Peas

These are one of the vadas I am partial towards and don't mind the deep frying part. Compared to other traditional Indian vadas, these are easy and quick to put together. The recipe yields spicy, yummy and addictive fritters which stay crisp comparatively longer because of the rice flour and semolina used in the recipe.

Ingredients: (makes 16 vadas)
1 cup green peas
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup fine semolina / chiroti rava
4 green chillies
Salt to taste
1 big onion finely chopped
2 - 3 tbsp minced cilantro
Oil to fry

Method:
* Cook the peas and drain. (I used frozen peas and so boiled them in a microwave with little water for a couple of minutes before using.) Or the cooking part can be skipped since vadas are going to be deep fried anyway.
* Pulse green peas and chillies to a paste using a food processor or in a mixer.
* Transfer the ground pea paste to a mixing bowl. Add rice flour, semolina, salt, onion and cilantro to it and mix well to combine. Add water as needed to form a thick mixture.

* Make patties from the mixture and keep them aside.

* Meanwhile, heat oil for frying the vadas in a kadai / frying pan. 
* Drop a pea sized vada batter into the hot oil. If it sizzles and comes to the surface, then proceed with deep frying. If not, heat oil for 1 - 2 minutes more.
* Drop as many patties as the pan can fit and fry them on medium flame until they are cooked and turn golden brown through out.

* Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on absorbent towels.
* Repeat the procedure with the remaining patties.
* Enjoy them warm with a cup of coffee / tea.

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Dum Ke Rote

I have signed up for Srivalli's month long marathon this April, with the theme of "Indian states". It is giving me an opportunity to explore the regional, culinary heritage of India and the first one in the series is going to be my home state "Andhra Pradesh". The state can be classified geographically into three regions - Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana. I am very well acquainted with the first two regions, being connected to them through my parents and husband. Telangana is the region that I am not familiar with and I wanted to try something from this region. 

Hyderabad is a part of Telangana and is the home for another culinary heritage, the Hyderabadi cuisine that was greatly influenced by the muslim reign there. I have noticed that the hindus are less familiar with several of the recipes that are popular among the muslim community there. Dum ke rote is one such Hyderabadi recipe that I wanted to try ever since I saw them on Mona's blog. She has a wonderful collection of recipes from the region. for people who are interested. Dum ke rote are semolina based cookies, baked / cooked in dum. These cardamom flavored cookies are soft from inside and crunchy outside. They are deceptively plain looking but are very addictive.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup pistachios 
3 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3 cups fine semolina (not semolina flour)
3 cups sugar
1 & 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cardamom powder
3/4 cup unsweetened khoya
1 cup warm milk
1 cup warm ghee
Almond and pistachio flakes to garnish

Note:
I used 1/3 of the ingredients and got 4 rotes. Actually could have made 5. The rotes spread while baking and the 6 inched unbaked ones yielded 8 inched rotes. And I think making small sized ones is a smart option both for storage and consumption purposes.

Method:
* Soak almonds and pistachios in water overnight. Drain and peel off the skins in the morning.
* Grind almonds, pistachios and khoya to a fine paste adding warm milk.
* Combine all purpose flour, semolina, sugar, baking powder and cardamom powder in a mixing bowl.
* Add the nut-khoya paste to the flour mixture and mix well to form a firm dough. Add extra milk if needed to form the dough. The dough was a little on the sticky side. Knead the dough and allow to rest it for about an hour. Remove, knead the dough again and put it back to rest once again for another hour.

* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
* Divide the dough into 13 - 15 portions.
* Cover baking sheets with aluminium foil and grease them. Gently pat each portion into a thin circle of about 6 inches in diameter.

* Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the edges and the bottom side starts to brown. Broil on low for 2 to 5 minutes until they turn golden brown uniformly. Keep an eye through the broiling part and don't let them burn. Remove, cool and store them in an airtight container.



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Holige / Obbattu ~ Poli With Sweetened Toordal Stuffing

Any occasion small or big ranging from a festival to welcoming a freshly minted son in law calls for a holige oota (festive platter that includes the delicious holige) in and around Bangalore. Making soft, thin, flaky holige / obaatu is a skill that is developed over years of practice and experience and usually the job is left to the matron of the home. Whether the holiges are stuffed with sweetened coconut (kayi hoorana) or sweetened dal mixture (bele hoorana / poorna), getting them ready to fry without tearing the outer shell while stuffing and patting is the crucial step. And seriously it needs some practice to make thinner versions that are popular in Bangalore. The dal stuffing can be made with toordal, chana dal or the moong dal.
The holige making involves two steps. Preparation of the stuffing and the outer case.

Toordal stuffing:
Ingredients:
1 cup toordal
1/2 cup jaggery powder (or as needed since the sweetness of the jaggery varies)
1 tsp cardamom powder

Method:
* Cook toordal adding 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker. Cook toordal in such a way that it gets cooked while still holding shape. Don't cook until mushy.

* Drain the cooked toordal in a colander and let cool.

* Completely drain the toordal. Grind toordal, jaggery and cardamom powder finely. If toordal mixture turns watery accidentally, just cook it in a non stick pan until it thickens. Cool and use as needed.

Ingredients for the outer layer:
3/4 cup chiroti rava / very fine semolina 
1/4 cup maida / all purpose flour
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
8 - 10 tbsp oil (yes that is not a typo.)

Preparing the dough for the outer layer:
Combine the flour, rava and turmeric in a bowl. Add sufficient water and make a thick dough as roti / poori dough. Then add the oil gradually and keep kneading so that the oil gets incorporated well into the dough. According to my mother's instructions, I kept kneading it for at least 15 minutes.  My mother swears that this much of kneading (and the addition of that much of oil too) is really important and one shouldn't skip this step. 
Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes.

Making holiges:
* Pinch about a small lime sized dough and place it on a generously greased banana leaf or a thick plastic sheet.
* Now using your fingers, pat and flatten it into a thin circle of about 3 inch diameter.
* Place about a lime sized ball of stuffing at the center of the dough circle.

* Bring the edges of the dough from all sides to cover the stuffing completely. Now the stuffing should be well inside the dough casing.

* Again flatten it with your fingers and go on patting it carefully so that it results in a thin, flat circle with spilling the stuffing out.

* Meanwhile heat a griddle / tava / or a shallow pan. Now reverse the leaf / sheet with the disc directly on the tava. Gently pull away the leaf. Add 1/2 tsp of ghee / oil along the circumference and fry it both sides till it is done and you see brown spots all over. Flip it once or twice while doing so.

This is going to be my final post of this week under "Festive Foods" theme. Check what other marathoners are cooking during BM#33.

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R ~ Rava Dosa

Event: Blogging Marathon

Theme: Regional Cooking

Rava dosas happen to be one of the popular south Indian breakfast/snack options, whether it is at home or restaurants. The 'no ferment', instant batter yields delicious, crispy, lacy dosas. I am partial towards these irresistible dosas and consider them the best among the varieties of dosas out there.

Ingredients:

1 cup fine semolina / rava

1/2 cup all purpose flour / maida

1/4 cup rice flour

Minced green chillies as per taste

2 -3 red onions, finely minced

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp pepper corns (optional)

Salt to taste 

Minced cilantro

Oil to make dosas

Method:

* Add everything except cilantro and oil to a big bowl. Add enough water to make a thin batter with pouring consistency. Some quantity of the water in the recipe may be replaced with yogurt but that is optional.

* The batter tends to get thicker when it sits for a while and so add water as needed when it gets thicker during the dosa making process. Cilantro can be added directly to the batter or sprinkled on the dosas while making them.

* Heat an iron tawa or a shallow pan. Sprinkle some water over it and when the water sizzles and evaporates, the pan is ready to make dosas. 
* Just mix the batter once more before making dosas. While making the rava dosas, don't follow the conventional dosa making method. Instead of pouring the batter at center and spreading it, pour a ladle of batter, starting from the outer circle. And then spread it thin. Don't to try fill in the small gaps with the batter. 
* Spread a tsp of oil along the edges (and over the holes in the dosa if preferred). If using cilantro now, sprinkle some over the surface of the dosa. Cook until it turns golden brown and then flip the dosa with a spatula and cook for 30 seconds more.

* Remove the dosa with a spatula and repeat the process with the remaining batter. Serve hot dosas with chutney and/or sambhar.
See how crispy the edges are.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

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Chiroti / Pathir Pheni for December ICC

Our Sankranthi / Pongal wishes to readers who are celebrating.

Thanks to ICC, I could try a recipe this month that I had been planning to do for years now. Actually I haven't eaten them in decades, if I remember correctly. Before some of you start wondering how old am I really, let's jump to the topic. :) For this month's Indian cooking Challenge, Srivalli went with pheni / chiroti, thanks to Harini's grandmother for the recipe. I must admit that I am still confused about the title and the dish though my son and I enjoyed it immensely. To be honest, until Valli announced this month's challenge, I hadn't heard the name pathir pheni in my life and according to web sources, it belongs to Karnataka. It was a big surprise to me as more than half of my life was spent in that state. And also the phenis of Andhra we are familiar with, do look different. When I told my mother and my husband about this month's ICC, they both were surprised to hear that phenis and chirotis are same. For us, they both are way apart. However such things do happen in India owing to the vast differences in the regional cuisines. As far as I know, this month's recipe is a mini version of Karnataka's weddings' staple dessert - Chiroti since the recipe is more similar to chiroti preparation than phenis.

Chirotis are synonymous to weddings in my dictionary since I have eaten them only during those functions. I am not aware of the present scenario but when we were kids, traditional style Brahmin weddings in Bangalore region used to have chirotis served mandatorily at the end. They are strong competitors to holiges, the other famous dessert from the region. Chirotis are flaky discs of about 10 inches diameter. When you tear a piece, you would be able to notice the layers. Chiroti itself is not sweet and so, usually powdered sugar is sprinkled on top and badam milk / milk is poured on it so that you can dunk it in the milk-sugar mixture and enjoy it. A pheni is either dunked in sugar syrup during preparation and it will have a sugar coating over the surface like a badusha. Or it can be eaten with milk - sugar mixture. Chiroti on the other hand is usually served with milk - sugar mixture. I am not aware about "behind the scenes" of chiroti making but my guess is that probably the cooks will go with many layers of large rolled circles of dough to get those super sized chirotis at wedding feasts.  

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chiroti rave / pheni rava / fine semolina
1/2 cup maida / all purpose flour
A pinch of salt
3 Tbsp solidified ghee
2 Tbsp rice flour
Oil to fry
1/2 cup sugar powder
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 clove powdered (optional)

Method:
1. Mix the sugar, cardamom and clove powders in a bowl and keep aside. Or powder sugar, cardamom and clove together.
2. Combine the semolina and /or flour, 1 Tbsp solidified ghee and salt in a mixing bowl, rubbing the mixture with your hands. Then gradually add water and form a dough that of poori / roti consistency. Cover and allow the mixture to rest at least for an hour. The more the resting time, better the chirotis / phenis would be.

3. When you are ready to prepare the phenis / chirotis, whisk the remaining ghee and riceflour in a small cup and keep aside.

4. Divide the dough into 5 equal portions. Roll them out into thin circles. Apply the rice flour - ghee paste on each of the rolled out circle. Don't worry about getting perfect circles. It is hard because of the elasticity of the dough.

5. Place the rolled out circles, placing one on top of another so that you have layers of them with the flour - ghee paste in between. Apply the paste on the surface of the top rolled out circle too.

6. Starting from one end, go on rolling the layered circles like a carpet, to form a tight log. Apply the paste while rolling too. Tuck the ends securely.

7. Cut the log into one inch pieces. Roll out each piece again into a circle or press lightly with your hand.

8. Heat oil in a small wok for deep frying. Fry the rolled out circles on low flame until done, taking care they don't change the color. Drain them on paper towels. Serve warm with sprinkling on powdered sugar and pouring on some almond milk. Chirotis are best served warm but they can be stored for longer periods at room temperature.

Note:
1. This recipe source uses only chiroti rava. There are versions which use only all purpose flour and some use both flour and fine semolina.
2. If fine semolina is not available, grind and sieve the regular semolina to get a finer consistency.
3. For quick fix badam milk, add MTR's badam mix to warm full fat milk or evaporated milk and combine well.

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