Avarekaalu Dose / Spicy Field Beans Crepes

Come winter season, streets in Bangalore area would be flooded with avarekayi, aka fresh hyacinth or field beans. A favorite of the locals, the bean is extensively used in cooking and enjoyed through out the season in the region. During my previous visit to India, I happened to see them surprisingly in the month of July when we went to eat at the Thindi beedhi / Eat street in V. V. Puram, Basavanagudi. We bought some avarekayi to try later at home while I tasted these dose there. 

Here is a delicious breakfast option using these beans if you are bored with the regular dosa and looking for a colorful and nutritious variation. These dose are prepared similar to uttapam with toppings thrown over though the dose are made with fresh batter. Feel free to use the measurements given below as a guideline and adjust the quantities of toppings as preferred. Minced dill leaves is a flavorful addition to this dose which I have omitted. Even spring onions can be used. 

Ingredients: (Yield - about 10 dosa)
4 cups dosa batter

Salt to taste

About 1/2 cup hitakida avaraekayi / skinned field beans *

1 big onion, finely minced

2 spicy green chilis, finely minced

Minced cilantro as needed

Oil to make dosa

* Fresh or frozen field beans can be used to make these dose / dosa. If using fresh beans, they must be skinned. 

Directions:

* Add salt to dosa batter if it was not done before. 

* If using fresh hitakida avarekayi, pressure cook for one whistle adding salt and little water. If using frozen beans, nuke them in a microwave adding little water and salt. Drain and proceed with the recipe.

* Combine cooked and drained beans, minced onion, green chili and cilantro. Keep this topping mixture aside. (Minced dill leaves, ginger and cumin seeds can be added if preferred.)

* Heat a griddle / tawa and pour a ladle of dosa batter at the center and spread in a circular fashion and quickly sprinkle the toppings generously over the dose covering it entirely. (Or pour a ladleful of batter at the center of the griddle and spread a little. Sprinkle the toppings over it and again spread the batter lightly in a circular fashion, with the back of the ladle so that the toppings stick better to the dosa.)

* Drizzle oil around the edges and cook until the surface doesn't look wet. Flip, drizzle some more oil around the edges and cook the other side as well.

* Remove the cooked dosa with a spatula and repeat the procedure with the remaining batter.

* Serve them warm with chutney.

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A - Z Indian Street Foods ~ T for Tikki Puri

Today's street food is a popular one in Bangalore and is on the similar lines as the nippat masala I posted earlier in this series. In fact, there are a few similar chaats locally where only the base changes and one ends up with a new kind of chaat and a new name. 

The flat puris in this recipe can be replaced with chaklis, chips, tomato slices and so on to end up with different versions. Today's chaat is a simple one to be honest but quite a tasty one if you ask me. I had used store bought sweet chutney and flat puris here and so, the chaat didn't take much time to assemble.

 Ingredients: (Yield 2 servings)
About 15 - 20 papdis / flat puris *
1 big onion, finely minced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
1 tsp. chaat masala 
1 tsp. Salt to taste 
1 tsp. red chili powder (optional)
1/2 cup green chutney
1/2 cup sweet tamarind chutney
1/2 cup congress kadalekaayi / masala peanuts
1/2 cup sev
1/2 cup puffed rice
* Puffed puris can be used as well.

Assembling tikki puri:
* Combine minced onion, chopped cilantro and grated carrot in a mixing bowl.
* Arrange 7 to 10 puris on a serving plate. 

* Place a spoonful of vegetable mixture on each puri. Sprinkle a pinch or two of chat masala, salt and chili powder if using over each of them.

* Drizzle 1/2 spoon each of green chutney and tamarind - date chutney over each puri. 

* Then top each puri with sev (crisp, deep fried chickpea flour vermicelli) generously.

* Next sprinkle the spicy peanuts as much as needed.

* Finally top it off with a handful or two of puffed rice and serve immediately.

 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 87

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A - Z Indian Street Foods ~ N for Nippat Masala / Nippattu Masala Chaat

Today is turn of 'N' in my alphabetical journey of Indian street food and I leaned towards another Bangalore special for it. It is nippat(u) masala and as the name suggests, nippattu is the star of this chaat dish. It is super crunchy, loaded with flavors. Nippattu aka chekkalu aka thattai is a traditional snack from the southern parts of India. It is basically a deep fried, crispy rice flour discs. For this particular  chaat, mini sized nippattu are needed. In case, if using the regular big sized nippattu, break each one into 3 or 4 pieces and proceed the same way. They should at least about flat poori size to hold the toppings. Feel free to use store bought nippattu as it makes the preparation of this chaat quite simple. Thanks to my husband, I always have a few bags of store bought nippattu at home and I used those here.

This recipe is quite flexible. Consider the quantities of ingredients mentioned below as guidelines and they can be increased or decreased to suit you. Let your palate be the right judge. Unlike the golgappa puris / flat pooris, this nippat base doesn't get soggy quickly. (Unless you leave it aside for an hour or so.) However keep the vegetables prepped so that you can assemble just before serving. (And if anyone is wondering why individual pieces of my nippat masala are not showing in pictures is because I had sprinkled toppings finally over the entire plate.)

Ingredients: (Yield 2 generous servings)
16 small or 4 big nippatu / thattai 
About 1/2 cup green chutney
About 1/2 cup sweet tamarind chutney
1 onion, finely minced
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled & grated
3 tbsp. cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 cup fine sev *
1/2 cup congress kadalekayi **

1 cup puffed rice

Red chili powder to taste

Chaat masala to taste

Salt to taste 

* Sev - Crisply deep fried chickpea flour strands
** Any spicy peanuts can be substituted. I used microwaved spicy peanuts.

Method:

* Combine chopped onions, tomatoes, cilantro and grated carrot in a mixing bowl and keep aside.

* Arrange small nippat equally on two serving plates. (If using the regular big sized nippattu, break each one into 3 or 4 pieces and proceed the same way.)

* Apply a tsp. of green chutney and a tsp. of sweet chutney on each nippat. (Increase or decrease the quantities of chutneys depending upon how much spice level is preferred.)

* Spoon about a tbsp. or more quantity of vegetable mixture over chutney smeared nippat pieces.

* Sprinkle a pinch of salt, red chili powder and chaat masala uniformly over the nippat. 

* Next top it with generous amount of sev and congress kadalekayi. Finally top it with a big handful of puffed rice. 

* Lift each nippat along with all the toppings and pop it into your mouth to savor the flavors.

So far, on this series,
A for Aloo Kabli
B for Bajra Vada
C for Chooda Matar
D for Dahi Batata Puri
E for Elaichi - Kesar Lassi
F for Fulwadi
G for Ghugni Chaat
H for Hare Chane Ki Chaat
I for Indori Garaadu Chaat
J for Jamun Bun
K for Khakra - Chana Bhel 
L for Locho
M for Masala Puri Chaat

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 87

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A - Z Indian Street Foods ~ M for Masala Puri / Masala Puri Chaat

Today's chaat comes from south Indian state of Karnataka, that has gradually become popular in other states as well. Masala puri or masala puri chaat is a yummy street food where the crushed pooris are served with a spicy, hot peas curry and the usual chaat toppings like onions, tomatoes, cilantro, sev, sweet chutney and a sprinkling of chat masala. It is quite a simple recipe though it doesn’t appear so given the long list of ingredients. If you have store bought pooris, meetha chutney and sev, all you need is to cook peas curry. The peas curry also can be prepared in advance and can be reheated before assembling and serving thus making it a convenient chaat to prepare for family / guests without hassle. Most of the recipes over the web prepare the spice masala from the scratch and I realized that those are the ingredients found in pav bhaji masala. This recipe is therefore adapted from here for it’s simplicity. My husband appreciated this chaat the most among the lot I posted in the series so far. It was so good that I don't think I need another recipe for masala puri chaat. 

List of ingredients for peas masala:

Part 1:

1 cup dried peas, soaked overnight or 7- 8 hours

1 potato, peeled and roughly chopped

1/8 tsp. turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Part 2:

1 tbsp. oil

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 green chili, slit lengthwise

1 clove garlic, chopped (I didn't use any.)

1 inch ginger, grated or chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

Kashmiri or any similar red chili powder that is less spicier

1/8 tsp. turmeric powder

2 tsp. pav bhaji masala powder

1 tsp. or to taste aamchur powder / dry mango powder

1/4 tsp. garam masala powder

1/2 tsp. sweetener 

Salt to taste

Ingredients for each serving of chaat:

About 10 flat puri / papdi

Sweet tamarind chutney as needed

2 tbsp. finely minced red onion

2 tbsp. finely minced tomato 

1 tsp. finely minced coriander leaves / cilantro

1 pinch of red chili powder 

2 pinches of chaat masala

Black salt (optional)

Sev (Deep fried, crispy chickpea flour vermicelli)

Preparing peas masala:

* Drain the soaked peas and rinse once with fresh water. Pressure cook peas, potato, salt and turmeric along with 2 cups of water for 3 whistles.

* Mash the vegetables and keep aside. (I pulsed everything in a food processor a couple of times so that I had a coarsely crushed peas - vegetable mixture.)

* Meanwhile, prepare the masala base for the peas curry. Heat oil in a pan or kadai. Add onions, garlic, ginger and chili and saute until onion turns translucent. Next add tomatoes and cook until mushy.

* Cool the onion and tomato mixture and blend to a smooth paste and pour into the same pan. Also add peas and mashed potato.

* Add the remaining spice powders in Part B and salt. (Remember that salt was added while cooking peas as well.) Add water and mix well. The consistency of the curry should be pourable like shown in the images. If the consistency appears thicker, add some more water and cook. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Slowly simmer the mixture for 10 - 12 minutes. 

Serving masala puri:

* Place as many puris as you wish to serve in a serving bowl. 

* Crush them roughly and pour 2 - 3 ladles of green pea curry or as much preferred. 

* Drizzle meetha chutney / dates - tamarind chutney over the curry generously or as preferred.

* Top it with minced onion and tomato as much as preferred. 

* Sprinkle a few pinches of chaat masala, red chili powder and also black salt if needed.

* Top it with a generous dose of sev and minced cilantro. Serve immediately. 

* If using puris, they soak up the liquid and turn soggy quick whereas papdis don't get soggy quicker and may add an extra crunch. 

Notes:

1. White dried peas or green ones can be used.

2. In lieu of puris, flat puris / papdi can be used. 

3. A chopped carrot can be added along with potato and peas while pressure cooking. Or grated carrot can be used as topping too if preferred.

4. The quantities of spice powders mentioned can be used as guide lines and adjust the quantities according to your taste preference or level of tolerance for spices.

So far, on this series,
A for Aloo Kabli
B for Bajra Vada
C for Chooda Matar
D for Dahi Batata Puri
E for Elaichi - Kesar Lassi
F for Fulwadi
G for Ghugni Chaat
H for Hare Chane Ki Chaat
I for Indori Garaadu Chaat
J for Jamun Bun
K for Khakra - Chana Bhel 
L for Locho

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 87

An InLinkz Link-up

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