(Onion Dosa, Uthappam Varieties, Uthappa, Oothappam)
Uthappam is a type of dosa, which is thicker than the regular dosa with some topping. The topping could be onion, carrot, coconut, tomato, beetroot, cabbage, capsicum, cheese, egg etc.. The topping could be mixture of multiple vegetables as well. Sweet uthappam is made with coconut and sugar topping.
Uthappam is made with the regular idli-dosa batter. Usually whenever I make homemade idli batter, the first 3-4 days I make idli or dosa. After the 4th day, the leftover batter will start becoming sour and may not yield good idlis and dosas. Uthappam is a perfect dish to make with this batter. I often make with fresh batter too because I love uthappams. You can use store bought idli/dosa batter and make this too. The best things about this is that each person gets to choose their favorite topping.
Some people just mix the toppings with the idli batter and make uthappams. It is easier but doesn't give the authentic taste. When you add the toppings after spreading the dosas, the toppings get well roasted when you flip it. This tastes so much better than the other way of making.
The famous uthappam found in all restaurants is the Onion Uthappam. Here I'll give you the recipe for onion uthappam. You can just change the toppings and make different uthappams of your choice.
Recipe For Onion Uthappam -
Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes per uthappam
Serves:4
Ingredients
Idli Batter - 2 cups
Onions - 4 (finely chopped/ sliced)
Green Chili - 3 (minced) or Idli Podi - 2 tbsp
Cilantro (Coriander Leaves) - 2 strands (finely chopped)
Oil/ Ghee – as needed (to make uthappams)
Method -
1. Chop the onion finely or into thin slices. You can use regular onions or sambar onions. Usully finely chopped green chilies, cilantro and a pinch of salt are mixed with the onions. For the sake of kids, I do not add that. Instead I sprinkle some idli podi while making the uthappams.
2. Heat a griddle or frying pan or dosa tawa. Smear some oil on the gridlle using a brush or a paper towel. You can use a non stick pan to make healthier uthappams but to get the traditional crispy uthappams, a cast iron griddle is recommended.
3.Pour a big ladle full of the idli batter in the center of a heated pan. Let it spread on its own to take a round shape. Just spread it a little in circular motion. Do not spread it thin as the uthappams have to be thick and spongy.
4.Sprinkle some idli podi on top of the uthappam and add few chopped onions. If your prefer, add finely chopped cilantro and green chili too.
5. Drizzle few drop of oil/ ghee around the edges. Also add few drops of oil in the middle. Cook on medium low flame so that the middle gets cooked properly. I usually mix up about 1/4 cup of sesame oil and 2 tbsp of ghee together and use it for making dosas.
6. When the base is golden brown i.e after approximately 2 minutes, flip the uthappam and cook the other side. Gently press with a spatula so that the toppings get roasted.
7. After about a minute, the other side will be cooked with the onions well roasted. The uthappams will be crispy on the outside with soft spongy inside.
8. Carefully remove from the pan and serve hot. This tastes best when served hot hot straight out of the pan.
(Basic Idli, Spongy Idlis, South Indian idli, Plain Idli, Fluffy Idli)
dli is a staple breakfast in South India and SriLanka. It is a comfort food for most South Indians. It is one of the South Indian delicacies that is popular and enjoyed by people throughout India.
Idlis are made in two popular ways : using parboiled rice and using idli (rice) rava. The first method is traditionally followed by in Tamilnadu and Kerala while the second method is followed in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Here I will be sharing the one with parboiled rice.
These soft, spongy and savory rice cakes are made by making a batter of rice and black lentils, fermenting the batter and steaming it in special idli moulds. It is also served in weddings or other special occasions with sambhar, medhu vadai, chutney or idli milagai podi. It also goes very well with non veg gravies like chicken curry, egg curry etc and veg kurmas. Due to its soft texture it is given to kids as early as 6 months. Since it is steamed, it is healthy and gets easily digested. So it is also commonly given to ailing patients and old people.
Idlis are traditionally made in a special idli stand. It has a tree of idli plates that can be steamed in a idli cooker or pressure cooker or any vessel. These days idli stands are available in different sizes and forms. There is electric idli cooker, microwave idli stand, non stick stove top idli stand, mini idli stand etc. You can choose and buy one according to your choice. For those of you who do not have idli stand, you can still make idlis using stainless steel tumblers.
Recipe For Making Soft Idlis
Preparation time: 10-15 hours (including fermentation time)
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients
Idli rice - 1 3/4 cup
Black gram - 1/2 cup
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tbsp
Method
1.Wash and soak rice in a bowl. Wash and soak the black gram and fenugreek seeds in another bowl. Soak both for at least 2-6 hours. I have shared the procedure of making idli batter in detail in a separate post.
2.Drain the water and grind the black gram to a smooth paste using a wet grinder or Indian mixie. Remove the batter into a bowl.
3.Next grind the rice smoothly. Remove the batter into the same bowl.
4.Add the salt and mix both the batters thoroughly.
5.Now leave the batter to ferment for 7-12 hours till the batter rises to almost double the size.
6.To make the idlis, first take about 1 cup of water in the idli cooker or pressure cooker. Keep it on flame and bring to boil.
7.Grease the idli plates with few drops of oil and fill with idli batter. Fill the molds with the fermented idli batter till it is 3/4 th full.
8.Place it in the idli cooker. Steam and cook for about 10 minutes.
Detailed Steps For Making Soft Idlis -
Soak rice and black gram separately in water for at least 1 hour. Soaking overnight can be done too. Add fenugreek seeds to black gram. Increase the quantity if you are making a larger batch. I have shared the procedure of making idli batter in detail in a separate post. Here I will just quickly run through the steps.
Drain the water and grind the black gram to a silky soft texture. You can use a grinder or mixer. Just take a little batter and feel between your fingers if it has become a smooth paste.
Next grind the rice smoothly. It is OK to have a slightly grainy texture while grinding rice. Mix it with black gram batter along with salt.
Now leave the batter to rest and ferment for at least 7 hours till the batter rises to almost double the size. It may take anywhere between 7 -12 hours to ferment.
To make the idlis, grease the idli plates with few drops of oil and fill with idli batter. Traditionally instead of greasing a thin white cloth is spread on the idli plate. I just do it by greasing with little sesame oil. If you are using a non-stick idli stand you do not have to grease it. Do not fill the molds all the way through, just leave a little space for expansion. You also get mini idli plates which are a great option for kids. Use a small spoon to fill batter in that.
Steam them for about 10 minutes till they rise and become firm. You can check if the idlis are done by inserting a knife or toothpick. If it comes out clean, the idlis are done. If some batter sticks to the knife, cook it for couple of minutes more.
Switch off the stove and leave it undisturbed for about 5 minutes. Then use a wet spoon to gently remove the idlis from the idli plate. Store it in a hotbox till you are ready to eat.
Variation (Making Idli without Idli Maker) -
Instead of idli mould, you can use ever silver tumblers to make tumbler idli or glass idli. I have explained in detail in a separate post. It tastes the same as idli cooked in mold, but with the shape of the tumbler.
These days you get microwave idli steamers also. It usually comes with 2 idli plates with 4 mold each. There is also microwave mini idli plate available in market. To make that take just 1/4 cup of water in the microwave bowl. Grease the idli plates and fill with batter. Cover with the lid and microwave on high powder for 2-4 minutes. My microwave is 900 watts and it took 4 minutes to cook 8 idlis and 2 minutes to cook 4 idlis. You need to experiment and find the cooking time with your oven. Just insert with a knife and see if the idlis are cooked. If the batter sticks to the knife, microwave for 1 or 2 minutes more.
Serving Suggestion -
Idlis served with piping hot sambhar, coconut chutney and vada is an excellent combination.
Idli is one versatile dish that goes well with different curries like chicken curry, vada curry, tomato curry or any other vegetarian curries.
This can also be served with any chutney varieties. My favorite is with carrot chutney. You can find many ideas to make different chutneys here.
One of the traditional homestyle combination is idli served with idli podi. The idli podi mixed with some ghee or sesame oil tastes awesome with spongy idlis.
Leftover Idlis can be used to make sambhar idli, curd idli, fried idli, masala idli, chilly idli or idli upma.
Idli with Coconut Chutney, Sambar and Podi
Ven Pongal -
(Venpongal, Spicy Pongal, Kaara Pongal)
During our initial days of marriage, it was decided between us that we would take each other to all the important places of our lives. My hubby took me to see his school, college, the local playground, the common meeting point of friend, his 1st place of work and many more. My husband says that he loved his post graduation days the best and my curious mind wanted to know the reason behind it. On being asked, he said the breakfast is super tasty in the PG mess. It was only then I asked him his favorite cuisines and dishes and importantly which breakfast he relished the most in his PG days. My husband quickly replied with lot of pride that no one can ever match the taste of “VEN PONGAL” of his hostel. Now, that was kind of an open challenge on me and I had to prove him wrong. I knew deep within that it was not difficult and I told him I can make the best ven pongal for him.
Ven pongal is an authentic breakfast dish from Tamilnadu and is popular among all the south Indian states. This along with chakkara pongal (Sweet pongal) are the main dishes prepared on the Tamil harvest festival Pongal or Sankranti. “Pongu” in Tamil means boil over and “Ven” in Tamil means white. Ven pongal is made from rice and yellow lentil or the moong dhal which is boiled over and cooked completely that it has to be mashed easily. The tempering of pepper and cumin seeds in ghee, poured over the top gives pongal its unique aroma and taste. Ven pongal is also made as a prasadam or offering to god in temples and at homes during Varalakshmi puja and navratri.
After we returned from our short trip to my hubby’s college, I cooked pongal as a brunch (I usually do that) on the immediate Sunday. He relished it so much and finally had to beat his ego and say my pongal is the best. Happy pongal cooking!!!
Recipe for Ven Pongal
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4 - 5
Ingredients
Raw rice - 1 cup
Green gram dal - 3/4 cup
Asaefoetida - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Ginger - 1" piece (grated)
Water - 5 cups
For Tempering
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Whole black pepper - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 6-7
Ghee - 2-3 tbsp
Cashew nuts - 6-7
Method -
1.Soak the rice and dal in 5 cups of water for minimum of 10 minutes.
2.Add required salt, grated ginger and asafoetida to this mixture and pressure cook for 5 whistles. (1-2 whistles more than making regular rice)
3.Heat ghee in a small pan, splatter cumin seeds, black pepper, curry leaves.
4.Add this to the cooked rice dal mixture after the pressure is released.
5.Fry the cashews in some ghee and add that too.
6.Mix everything together even when it is still hot. The rice and dal should be partly mashed up.
7.Ven pongal is ready to be served.
Variations:
Dry roasting the moong dal or the yellow lentil prior to cooking gives additional flavor to the dish.
Diet watchers can replace the white rice with brown rice or any type of millet. You can also increase the proportion of moong dal.
You could also add vegetables like carrot, beans, spinach and green peas and make vegetable pongal.
Dosa
Rice - 3.5 cups
Urad dal - 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds - 2 tblsp
Bengalgram dal - 2tblsp (optional)
Gingelly Oil - to fry dosas
Salt - to taste
Method :
1.Wash and soak the rice and urad dal with bengalgram dal and fenugreek seeds separately or together . Traditionally it used to soaked separately and ground separately. But with modern mixies and grinders you can grind everything together itself.
2.Similarly overnight soaking is good. But for urgent situations, even 1 hour of soaking will do for modern mixies and grinders.
3.After soaking, drain and grind it to a smooth paste with salt and water enough to make a batter little thinner than idli batter. If the batter becomes thicker you can always add water later.
4.Let this batter ferment overnight till it raises to double its size.
5.Heat a traditional indalium or cast iron dosa pan. You can also use non stick dosa pans.
6.The pan should become hot enough so that when you sprinkle few drops of water on the pan, it should sizzle right away.
7.Just add 3-4 drops of gingelly oil and spread it all over the pan using an onion slice or a clean kitchen towel.
8.Pour a ladle full of batter. Spread it using the back of the spoon using circular motion to about 9 inch round dosa.
9.Add few drops of oil around the edges of the dosa.
10.Once it turns slightly brown and the edges start lifting, flip and brown the other side too.
Tips
1.You can use the idli batter itself for making dosas by adding little water to make it thinner.
2.The above proportion will give nice crispy dosas. If you want softer dosas, reduce the rice quantity to 2.5 cups.
3.You can make dosas in fun shapes for the kids. Check out for more kids dosa ideas here.
