Daal Dhokli

I had my first experience of this traditional Gujarati breakfast dish in Om Restaurant, Koramangala. I had no clue what to expect when I ordered it but what came in a small pot was a mouth watering dish which is so light and so filling at the same time. The main ingredient is daal or lenthil and the twist is added by atta or wheat flour. Basically it is a one-pot-meal which can be taken best as breakfast but not a bad idea to have for dinner as well.

Preparation and cooking time: 1.5hrs

Ingredients:

• Toor dal / Yellow split pea / Thuvaram parippu - 1 cups
• Peanuts - 3-4 spoons 
• Fenugreek seeds / Methi - 1 spoon
• For dough:
• Atta / Wheat flour or all purpose flour - 1 cup
• Besan / Chick pea flour / Kadala maavu - 3 spoons
• Ajwain / Carom seeds / Omam - 1 spoon
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 spoon
• Red chilly powder - 1 spoon
• Salt - to taste
• Spices - set 1
• Dry red chilly - 1
• Cloves - 4
• Ajwain / Carom seeds / Omam - 1/2 spoon
• Cinnamon stick - 2 inch
• Jeera - 1 spoon
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 spoon
• Asafoetida - 1/2 spoon
• Ginger paste - 1 spoon
• Curry leaves
• Tomatoes - 2
• Green chilies - 2
• Lemon - 1/2
• Tamarind extract - 1/2 small cup
• Spices set 2 -
• Jeera powder/ Cumin powder - 1 spoon
• Coriander powder - 1 spoon
• Red chilly powder - 1 spoon
• Salt - to taste
• Edible oil

Preparation:

• Cook lenthil (dal), peanuts and fenugreek in a pressure cooker with 3 cups of water for 3 whistles.

• In a bowl, mix all the ingredients mentioned above for dough.

• Make a thick dough out of this mixture by adding warm water. Knead well and keep it closed for 20 mins.

• Wait for the pressure to come down and open the pressure cooker. Dal should be very mushy by now. You can mash it with a spoon to make it further mushy.

• Heat a cooking pan and pour 4 spoon of edible oil.
• Add dry red chilly, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let them flutter. 
• Add all the spices mentioned in set 1 and saute well.
• Add chopped green chilies and curry leaves. Saute well.

• Add chopped tomatoes and saute well for 2-3 mins. 

• Add dal and mix well. 

• Add all the spices mentioned under spice set 2 and tamarind extract and mix well. Let it cook for 5mins.
• Add 2-3 cups of water so that the dish is not too thick.

• Meanwhile, take the dough and roll it to make chapathis. Roll it to medium thickness. It should not be too thin nor too thick. 
• Cut them into diamond shapes and keep aside.

• Slowly add the atta pieces into the cooking dal. Stir slowly.

• Add more salt if required.
• Cook it closed for 20 mins in low flame. Switch off after 20 mins.
• Squeeze lemon and mix well.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and also chopped onions (optional).

Serve hot!

I have seen that in authentic dal dhokli, jaggery is also added. I have not used jaggery as I am not a fan of sweet-spice mixture. You can add jaggery if you are okay with sweet-spicy mixed taste.

The dish has a long list of ingredients and is also time consuming. So do not prepare it when you are in a hurry. Weekend is probably the best time for first timers to try this dish. Enjoy this wonderful and healthy Gujarati dish!

Idiyappam / String Hoppers

Idiyappam is a delicious breakfast popular in South India, especially Kerala. This recipe was requested by many of my friends. This dish is also known as String Hoppers.

Cooking time: 30 mins

 

Ingredients:

• Finely ground rice flour - 1 cup
• Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
• Boiled water - 2 cups
• Salt - 1 spoon
• Edible oil - 1 spoon
• Idiyappam maker (for making the strings)
• Idli maker (for steaming)

Preparation:

• Mix the finely ground rice flour with 1 spoon salt. 
• Very carefully add the boiled water to make a soft dough.
• Use 1 spoon edible oil so that it doesn't stick to your fingers. Making the right dough is the secret to getting soft  Idiyappams.

• Fill the idiyappam maker with the dough.

• Now take an Idli maker and carefully make the strings using the idiyappam maker. Close it with the lid and cook for 10 mins in high flame.

• After 10 mins you can see that soft idiyappams are ready.

Idiyappams can be taken with grated coconut and sugar. Alternatively, you can prepare a simple coconut chutney as a side dish. Enjoy this simple but delicious breakfast.

How to prepare simple coconut red chilly chutney:

Ingredients:

• Red chillies - 4
• Tamarind - little
• Garlic cloves - 2
• Grated coconut - 1/2 cocnut
• Salt

Preparation:

• Grind all the above ingredients and transfer to a bowl.
• Seasoning:
• In a frying pan, heat edible oil.
• Add mustard seeds, black gram (urad dal), pearl onions (2), full red chilly (2), curry leaves.
• Add the seasoning to the curry.
• Simple yet tasty chutney is ready!

Breakfast special: Bread Upma (pudding)

This simple breakfast usually comes into picture when you have some left over bread pieces and you don't want to waste them. Very quick, very tasty. My version of Bread Upma is not very crunchy. It is slightly spongy, spicy and tangy.

Preparation and cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• Bread pieces - 5
• Tomatoes - 2 large or 3 small
• Onion - 1
• Green chilly - 1
• Chopped and crushed ginger
• Turmeric powder - 1 spoon
• Sambar powder - 1 spoon
• Salt
• Curd/ Yoghurt - 2 spoons
• Mustard seeds
• Curry leaves
• Edible oil
• Ghee/ Butter

Preparation:

• Cut the bread pieces into cubes or tear into random pieces.
• Heat a frying pan, add ghee/ butter and fry the bread crumbs. Let them turn to golden brown. Keep aside.

• Heat a cooking pan, add edible oil, mustard seeds and let them splutter.
• Add chopped onions, split green chilly, curry leaves and crushed ginger. Saute well till onions turn golden brown.

• Add chopped tomatoes and saute till they become very soft.

• Add sambar powder, turmeric powder. Mix yoghurt/ curd and salt and add it as well. Stir well for 2 mins.

• Add the bread crumbs and mix well.

• Close it with a lid and cook in low flame for 4 mins.

• Serve hot!

This is a good way to not let your bread pieces go wasted. A breakfast which would be loved by both kids and adults!

Breakfast special: Ven pongal/ Khara pongal

Pongal is a South Indian breakfast which is very simple to prepare. It is one dish which just cannot go wrong. Ven Pongal or Khara Pongal is the spicy version of Pongal. There is also a Sweet Pongal. Let's see how to make the Khara (spicy) version. It is not only delicious but also very healthy and easy to digest.

Cooking time: 30 mins. Serves 2

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Moong dal/Green Gram/ Paasi paruppu/ Cherupayar parippu - 1/2 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper seeds (full)
• Cumin seeds/ Jeera seeds
• Chopped ginger 
• Curry leaves
• Cashews (fried in ghee/butter)
• Ghee/ Butter - 2 spoons

Preparation:

• Wash rice and fry it in a deep pan for 2 mins. No oil or ghee required. Keep aside.
• Wash Moong dal and fry it for 2 mins. No oil or ghee required. Keep aside.
• Take a pressure cooker and transfer fried rice and dal. Add 3.5 to 4 cups of water.
• Add salt and mix well. Cook it in the pressure cooker and wait for 7 whistles and switch off the stove.
• Wait till the steam goes off completely. This could take 10-15 mins.
• Take a small frying pan and heat. Pour 3 spoons of oil and once it is hot, add cumin seeds. Wait till it crackles.
• Add the chopped ginger, pepper seeds and curry leaves and fry for 1 min.
• Open the pressure cooker once the steam is off, stir the mixture well. Rice-dal will be mushy. This is what we want.
• Now add the fried ginger-pepper-curry leaves-cumin seeds mixture and mix well. Add fried cashews as well and mix.

• Take a small bowl and transfer some of the mixture to it and now topple this into a plate. 

• Pongal is ready to eat. Adding 2 spoons of ghee/ butter on top of this will only add to the taste.

Combine hot pongal with delicious sambar to get the best of both the dishes. For yummy sambar, 

refer -> http://she-simple-healthy-elegant.blogspot.in/2013/12/delicious-sambar.html

Breakfast special: Mangalore Buns

Mangalore buns is a breakfast/ snack dish popular in the city of Mangalore. I used to have it during my days of working in Mangalore. It's taste is very similar to Kerala's Unniappam. You can have these buns with or without any sauce. I love having it as it is.

Ingredients:

• Atta/ Wheat flour - 2 small cups
• Small Bananas - 4
• Jaggery - 1 lump
• Curd/ Yoghurt - 2 spoons
• Baking soda - a pinch
• Ghee/ Butter - 1 spoon

Preparation:

If you want to make these buns for breakfast, you should make the dough on the previous night. If you want it for a snack, then make the dough in the morning.

• Mash the bananas to make a puree either by hand or by using a food blender. Keep it aside.
• Take the atta/ wheat flour in a large vessel and add the banana puree to it. 
• Also add the crushed jaggery lump and mix well.
• Add 2 spoons of curd/ yogurt and a pinch of soda ad knead well.
• Add little water if required.
• Add a spoon of ghee to avoid the dough from sticking to your hand.
• Make a thick/hard dough and keep it closed overnight.

• Next day you can start rolling for the buns.
• Make lemon sized balls out of the dough.
• Roll them to make small but thick roti/ pooris. They should not become thin like we roll for phulkas/ rotis.

• Use additional wheat flour to roll, to avoid the dough from sticking.
• Dust out any additional flour from the rolled dough before frying.
• Start frying in a deep pan like how we do for pooris. Do not over fry it to make it hard.

Mangalore buns have the light sweet taste which comes from the banana-jaggery mix. It is very different from most of our other breakfast recipes. Try it out this weekend and let me know if you liked it.