April 6, 2009

Clicking Spring Mint and Garlic Chives, Egg Jalfrezi, Brown Rice and Besan Uttappa

My Spring Mint and Garlic Chives, goes to Bee and Jai's "Click-Spring/Autumn" event.

Egg Jalfrezi, goes to Sudeshna's "Eggs" event who is celebrating her first blog anniversary.

Brown Rice, Besan/Chickpea flour and Carrot Uttappa, goes to Trupti who is guest hosting "Cooking for Kids-Rice" event, which is started by Sharmi.

Thanks to all of you ladies, enjoy my 150th post at Aroma! :)

Spring Mint and Garlic Chives from my backyard!
Mint and Garlic Chives

Camera: Sony Cyber-Shot 8.1pxl in Macro mode.

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Beautiful Spring Tulips which I clicked without the home owner's permission while driving to the next city! I saw these Tulips in their front yard, one of my favorite flowers of all, stopped the car, took the photo and ran back to the car with a lightening speed!! :D

Spring Tulips
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About Jalfrezi:
Wikipedia says "The jalfrezi dates from the times of the British Raj when it was created as a way of using leftover meat; the chillies helped to disguise any disagreeable taste. The name comes indirectly from Bengali jhāl, spicy food, and Urdu parhezī, suitable for a diet"

Egg Jalfrezi:

Jalfrezi is a tasty sweet and spicy concoction of Bell Peppers, Tomato and Onion. You can add any vegetable of your choice or mixed veggies, meat or hard boiled Eggs into this thickish gravy.
There are many ways to make the Jalfrezi, here is my milder version since my kids like milder and sweeter sauce than spicy. You can add green chillies if you like, gives it a nice heat. I added red bell peppers for sweetness and color.

How to make Egg Jalfrezi my way!
Hard boil 6 eggs in water for 15mins, take off the heat, pour out the hot water and add cold water. This makes the Egg shells peel easy after they are cold. Peel the shells, cut the eggs 1/2 way to the center but do not cut it thru' to split them into half.

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil + 2 tsp Butter, add 1tsp Cumin seeds. When they turn reddish, add 1" grated fresh Ginger, saute for 2 mins.
2. Add 2 medium sized thinly sliced onions, saute for 3 mins, until they are soft. Add 2 large red Bell peppers, sliced into the sauce, stir fry for 3 mins, until they wilt a bit and soften.
2. Now, add 2-3 Plum Tomatoes, sliced to the pan, stir again and let it cook and oil shows on top a little, sauce leaves the sides of the pan.
3. Now, add enough salt, 1/4 or more tsp Chilli pd or Paprika (you can add green chillies too), 1/2 tsp Sugar, 1 1/2 tsp Coriander powder, 1/2 tsp good quality Garam masala pd, homemade is better. Mix well and add 3/4 cup water and 1 tbsp cream or full cream milk (optional). Simmer for 5 mins.
4. Take off the heat, adjust the salt and chilli pd. Sprinkle 3 tbsp chopped Cilantro.

Serve with Lemon slices and cooked Basmati rice.

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Uttappa:
In Karnataka or in Kannada, we call Uttappam as Uttappa, although method of making these is always the same. You use the usual Dosa or Idli batter, soured overnight to use the next day and adding onion, Tomato, chillies etc on top to make Uttappa like this recipe I posted long time ago at my Foodie's Hope blog. They are usually served with chutney or Sambhar, a thick dal dip.

For this event which we are cooking for kids, I came up with these trying to make it little healthier adding Brown rice, Carrots and Besan. Since we are mixing protein packed Besan which is Chickpea flour to finely ground rice, there is no need to ferment this Uttappa batter, go ahead and make them after few hrs of grinding rice.

Quick to make and kids love them too if you add Carrots and green peppers to make them colorful. Instead of chutney, added ghee and sprinkled my homemade Chutney pudi which is a coarsely ground mixed dal powder with spices. My chutney pudi is not very spicy but adds great color and nutrition to Uttappa. Here is my version of Uttappa, enjoy! :)

Brown Rice, Besan and Carrot masala Uttappa, topped with ghee and chutney pudi:
Looks like Pizza, isn't it? Great to serve to kids and adults alike. Brown rice has lot of fiber retained than the regular white rice and Besan and Carrots gives this pancake a pinkish hue which kids usually dig! :)

To make Uttappa:
1. Soak 1 1/2 cup Brown rice overnight or for at least for 3-4 hrs in water. Drain the water, add to a mixer. Grind it with 2 cups of water until it's smooth to touch or finely ground. Add 3 tbsp Besan to the rice batter, blend just until well mixed.
2. Take the batter in to a bowl, add enough salt, 1/2 cup finely grated Carrots, 2 tbsp chopped Cilantro, few chopped curry leaves, 1/2" grated Ginger, 1 tsp Cumin seeds powder, 1/4 tsp chilli pd or green chillies chopped (Skip both if your kids can't handle the heat), finely chopped 4 tbsp onion, mix well. Keep it aside for 15mins.
3. Heat a non-stick griddle, pour a ladleful of batter, drizzle few drops of oil on top. Let it cook until the bottom is golden, flip it to cook the other side.
4. As soon as you take the pancake or Uttappa on to plate, brush some ghee on top, sprinkle a tsp of Chutney pudi on top evenly and serve immediately.

There you are! Nutritious and tasty South Indian Pancake/Crepe/Uttappa! :)

84 comments:

Raaga said...

I'm laughing at the thought of you running away from someone's front yard... lovely pics :)

The egg jalfrezi looks great... I am always on the lookout for egg dishes... love them :)

Thanks

Sharmila said...

Yummmm! :-)
Beautiful snap of the flowers.

Purnima said...

Asha, the tulips look vibrant n soul lifting~ is that ur fave, can see lavender ones in right side bar too! :D Uttappa looks delicious n Egg jalfrezi is new (hv tried only paneer jal.) Lovely post as usual!! Feeling good!

Rachel said...

Great Click and great dishes.

How did you disable right click?

sra said...

When we visited Mysore for the first time, one of the guys who worked in the hotel we stayed in was called Uttappa, we found it very funny.

Jamie said...

Lovely post. My parents took me to Biltmore Estates once during Christmas time. It was absolutely beautiful with all the festive decorations. I can only imagine what it must look like now with all the flowers!

Purva Desai said...

Lovely pics....
Egg jalfrezi thats new for me...looks delicious

FH said...

Haha!! Raaga, glad I survived! you never know how people react seeing a stranger in their yard!

Thanks Sharmila! :)

Purni, I do love Tulips.Every home I lived in so far, I planted Tulips and they come up themselves every year without much maintenance! :)

Anonymous said...

the tulips are gorgeous!! enjoy them.

FH said...

Thanks Rachel. After I saw many of my photos stoles and posted in other blogs and websites, I asked a friend to help me out since I am not a techy at all. She did for me! :)

sra, We always skip "M" and "I" in the end for every dish in Kannada, like appa for Appam or Dose for Dosai or dosa! :D

Jamie, lucky you to go there at X Mas time, I bet Biltmore was gorgeous. Yes, Spring flower exhibit is beautiful there too, first site of color for NC, very soothing! :)

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow rocking clicks dear.....Tulips are my favouite flowers.....You have them in your backyard...how lucky.....touchwood...recipes look droolworthy.

Anonymous said...

enjoy the tulips.... they look fabulous

Gita Jaishankar said...

Those tulips look so lovely! Egg jalfrezi is very new to me, I should try it out soon, looks so delicious!

Vishali said...

Lovely Tulips Asha.....:). Hope u had a nice weekend.

Delicious the Uttapams and Egg Jalfrezi.

Weekend, I made BBB following ur exact recipe. It was delicious. Could'nt take snaps as we went to a park as soon as I packed it. My husband and I liked it so much. Thank you for sharing the recipe. You made it very easy by mentioning everything clearly. I plan to try more and more recipes from your site :D.

Have a great day!

FH said...

Thanks Purva, make Jalfrezi sauce and add eggs or any veggies or meat you like, tastes great! :)

Thanks Arundati, love colorful Tulpis! :)

KF, I have Summer Tulips in my yard, they are not up yet, need heat but I love those anywhere! :)

FH said...

Gita, add as much chilli pd you like. I make it very mild for kids but a bit hotter sauce is good with Eggs! :))

Vaishali, my BBB tatses better and better as you keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days, glad you liked it. Picnic sounds so good. Our weekend was hot too, did BBQ and planted some veggies plants. Enjoy! :)

Saritha said...

Lovely tulips and i am laughing by imagining how u ran from there.(just kidding)
Yummy egg curry.

Chutneytales said...

Lovely clicks!
The tulips look so b'ful..I have never seen tulips in real.Lucky you!
Love your egg jalfrezi recipe.Will give this a try soon.Uttapa is my fav.

Laavanya said...

I love tulips too... look so colorful and bright - nice pic. Asha and definitely great that you made it out alive :)

Never occured to make a jalfrezie with eggs - neat. The uthapam sounds healthy & hearty.

Lavanya Raj said...

I would like to try this Egg Jalfrezi!

Tulip's are Looking Bright!
Thanks for your wishes on my blog!

Deepthi Shankar said...

looks very yumm ... I love uttappa but never thought of adding besan

Trupti said...

Wonderful click Asha. Tulips looks lovely. :)

Using brown rice in Uttappa is very nice idea. Jalfrezi looks very delicious. Bookmarked it.

Anonymous said...

Hi Asha,
beautiful pictures of the tulip.
The egg jalfrezi looks mouthwatering.will try this soon.

Shalini

Pavani said...

Nice Click Asha.. Love the egg jalfrezi recipe.. new egg dishes are always welcome in my kitchen. Have a great week ahead. Week started out pouring here in NJ.

FH said...

Varunavi, got to be careful where you go here in the South girl! Nah, I am kidding too!;D

Madhu, colorful Hybrid Tulips are specially beautiful to look at! :)

HeHe! Thanks laavanya, me too am so glad I am alive!;D

You deserve it Lavi, really liked the Buttermilk churn. My grand mother has one as I remember! :)

FH said...

Deesha, you know what we Tomato Ommelette with Besan batter and tomatoes in B'lore, I took the idea from there to add to the rice to thicken it, tastes great! :)

Thank you Trupti. Brown rice makes it healthy with lot of fiber than white rice, glad you liked it! :)

Do try Shalini, Jalfrezi is simple and tasty. Great side dish for rice! :)

Pavani, weekend was so hot for us, we did BBQ and planted Tomatoes too. Today it's raining a bit but still hot and humid, tomorrow back to chilly weather they are saying. Enjoy the Egg dish, we love egg dishes too!:)

Rajitha said...

Congrats on the 150th post...wow...i think at the rate i am going it will take me a good 5 years :)...tulips..aren't they lovely...have always wanted to plant them outside my home...but :)

indosungod said...

I always find food in the platter in the tables around me at the restaurant more tasty than my own. Same with flowers I guess. They are beautiful.

The egg jalfrezi has my mouth watering.

FH said...

Rajitha, thanks. I have Summer Tulips in my yard, so waiting for them to come up. Love Tulips, makes you happy just to look at them! :)

krystyna said...

Thank you Asha for beautiful trips with my lovely Tulips.

I choose Uttappa today. Maybe not exactly as yours but similar.
I never soak rice, good to know, I'll be try. I like to use rice for any kind of vege pastry or vege cutlet/chop. Maybe soak rice will be better.

Have a good day!

Jaishree Iyer said...

Beautiful pictures of the tulip. looks lovely. :) Nice Click Asha. Uttappa looks delicious. I love uttappa:)

Archy said...

Wow, very nice tulip click Asha.. Congrats on r 150th post.. Nice uttappa.. shall try :)!!

Cham said...

Fresh click! Both dishes are new! Congrats on ur 150 posts!

Uma said...

Tulips are just gorgeous Asha! Nice click. As always, all the dishes look mouth-watering. Lovely entries for the events. :)

Ashwini said...

Love tulips..It is really very mezmarizing to see yards of colorful tulips..Both egg jalfrezi and uttapa looks yumm..

FH said...

Indo, the other week I had made Masala dosa and Arvind said "it tastes better than Woodland's restaurant, why go there to eat?!"
I said "well..they serve ME masala dosa there while I have to stand here to make it for you! For me, those mds are Heaven" ;D
Its the same with flowers too, always greener on the other side!:D

Soaking rice makes it softer to grind to a smooth batter Krystyna, enjoy!

Thanks Jaishree. I love Uttappams too, easy and tasty!

FH said...

Thank you Archy, Cham, Uma and Ashwini. Tulips are the most beautiful flowers, specially when they display miles and miles of those colorful ones! :)

Priya Suresh said...

Beautiful tulips snap...Egg Jalfrezi looks fabulous n uttappa looks delicious, feeling like having rite now!

Nandinis food said...

The pictures of the tulips are lovely! That's a great snap of the tulips even in a hurry! Your cooking style of egg jalfrezi and uttapam is new.

Varsha Vipins said...

Akka..Those tulips look so so pretty..Haha..i almost laughed out reading your adventure..lols..:)..But do click have rule like ,its shud be culinary associated pics?..nyhow tey r too good for words..!!
N the egg jalfrezi pic no..it looks like a picture..i mean a drawing..:)..very artistic n picteresque..:)
Loved the color of Uttappam's..Spring is there in your page too..:)
Enjoy!!

FH said...

Thanks Priya and Usha. Hope you try the Egg Jalfrezi, it's yummy and simple to make too. Have a good night, see you tomorrow! :)

Yasmeen said...

I recently bought brown rice flour,found your recipe just in time,will try the tasty uttapa.Beautiful flowers,at least one more month for flowers to bloom in my part of the world.:)

Lavanya said...

egg dish looks awesome asha..nice click of tulips too!!

sunita said...

LOL...glad you survived :-D...beautiful flowers though :-)
we went to Holland 3 years ago, and yes, the tulips there are very beautiful indeed :-)

Smita said...

The uttapam recipe sounds healthy Asha...Will give it a try...Your pic of the egg jalfrezi made my mouth water...

bee said...

that uttappa sounds fabulous. ash, pls. check your mail re: your click entry.

suvi said...

I am imagining you clicking and running! Lovely snap!

I am ready for eggs anytime, eggs jalfrezi sounds yum will try it soon!

Meera said...

Lovely tulips. I love them too. egg jalfrezu, uttappa look great.

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

utappam recipe sounds very interesting with brown rice and besan combo. i have never used brown rice so far. we r used to eating white rice :D

like the new color of your blog :)

ARUNA said...

lovely flowers Asha....even i posted something on tulips initially when i started blogging. Have a look when u have time.
http://arunathetemptations.blogspot.com/search?q=tulips

chef and her kitchen said...

Beautiful pics of Tulips and lovely dishes Asha...I am new to blogging world..
plz try to visit my blog @
http://thechefandherkitchen.blogspot.com/

Jayashree said...

What lovely, vibrant colours on those tulips. Nice snap....

Raks said...

Besan uttappa sounds like my kinda dish!

Lovely click of Tulips :) looks beautiful! I always have a love towards tulips!

AnuSriram said...

Congrats on your 150th post! Lovely tulips! Nice colours.. Uthappam looks delicious!

FH said...

Varsha and Bee, you girls are so right!! Never thought of culinary connection to Click when I clicked Tulips!! But look, I changed it again! :D

Yasmeen, Lavanya, Sunita, Smitha, Aqua, Meera,Mahimaa, Aruna, Prathibha, Jaya and Raks, thans to all of you girls! :)

Unknown said...

Nice clicks Asha... sounds delicious...

FH said...

Thanks Anu and Srikar, we enjoyed them all too! :)

Vibaas said...

beautiful click and lol at the way u clicked tulips :)
I gotto try this brown rice..i was not ready to substitute white rice with this, but this is a nice way! :)

FH said...

HeHe! Thanks Vidhas.I have planted Tulips too, they come up in about a month or so, couldn't resist clicking these! :D

AnuSriram said...

Hi asha, You can send me the iced tea recipe.... Is that with lemon? Its really refreshing!

FH said...

Yes Anu, with Lemon and with other stuff I can't tell you now (secret!:D)but it's very healthy and tasty! You will love it. Thanks for replying, I am planning to post next Monday or as soon as I type in recipe! :)

Pavithra Kodical said...

Delicious Uttappa..Good that it is sunny in your place, we are still having snowfall.I am growing some methi leaves indoor.Great pics asha akka.Love the smell of fresh mint leaves.And congrats for your 150'th post :)

Siri said...

Being an ardent lover of eggs, you can surely expect me to make your egg jalfrezi soon. :)) the uttappa sounds so healthy and must have taste good too.!

Cheers,
Siri

EC said...

The uttappams look quite different and healthy too...Nice pics of spring and tulips..I got to see tulips for the first time in a garden 2 months back when I visited the Mughal Gardens-President's garden in Delhi

Unknown said...

Love the pics and the delicacies esp the uttappa.Innovative way of including rice in uttappams.
Hope you got my mail.

Archana said...

Lovely pics Asha...the tulips look beautiful...Egg jalfrezi is new to me...I made the dabeli masala parathas and they turned out so good..great idea...thanks so much

sharada said...

hi,
thank you for visting my blog & leaving your esteemed comment.It means a lot for newbie like me.
You have such a wonderful blog - how did i miss it for such a long time???
Do visit me again.
Even i love to take snaps- the flower snaps !wow

FH said...

Pavithra, Siri, Ec, Swaeatha, Arch and Sharada, thank you so much girls.

Arch, thanks for the feedback and for trying, enjoy! :)

Swaetha, will check my mail soon! :)

Varsha Vipins said...

Those mint n chives are making me all jealous akka..:D

FH said...

HeHe! Thanks Varsha. I took this photo in a hurry to replace the Tulips!;D

Purnima said...

CONGRATS to us readers for getting to read the yummolicious 150th here! N yes..the new click rocks too! Culinary connection! :) Running at lightening speed! Wow..

FH said...

:D

Thanks Purni, didn't know it's 150th after I posted this and then added later. Also my Tulips didn't get accepted because it's supposed to be food connected. So got another for her! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow,Asha,the egg jalfrezi is more than yummy...would love to try soon...hey,first time in this blog..missed many..great job here too asha...thanks

FH said...

Ann, this gravy of Jalfrezi is our fave too, so easy and yummy. Hope you try and thanks for visiting here to..I opened this blog just to send dishes for events! :D

Nandini Vishwanath said...

I should subscribe to this also! I love the Uthappa. Nangoooooo beku!

FH said...

Hi N, thanks. Glad you speak Kannada too! :D

Just about to log off. Long weekend for us, planning to go to Indian store tomorrow. Have fun, enjoy the weekend, see you next week! :)

Jyotsna said...

The tulips caught my eye and the uttappa too. Never made Uttappa at home ever! Do you think it needs a practiced hand??

FH said...

Hi J, great to see you girl!

Nah, very easy to make Uttappa.Take the same old Idli batter, a bit soured and pour it thicker than the usual dosa. Sprinkle any grated veggies you have on top, cheese will do too. Not hard at all, tastes so good. Enjoy the weekend, we have 3 day weekend! :)

yumeko said...

Egg jalfrezi thats new for me...looks delicious!!

FH said...

It is delicious Yumeko, sweet and tangy.Hope you try! :)

Anonymous said...

Ashakka,

I have been a regular reader of your blog for the last 2 years. I wanted to ask a general question on the Ultra grinder. I saw in your earlier post that you used it for making medhu vadas/dal vadas. So can you please give an estimate of how much water to add for say 1 cup od urad dal? I thought we should not add water to urad dal in order to get less oily vada. So i always use sumeet, but am wondering how to do it using ultra. Also can you please give the time for grinding rice for idllis? Thank you so much! I really your help.

Archana

FH said...

Hi Archana, good to see your comment here! :)

You can grind Urad without adding water. When I did that, batter was so thick that vadas didn't come well for me, so I added 2 tbsp of water for one cup of soaked Urad dal. It really depends on your taste, how much water drained Urad has retained and the texture. Grind without water and see how it looks and feels, adding water is optional of course.

As for rice, I add 1/3 cup water first to ULTRA as the manual says and start. Then add drained rice and grind for 5mins. Let ULTRA cool for few mins. Add some more water and grind again for another 5 to 10mins until you get smooth or grainy texture for dosa or idli.

Hope it hepls! :)

Unknown said...

that is one healthy utthappa dear Asha :) I love that it uses brown rice coz thats what we use these days for lunch or dinner....

FH said...

Roopa, brown rice gives it a nutty taste, wonderful to taste and healthy too. Enjoy! :)