Veggie Uttapam

In our house, uttapam is a by-product of dosa :). It's when there is left-over batter from making dosas that we utilize it to make uttapams. That's how we got hooked to uttapams and realized what experts we were at it! Uttapam is easier to make as compared to dosa because it doesn't require the spreading-skills. So the recipe I describe out here also started with the making of dosa.

You need:

For the base
Rice flour
Urad flour
Salt to taste

For the toppings (qty varies on your liking)
Carrot (grated)
Onion (finely chopped)
chillies (finely chopped)
coriander (finely chopped)
tomatoes (finely chopped)

Let's start:

1. Prepare the batter
Take the rice flour and urad flour in the ratio of 2:1 by volume. So if you take 1 cup of urad flour, you need to take 2 cups of rice flour. Yes, we use flours instead of grinding rice/urad dal. It's the easy way out and makes no difference! Ok, now let's add some water to the mixture. Add enough water to make a batter. Add salt to taste. Hmm...now how to decide the consistency. Be on the conservative side because we can add water later after the batter has fermented. Once the batter is made, keep it for a night (or two) to ferment. Duration depends on the weather at that time. If it's warm then it would only need a night. If you don't know how to identify a fermented batter, note the texture of the batter when you set it to ferment. The next day if you see that the texture has changed then it means that fermentation has started. If the level of the batter has almost doubled, then the batter is definitely ready!

We now have the fermented batter. Let's do a consistency check. Take a serving spoonful of batter and drop it from a foot's height, it flows in one single strand then you're ready. Wait - we need to make sure it's not too thin. For that you can cross-check with the video here.

2. Pre-heat the griddle to a medium-high temperature then once you're ready reduce it to medium heat. I prefer non-stick griddles as it's easy to make and requires less oil.

3. Take a big serving spoonful of the batter and drop it on the griddle. Spread it a little to the size you want. Don't make it thin like dosa, it should be thick. Now spread the topping all over it. Spray/sprinkle some oil on the circumference of the uttapam and over it. If you're using non-stick then you need really small amounts. Let it cook on the bottom side, once done flip it to cook the other side.

Wasn't that easy?

Happy Mother's Day

There was a time when I used to belong to the club which believed that all such "days" are a conspiracy by the greeting card companies. I too believed that just so that they can sell a million more cards and make some profit through those cute little gift items, these greeting card companies are trying to make a big hole in the pockets of the consumer. That was when I thought that essence of these days was to just shower the concerned person with gifts and cards. Be it the Valentine day, Mother's day, Father's day or anything else.

Now I think differently. I think in today's age, life is very hectic and seldom do we take out time to express our love and feelings for those whom we care. Of course, one would say that we do hundred little things which we wouldn't do if we didn't care or love that person. One, that's true for only those you live with. Second, how many times do we make them feel how special they are. Well, it's these "days" when we can make ourselves take out time to show our loved ones how special they are. It doesn't have to be gifts or cards or eating-outs; it's about feelings.

Justifications

You can justify a lot of things, but justifications only make things seem right; they don't make them right.

I picked this from one of the episodes of Seventh Heaven. It seemed very true to me. However, a question comes up in my mind: do we need to justify even when we are right? I don't have an answer to it right now. Maybe some day.

Surati Farsan Mart, Mira Mesa, San Diego

Cuisine: Indian

Surati is a fast-food Indian place. Housing a casual atmosphere, it offers various kinds of chaat, dosa, vada pav, etc. It has a cafe kind of ambience with a nice plasma TV screening some bollywood songs.

Most of the dishes on the menu are good though I must say that it's mostly a chaat-place so one should avoid having dosas there. It's like ordering lo-mein at a Thai restaurant. Yes dosa and chaat are both indian dishes but they belong to different regions of India and there are rare places which are expert in both. I like their vada-pav, that's the only indian place in San Diego which offers that dish! Other dishes like delhi chaat, dahi sev puri, etc. are also good. I would recommend the mango lassi. Service is quite decent. For more information go here.

Contact Information:
9494 Black Mountain Rd
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 549-7280

Of faith and devotion...

(Teachings from Gita) Only if you believe in what you do can you be devoted to it and if you're completely devoted to what you do then you would be in total control of your mind and senses. If you've control over your mind and senses then you'll always be focused on your goal. For example, a businessman who's totally devoted to his business is not panged by hunger, doesn't care about day or night: as he has all his senses under control. If you believe in yourself you would not be possessed by the vices of jealousy, rivalry, peer pressure and such things. Faith or belief is very important. As an example, I always feel that for a doctor's prescription to cure you it is essential that you believe in that doctor. You can win a losing battle, if you have faith. From faith comes devotion and from devotion, a control over the senses; and one who overpowers his senses can do anything. This brings to my mind the dialogue between Siddhartha and Kamaswami.

A man who lacks faith and wisdom cannot be happy in either worlds. He'd always be shrouded by doubt and dilemma; if he can't decide then he can't achieve because he's not sure what he has to achieve. He can't eliminate the doubt because he's neither wise enough to think nor believes in what he's doubting (hence, the doubt).

Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Author: Patrick M. Lencioni

I liked this book because it has that feel-good touch. I like all such stories where everything is amiss in the beginning but things start falling into place with every page and are picture-perfect by the end. Makes me feel so good :). I think that's because it gives me the feeling that anything can be set right!

That was all I liked about the book, there's lots that I didn't. I found the writing-style and the font size quite childish. There is this particular font size, if a book has a font size larger than that then I feel that the book is targeted towards a kid-audience. When I read in it's short description that it was a fable, immediately Paul Coelho's "Alchemist" came to my mind and I was very eager to read this book; but I think I'd set a very high standard. "Alchemist" is way too profound. Even Dale Carnegie's self-help books are better than this. The points he talks about are probably quite true but the presentation is not good. It was interesting in the beginning when there was suspense but after a certain point it became all too predictable without giving any good insights.

Bottomline: An Ok read.

Bhature / Bhatura

I've been wanting to post this recipe since long. This is Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe (of Khana Khazana fame) and it should ideally go into the "Recipes from elsewhere" but his site doesn't provide a link to the recipe because of the way it's built. So I decided to just copy and paste it here. For a long time I'd been looking for the perfect bhatura recipe, just like they make in any of Delhi's restaurants...yummy! Finally I found this and believe me it makes the most delicious bhaturas! I just followed the recipe to the T and there we were relishing the bhaturas. Also, unlike most of the other recipes the dough needs to ferment for only an hour so you don't need to plan half-a-day in advance.

Ingredients

2½ cups Refined flour (maida)
1/2 tsp Baking powder
pinch of Soda bicarbonate
1/2 cup Yogurt
1 tsp Salt
2 tsps Powdered sugar
2 tbsps + to deep fry Oil

Method

Mix refined flour, baking powder and soda bicarbonate. Sieve and keep aside. Mix yogurt with salt and sugar. Add this to the flour, add enough water and mix gradually to make a soft dough by light kneading. Incorporate two tablespoons of oil into the dough and cover the dough with a wet cloth. Keep it aside for an hour. Divide dough into sixteen equal portions. Roll them into balls. Cover and keep to rise for ten minutes. Grease your palms with a little oil and flatten the balls. Roll out into five-inch diameter bhaturas. Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep fry bhaturas on high heat till light brown on both sides. Serve hot with chole.

If you want to have a look at the original recipe, go to his site and then go to the "Complimentary Recipes" section. It's listed under the "Punjabi Recipes".