Ingredients:
For grinding:
Mung bean (green gram/cheru payar) – 2 cups
Raw rice – 1/2 cup
Peanuts – 1/4 cup
Onion (medium size) – 1
Ginger – 1/2 inch
Coriander leaves – 5-7 stalks
Hing – 1/2 tsp
Green chillies – 3-4
Salt – as needed
Water – as needed

For cooking:
Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash and soak the mung bean in water for 8 hours or overnight. After 8 hours, drain the water and keep the wet mung beans in the same vessel for the next 24 hours. You will see sprouts coming out within 12 hours. You can keep it longer (24 hours) to get longer sprouts.

Soak raw rice in water for 3-4 hours. Grind sprouted mung bean and soaked raw rice along with peanuts, onion, ginger, coriander leaves, hing, green chillies, and salt to make a fine paste. Add sufficient water to the batter. Do not make it too loose. This is an instant dosa batter and does not need fermentation.

Heat a griddle and spread a ladle-ful of batter on the griddle. Maintain medium heat. Drizzle 1/2 tsp of oil on the spread batter/dosa. When the sides of the dosa start turning brown (less than a minute), gently flip over the dosa using a spatula. Cook for less than a minute. Flip over to check if the dosa has become golden brown. Serve with chutney/sambar or milaga podi/gun powder. If you prefer a topping for this dosa, after you spread the dosa, you can sprinkle finely chopped onion and coriander or even cheese. Gently spread and press the onion and coriander pieces to the dosa using a spatula. Be careful when you flip the dosa over so that these pieces do not fall off. If you are adding cheese, add shredded cheese to the dosa only after it is full cooked, just before you take it off the griddle.

You can refrigerate this dosa batter for 3-4 days.

I made coconut chutney spiced with green chillies and ginger to go along with this dosa.

Ingredients:

Grated coconut – 1/2 of a medium-sized coconut
Green chillies – 3
Ginger – 1/4 inch
Coriander leaves – 5-6 stalks
Water - as needed
Salt – as needed

Method:
Wash the green chillies, coriander leaves, and ginger. Be careful about the amount of ginger you use. Ginger can make the chutney fiery. I am not a ginger fan. So I usually use just enough to get a hint of ginger. If you like to use more ginger, use less of green chillies. Grind all the ingredients using sufficient water. I did not do a tadka for this chutney, but if you prefer a tadka, you can heat mustard seeds and urad dal in some oil. When the mustard seeds splutter and the urad dal turns red, add curry leaves to the oil and mix well with the chutney.

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Here I present my own less sinful version of what I tasted at the wedding. A quick fix breakfast or snack, an easy dish to make.

Ingredients:
Bread (Multigrain/White) – 2 pieces
Butter/Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Dry herbs (Basil/pasta herb mix) – ½ tsp
Cheese (slices or spreadable) – 2 slices/1 tbsp
Sesame seeds – 1 tsp

Method:

If you are using square shaped bread slices, cut it into smaller rectangular or triangular pieces. This is optional and just for ease of eating. Spread/place the cheese spread/slice on bread (I used Amul’s Garlic Cheese Spread). On this sprinkle sesame seeds, and mixed herbs (I used pasta herb mix. Basil is also a good choice). I did not use any salt as I used garlic cheese spread which had little bit of salt. You could choose to sprinkle salt as per your taste. Brush olive oil on the free side (the side without toppings).

Since I do not have an oven, I toasted this in a pan on low heat. Toast only the free side to make it brown. Serve as snack by itself or with vegetables. You wont realize how many of them you will gobble along with hot tea or coffee.

Instead of cheese, you can spread mashed potatoes. Sesame seeds are rich in calcium. Multigrain bread and olive oil up the health quotient.

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Ingredients:
For grinding:
Parboiled rice (ukhda chawal/puzhukkal ari) – 3 cups
Fenugreek seeds (methi seeds/uluva) – ½ cup
Raw rice – 2 tablespoons
Black gram dehusked (Urad dal/uzhunnu parippu) – 2 tablespoons
Salt – as needed

For cooking:
Oil – 1 tbsp per uthappam

Method:
Wash all the ingredients together in water and soak for about 8 hours/overnight. Grind to make a coarse paste. Uthappam batter should not be finely ground. Allow the batter to ferment (by keeping in a warm place) for about 10-12 hours. Uthappam batter does not “rise” like the dosa/idli batter because it contains very little lentil.

Heat a griddle. Pour half a tablespoon of oil. Pour a ladleful of uthappam batter on to this oil. Spread lightly to make a thick small round. Sprinkle half tablespoon oil on the spread batter.
If you prefer to add a topping to your uthappam, you can do that at this stage. Toppings can be finely chopped onions, tomatoes, curry leaves, and coriander leaves.

Allow to cook in medium heat for a minute. When the sides turn golden brown and crisp, flip it over.Let it cook for a minute. Remove the uthappam from the griddle and serve with sambar, chutney, or milaga podi (dry chutney powder).

Ideal combination for uthappam is the fiery shallot chutney. Soak 4-5 dry red chillies in water for half an hour and grind these along with 10-12 peeled shallots. Add salt and a teaspoon of coconut oil. This chutney should ideally be ground using a stone grinder to get the authentic taste. The combination of the fenugreek-flavor-dominant uthappam and the fiery shallot chutney is irresistible! Guaranteed that you will not stop short of gobbling up at least 5 of these!

Salad Ingredients:
Zucchini (a type of squash like cucumber) – 1 medium sized
Carrot – 1 medium sized
French beans – 100 gms
Garlic – 1 clove
Olive oil/butter/cooking oil – 1/2 tbsp
Crushed peppercorns – 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Garlic Bread Ingredients:
Bread – As needed
Garlic cloves – 2 to 3
Butter – 1 tbsp

Method:
Salad
Peel garlic and chop finely. Wash and remove the edges of the vegetables. Peel the carrot. Slice the vegetables in a slanting manner (oblique cutting) so that the inner sides are more exposed.

Heat a wok and pour oil. Add the finely chopped garlic and cook for a minute. When the garlic begins to change color, add the sliced carrots and beans, close with a lid, and cook for a minute. Stir and add the sliced zucchini. Cook for around 2 minutes. The vegetables should just become tender and should not be overcooked. Add salt and crushed pepper. Remove from fire.

Garlic bread
Peel and chop garlic finely. Mix this with butter. Spread on the butter garlic mixture on bread and place on a hot pan. Spread the butter and garlic on the other side of the bread. Cook in medium fire for half a minute or so. Flip over and cook the other side. Remove from fire and serve with cheese or zucchini salad.

Zucchini is not commonly found in India. It belongs to the cucumber family and tastes and smells very much like cucumber yet not as watery as cucumber. I used to always ignore the side of the market where the ‘exotic’ vegetables are sold. But I am so glad I gave zucchini a try.

A very ripe plantain can be eaten as is without cooking. But semi ripe plantains should preferably be steamed or baked. I will share 4 simple recipes of ripe plantain here. One using overripe plantain and the other three using medium ripe plantain. Choose ripe yet firm plantain for steamed plantain. Slightly overripe plantains are best suited to make the jaggery coated plantain. This goes well with items like puttu or upma. It is also a healthy snack by itself.

Method 1:
Ingredients
Ripe Plantain – 2
Jaggery – 2 pieces
Water – 1/2 cup
Ghee – 1 tsp (optional)
Elaichi/cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp (optional)

Peel the plantain and remove the ends and the peel. Cut into two-inch round pieces. In a pan, pour water and add the jaggery pieces and heat until the jaggery melts. Strain to remove dirt if any. Put the ripe plantain pieces into this melted jaggery, cover with a lid, and cook for 5-7 minutes. Remove the lid and stir in between to ensure that the bananas do not stick to the bottom of the pan. When the water content reduces, the jaggery syrup thickens, and plantain pieces become tender, add ghee and elaichi powder. Turn off the fire and serve hot. You can even serve it cold. If you use firm plantain, they turn hard when cooked in jaggery. So make sure that you use ripe or overripe plantains.

Method 2:
Ripe Plantain – 1

Peel the plantain and remove the ends. Do not remove the peel. Cut into two inch round pieces. Steam them in an idli tray for 10 minutes until the plantain becomes tender. This is served with ela ada and fried papad for breakfast on the Thiruvonam day especially in the Malabar region. Plantains are fibrous and have high starch content. Steamed plantain is easily digestible especially for kids and the elderly and instantly boost energy levels.

Method 3:
Ripe Plantain – 1
Sugar – 1 tsp
Ghee (clarified butter) – 1 tbsp

This is a sinfully yummy shallow fried treat. Peel the skin and cut the plantain into thin vertical slices. Smear ghee on the hot griddle and place the plantain slices on ghee.

Cook for a minute in medium to low fire. Turn when one side gets cooked. Sprinkle sugar.

Remove from fire when the other side is sufficiently fried/cooked.

Method 4:
Ripe Plantain – 1

Another method of cooking plantain is to bake it in charcoal. Traditionally when meals were cooked using firewood, the coal would be hot even a couple of hours after all the cooking is done. Put the ripe plantains (with their skin) in between the hot coal. Make sure the plantains are fully embedded in the coal pieces. Take out after 5 minutes and smoky chargrilled plantains are ready.

I saw yet another interesting variety here. Truly yummy variation. Check it out.

Every household has their own secret recipe for podi and it tastes different in every house. When in school, I used to taste podi from my friends’ lunch boxes and each of them would taste different. Podi would differ in texture, taste, and visual appeal. Grainy, powdery, spicy, orange, greenish black, they come in all varieties. Recently, I tried MTR chutney powder (they market podi by that name) and I quite liked the taste of it. Unlike authentic Tamil Nadu style podi, this one is tangy. I believe tamarind is an ingredient in that recipe. Though I liked the MTR taste, being the conservative types when it comes to food, I prefer the authentic spicy taste without any tanginess.
This recipe is a mix of 2-3 different types of podis that I have had.

Ingredients:
Black gram/urad dal/uzhunnu parippu (white or black) – 1 cup
Bengal gram/chana dal/kadala parippu (optional) – 1/4 cup
Raw rice (optional) – 1/4 cup
Dried red chilly – 10
Black pepper (optional) – 1 tbsp
Curry leaves – 6-7 stalks
Asafoetida – size of a marble/2 tsp
Sesame seeds/Til/ellu (white or black) – 2 tbsp
Salt – as required

Method:
In a heavy bottomed pan (preferably iron), dry roast the grains one after the other until the grains turn red. First roast black gram. Then roast chana dal, followed by rice. Okay, I cheated! I roasted chana dal, kept it aside and then roasted the raw rice and black gram together. That works. When the black gram and rice are half done, add red chillies, black pepper, asafoetida, and curry leaves. If you are using asafoetida powder, you can add it towards the end of the roasting exercise. Turn off the fire and then add the sesame seeds and salt. Keep aside and let it cool down a bit.

While the roasted grains are still warm, dry grind them in a mixer. You can choose to make it powdery or grainy as per your preference. Store in a dry air tight jar. Will stay good for 3-4 months.

Choice of oil to be mixed with podi is a personal preference. Podi is served along with sesame seed oil (til oil/ellenna/nallenna) in most parts of Tamil Nadu. No points for guessing the oil that Keralites prefer!

Idlis and dosas soaked in spicy podi are a rage in restaurants these days. Whether you have a chutney and sambhar to go along with it or not, a well-made podi can up the taste quotient of even a poorly made idli/dosa.

Amba doesn’t have a very elaborate menu, just the usual sada dosa, rava dosa, mysore masala, ghee sada, idli, etc., etc. The special items that they serve are kela bajji (raw banana dipped in besan batter and fried), kadi vada (lentil vada soaked in a yoghurt-based curry), and rasam vada (mixed lentil vada soaked in spicy hot rasam). My personal favorites are ghee sada, rava sada, and rasam vada. What is unique about Amba’s dosa is the use of methi seeds in the batter, which no other restaurants use. The methi seeds add to the wonderful flavor of the dosa. This combined with the sambar that has JUST enough jaggery to neutralize the pungent taste of tamarind without spoiling the spiciness is nothing short of yum! The amount of jaggery in sambar is where, I feel, the normal Udupis in Mumbai fail. They just don’t get it right. I would much rather eat a sandwich from a Mumbai Udupi than order a dosa and be forced to eat it with the sweet sambar or worse eat the chutney that is full of pottu kadalai (roasted split peas dal). But the sambar at Amba is like no other, and if you are a frequent customer, the waiter would even give you some molaga podi (gun powder), sometimes even without you asking for it! The gun powder is another one of their masterpieces.

South Indian filter coffee is something every coffee lover goes gaga over. So it just wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t say anything about Amba’s filter coffee. Well, what about it, you might ask. Try it once and you will know! Its one of the best I have tasted. But more than anything, I love the way the coffee is served – in two stainless steel tumblers, one big and one small. Which one should you drink from is entirely up to you. Mix well till the sugar dissolves and then take that first sip, which is what I would call the ultimate coffee experience! Well, at least for me, it definitely is.

And Amba offers all these heavenly items at prices that are down-to-earth without compromising the taste. The crowd at Amba is a queer mix. You share tables with either the temple priest from Asthika Samaj dressed in his dhoti and anga vastram or you are sitting next to a bunch of chirpy teenagers out to have their fill after boring tutions. But at Amba you just do not feel odd sharing a table with strangers. Amba has wide open doors and huge windows too and is airy and leisurely.

I have always been intrigued by the names of some South Indian eateries that became iconic with time. Take Amba’s case itself. Seventy years back, who would have related the sound of Amba Bhavan with food? I wonder how they came up with these interesting names like Saravana Bhavan, Arya Nivas, Hariharaputra, and the like. Who would have imagined Mavalli Tiffin Room will be an everyday household name throughout India and indispensible in the NRI kitchen? What an unlikely name for an eatery, YEM-TEE-ARR (as a mallu would say it)!

Almost every place in South India has such a restaurant to boast about where people like my parents (who practically never eat out) are comfortable going to. Since the time I can remember, Hariharaputra is the ONLY hotel where we have eaten out. It is called the Brahmanaal Hotel (which means a hotel run by Brahmins). Palakkad has 3 such places. TNVR, Mani’s Cafe, and Hariharaputra. Their kitchen walls might look black, they might not have the cleanest of hand-washing areas, and they might not give you hand tissues, but the food served in these places have no substitute at all! I remember eating out once with my college friends in a restaurant where the waiters wore white dresses with red borders and a cap. I found it so odd compared to the friendly waiter at Harihariputra who wore a dhoti that was begging for some Ujala!

I need to be born again and have oodles of Saraswati Kataksham to be able to describe the taste of the mysurpa that Hariharaputra serves. There will be enough water in my mouth to steer a ship each time I think about their mysurpa. Same goes with the Rava Kesari (Rava Sheera) at Mani’s Cafe. Nothing short of marvellous, I say!

Coming back to Amba, just like the place, the rules of the place are also very simple. It opens at 7:00 in the morning and is open until 8:00 in the night and serves only tiffin (in other words, snacks). Amba does not have a separate menu for lunch or dinner. Though a lot of the Gujju crowd (who dig South Indian food) eats out regularly and frequents restaurants only after 8.00 PM, Amba sticks to its own set of rules and closes its doors by 8:00.

I was fortunate enough to speak to the humble and ever smiling owner of this place. He was kind enough to share some of the incidents and challenges from the time Amba was conceived until now. He also invited me to his house to meet his wife who could share lots of culinary tips.

If you live in Mumbai and are a fan of South Indian food, please visit Amba at least once to taste authentic South Indian food. If you live elsewhere, hunt down the Saravana Bhavan or the Hariharaputra of your place. If you are new to the place, just ask the elderly, and I am sure you will find a Bharat Hotel or an Amma Mess. Long live places that serve good food!

And look, Amba is on Facebook too!

Addendum: Amba is very close to King’s Circle and is in the same lane as Asthika Samaj Kochu Guruvayur temple. The address is: 373, Patel Mahal, Matunga, Mumbai, India, 400019.

I invite all my readers to share their thoughts and experiences about food or eateries that are special to their heart. I plan to have a reader’s corner very soon and all of you are welcome to share your thoughts here.

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Ingredients:
Parboiled Rice- 2 cups
Coconut grated- 1 cup
Salt to taste
Red chillies (curd chillies) – 2-3
Curry leaves- 2-3 stalks
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tbsp
Chana dal- 1/2 tbsp
Urad dal- 1/2 tbsp

Preparation Time (for batter): 10 min
Cooking Time: 5 min

Method:
Soak the rice in water for 2-3 hrs. Drain the water & grind the rice in a mixer to make a coarse paste. Add very little water while grinding. The batter should not be watery. To the coarsely ground batter, add salt and grated coconut. Mix well.

Heat oil in a thick wok, add mustard seeds, urad dal, and chana dal. If you are using curd chillies, add it along with the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds crackle, add red chillies and curry leaves. Pour the batter to this and keep stirring. The heat should be medium. Keep stirring until the watery batter turns to a thick dough. Turn off the fire.

When the mixture cools, make small round balls double the size of a lemon and place in an idli stand. Put the idli stand with the rice balls in a steamer and steam for 15 mins. Turn off and kozhukkattai is ready to be served with sambhar or chutney.

List of accompaniments:
Can be served with sambhar or chutney. You can have it with sugar too.

Health Benefits/Alerts:
You can make the dough and store in the fridge overnight and make the kozhukattai the next day.

Skill Level:
Medium

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Ingredients:
To Soak:
Raw rice – 2 cups

At the time of grinding the batter:
Grated coconut – 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds (Jeera) – 1 tsp
Salt

After grinding the batter:
Drumstick leaves– 2 cups
Gingely oil – 2 tablespoons

Preparation Time (for batter): 10 min
Cooking Time: 5 min

Method:
Wash and soak the raw rice for 4-5 hours. Grind the rice along with the cumin seeds and grated coconut. The batter should be smooth and neither too thin nor thick. Add enough water to the batter to get a spread-able consistency. Clean the drumstick leaves and add it to the batter. Add the required amount of salt. Mix well.

Heat girdle and pour about a full ladle of batter on to the griddle. Spread the batter around carefully using the bottom of the ladle.

Close the dosa with a lid. The fire should be on medium.

Remove the lid after about 40 seconds to a minute.

Pour 1/2 tsp oil around the dosa and flip it over. The dosa does not need to be closed with the lid now. Let it cook for about 30 seconds. Serve hot directly onto the plate!

List of accompaniments:
This tasty dosa can be served with sambhar or chutney.

Health Benefits/Alerts:
You can store this batter in the fridge for 2-3 days.

This is a very healthy diet and tastes great even when cold. This is a great way to intake drumstick leaves. Drumstick leaves have high medicinal value and is beneficial in treating many ailments. They are rich iron content and contain seven times more vitamin C than oranges! Spreading this dosa on the girdle can be a little tricky and needs some expertise.

Skill Level:
Medium

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Ingredients for Idiappam:

Rice flour (Idiappam powder/finely powdered raw rice)- 2 cups

Water – 1 cup

Salt – to taste

Grated Coconut – 1/2 a cup

Ghee – 1 tsp

Method:

Take the rice flour in a pan. Boil one cup water, add salt, and pour the boiling water in small quantities to the rice flour to make a smooth and soft dough. The dough should be firm and tight. A loose dough will be unwieldy.

Take an idli tray and lightly grease the idli grooves with ghee. Take a portion of the dough and fill in a sev maker. Use the plate with the smallest holes in the sev maker. Close the lid and move the handle in circular motions. You can see rice noodles coming out of the sev maker. Ensure that the noodles coming out of the sev maker fall into the idli groove. Move your hands in circular motion so that the noodles are evenly spread out. Make a thin layer of noodles first, add the freshly grated coconut, and then make another layer of noodles. Fill all the idli grooves with such small-sized noodles.

Pour some water into the cooker/steamer and place the idly trays with the idiappam. Close the cooker/steamer and steam for about 10 minutes. You can use this time to make the coconut milk.

Ingredients for coconut milk:

Grated Coconut – 1/2 a cup

Cardamom – 1 tsp

Sugar – 1 tbsp

Warm water (not boiling)- 1 cup

Method:

Put the cardamom and sugar into a bowl. Put the grated coconut in a mixer bowl and add some warm water. Grind the coconut finely. Place a sieve over the bowl and pour the blended coconut into the sieve and squeeze out the coconut milk. Put the coconut back into the mixer bowl and add the remaining warm water. Through the sieve extract the coconut milk into the bowl. Mix well. Coconut milk is ready to be used. You could use the coconut milk available in the market and add sugar and cardamom to it but let me warn you that they do not match the taste of freshly made coconut milk.

Turn off the steamer and take out the idli tray. Let the idiappams cool off for a minute. Take the idiappams out and serve with the coconut milk, flavored with cardamom powder and sugar. You can also serve the idiappams with veg korma, vegetable stew, or chana masala.

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