Rice appe or paniyaram - perfect healthy breakfast or snack

Appe is a typical South Indian breakfast recipe which also goes by the name of paddu, guliappa, gulittu, yeriyappa, gundponglu, ponganalu in different parts of South India.

I first tasted it after coming to Bangalore while sharing lunch with one of my colleagues, and instantly fell in love with it.

So, I had to learn the recipe and prepare it myself and to my surprise, my experiment was successful 😊😊, my whole family loved it; especially Baby S, she was so excited when she saw me preparing this, she was already aware of this dish, thanks to her school, this was one of the most popular breakfasts that were served in her school. Apparently, Daddy S also had tasted it in his office and liked it…wow!!!

 

Appes are shallow fried dumplings prepared in a special appe pan or mold which typically has 7, 9, or 12 shell-shaped grooves.

These are perfect healthy breakfast or snack choices with minimal usage of oil and also perfect for go-to breakfast during morning’s rush hours. Typically, it's prepared with leftover idli or dosa batter. You can add veggies of your choice like capsicum, peas, beans, carrots, etc. to pack more nutrition into it or hide the vegetables in it for your picky eaters 😊😊; it tastes great when served hot with a choice of chutney or even sambar. You can also pack it for lunch box.

Here comes the recipe for a quick and healthy breakfast;

Ingredients:

• 1 cup idli rice
• ¼th cup urad dal
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 green chili (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• ¼th tsp asafoetida or hing
• 2 tbsp finely chopped onions
• ½ cup finely chopped vegetables of your choice
• Oil for greasing the appe pan
• Salt as per taste

Method:

• Wash and clean rice and urad dal, soak them separately in water for 5 hours.
• After 5 hours, drain excess water and grind them together in a grinder jar to a fine paste, use water as required to make a thick-consistency batter
• Allow the batter to ferment overnight or for at least 8 hours
• Heat a kadhai or tadka pan and put 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing, green chilies, and curry leaves. Fry for a couple of mins
• Pour this tadka on the batter, add salt and mix well
• Appe Batter is now ready, consistency should be like a spoon drop
• Heat the non-stick appe Pan.
• Grease the molds with some oil.
• Pour a spoonful of batter in each mold, cover, and cook on medium heat
• Once the appes are cooked from the bottom, flip over and cook from the other side

Your quick go-to morning breakfast is ready to serve with chutney, sambhar, or sauce.

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Alu bhate, the Bengali style mashed potato

Since this whole lockdown thing started in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and cooks & maids stopped coming; Alu bhate has become my favorite side dish 😊😊. Me, as well as my whole family, realized how much we love alu bhate 😘…warm rice with ghee, masoor dal, and alu bhate… quick, easy, tasty, and healthy lunch.

In the pre-pandemic era, it was Baby S and my favorite breakfast before rushing out for school and office respectively 😊. I used to pressure cook everything together; Gobindo bhog rice, moong dal, grated potato, chopped onion, and salt and then serve hot with a dollop of ghee on top. It used to keep us full until our lunchtime. Daddy S also never said no to this healthy and tasty breakfast 😋.

Actually, to be very honest, it has always been our quintessential comfort food. After coming back from a vacation, we would always long for dal, alu bhate, bhat (Lentil soup, mashed potato, and rice) to give our stomach a break. While recovering from illness, we will have plain rice and mashed potato as it is easy to digest and tastes good.

Alu bhate simply means potatoes boiled with rice. Once the rice is fully cooked, potatoes were taken out and the extra water with starch is drained out from the rice. The boiled potatoes were then mashed and mixed with salt, little mustard oil, green chili, and fresh coriander leaves… and that is it, our side dish is ready. Also, if you have some leftover, you can use it for making Alu Parathas or sandwich 😊😊

Alu bhate, Bengali style mashed potato

Here is a simple recipe for classic Bengali comfort food, alu bhate or alu makha.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized potatoes
• 1 tbsp mustard oil, you can use ghee also instead of mustard oil
• 4 tbsp chopped onion
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp finely chopped green chili (optional, you can add more as per your taste or completely omit it)
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Method:

• Wash the potatoes very well to remove all the dirt from the skin
• Boil the potatoes with the skin on, you can either boil it with rice or you can pressure cook it till tender
• Let them cool down completely before peeling off the skin
• Mash them well
• Add all the other ingredients together and mash well again.
• Serve with warm rice topped with ghee or butter

This is perfect for bachelors also, easy to cook and goes well with plain rice and ghee 😃.

Please visit my post if you want to know how to make ghee at home, step by step process.

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Homemade Ghee or clarified butter

Ghee is a traditional Indian superfood and has been enjoyed for thousands of years. It’s also frequently used in Ayurveda and other healing medicines. It is an amazing powerhouse 💪.

Mostly in all Indian households, milk is consumed in some shape or form and a typical by-product after boiling the milk is cream.

We are no different, but in my family, no one prefers to have the cream along with milk, so I collect the cream for a few weeks in a glass container and store it in the refrigerator and then churn the cream and boil it on low to medium flame to make ghee.

Yes 😊, it's that simple!!

Step by Step process to make ghee;

Ghee making, step  by step

Ingredients:

1-liter heavy cream/malai/cream of milk (straight from the refrigerator)

Method:

• Take out the cream from the refrigerator.
• Put it straight into a large kadhai or wok and switch on the gas
• With the help of a ladle, stir continuously so that there is no lump and then let it simmer
• As the butter simmers, it will start foaming and spluttering
• Continue cooking on low to medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the milk solids don't burn at the bottom
• It will gradually start changing color from a bright yellow to slightly brownish and then to a light golden brown
• Gradually it stops foaming, ghee becomes clear and separates from the milk solids at the bottom, milk solids turn brown; make sure they don’t burn
• Let it cool for a few minutes and strain the ghee with a steel strainer or cheesecloth.

Your ghee is ready! Store it in an airtight jar.

You can use brown milk solids in different kinds of gravy to make it thick and flavorful or make sweets. I made milk-cake out of it, me and Baby S loved it 😋.

Ghee has a very long shelf-life, it can be stored at room temperature for three to four months. In the refrigerator, it can be stored up to a year.

You can use ghee for tempering dal or curries or you can top idli, dosa, rice, parathas, rotis, etc. with ghee to add more flavor to them. It is also believed to aid digestion if used in moderate quantity.

Baby S and I love warm rice with ghee, a little salt, and mashed potato 😋.

Plain rice with homemade ghee

Mashed potato or Bengali Alu bhate 

Ghee is also very nutrient-rich and contains vitamins A, K2, and butyric acid.

It is also a fantastic homemade moisturizer. Just rub a little bit between your palms and apply it to your skin. Applying it regularly will make your skin soft and radiant.

Now that you know how to make ghee easily at home, why don’t you give it a try? 😊

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Hand painted Conch design on Short Kurti

 Last year, my Maasi visited us from Kolkata during Durga Puja. Durga Puja also called Durgotsava is an annual Hindu festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess, Durga.

As per mythology, the festival marks the victory of goddess Durga in her battle against the Mahishasura, symbolizing the victory of good over evil.

Durga puja is a ten-day event and a widely celebrated festival, shopping season for communities celebrating it, with people buying gifts for not only family members but also for close relatives and friends. New clothes are a traditional gift.

My Maasi, in the excitement of meeting us during the puja did a lot of shopping and gifted me a couple of nice sarees, she knew how much I love sarees 😊😊.

One of the sarees came with a running blouse piece; however, I paired that saree with a different blouse, so this blouse piece was lying around my cupboard.

It was a nice comfortable piece of cloth, so I made a short Kurti out of it and hand-painted it fabric paint.

Its looks ethnic isn’t it, now I paired it up with a grey cotton trouser 😊

PC: Baby S 😍

Did you like it, leave your comments below...

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Roasted peanut masala

I am meeting my little brother almost after five years😍. My little brother, for whom I used to buy gifts on behalf of Santa Clause 😊😊, has grown up so much. He has completed his studies and now he has started working also. He has shifted to Hyderabad for his job and now he is coming to visit us!!

It was raining heavily the day he reached Bangalore, so me and my hubby, went to pick him up from the bus stop. I was elated to see him in person after such a long time, I almost cried!!

As soon as we entered the car, my brother said, “let’s go to the nearest liquor shop,” hubby dear happily agreed 😊, God, these boys are crazy….

The liquor shop was only two blocks away, didn’t take much time to reach. Hubby dear got his favorite one and brother got a bottle of white wine, and to our surprise, my brother paid for both and said, “I couldn’t buy anything for you guys, this is my gift to you from my first salary.”

Wow…my brother just gifted me a bottle of wine from his first salary, this is really a proud moment for me 😊

So, it’s time for an evening celebration with wine and roasted peanut masala!!!

Here is how to prepare roasted peanut masala

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of roasted peanut, skin removed
• ½ cup of steamed and sautéed green peas, you can use either frozen or fresh green peas
• ½ cup chopped onion
• ¾ cup chopped cucumber
• ¾ cup chopped tomato
• ¼ cup freshly chopped coriander leaves
• ½ tbsp finely chopped green chilies (optional), you can add or reduce the quantity as per your taste
• Juice of ½ lemon
• ½ tsp chat masala
• ½ tsp rock salt
• Salt as per taste

Method:

• Dry roast the peanuts in a thick bottom kadhai or pan till the skin starts peeling off
• Once roasted nicely, remove the skin and keep aside
• Steam the green peas with a pinch of salt and sauté them
• Chop onion, cucumber, and tomatoes into small cubes
• Take a large mixing bowl and put the roasted peanut, sautéed green peas, and diced veggies
• Mix all the ingredients nicely
• Add rock salt and normal salt as per taste
• Squeeze the juice of half a lemon and mix well
• Sprinkle the chat masala
• Finally, garnish with the freshly chopped coriander leaves

Roasted peanut masala is ready to be served with your favorite drink or as a small snack in between meals.

And once the wine was over I made a wine bottle planter out of it :)

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