Mamma gives me bread and jam!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Saturday was wonderful . I looked forward to meet Pratima and Kalyan for lunch at one of my favorite chinese restaurants here. Since thats located not so far from our house, I hoped that the couple would stop by and chill out for a while . Well...I got busy cleaning up and getting the mess out of direct sight which happens mostly just before we expect any guests here ( I sure hope my mom-in-law or my dad never read this blog post. They have enough reasons to complain about me already :D ). A few looks in my kids direction gave them the signal that they should also help. Dev is not always happy about helping me and today was no exception and he had to make this memorable for me in some way, didn't he??!! With this totally indifferent attitude he says " At least we get to eat outside today. The last time we had guests over, you gave us bread and Jam" . This was followed by rolling of his eyes. It didn't take too long for me to get his point. What happened last time was ,we had some guest over for dinner and the menu was not very simple. As such , I didn't want to cook anything for lunch. Dev along with ALL of us had bread and jam that noon . Of course they were constantly snacking too . What amazes me was that  ,the only thing that he remembered about that day was that he had BREAD and JAM and how conveniently he forgot the elaborate dinner. He sure has talent for that . and what a poor thing is he that he gets BREAD and JAM to eat. I can't believe I did that to my child!! Look how deprived my boy in red is . ಆಯೋ ಪಾಪ  . :D You think I let him go JLT. No way, not without taunting him for the rest of the weekend :D. After all I am his MOM!!

Ragi Dose / Dosa

Ragi Dose batter is something which I prepare atleast once every week because of the nutritional richness and the ease of preparation. Eating a few keeps your tummy full for more than a few hours. I guess these are some of the reasons why ragi is the main grain used among farmers in the villages.
Back to the dosa, you can make plain ragi dosa and have it with chutney or you can even make it like a Masala Dosa with the potato filling . I know you will love this coz it is the perfect combination of ease, nutrition and Yumminess :)
My Little sister is a new mother after 2 years into her marriage. She is keen on improving in the cooking front for all the right reasons. I want to help her out with this. This is my first attempt in that direction.
Note: The cups I have used are small ones, not the measurement cups used in baking. If you are using the measurement cups, please use a bit more Methi seeds. The proportion of the ingredients except methi remains the same irrespective of what cups one uses. i.e., rice : dal : ragi flour : poha is 2 : 1 : 3 : 1/2

Ingredients:

• Rice- 2 cups
• Urad Dal - 1 cup
• Ragi(Finger millet) flour- 3 cups
• Methi seeds- 1 tsp
• Poha/Avalakki- 1/2 cup(soaked in water 15 minutes before the grinding process)

Procedure:

1. Soak the rice, dal and methi seeds together along with the soaked Poha  in water for 4-6 hrs.
2. Grind it to a smooth batter (of dosa/pancake consistency) in a blender.
3. Remove the contents into a big bowl.
4. Add just enough water to the Ragi flour and mix well to make a batter with similar consistency .
5. Run it in the blender so as to remove any lumps.
6. Add this to the rice and dal batter and mix well.
7. Allow to ferment overnight.
8. When ready to make the dosa, add salt and mix well.
9. Heat a griddle/tawa and spread some oil with with a cut onion .
10. Take a ladle full of batter and pour onto the griddle.
11. Spread into a thing dosa using the ladle .
12. Spread a few drops of  oil around and in the middle of the dosa .
13. Once done, fold the dosa and serve with any chutney of your choice, my favorite being peanut chutney.