Oats Idly (Savory Oats Cakes)

Oats is an ingredient that has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years, especially in India. People who ate only traditional foods like idlys, dosas etc., made of rice are slowly shifting to oats. This could be because oats are loaded in dietary fiber and have cholesterol-lowering properties. But the unfortunate fact is that since oats is a recent entrant to the Indian food scene, there aren’t many creative uses for it.

I love experimenting with recipes and have tried to make oats more attractive to the palate. Here’s my most recent attempt.

The final product was very close to the very popular rava idly and hence the combination of potato masala (as served in Bengaluru’s famous MTR restaurant).

 Ingredients (Makes 4)

For Idlys

Oats – 1 cup

Yogurt – ¼ cup

Channa dal (split chickpeas) – 1 tbsp

Dried red chili/chili flakes – 2 or 2 tsps

Curry leaves

Eno fruit salt – ½ tsp

Oil – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Water as required

For Masala

Big potato (diced) – 1

Medium sized onion (diced) – 1

Green chilies (finely chopped) – 2 (more if you want it spicy)

Ginger (finely chopped) – 2 tsps

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Oil – 1 tbsp

Curry leaves

Water a required

Salt to taste

Method

Idlys

Toast the oats until they turn a shade darker and give out an aroma. Allow it to cool and then grind into a slightly coarse powder. Heat oil in a pan and add the channa dal, curry leaves and chili. Sauté until the dal turns a shade darker. Add to the powdered oats.

At this point, the mixture can be stored in the refrigerator/freezer to be used later.

To the oats mixture, add yogurt, salt and water to make a thick batter. It should be thicker than idly batter.

Grease the idly plates and keep ready. When you are ready to make the idlys, add the Eno fruit salt and pour the batter into the idly plates. Steam for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the steamer plates and serve hot with a chutney/potato masala/podi. 

Masala

Add the potatoes, onion, chilies, and ginger along with the turmeric powder, salt and water (enough to cover the mixture) to a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles or for about 15 minutes. You can do this in a regular vessel too, just cover and allow the vegetables to cook thoroughly. Take oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. As they start spluttering, add curry leaves. To this, add the cooked potato-onion mixture and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the masala comes together nicely.

This can be had with pooris, rava idlys, regular idlys and of course my oats idlys. 

For more interesting oats dishes, please visit Chatpata Oats , Oats Dumplings (Kozhukatta), My Experiments with Granola, Oats Chakkara Pongal.

Chatpata Oats

After getting my husband to have broccoli (soup) last week, I decided to try my luck with a breakfast dish. Even though my experiment was successful, he ate only a spoonful!!! I don’t blame him though; he is not a fan of oats. Anyway, my mother makes this awesome tamarind upma with aval/poha/flattened rice flakes. I was making sambar a couple of days ago and had some extra tamarind pulp. That’s when a brain wave hit and I was like, “Why not try making the upma with oats; after all it has a similar texture.” 

Since this was an experiment, I made it with a small quantity. Next time, I am definitely making more of this spicy, tangy, Chatpata oats. :-)

Ingredients (Serves 1)

Oats – ½ cup

Tamarind pulp – 2 tbsps.

Sambar powder – 1-1 ½ tsps.

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp.

Asafoetida – a pinch

Chili powder (optional)

Water – 1-2 tbsps.

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 tbsp.

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp.

Red chili - 1

Peanuts (optional) – 1 tbsp.

Curry leaves – Few

Method

In a bowl, mix together the oats, tamarind pulp, sambar powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida, chili powder (only if sambar powder is not spicy), and salt.

Keep aside for 4-5 hours or over night.

When you are ready to make it, heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and once they splutter, add the curry leaves and red chili. Sauté for a minute and add the peanuts. Sauté for another minute and add the oats mixture.

Sprinkle one tablespoon of water, cover and allow it to cook for a couple of minutes. If the oats looks uncooked, sprinkle the remaining water, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Remove from the pan and serve hot as breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack. 

Note: The oats becomes soft by the end of the soaking period and does not need a lot of water to cook. Excess water might make it mushy, so do not pour water…sprinkle only.

Oats Dumplings (Kozhukatta)

One thing I must admit, I am quite impressed with the numerous cooking shows on South Indian channels that focus on healthy cooking. These segments are a welcome change from the usual deep fried or ghee laden recipes that come on other shows. There are many shows in the U.S. too that showcase healthy cooking, but it is not the same as seeing Indian recipes.

So here is a snack that you can make for your tea-time today!

Ingredients (Makes 14 small dumplings)

Oats – ½ cup

Moong dal – 1 ½ tbsps

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Chopped ginger – 1 tsp

Red chili – 1-2

Water – ½ cup

Gingelly/cooking oil – 1 tbsp

Grated coconut – 2 tbsps (optional)

Curry leaves

Salt to taste

Method

Soak the moong dal for at least 30 minutes.

Toast the oats until they give out a nice aroma. Allow it to cool, powder and keep ready. In a pan, heat oil and add the mustard seeds. As they start spluttering, add the curry leaves, red chili(s), and chopped ginger. Sauté for a minute and add the moong dal. Sauté for two minutes and add the powdered oats and salt. Mix well. Start adding water, little by little, and keep stirring continuously. Add the coconut and once the mixture comes together nicely (upma like consistency), take it off the heat and keep aside. 

Get your idly steamer/cooker ready. Lightly grease the idly plate. Roll out the oats mixture into balls of desired size and steam for about 10 minutes. Remove and serve hot.

These dumplings can be eaten as is or with a simple coconut chutney. Bon Appétit.

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

My husband and I are still doing smoothies and juices for breakfast, a few times a week. As part of that I made this dairy free smoothie which was a big hit. I saw this recipe on an Indian cooking show based on healthy recipes.

Ingredients (2-3 servings)

Uncooked oats – ½ cup

Strawberries – 4-5

Banana – 1-1½

Honey (optional)

Water for cooking the oats and blending the smoothie – 2½ cups (approx)

Method

Place 1 ½ cups of water and ½ cup oats in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat and stir until thick and creamy. Remove from the stove and allow it to cool.(I placed mine in a glass container and put it in the freezer for faster cooling. You could also place the saucepan in a vessel filled with cold water.) While the cooked oats are chilling, chop the strawberries and bananas and keep ready.

Once the oats are completely cooled, pour a little water into the blender, add the oats and the cut fruits and blend away. Taste for sweetness and add honey if required.

Pour into glasses and slurp!!! Bon Appetit.

Our opinion about the smoothie: We did not miss the yogurt/milk and the oats kept us full almost until lunch time. You could also add some walnuts or almonds for extra nutritive value. Fruits that will taste good in this form, I think, are Sapotta (Chikku), Apples, Blackberries, Blueberries, Mango, and  Papaya. Feel free to experiment and let us know your favorite combinations.

Recipe linked to Carole's Chatter Food on Friday: Breakfast Dishes

Pongal Special

We hope that you all had a very good Pongal/Sankranthi. Every Indian state, except Kerala, has its own way of celebrating this festival and we are sharing with you some specialties from Tamil Nadu. Even though these dishes are made during the Pongal, they can be enjoyed on any day of the year (an excuse for having posted them after Pongal?).

Thani Kootu

Ingredients

Green peas – 1 to 2 cups (frozen or fresh)

Tamarind extract – 1 cup

Sambar powder – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Hing – a pinch

Masala

Oil – 1 tsp

Channa dal – 2 tbsps

Dhania seeds – 3 tbsps

Grated coconut – 4 tbsps

Red chillies – 4 or 5

Seasoning

Oil – 2 tsps

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 4 or 5

Red chillies – 2

Grated coconut – 2 tbsps

Method

Boil the green peas in tamarind water, with sambar powder, salt, and hing for about 15 - 20 minutes. In the meantime, sauté the masala in oil until channa dal turns slightly brown. Grind to make a powder or paste. Add the ground masala to the boiling peas and allow it to cook for another ten minutes.

For the seasoning, heat oil in a kadai. Add the mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Then add the urad dal and the red chillies. Add the curry leaves and the grated coconut. Once all the seasoning ingredients are nicely sautéed, add them to the peas and serve hot.

Kali Kootu

Ingredients

Diced winter melon – 1 cup

Diced pumpkin – 1 cup

Peeled and diced raw banana – 2

Peeled and diced sweet potato – 1

Peeled and diced potato – 4

Finely chopped green beans – 1

Diced carrot – 1 cup

Diced brinjal – ½ cup

Green peas – ½ cup

Tamarind extract – ½ cup

Cooked toor dal – ¼ cup

Sambar powder – 2 tbsps

Hing – a pinch

Salt to taste

Masala

Oil – 1 tsp

Channa dal – 2 tbsps

Dhania seeds – 3 tbsps

Grated coconut – 4 tbsps

Red chillies – 4 or 5

Seasoning

Oil – 2 tsps

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 4 or 5

Red Chillies - 2

Method

Boil the vegetables in tamarind extract, with sambar powder, and salt. Preferably, pressure-cook the vegetables.

In the meantime, sauté the masala in oil until the channa dal turns slightly brown. Grind to make a powder or paste. In a big pot, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Add the urad dal, red chillies, and curry leaves. Now add the boiled vegetables and bring it to a boil. Add the cooked toor dal and the ground masala. Allow the gravy to boil for about 10 minutes and serve hot with rice, dosa or roti.

Oats Chakkara Pongal

You all know that the traditional sweet pongal is made with rice. This year, we decided to give it a healthy twist. Try our oats pongal and we are sure you won't miss the rice.

Ingredients

Cooked oats – 1 ½ cups

Cooked moong dal – ¾ cup

Melted jaggery – 1 cup (approx)

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Cashews and Raisins for garnish

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Water – ½ cup (more if required)

Method

Cook the moong dal (in a pressure cooker or on open flame) and keep aside. Toast the oats for about 5 minutes, on low heat. Meanwhile, bring the water to a boil. Once the oats is ready, sprinkle the water over it and keep stirring. Keep adding the water until the oats are nicely cooked. Make sure it does not become mushy. Keep this aside.

In a saucepan, melt the jaggery with 1-2 tablespoons of water. Once the jaggery is completely melted, add the cooked oats and moong dal and mix well. Allow it to simmer for 10-12 minutes or until most of the excess water is absorbed and you are left with a nice ooey-gooey mixture. Take it off the heat and add the cardamom powder and mix well.

Heat the ghee in a small pan. Add the cashews and raisins and sauté for a couple of minutes. Garnish the prepared pongal with the sautéed nuts and raisins and serve hot. Bon Appétit.