Rava Pongal Recipe – Sooji Pongal– How To Make Rava Pongal

Rava Pongal is one of the easy to make South Indian breakfast recipes. It is very popular in Tamil nadu. Rava khara pongal recipe ( sooji pongal) is prepared with  roasted semolina ( Sooji in Hindi) and  pressure cooked yellow moong dal as major ingredients. Its cooking method is very similar to our Ven pongal recipe/Ghee pongal but semolina is used instead of rava.

Even though rava pongal is not widely available in Tamil nadu hotels, this must be a favorite breakfast recipe to many of us. In my home, Sendhil loves rava recipes a lot more than me & Raksha. So I try to make rava upma, rava dosa or this rava pongal at least once in a week. I started making this recipe after watching a cookery show by our beloved Chef Damu. After making it several times, I started preparing in my own comfortable way. I have shared the same in this post. Quantity of water, little oil and more ghee is the key for soft pongal. If you have cooked moong dal in hand, rava pongal can be prepared quickly and easily. Bachelors and working women can try this for breakfast. Ok, lets see how to make sooji pongal/ Tamil nadu style rava pongal with step by step photos and a video ( Video is under editing). I will try to share it soon.

Rava Pongal Recipe - Sooji Pongal

How to make rava pongal recipe - Easy, yummy South Indian breakfast recipe

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Breakfast

Serves: Serves 2

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Semolina / Sooji / Rava - 3/4 cup ( Upma rava) Yellow moong dal - 1/4 cup (roast in 2 tsp ghee) Water - 1.5 cups ( for dal) + 2.5 cups ( for rava) Salt - As needed To temper Ghee + cooking oil - 3 tbsp + 1 tbsp Pepper corns - 1 tsp Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Cashew nuts - 5 nos ( break into two) Ginger - 1 inch piece ( chopped finely) Curry leaves - Few Asafetida/ Hing - A pinch

METHOD

In a pressure cooker base, heat 2 tsp of ghee and roast the moong dal till nice aroma comes out. Add 1.5 cups of water and pressure cook in very low flame for 2 whistles. Open the cooker once its done and mash the dal. Heat a kadai and dry roast the rava in medium flame for 5 minutes. Take care, Rava should not burn. Transfer it to a plate. In the same kadai, heat 2 tbsp ghee + 1 tbsp oil and add pepper corns.When the pepper corns starts to splutter, add finely chopped ginger, cashews and curry leaves. When the cashews start to turn golden, add cumin seeds and hing. Mix well and add water 2.5 cups of  water immediately ( I used 1:3 ratio of rava & water). Add the required salt, cooked moong dal in the water. When the water starts to roll boil, simmer the flame completely or switch off the flame if you are a beginner. Add the roasted rava slowly in one hand while mixing the water in other hand. This is most important to avoid lump formation. After the rava is mixed well with water, it becomes thick. Cover & cook for 5 minutes in low flame. Open the lid and mix it once. Again cover cook for 2 minutes till rava becomes soft and well cooked.   Add 1tbsp of ghee at the end, mix well and switch off the stove. Initially, when the pongal is hot, it looks mushy. But it will become non-sticky and stay soft when it becomes warm. Serve with your favorite side dish like coconut chutney or gosthu. Enjoy !

Note

Do not reduce the quantity of ghee mentioned in the recipe. U can always add more if you want. Oil helps to keep the pongal non-sticky. You can add more water for cooking rava. 1:4 ratio of rava & water is also fine. Use upma rava/coarse sooji not chiroti/fine rava.

Enjoy this easy, yummy South Indian breakfast Rava pongal at home !

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Lemon Sevai Recipe – Instant Rice Sevai Recipes

Lemon sevai is our family favorite breakfast recipe. Sevai also known as Idiyappam sevai is one of the popular South Indian breakfast. Making soft idiyappam at home needs some practice and expertise. So to ease our job, readymade rice vermicelli ( Rice sevai or rice idiyappam in Tamil, Rice vermicelli in English) is available in the market.Though there are many brands, I have tried Anil rice vermicelli and Concord rice sevai. Basically rice sevai is cooked by soaking in hot water for 15 minutes and made instantly just like noodles. Once we know how to cook the rice sevai properly, we can make varieties of sevai recipes by adding different flavors and prepare lemon sevai, tamarind sevai, tomato sevai, coconut sevai, masala vegetable sevai and even sweet sevai by adding sugar or jaggery. Usually I make lemon sevai and sweet sevai as both are our family favorite. I make this dish mostly for breakfast during busy weekday mornings as it saves lot of time when compared to our traditional idiyappam. So today I have shared this post on how to cook the instant rice sevai and make this flavorful, yummy lemon sevai with it. Lets move on with step by step photos !

Do check my homemade basic idiyappam recipe, lemon idiyappam recipes, side dish for idiyappam.

Lemon sevai recipe - Instant lemon sevai using rice vermicelli

How to make lemon sevai using instant rice vermicelli/rice noodles for easy breakfast or dinner

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Breakfast

Serves: Serves 3-4

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Rice vermicelli - 200gms packet ( I used Anil rice vermicelli) Water - approx. 4 cups Salt - as needed Cooking oil - Few drops To prepare lemon sevai Cooking oil or gingely oil - 2 tbsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Urad dal - 1 tsp Chana dal - 1/2 tbsp Peanuts - 2 tbsp ( optional) Curry leaves - few Red chilli - 1 no ( Pinched ) Green chilli - 2 nos ( slit) Hing - a pinch Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Lemon juice - 2 tbsp or as needed Salt - as needed Water - 1 tbsp to add in lemon juice Coriander leaves - to garnish ( optional )

HOW TO MAKE LEMON SEVAI

Roll boil 4 cups of water adding few drops of cooking oil. In the mean time, squeeze two small lemon and take the juice.Discard the seeds. Add 1 to 2 tbsp water to it. Mix well and keep aside. Take the vermicelli in a wide bowl and add the boiled water. Level of water should be 1 inch above the vermicelli. Cover & soak it for 20 minutes. After soaking, drain the excess water completely using a colander and keep the cooked rice vermicelli ready. Make sure there is no trace of water. It should be fluffy and separate. Spread the vermicelli in a greased idli plate. Boil water in an idli pot. Place the idli plate and steam it for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove and fluff the cooked sevai in a plate. (This step is optional). You can proceed without steaming too. Heat oil in a kadai,splutter mustard, urad dal, chana dal, peanuts, red chilli, green chilli and curry leaves.Saute till dals become golden. Add the turmeric powder, required salt, lemon juice.Mix well and switch off the flame. Add the cooked rice vermicelli to it. Mix gently using a fork like ladle. Check for taste and add more lemon juice if needed. Cook in very low flame for 2 minutes till all the moisture goes off. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot for best taste ! Enjoy !

Note

The quantity of lemon juice and chilli varies as per the sourness of lemon. If you want, you can use a part of cooked vermicelli to make sweet sevai adding sugar or jaggery syrup, grated coconut and cardamom powder. Do not add more water to soak the vermicelli because it may become mushy. Make sure, you drain all the excess water completely without even a single drop left out. It helps to keep the vermicelli soft and looks fluffy too. Steaming the soaked vermicelli makes it soft like homemade idiyappam. You can try this way for variations.

Enjoy this easy, instant lemon sevai using rice vermicelli for your breakfast or dinner.

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Ragi Poori Recipe – Finger Millet Poori – Ragi Recipes

I am happy to share a millet recipe after a long time in my space. As you all know, I have been trying varieties of Poori recipes during weekends and sharing the same in my web page. Soon I will make a collection of them in my page for quick reference. 

Last weekend I tried ragi poori for our Sunday breakfast. Ragi (Finger millet in English, Kezhvaragu in Tamil, Mandua in Hindi, Ragi in Kannada, Koovaragu in Malayalam, Ragulu in Telugu) is a very healthy millet that is rich in calcium & iron.Usually I make recipes with ragi flour at least once in a week to include it in our regular diet.  Most of the time I prepare ragi dosa as its a quick, easy and instant dosa recipe. Sometimes Ragi porridge/Ragi kanji and ragi idli. 

Recently I came across this finger millet puri in some websites. I quickly browsed for the recipe, made some changes and tried it. It came out really well and soft.Though it looks hard & dry in the picture, the actual texture and taste was really nice. We are adding equal quantity of wheat flour to the ragi flour to give a binding to the poori dough. Rava is used to maintain the puffiness of poori for long time. Ghee is to give softness.

Do try this poori  for a change with a healthy addition of Ragi.You will like it I think :). Lets move on to the recipe of how to make Ragi poori with step by step pictures ! Please watch my basic Poori video for reference as the ingredients and the method of making this ragi poori is almost the same.

Ragi Poori - Finger Millet Poori Recipe

How to make Ragi Poori/Finger millet poori recipe for breakfast - Basic poori recipe with a healthy addition !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Breakfast Recipes

Serves: 9

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cook time: 2 Minutes

Total time: 22 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Ragi flour / Finger millet flour - 1/2 cup Wheat flour / Atta - 1/2 cup Ghee - 1/2 tsp Rava/Sooji - 1 tsp ( I used upma rava,coarse ones) Salt & water - as needed Cooking oil - to deep fry poori

HOW TO MAKE RAGI POORI - METHOD

In a wide bowl, take the ragi flour, wheat flour, required salt, rava, ghee and mix well. Now add water gradually and make a thick dough.No problem if the dough is slightly sticky and have cracks. Now grease your hands with oil lightly.Knead the dough very well for 5 minutes.Dough will become smooth and non-sticky. Do not rest the dough. Make poori immediately else it may drink oil. Make small balls from the dough and set aside.Keep it covered with a plate. Take one ball, dust in wheat flour and roll into small, thick poori. Poori won’t puff up if rolled thin. Heat oil in a kadai and when it gets heated , drop a pinch of dough.If it rises to the top immediately, oil temperature is right.Oil should not be smoky hot.Drop one poori and when it starts to float on top, press it with a ladle gently. Poori puff up well. Flip the poori and lower the flame to medium. Cook the other side and remove in a tissue paper. Again increase the flame and drop another poori. Repeat this and make all the puri. Serve hot with kurma! I made Karnataka style vegetable sagu as side dish. Enjoy !

Note

Do not add more ghee. Poori won’t puff up. Poori should be rolled thick to puff up well. Adding Rava is also optional. Do not rest the dough for long time. Poori may absorb more oil. Poori won’t puff up if oil temperature is less. So maintain proper heat.

Ragi Poori with mixed vegetable kurma is an yummy combination. Do try it !

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Veg Mayonnaise Sandwich Recipe – How To Make Mayo Sandwich Recipe Indian

Vegetable Mayonnaise sandwich was in my try list for long time. I make sandwich recipes only during weekends if I have less time to prepare breakfast. Most of the time I make vegetable sandwich in this way. Recent days I started looking for varieties of Indian vegetarian sandwich ideas. One such recipe is this Veg Mayo sandwich. In fact my friend Shalini told this recipe long back but couldn’t try it. Last week I bought a box of Fun Foods Veg Mayonnaise ( eggless mayonnaise) to slather in Veg burger for my daughter. Suddenly I reminded about this sandwich and tried it with few leftover bread slices at home. As the sandwich filling/spread is a no cook recipe,I felt it very easy to make.The only time consuming part is to grate or chop the vegetables finely. When you make it for just two people, its not that difficult too. I have toasted the bread with butter before filling with the mayonnaise spread. But toasting the bread is completely optional. If you want to prepare a quick and simple sandwich, you can just smear butter in the fresh, plain bread slice and enjoy it. If your kids like this sandwich, you can pack this for their snack box. Overall, this sandwich is a good choice for Indian vegetarians to make a quick breakfast or dinner. Ideal for bachelors and working women. Lets see how to make Vegetable mayo sandwich recipe with step by step pictures. I will upload the video soon.

Check out my Grilled Cheese sandwich and paneer sandwich recipes too !

Vegetable Mayonnaise Sandwich Recipe - How to make Indian Veg Mayo Sandwich

Easy, quick Vegetable mayonnaise sandwich recipe for breakfast or dinner !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sandwich recipes

Serves: Serves 2

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 20 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Bread slices – 6 nos ( I used white bread, U can use whole wheat bread too) Eggless Mayonnaise – 1/2 cup ( I used Fun Foods brand) Grated carrot – 1/4 cup Capsicum – 2 tbsp ( Chopped finely) Big onion – 1/4 cup ( chopped finely) Boiled Sweet corn – 1/4 cup Chopped Tomato - 1 tbsp Black Pepper powder – 1 tsp Red Chilli flakes – 1 tsp Chat masala powder - 1/2 tsp ( optional) Salt – as needed Grated Cheese  or cheese slices – 2 tbsp /  3 slices (Optional) Butter or ghee - As needed ( to toast the bread)

METHOD

Take a bowl and mix all the ingredients except bread slices. Make the filling and keep it ready. Heat a dosa pan and melt a tsp of butter. Toast a bread slice till golden brown on both the sides. Toast all the slices similarly. Take a toasted slice and spread the mayonnaise stuffing.Cover it with another slice of bread. Cut it diagonally and serve immediately. For variations, you can skip the toasting part and make it in raw bread to make your job simple. If you use fresh bread, this sandwich would be very tasty. For this, apply butter on one side of bread, spread the filling and cover with the another buttered bread slice. You can also grill this sandwich if you wish.Enjoy !

Note

Adjust the quantity of pepper powder as per your taste. You can add grated cheese in the filling if making for kids. You can make this sandwich using fresh, raw bread slices without toasting them. For variations, you can keep slices of onion, tomato, cucumber instead of making filling with mayonnaise.

Try this easy, yummy veg mayo sandwich for your kids. They will love it.

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Instant Poha Idli Recipe - Aval Idli – Instant Idli Recipe Without Urad dal

Instant poha idli with idli rava or upma rava (Semolina, sooji) / aval idli without urad dal is a quick fix, instant recipe for my idli cravings. After a long time, I am sharing an instant Idli recipe in my blog. Being a South Indian, Idli dosa batter is a must in my home. So I grind the idli batter at least once in a week and use it for 3 to 4 days. I used to explore varieties of idli recipes as a result of which you could find 15+ idli varieties in my blog. Myself & Sendhil can manage food without idli dosa for one to two weeks. But Raksha can’t. As she is in Salem, I did not make idli,dosa batter for the past two weeks and managing our breakfast & dinner with upma, instant dosa varieties, paratha recipes etc.

 Yesterday all of a sudden I got the craving to have idli for our dinner. As I had bookmarked this Instant, no fermentation poha idli recipe from Smitha’s blog years ago, I thought of trying it. It came out really well. I relished it with easy tomato thokku. Yes, I made an easy tomato thokku recipe in pressure cooker. It was tasting great for this idli. Recipe posted HERE.

Even though this aval idli came out very soft, I won’t say it tastes equally well to our usual fermented, soft and spongy idli made with rice & urad dal.As this is an instant version, the natural sour taste & flavor from fermented idli batter would be missing in this idli. So I feel only a tangy side dish like tomato thokku or tomato chutney would be the best side dish for this idli. But this is sure a keeper recipe for people who wants to make quick yet healthy steamed food using poha (Flattened rice/Pressed rice in English, Aval in tamil, Avalakki in Kannada). Its ideal for bachelors and working women. Its good for our tummy as well because curd, poha and idli rava are the major ingredients for this idli recipe. 

Cooking soda is not essential for this recipe still I used meagre quantity. If you like this idli recipe, you can make many variations like adding grated vegetables, season it like rava idli.  Do try this easy, quick instant idli recipe if you run short of our usual idli batter. You will like it for sure. I have shared all the possible tips for making this idli perfect. So lets check out how to make super soft, instant poha idli with step by step pictures and a video !

UPDATE : THIS IDLI CAN BE MADE WITH RAVA/SOOJI/SEMOLINA ( COARSE VARIETY) INSTEAD OF IDLI RAVA. BUT ADD ROASTED SOOJI AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. IT SHOULD NOT BE HOT. ADD 1/2 TSP ENO JUST BEFORE MAKING IDLI.

Poha Idli - Instant Poha Idli Recipe - Easy Aval Idli

How to make instant idli recipe using poha & idli rava

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Breakfast

Serves: 15 to 20nos

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cook time: 15 Minutes

Total time: 35 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Thin Poha/ Paper Aval - 1 cup (Thin Pressed rice/ Flattened rice) Idli Rava / Idli Sooji OR Roasted semolina/sooji - 1.5 cups Sour Curd - 1 cup  Water - 1.5 to 1.75 cups in total Salt - as needed Baking soda - 1/4 tsp . Add 1/2 tsp ENO if using semolina

HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POHA IDLI - METHOD

Wash the poha once or twice in water. Drain it. It will be soft. Now add 1 cup of curd to it. Mix well and soak for 10 minutes. Mash the poha after soaking. Add 1.5 cups of idli rava or roasted semolina (upma rava) and mix well. Idli rava absorbs all the water content. So add 1 cup water, mix well and let the mixture soak for 10 minutes. ( Update : You can also use roasted upma rava/sooji at room temperature instead of idli rava.) After soaking, mix well and add 1/2 to 3/4 cup water. Mix well to bring thick idli batter consistency. Add water carefully, make thick, pourable batter. Thin batter makes flat, sticky idli. Add salt & baking soda, mix well. Make idli immediately. (Update: If using semolina, add 1/2 tsp ENO or 1/4 tsp baking soda. ) Grease idli plates with oil. Pour the batter. Roll boil water in an idli pot. Keep the idli plates only after the water starts to roll boil. Close & steam it for 12 to 15 minutes. You will get nice cooked smell of idli. It looks slightly flat after steaming. Don’t worry. Remove the idli plate and rest it for 5 minutes. Unmold it with a small flat ladle or spoon.This idli may be sticky, very soft & breaks when removed hot. So remove it after the idli becomes warm to get the perfect shape.It stays soft for few hours. Enjoy with some tangy side dishes. I personally liked with tangy tomato thokkku & tomato chutney more than coconut chutney or sambar. Choice is yours ! Note : If you make the batter in the morning, you can use the leftover batter for making idli in dinner. You can refrigerate the leftover batter or keep it outside which helps for fermentation.

Note

Most important point to note is idli batter consistency. It should not be thin. No problem even if its too thick. You can add little more water anytime, mix and make idli. So add water carefully while mixing. Cooking soda is not essential if you leave the batter for 30 minutes to 1 hour resting time. Unmold the idli only after 5 minutes of steaming. Idli may break when you unmold it immediately. Give a resting time of 5 minutes. If you are using thick poha, grind to a coarse powder in a mixie. Then wash and soak it. I hope it works. ENO can be used in place of soda but use only 1/8 tsp if making with idli rava. If you use upma rava, you should add 1/2 tsp of ENO or 1/4 tsp of cooking soda.

Enjoy this instant poha idli with tangy side dish like tomato thokku or tomato chutney ! You will love it for sure !

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