Rava Uttapam and Coconut Coriander Chutney Recipe

You know the moment at the supermarket, you suddenly see an item and quickly grab it, thinking yes I will make it some day. And then you just wait for the some day to arrive. Monday comes, then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and poof Sunday! The some day, never arrives. Ok, bad joke, I admit.

Moving on... So I had  bought this roasted suji, or semolina if you please, even known as rava, but I had not idea what to make of it. I could have made kesari, but it is something we get to get during festives. Then I thought of suji halwa, but again, so much of ghee, wonder if my hips would agree. I was toying with the idea of suji cake when I noticed, it won't work with roasted suji.

Luckily I remembered my one time experience having uttapam at this nice vegetarian restaurant in Singapore, like donkey years ago. Its so long that the donkey would have turned 10 years older by now. Somehow it took me a while to even recall back the name of the dish I had, I remembered I ate something so nice, but the name.. ufff it took days and some googling!

I remember it was almost like upma, but not quite it... and later it came right there on the google search for rava breakfast dishes... UTTAPAM! It has this distinct sour flavour, together with sauteed onion, and garlic thing going on, not to mention, some freshness of green chillis. Oh yes, it was just that.

When I searched for the recipes, I found several versions, but the one I liked the most was with yogurt, because, as I recall, it had a nice sour flavour. And the best part about it is, I do not have to ferment the batter a night before. And secondly, I could shower it with several colourful vegetables, and it will just enhance the flavour and goodness of it.

Here goes, my recipe, inspired from the Rava Uttapam Recipe here.

You need: 

For Uttapam:

1 cup rava

1 cup water

1/4 cup yogurt

1/4 tsp baking soda

some salt

Onion, diced

Green and red capsium, diced

Ginger, grated

Curry leaves

Green chilli, chopped

Oil/ghee

Salt and black pepper

For the Coconut coriander chutney:

A handful of coriander leaves

1 cup of grated coconut

1 green chilli

Salt

Mustard seeds

Dried chilli

Curry leaves

Oil

Method:

1) Mix the rava with water, baking soda and the yogurt. Mix it well, add more water if needed. Keep it aside for 30 minutes. 

2) After 30 mins, mix the onion, capsicum, ginger, chilli and curry leaves into the rava batter. Season with salt and pepper. 

 

3) Heat a non stick pan, spread good amount of ghee, and scoop one ladle of the batter on, spread it into a round shape. 

4) Let it cook for 5 mins, or till golden at the bottom.  

5) Do a little kungfu, or at least use a spatula to assist you in turning it to the other side. 

6) This much golden colour cooks and rava and ingredients well. Repeat the steps for the remaining batter. 

7) For the chutney, place the coconut, coriander, green chilli, salt, and some 1/2 cup of water in blender. Give it a nice blend and transfer into a dish. 

8) In a pan, heat some oil at low heat. Add the mustard seeds and dried chilli. Once its aromatic, add the curry leaves and after a quick stir turn off the heat. 

9) Pour the tempered spices into the blended mix, and give a stir.

You can also eat uttapam with some curry, as we did. Nevertheless, the tangy and freshly spicy chutney was a big hit, even with Sanju! I will let you in a secret, this chutney, goes awesome mixed with yogurt. Slurppp!!

Here is another feather in my hat, next step would be making sure my uttapams are perfectly round, or as mom says, my husband won't be so pleased.

Happy trying!