The infuriating thing about cooking is that sometimes you cook more than you need because you never know exactly how to allocate for each person and this gets worse if you have guests. We get overwhelmed with thoughts of running out of food and end up making more. So, definitely bound to have leftovers. And if there's any king of all leftovers, then it would be none other than Idlis.... which anyone least expect for a meal. Throwing or discarding leftovers is never on my cards and I often find ways to utilise them for the next meal in a such a way that they are appetizing. Here is one way to recycle your leftover idlis......

Leftover Idli masala / Recycling leftovers / Masala Idli / Idli Masala / Kaara Idli / Lunch Box Idea  5 / Kids School Lunch / Tiffin Box / Picnic meals / Quick Fix meals

Vote Result

Score: 8.0, Votes: 4

Bisquick Pancake Mix is one versatile baking mix for most western style foods. But do you know you can whip up a quick instant non-sticky savoury dosa / uttappam /adai with it ? Great for a lazy Sunday breakfast, quick evening tiffin or simply excellent life saver when you have unexpected guests at home. There are quite a lot of catogeries in which this would fit, working mom / daddy cooking day / Husband cooking for pregnant wife / bachelor or bachelorette  cooking.  Suits for both veg and non-veg style preparations, today let's peek into a veg style tiffin item and some combinations which you can play with...

Bisquick Uttappam / Bisquick Adai / Savoury Bisquick Dosai / Savoury Pancakes / Indian style Pancakes / Pancake Crepes / Buttermilk Dosai / Bachelor's Recipe /

Vote Result

Score: 0.0, Votes: 0

Chayote Squash / Chow chow is a humble little mild squash almost fits any recipe. Here is an interesting pachadi / chutney / Thogayal / Thuvayal / Thokku using chow chow with a medley of few other ingredients to make a scrumptious side which goes very well with rice or idli/dosai.

Chayote Squash Pachadi / Chayote Thuvayal / Thogayal / Thuvaiyal / Thokku / Chayote Chutney / Bengalore kathirikkai / Bangalore Kathrikkai

Vote Result

Score: 10.0, Votes: 3

Uppu Urundai ? may sound unusual for many, as this is typically a Naatupurathu / Countryside / Village / Gramathu /  recipe which is almost loosing its popularity among most city folks. Only few people actually know or do this at home, a heavy stuffy breakfast or tiffin item only known to many as Upma kozhukattai. These are traditionally made with pounded rice / Noi arisi, typically made from short grain boiled rice or idli rice. Any variety can be used to make these urundais... long grain, short grain, par or fully boiled rice, or even Idli rawa. I 've used raw sona masoori for my recipe and this is how it goes.

Upma Kozhukattai / Arisi Kozhukattai / Arisi Upma Urundai / Uppu Kozhukattai / Rice dumplings / Undrallu / Upma dumplings / Traditional Breakfast / Village / Gramathu recipes

Vote Result

Score: 10.0, Votes: 1

Short Grain Boiled rice is called Puzhangal Arisi in Tamil. Boiled and Par-boiled is often confused and almost considered the same. But there's a small difference in the processing style, you can read more on this topic here. Glad to see this product recently in most Indian stores and thought would be a great solution and substitute for Idli rice. Look for Ponni Boiled rice (Ponni Puzhungal arisi) (Dakshin Brand) in your local Indian store... they come only in 20lbs and cost around $27 to $30. This variety yields almost similar results like Idli rice except the colour will look pale with light yellowish tinge and also the ground batter will smell like congee thanni(water) but will not interefere with the taste. Spongy idlis and crispy dosas assured.

Long grain par-boiled works for idli dosai but only certain brands(Uncle bens) promises good results, check here for a another great recipe contributed by our friend Kavi. Some local American brand long grain par-boiled doesn't yield good results, they are very sticky, yellowish grains and hard to grind, even after soaking for long time. I've tried Texas brand, El paso... they all will go to garbage, do not purchase them. Also would like members to share some brands which they had success with.

Boiled rice / Puzhangal arisi / Par-boiled arisi / idli / Dosai / Tips / Rice

Vote Result

Score: 10.0, Votes: 3

Dosai with Bottle gourd ?? sounds crazy isn't it? Well, its rich in fibre, low in saturated fat and cholesterol! these are the 3 things which pave way to good health and weight loss. Then, why not include in all possible ways. Though we normally use this in curries and gravies... including in dosai was pretty daunting to me. But my aunt from whom I learned this recipe guaranteed good results and it did.

Ok , as far as the original recipe goes, its a combination of raw rice, idli rice and grated bottle gourd. I've taken it one step  ahead, by adding combination of raw rice, idli rice, brown rice and bottle gourd. There were too many queries on Jasmine rice, its properties.. its culinary use... or getting rid of the huge bag which was accidently purchased... and what not. So, in this recipe my choice is Jasmine rice, Idli rice and Brown rice. Only problem adding Jasmine rice is the texture of the dosai will be little chewy.. something similar to Godumai / Wheat dosai, but doesn't interfere much.

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Score: 0.0, Votes: 0

Asparagus is one veggie which is very versatile, though the appearance may look weird and rugged they always seemed humble, bowing to suit your culinary needs. If you remember, I've always compared the taste of this vegetable to that of raw peanuts... and that induced me to make this chutney, which tasted similar to raw peanut chutney with slight appearance and smell of Ridge gourd thuvayal.

Asparagus Thogayal / Chutney / Thuvayal / Asparagus Masiyal / Asparagus Dip

Vote Result

Score: 10.0, Votes: 1