Rava Rotti/Savoury Semolina Pancakes….

Hiya, hope alls been well with all of you, I would like to share some awesome news with all of you, my recipe for Shahi Paneer has been nominated to be one among the best 200 recipe’s for Shahi Paneer recipe’s on the internet. The recipe with the maximum number of votes will be chosen as the winner. Here is the link.  My recipe is randomly positioned at No.29, do cast your vote if you think I deserve the vote. :).

A few days after we moved, K’s aunt – Geetha Atte (Atte in Kannada refers to Dad’s sister) had asked us to come over for breakfast. I would not have accepted the offer if she did not live close-by ;). Breakfast has always been one of the areas I need to work on. Not being a morning person has some advantages like – You can sleep longer. Have eggs for a quick breakfast & minimise your morning dishes.. :D. All this works when your just a couple I guess. So all you guys out there with kids would be cursing me as they have early morning hustle bustle & enormous amounts of cooking & dirty dishes in the sink. When it comes to disadvantages, there are loads, I have no time for an elaborate breakfast. Breakfast dishes which require a lot of prepping up are a big No No! Before you are done with breakfast you need to begin thinking about lunch :(.

Ah well back to the breakfast invite. When we went over to Geetha Atte’s house, she was ready with the batter for Rotti (Rotti is a savoury pancake in Karnataka). When she asked us if we were ready to have hot rotti’s, I thought she was referring to the traditional Akki Rotti (A recipe I posted a while back in the blog), the usual rotti prepared for breakfast by people from Karnataka. When she was preparing the rotti in the kitchen, the aroma that filled the house was very different from the one you usually fills the air when you prepare Akki Rotti. Different people prepare akki rotti with different veggies, I thought maybe she was using something different from the veggies I had tried before in Akki rotti. When she served us the rotti, I was surprised looking at the colour & texture as it did not look anything like akki rotti & nor did it taste like it. When I asked her what it was, she explained that it was just like akki rotti, made of semolina instead of rice flour & instead of water to bind the ingredients together, she uses tender cucumber juice. Then I figured that the rotti did have a subtle flavour of cooked cucumbers. All in all really yummy. She made really large rotti’s & I ended up eating 2 of them, I simply loved them.

I have been meaning to prepare this at home since that day & share the recipe with all of you. The recipe is quite similar to Akki Rotti & served with chutney, thokku, chutney pudi or pickle of your choice. Today happened to be that day.. :D. K likes the rotti’s thin & crispy. You can make them thicker too but these tend to get kinda heavy on the tummy; you have one & your done with your breakfast, so we prefer it thinner, so that we can eat a couple of them each. Well I don’t really know if this dish frequents in other Kannadiga’s kitchen’s, but for me it was a real catch.

The reason I have been playing Hide & Seek through my blog is because I have finally taken a step to being an Entrepreneur, I have been busy working out things & have started my Home Baking venture called “Floured”. :) I’m all excited & have been baking & packing the orders :D. Do wish me luck guys..! I promise to post as often as I can on Keli Paan, I won’t forget my first baby!!.

Ingredients: (Serves 2-3) Preparation Time: 30 mins
Fine Semolina/ Rava – 1.5 – 2 cups, You do not need pre-roasted rava for this.
Onion – 1 medium-sized, finely chopped
Carrot – 1 medium-sized, skin off & grated
Onion greens – 2-3 stalks, finely chopped. Note: you can use Spring onions greens as well.
Cucumber – 1 medium-sized, peeled. Note: make sure you have one with real tender seeds, else the large seeds will make the juice grainy
Green chilli’s – 3 medium-sized, slit & fine chopped into bits
Coriander leaves – 4-5 sprigs, finely chopped
Cumin seeds – 1 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Freshly Grated coconut (optional) – 2 tbsp,
Cooking oil – as per need
Salt to taste

Method:
Take a medium-sized mixing bowl & add the chopped onions, grated carrot, chopped onion greens, coriander, green chilli’s, cumin seeds, asafoetida & salt to taste. Mix well. Keep aside. Let the onion sweat & let out some water.

Roughly chop the peeled cucumber & blend it to a smooth paste. Do not add any water.

Note: 1. If you could not find a tender cucumber for this, make sure scoop out the seeds & throw them away, before you blend.
2. Geetha Atte says you can even grate the cucumber, but she prefers the convert it to juice.

Mix the juice along with the other ingredients & also add 1.5 cups of rava/semolina & the grated coconut if you wish to add. (I did not choose to add grated coconut). Mix well. Check if you need to add some more salt. We need a easy to handle dough. Not too dry & not too wet. If there is too much water in there, add some more semolina till you achieve a consistency which is easy to handle. Those of you who are familiar with akki rotti will know what I’m talking about.

Divide the dough into 4-5 equal portions. Take a tava or a pancake pan & spread one portion of the dough evenly around on the tava, using your fingertips. Spread it as thick or thin, it is completely upto your preference.

Place the tava on the stove & turn on the heat to medium. Sprinkle some drops of oil around just like you do when preparing a Dosa or a pancake. Cover & cook. Check after 2-3 minutes. Add some more oil if required. Cook till the rotti/pancake starts to separate away from the pan or starts to brown from the bottom. Turn over, cover & cook for another minute.

Take the lid off & transfer the rotti to a plate.

Tips: If you are using a non-stick coated tava then I suggest you have 2 tava’s when you plan to prepare this. After you take out one rotti, you will need to cool the tava back to room temperature. Else you will not be able to spread the dough & there are chances you will burn your fingertips.

Serving Suggestions:
Serve hot with your favourite accompaniment. We usually eat Rotti’s with chutney, thokku, chutney pudi or pickle.

Notes:
1. No turmeric in here. Don’t think I forgot to mention it in the ingredient list. The slight yellow hue is from the grated carrots.
2. Never spread the rotti on a hot tava, You will end up burning your fingertips & plus it is a waste of time as you will not be able to spread the dough around.
3. You will need another tava at room temperature to prep up for the next rotti. Basically you need time to cool the one that is come off the heat & prep it again for its turn while the other one is on heat.
If you are looking for the akki rotti recipe on my blog - Akki Rotti/Savoury Rice Pancakes from Karnataka. 

If you are looking for recipe’s for an accompaniment – Chutney’s & Thokku.

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