Millet, Chickpea and Oats Dhirdi

Dhirdi or crepes are an easy alternative to flatbread. I usually make them once a week with different flours. Today I am posting the millet, chickpea and oats dhirdi. I made this for an easy light dinner after a long work day. One cup of flour is enough for two people. Increase the amount of flour if you want to make more servings. Usually we eat these with some dal or vegetable side. Sometimes we eat it with chutney. I had some red pepper hummus I wanted to finish so we had that instead.

This millet, chickpea and oats dhirdi is a nutritious and simple recipe made with mixed flours. I usually buy millet, buckwheat and oats in bulk bins at Whole Foods. I grind it to a flour in my Vitamix dry grinder. The flour can be stored for several weeks, longer in winter. Addition of chickpea flour makes the dhirdi very flavorful. There is no oil or soda in this recipe.

You will need (for ~6  crepes or 2 servings)
1 cup flour (I used combination of millets, buckwheat, chickpea and oats)
1 tsp cumin-coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ova/ajwain/carom seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 strands finely diced cilantro (optional)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Add a half cup water and whisk. Keep aside to rest for about half an hour.

Heat a pan on medium heat. Check the consistency of the batter. You should be able to pour it with a ladle but it should not be too runny.

Add a ladle of the prepared batter to the heated pan. Cover with a lid and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Uncover and flip it over. Cook the second side uncovered. Take it off the heat and repeat for the remaining dhirdi.

Enjoy with chutney or hummus!

Socca

Socca is a French crepe made with chickpea flour. I found this very interesting because it is so similar to the Maharashtrian dhirdi. The big difference is that this crepe is cooked under the broiler as opposed to the stove top. The thickness of the crepe can vary and I tried different thickness. We liked the medium thickness better than the thin crepes.

I sourced the flour from Whole Foods and bought just enough for a very small batch. I used thyme and oregano along with some paprika to spice it up. The web is flooded with a lot versions of the recipe so not sure which is the original. I referred to this one and this one.

You will need (3 crepes)
1 cup chickpea/garbanzo flour
1 tsp. oregano
1 ts. thyme
paprika to taste
salt to taste
1 cup water

1 tsp. olive oil

In a bowl add all the dry ingredients along with the water. Whisk to make a batter. Keep it aside for 30-45 minutes.

Place an iron skillet on the top rack of the oven and switch on the broiler. Once the oven is heated take the pan out with a mitten and place it on the stove top. Add a ladle of batter and swirl the pan to coat. Drizzle a few drops of oil along the sides.

Place the pan back in the broiler and let the crepe cook for about 5 minutes. Watch the broiler to prevent burning. When the top is cooked flip it over and cook the other side.

When both sides are cooked take the pan out of the oven. Slide the socca out to a plate and repeat for the remaining batter. I enjoyed eating this crepe on its own.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week three, day three of BM #64 for the theme European cuisine (French). Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#64.

Nachni Urad Dal Dhirdi (Finger Millet Black Gram Dhirdi / Ragi Urad Dhirdi)

What is a dhirda (or plural dhirdi)? It is a kind of crepe popular in Maharashtra. It can be made with any flour or a combination of flours. I have a couple of other dhirdi in this space, bajri and nachni dhirdi and wheat flour and besan dhirdi.

We love the taste of the two flours nachni (finger millet) and urad dal (black gram) together as the result is a soft light dhirda. I do not mill the flours, I use ready made flours available in my local grocery store. You may want to roast the flours before use but I did not do that today. I soaked them a little longer than usual, about 6-8 hours. They made an excellent and filling breakfast.

You will need
For the dhirda
1 cup nachni flour (finger millet flour)
1/2 cup urad dal flour (black gram flour)
salt to taste

For the chutney
1 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. channa dal
1 tsp. urad dal
1 dried red chili pepper
1 Serrano pepper
1 cup shredded coconut

For the tempering

1 tbsp. oil

3-4 curry leaves

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. urad dal

To make the dhirdi combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add just enough water to form a thick batter. Keep aside for 6-8 hours.

Heat a griddle pan. Wipe with a clean wet towel followed by a towel dipped in a little oil. Pour a ladle of batter on the pan and starting from the center swirl in ever growing circles until the batter is spread in a good sized crepe.

Cover and let it cook under steam. When done flip and cook the other side. Take off heat. Repeat for the remaining batter.

To make the chutney heat the oil in a pan. Add all the remaining ingredients for the chutney except the coconut. Turn off heat. Cool. Pour in half a cup of water and grind it to a paste with the coconut. In a separate pan heat the oil for the tempering. Add the remaining ingredients to the oil. When they change color turn off heat. Let it cool and pour over the top of the chutney.

 

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week three, day two of BM #42 for the theme Millet.

Bajri and Nachni Dhirdi (Pearl Millet and Finger Millet Crepes)

Dhirdi is Maharashtrian crepe. It is an easy way to use up left over flour of any type. Today I used bhajri (pearl millet) and nachni (finger millet). I have made dhirdi with wheat flour, jwari flour, even singada flour. You could add a pinch of baking soda but if you soak it for a couple of hours you will not need it.

You will need
1 cup bhajri flour
1 cup nachni flour
2 tbsp. All purpose flour or rice flour
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. sugar
salt to taste
Oil

Sift the flours into a mixing bowl. Combine all the other ingredients except the oil in the bowl. Using a little water whisk into a thick batter. Keep aside for about 2 hours. Stir the batter and thin it out to a pouring consistency.

Heat a griddle pan with a cover. Pour a ladle full of batter in the middle of the hot griddle. Using the back of the ladle spread the batter in ever increasing circles until the batter covers the griddle in a thin layers. Add a few drops of oil and cover with the lid for a few minutes.

Uncover the pan. The crepe should be covered in a fine web of holes. Flip it over and cook the other side. When brown take it off the heat. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Enjoy!

Dhirdi taste best when hot so make them when everything else is ready.

Pesarattu (Mung Dosa / Moong Dosa)

This is the first day of a new challenge. Today I am posting a recipe from Andhra Pradesh. Everyday this month I will post a recipe from a different state in India. By the end of this month I will have featured on my blog 30 recipes from 30 different states.

I have never visited Andhra Pradesh but have always had a lot of friends from there. At one point when I was working in Bangalore I wanted to visit Hyderabad just to see their famous chudi (bangles) bazaar. I have not made it there yet. Maybe someday.

To kick off to this challenge I wanted to make a signature Andhra dish. I looked through my wish list of 'recipes to try or repeat' and found pesarattu. A few months ago my sister visited a cousin and mentioned the delicious Pesarattu breakfast prepared by our sister-in-law. That had got me thinking about making Pesarattu and I had added it to my long list of 'recipes to try or repeat'.

Every part of the world has some form of a crepe. In India they are called dhirdi, chila or dosa depending upon where you are from. These crepes are made with every conceivable grain and pulse that can be soaked, ground to a batter and spread on a pan. The grains that cannot be used in crepes by themselves are mixed with others that can. Rice flour is added to make the crepes light.

Pesarattu is a crepe made with mung and usually eaten for breakfast in Andhra Pradesh. While it can be eaten on its own, it is also paired with upama.

While mung is usually soaked in water for 6-7 hours before it is ready to be ground, I had to soak it for about 20. The 32 F overnight temperature and the fact that I left it on the wide ledge by the kitchen window may have had something to do with it. Needless to say no one got pesarattu for breakfast. They had to eat it for dinner.

My husband who grew up in North India likes to eat it with yogurt. My father would have liked to eat it with cheese. In his view yogurt and cheese are interchangeable as both are dairy. When he is visiting my daughter reaches for the cheese too. I served it with dal as we had it for dinner.

You will need
For the batter
1 cup mung soaked overnight
2 tbsp. rice flour
1/2 ginger garlic paste
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. red chili powder
salt to taste

4 tbsp. onion, chopped

Grind the soaked mung to a paste. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Thin out the batter if needed. If should be a little thicker than pouring consistency.

Heat a griddle pan. Add a few drops of oil and spread it around with a spatula. Place a ladle of batter in the center of the pan and using a circular motion in ever increasing circles form a large circular disc. Sprinkle a little onion and cover to cook.

When the bottom turns brownish in color, flip it over. Cook the other side. Flip it over again. Fold the edges in to form a triangle.

Turn over and serve.

Note:
Wipe the pan clean with a moist paper towel before pouring batter on it.
After every two or three pesarattu's srpinkle some oil on the pan.

French Crepes with Banana and Nutella

This month I joined bloggers on the Blogging Marathon (BM) for their 36th edition. I made a 2 week commitment for 6 recipes. I figured I could manage 6 recipes without bailing out and that would give me time to decide whether this is something I can do on an ongoing basis.  

Over the last ten days I have enjoyed the little peek that I have gotten into the world of the marathon bloggers. I have also enjoyed finding recipes for the theme I picked and my family has enjoyed their dinner.

As soon as the themes were announced I started planning. I love to plan ahead. In my opinion having a career while raising a family can be achieved only with meticulous planning and now it is second nature. As such, the day after the themes were announced I found an hour to spare and looked up recipes I would like to cook. My teenager, the procrastinator, said "Mom, you really should just go with the flow. Why do you have to plan everything?" I replied, "Honey, I am going with the flow I just like to nudge the flow in the direction I want." Once I had all the ducks in a row I was happy.

The first theme I picked, from all the themes for this edition of the BM, was European Cuisine. Ever since we visited Paris and had French crepes I wanted to try them out at home. So naturally I picked sweet crepe as my first recipe.

Most regions in the world have a preparation similar to a crepe, some with fermented batter some without. Like the dhirdi from Maharashtra, French crepe batter is not fermented. Dhirdi contains a combination of besan, rice flour, rawa, chestnut powder, wheat flour or any other flour you may have handy. Just like crepes the batter is allowed to rest for a couple hours and then cooked in thin sheets on the pan.

Crepes are very popular in French. They are a common street food and a common breakfast food. There is even a day in Early February on which most families in France prepare and eat crepes. We visited Paris in summer so we had strawberry crepes. I wanted to make sweet crepes and use fresh fruit but could not find fresh strawberries so I switched to banana instead.

You will need
For the crepe
1 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs or 1 cup water
1.5 cups milk
a pinch of salt

For the filling
2 sliced bananas
5 tbsp. Nutella

1/8 tbsp. butter

Mix all the ingredients for the crepe and let it rest for a couple of hours. The batter should be fairly runny in order to make thin crepes. Use milk to thin it out if needed.

Heat a griddle pan on medium high heat. Spread the butter around to prepare the pan. Pour a ladle full of batter and spread it around either by turning the pan around or spreading the batter using the back of the ladle in a circular motion in ever expanding circles.

Let it cook for about a minute. Test the bottom to ensure it is brown and flip the crepe over.

When the second side is cooked flip the crepe over again and fold in half. Spread a tbsp. of Nutella on the surface using a butter knife.

In the center add the bananas.

Fold the sides to form a cup and serve hot.

Wheat Flour Dhirdi (Pancakes)

Dhirdi is a Maharastrian favorite. It can be made with a combination of any flour you have in the house. Today I used wheat flour with besan, semolina and rice flour. The dough can be flavored any way you like.

You will need
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup rice flour
2 tbsp. besan
2 tbsp. semolina
1/2 onion, chopped
a bunch cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. ginger garlic paste
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. coriander and cumin powder
1 serrano pepper, deseeded and minced
5 curry leaves
salt to taste

In a mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.

Add about 2 cups of water and whisk together. The resultant batter should be thick but pouring consistency. Add more water if needed.

Heat a griddle pan. Coat with oil an in a couple minutes wipe clean with moist paper towel. On the hot griddle put a ladle of the mixture. Cover and cook for about 4 minutes. Uncover, turn over and cook for another 4 minutes.

Take off heat and serve hot with tomato chutney.