Monday, August 2, 2010

Avarekalu Akki Rotti

Indian beans, or avarekaLu is one of the specialties of South India, especially Karnataka. There are a wide variety of dishes prepared from this bean. The taste, flavor and texture of these beans are just awesome. Almost every other famous regional cuisine here, can be modified to include these beans, which then give an entirely special variety.
Along with making unique dishes with it, you can add these beans to Rasam, Sambhar, Upma, Bisi Bele Bhaath, make pulav out of it, add to lemon rice, so on and so forth. And the most special one is akki rotti with avarekaLu, which is considered as a real specialty. The taste and flavor it adds to the already mouth watering akki rotti is simply unique. Especially when made directly on a skillet, and served hot with a coconut chutney!
Check out the recipe....
Avarekalu Akki Rotti

Preparation time : 15 min
Cooking time : ~3 min per rotti
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 2 cups
Avarekalu/Indian beans - 1 ½ cups
Coconut - ½ cup, grated
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp, optional
Cooking oil - 2-3 Tbsp
Ginger - 1 tsp, grated
Curry leaves - 2 Tbsp, finely chopped
Green chilies - 2-3, optional
Coriander - 2 Tbsp, finely chopped
Salt - ½ tsp or as per taste

Method:
• Cook Avarekalu/Indian beans in a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water and ½ tsp of salt for 3 whistles, or till cooked soft
• Once cool enough to handle, add rice flour, grated coconut, cumin seeds, chopped coriander and curry leaves, green chilies, grated ginger, more salt if required and mix
• Add more water if necessary. Do not make the dough too watery, neither too tight.
• The consistency should be soft enough to pat it with fingers easily, without sticking
• Take a skillet, preferably non stick, or otherwise a well seasoned one, and smear a teaspoon of oil on the inside, till about ¾ths from the centre
• Take a ball of the dough (for a medium sized kadai take a small orange sized ball) and place on the centre
• Pat it with your fingers, and spread it evenly till the ¾ths, where oil was already smeared
• Make sure that the rotti thus patted is evenly spread. Since it contains beans, it cannot be patted too thin, do don’t worry about that
• Smear another teaspoon of oil over it
• Place the kadai on medium high flame and cover with a lid/plate
• After half a minute, remove the plate and let it crisp for another half a minute as per your choice
• Once done, the rotti comes out of the skillet very easily with hardly any effort to remove it manually
• Cool the skillet and repeat the same for the other rotties (See tips below)
• Serve hot with a coconut chutney

Tips n Tricks:
• Use at least two skillets if you have to make this for 2 to 4 people. Use one, by the time it is cooking pat on the other. When the second one is cooking, cool the first one and reuse. This way, time can be managed well
• To cool the skillet keep it under running cold water, inverted. Do not wet the inside, only outside should get wet and cool
• Any sized kadai can be used. The small, iron skillet used for making tempering is the best. Vary the size of the dough taken and the cooking time based on the size
• Use tender, fresh Indian beans for the best taste

Variations:
If you are pressed for time and cannot afford to cool the pans and pat each rotti, then, here’s an alternative:
• Use a thick polythene sheet and cut it into a circle of desired size (size that fits on you tawa), or use a plantain leaf
• Smear the sheet with oil and pat the dough on it.
• Heat the tawa and invert the sheet over and after a few seconds remove and let cook on the tawa on both sides. Meanwhile pat another one and keep ready before removing the first one
• This is easier in preparation, saves time and also consumes less resource like heat and water. However, you’ll be compromising a great deal on the taste. I do not say it tastes bad, but the one made on skillet cannot be compared for sure.

Sending this to Akila's event: Dish name starts with A.

13 comments:

  1. That was a tasty looking akki roti. Loved the color and the texture. click is very tempting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hai sum... akki rotti looks delicious... lovely..nice click..

    ReplyDelete
  3. My favorite. Even though I get frozen avarekalu here, it is not the same as fresh ones. That sone vasane is something I miss a lot. Nice looking rotti.

    ReplyDelete
  4. First time here and your roti looks simply superb....

    Added yours to my blog list....

    When you find time do visit my blog and I would like to invite you to participate in the events Celebrate Independence Day-2010 and Dish Name Starts with: A by sending your special recipes.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow avarekalu looks so crispy n colorful ,healthy too ...very new dish for me ..bookmarked ...thanks for sharing

    Satya
    http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. this is very unique and different way to make rotti than what i used to..looks great..must try, never made rotti with rice flour..

    ReplyDelete
  7. gariyaagi yeshtu channagide rotti!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looks so delicious,long since i had this one..very tempting..

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Suma,

    Thanks for visiting my blog,glad to know that you are from Bangalore..Your blog is awesome with wonderful recipes..Avarekaalu rotti nodi bayeli neeru barthide kanri tumba chennagide photo's.Plz do visit my blog when time permits.

    ReplyDelete
  10. yum! I am drooling! I don't know why my akki rotti always becomes too dry..or keeps breaking..I will try to follow your recipe..

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks everyone for your lovely comments :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi....great combo and looks so delicious, thanks for sharing dear...

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by! And Thank you more for choosing to drop a line for me! Your comments are a source of inspiration to me :)