Kaima Rotti - Bread Upma dressed up

About three decades ago, when my hometown was only part of the larger Salem district, my father would travel often to Salem to appear for his clients in the higher courts. There used to be a particular favourite shop from where he could purchase for us candies and dry fruits. Those days we were very fond of the coin size coconut candy wrapped in a transparent paper with Parrys written in white on it. Those and dried apricots were mostly in stock at home.
He would also visit the famous bakery there and bring large loaves of soft white bread.
Bread was not part of regular meals in a family that ate rice for every meal. We, him, three of us, his daughters and my grandmother  were all fond of bread that two large loaves can be finished quickly.  On some rare occasion all the bread is not consumed by the 'sell by' date and we have a day or two old bread threatening to go stale. My mother would quickly get into action giving it a makeover with the bread upma and save it.
Sometime ago I had purchased a good 9"X5" loaf tin and my daughter gifted me a bread baking book at the same time. I had wanted to put both to use and baked a regular white bread with a recipe in the book. It turned out well with just an ugly gash like cut in the crust. I wondered what could have gone wrong when I followed the recipe fully and even liked that I kneaded it well. I put out a query in the We Knead To Bake Group and friends had suggested possibilities. So, I baked yet another of the same with these tips, thus having on hand two loaves, which possibly between the two of us, would last longer than I might relish. My one option was to follow my mother and get the upma done.
Bread upma being somewhat staple in my home, I needed to make it more interesting. I had a good stock of my thakkali vengayam chutney in my refrigerator; that gave me the idea to make the Kaima rotti. With few ingredients and leftovers that need attention, this is a good recipe to go for it.

Kaima Rotti

Ingredients:
Serves 4
12 slices of a day or two old bread
2 tablespoons butter to pan toast the bread
2 medium red onions sliced finely
4-5 green chillis cut finely
1/2" ginger chopped
1/2 cup thakkali vengayam chutney or anything that may add flavour to the bread
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon channa dhal/ Bengal gram
Few curry leaves
A little amount of water for sprinkling as required
2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Method:
Apply butter on both sides of the bread slices. Toast them slightly until just about crisp in a pan.
Generously spread the thakkali vengayam chutney on the slices.
Cut about an inch square cubes of the bread.
Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large, heavy pan. When heated add the tempering ingredients - mustard seeds, channa dhal, ginger and green chillis. Add the salt, some more of the oil and the sliced onion. Cook until the onion is transparent.
Toss them well and then add the rest of the oil.
Reduce the heat to medium and drop the cubed bread pieces.
Cook them together tossing them well until the breads absorb the flavours. Sprinkle a teaspoon or two of water at intervals to make it moist.
Turn and toss gently so as to not break the bread or cook it to a mash.
The bread will just about get moist and combine well.

Take it off the heat and transfer to a serving dish.
Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves.
Serve warm with hot coffee.

Adai - A Basic Version and Kunukku with Left Over Batter

"You do not have a recipe for adai", my daughter told me over a skype chat. "I have, and here is the link", I said in my defense and sent her the link to paruppu adai. "Oh, but this is such a fancy one, I do not know most of those ingredients besides their name, isn't there a simple version, a normal adai?" Now, that was an eye-opener. I used to think it was not of much interest to read something so regular. But, did I even forget that the very idea of writing this blog initially, was to aid her to make her meals with ease and hassle free.
I make adai, as many of us do. I have thrown in ingredients on a whim, I have added every vegetable that would work in the mix and also specially ground extra batter to make the favourite snacks with left over batter. Recently, I even achieved making the ready to make powdered mix for my husband. Yet, I did not think, it was good enough to write a post. I think, now.
Adai is such a versatile dish that it can absorb any grain, millet and legumes you fancy and still turn out good. The simplest version is with rice and fewer legumes, spiced with chillis and if you like it, ginger and made in a thick crepe. Often a blob of butter and a spoon of powdered jaggery will suffice as accompaniments for this. Pair it with avial, you have eaten a heavy meal.
I like them thick and the batter patted by hand on the iron skillet, gingelly oil/ ghee smeared a little generously and cooked until golden on one side and just about turning golden on the other side after flipping. My husband likes his with the watered down batter made into crepes that are not so crisp. Thus the adai can be custom made to suit your preferences.

Adai

Makes 15 thick adais (or fewer adais and a left over batter for kunukku)
Ingredients:
1&1/2 cup idli rice
1/3 cup urad dhal
1/3 cup thuvar dhal
1/3 cup channa dhal
5 dry red chillis
3 fresh green chillis
1 and 1/2 inches piece ginger (optional)
Salt as required
Oil for cooking the crepes

Method:
Wash and rise well the rice and lentils clean. Soak them together in some water for about four hours.
Grind the soaked mix along with the chillis to a coarse and slightly thick batter. Add the salt and mix well.
You may adjust the water to get the desired consistency. If you plan to keep the batter for kunukku later, it is advisable to have a thick batter that has a dropping consistency. Keep aside the required quantity for the kunukku and adjust water to the rest of the batter.
Adai can be made soon after not waiting for the batter to ferment though personally I prefer that a wait for a few hours gives soft adais.
When ready to cook, place a heavy griddle/ skillet on fire. When the skillet is hot, scoop out a handful of batter and drop it on the skillet, pat it out in a thick circular crepe with your hand or spread using a ladle.
Smear a generous amount of oil around the adai. Also make small perforations in few spots using the sharp edge of the flipper and add some oil there. Cook the adai on a medium flame until the bottom side is golden. Flip to the other side and cook for a few minutes.

Serve hot with jaggery and butter or with a vegetable stew like avial.

Kunukku with left over batter:

Serves 2 people sumptuously for an evening snack.
Ingredients:
1 cup left over adai batter
2 tablespoons dry and coarsely ground rice (ground to semolina consistency)
Two sprigs curry leaves
1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
1/3 cups chopped shallots or red onions (optional)
Oil for deep frying

To serve with:
Coriander and mint chutney/ coconut chutney
Tomato sauce

Method:
Add the rice powder to the adai batter and mix. Adjust the rice powder to make a dough that can be held with the hand and dropped in the oil.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the above.
Heat oil in a pan and when the oil is hot, take a chunk of batter, pinch out small portions and drop them gently in the oil.
Deep fry in small batches until they are fried until golden and done. Remove them from the oil with a slotted ladle, draining as much oil possible.
Transfer to a dish lined with kitchen tissues to drain anymore excess oil.
Repeat until entire batter is done.
Serve with any chutney and sauce.

Note:
Ideally for kunukku, a mix of raw rice and idli rice soaked and ground with the dhals in a 2:1 (rice:dhal) ratio works well.
I keep some stored Kunukku mix in my pantry to make kunukku for an occasional evening snack. Today's kunukku is a softer version of the earlier crisp snack.