My First Kitchen Conquest - Sooji Ka Chilla

Hey Guys!

For those of you who know me .. I know its outright UNTHINKABLE to even imagine me inside the kitchen.. But its TRUE! I recently made my maiden foray into the cookie-zone.. & guess what?! With a B.I.G. SUCCESS - Mom was simply ecstatic upon tasting My First Kitchen Conquest.... Even dad said it was yummy.. (he usually says, "OKay.." on tasting something quite good! :D)
As you can very easily guess what I made - Sooji Ka Chilla [For those who dunno what's a "sooji ka chilla" - its hindi for (Indian) semolina pancake..]

(Just a li'l more of this bragging then I'd give the recipe.. :D)
What made it even more complex that I did it without using a nonstick frying pan - I managed it with our good 'ol Indian Tava... (Obviously, even mom was scared initially) To get around the handicap, I borrowed some tips from our South-Indian Dosa Making Chefs... I used to watch them making Dosas with great interest....

They are so easy to make and a nice change in the regular breakfast. Its quite a filling breakfast , and can be made more healthier by adding as many veggies as you want in the batter itself, as per your taste..

The Inspiration

The basic recipe I learned from mom. But I was inspired by the (almost :P) yummy chillas I ate at Shreya's place...

So who's Shreya???
Well! She looks (somewhat) like below.. and is a YES!+ volunteer in Allahabad, UP (these days I'm in Allahabad doing stuff..)

(OKay! Don't Frown Now!! Who told you to upload that Behanji pic of yours??! :P)

The chillas Shreya prepared had onions... & I hate onions.. This kicked off a chain reaction that in turn made me tune into The Bawa Consciousness...
To know what "Bawa" looks like.. look at the pics below.. To know more about Him.. read Bawa's Blog... (check it out anyways.. I'm sure you'd find something interesting..)

The Recipe

I started thinking what could I have possibly used instead of onions.. A casual thought sauntered to so many things.. tomatoes, capsicum, mushrooms, green peas... (You wanna suggest anymore Bau?!)

Ingredients:

For the batter:

1 cup Semolina (rava)
4 tbsp yogurt (curd)
a pinch of sodium bicarbonate (khane ka soda)
salt to taste

For the topping:

1 small tomato, finely chopped
1 small capsicum, finely chopped
1 grated carrot
Green peas(optional)
Grated cheese (optional)
Coriander leaves
A few mushrooms, finely chopped

Oil to cook
Musturd seeds
Curry leaves

I like to add everything in the batter itself.. Cooking it this way gives the Chilla a suttle, raw flavour.. If you want a more "cooked" sort of taste, then you may try (light) steam cooking the "harder" veggies..

Method:

Mix yogurt, semolina, salt and beat well. Let it rest overnight(so curd gets a bit sour and semolina swells nicely) or atleast for 2 hours.
Just before making pancakes add soda. Optionally, you may add the veggies to the batter as well at this stage (Don't add them at the beginning - you'll spoil them..)


Heat the wok.
Add about 1 tsp (or even less) oil, then add musturd seeds (few ) and curry leaves.
When the seeds splutter, pour about one big ladle of the batter at the center of the pan. Spread it a little bit.
Spread the veggies over the top.
Cover it and let it cook for a few minutes in low flame, or until the bottom of the pancake is light brown. Optionally, you may flip over and let the other side cook - I prefer it cooked only on one side. When they are raw, they have a whitish tinge (similar to the colour of the batter) visible on the surface
Garnish with coriander leaves and/or cheese.
Serve hot with (preferrably) green chutney.
DO NOT USE KETCHUP - it simply kills the suttle natural flavour of the chilla.. every foodie knows that...

Tips:

Don't spread the pancakes too much. While cooking covered , they swell a bit, and are better enjoyed hard on crust and soft inside.
Can sprinkle some chat masala powder over it, to enhance its taste.

How to do it on a Tava:

Make sure that the tava is perfectly HOT - leave it on full burner for a while and then sprinkle a drop or two of water - if it boils and dances and stays there for long enough, its HOT! (yes! It stays "longer" if its really, really HOT - go study your physics..)
Wipe off the water with a piece of cotton cloth.. then proceed as above - just add a li'l more of oil and make sure that the batter lands right in the middle of the oil so that it has some encircling it after its spread out - helps when you take it off the tava.. or else be ready to "scratch" it off the tava...
Once you've cooked one, clean the tava by sprinkling a generous quantity of water onto the tava and wipe it clean.. Remember one of those chefs cooking one dosa after another..??! ;-)

The Outcome...

Mom was initially very skeptical about my daring-do and was almost at "war-readiness" with a fire extinguisher in hand... But everybody liked the outcome.. Dad (genuinely) "praised" it..
And for the first time, Mom agreed that Art Of Living teachers are any good - I told her I got the inspiration from Bawa..... :D