Creativity has no boundaries and is best expressed when the mind is free and the world is your canvas to work upon. For the last couple of days South Indian cinema and politics is abuzz with a certain ban on the release of a Tamil movie. Though I don’t follow the happenings from the field of cinema or politics much, but this one caught my eyes. People in the shops, morning walkers, school children, my maid and not to forget the screaming TV channel anchors, everyone seems to be worried about the freedom of expression overnight.

I feel that the equation of freedom to express has to face several twists in a democratic country, wherein it is the birth right of every citizen. If one is free to express his feelings through art then the other has all the rights to oppose the same if he feels hurt. In such situations it would be prudent for any creative person to work within the limits of their boundaries and play safe, until the mind set of common people towards art change, me think.

Anyways, hope both the sides resolve the issue amicably soon and the freedom of an artist to express art without any boundaries or political pressure is restored and also the powers of politicians to bring in peace and justice are appreciated.

Its weekend again, time to look forward to some comfort foods for that cozy happy family meal. Here are a few breakfast ideas I restore to when the family shouts the slogan ‘Yaay, no more oats, ’cause its weekend’. The recipes are easy, quick, needs little time to cook and is a welcome treat if you are bored of bread, butter & jam in your breakfast.

The savory pancakes called Cheela is quite popular snack in Rajasthan, India and is normally made with just chickpea flour as the star ingredient to which grated veggies are added for crunch. Bread pakoras is a road side snack in many parts of India, deep fried in oil this recipe makes a wonderful breakfast treat for early office goers. Adai or lentil pancakes is a South Indian delicacy I learned from my MIL.

1. Savory Raw Banana Pancakes or ‘Cheela’

 

Ingredients;

• 1 cup grated raw banana
• 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp. yogurt/curd
• 2 green chilies
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp Garam Masala (optional)
• Salt as desired
• Water as required
• Oil for shallow frying

Method; Peel and grate banana in a bowl filled with 1 tbsp. yogurt/curd. Mix it well, curd will help stop browning of grated banana.

Add chickpea flour (besan), chopped green chilies, turmeric powder, garam masala, salt and chopped coriander leaves in the above mix. Keep pouring a  little water and stir all the ingredients well to make batter of free flowing consistency.

Heat a griddle or Tawa, pour a ladle of batter and drizzle a teaspoon of oil around it. Cook it for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Flip the side and repeat the same.

Serve these healthy savory banana pancakes with tomato sauce or green chutney at Tea time or for a refreshing breakfast.

2. Peppery Lentil Pancakes or ‘Adai’   

Ingredients;

• 1 cup white or brown rice
• 1/4 cup whole Black gram
• 1/4 cup Bengal gram
• 1 tbsp whole peppercorn
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• Salt as desired
• Water to make thick batter
• Oil for shallow frying

 

Method; Wash and soak rice, whole black gram (Urad dal) and Bengal gram (channa dal) in water for 2 hours.

Crush coarsely black peppercorn and cumin in a pestle and mortar.

Drain water from soaked rice and gram. Add drained rice and gram in a grinder pour about 1/4 cup of water and grind to make a smooth batter.

Take out the batter in a bowl, add salt, crushed peppercorn, cumin and mix well.

Heat a griddle or non-stick tawa and pour a ladle of batter. Drizzle 1/2 tsp. of vegetable oil and let it cook for a minute. Flip the pancake and repeat the same till it becomes golden brown and crisp.

Serve hot with any chutney, tomato sauce or with just a blob of fresh butter for a filling and delicious breakfast.

3. Spicy Indian French toast or ‘Bread Pakoras’

 

Ingredients;

(serve 3)

• 6 Bread slices
• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp. yogurt/curd
• 2 green chilies
• 1 onion
• Chopped coriander leaves
• Salt as desired
• Oil for shallow frying

Spices;

• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp. roasted cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp. Ajwain or carom seeds
• 1 tsp crushed black pepper powder

Method; Peel and chop onion in very fine pieces. Pluck coriander leaves from the stalk, wash and chop them finely. Chop green chilies.

Take a large bowl add chickpea four (besan), turmeric powder, Ajwain (carom seeds), salt, yogurt/curd, water and mix well to make a thin batter.

Slice bread into triangles or small rectangles.

Take a shallow plate and add chopped onion, coriander leaves, green chillies, a pinch of salt and mix well.

Heat a griddle rr flat tawa.

Take a sliced bread and dip into the chickpea flour and yogurt batter. Place the bread slice on the griddle, add a teaspoon of chopped onion mix over it. Repeat the same with a few more slices and place them on the griddle.

Drizzle a teaspoon of oil around the bread slices and let them cook for a few minute on medium heat. Flip all the bread slices, drizzle a tsp. of oil and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Take out the bread slices, sprinkle a little of black pepper power and cumin powder on each slice. Serve hot with tea or coffee.

Try these savory Zucchini Pancakes posted on Lite Bite long back. These bread pakoras could be baked in an oven or electric Tandoor also.

Notes;

1. You can avoid Ajwain (carom seeds) in the Bread Pakora recipe if you can’t get it.
2. Skip onion in the 3rd recipe if you wish.
3. The 3rd recipe of Bread pakora use less of chickpea flour as the bread slices are shallow fried here unlike the traditional deep fried ones.
4. If you add extra chickpea flour to the batter and coat the bread heavily with it, the slices will not get cooked properly and will become soggy soon.
5. You could add finely chopped onion in all the three recipes if you wish so.
6. I use par boiled rice in the recipe to make the Lentil pancakes.
7. Add any green (spinach/fenugreek/mint/amaranth) leaves in any of the above recipes to make it more nutritive.
8. Dried herbs such as oregano, rosemary, thyme gives a wonderful flavor and aromatic twist to 1st and 3rd recipe above.

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