Uthappam can be described as a pizza made of rice flour topped with your choice of toppings. It can be visualized as a savory pancake with some toppings too :-P. It is again a South Indian breakfast which is a popular item in all the tiffin type restaurants like Saravana bhawan, Uduppi etc. Uthappam is made using regular dosa batter. And though dosa was literally the breakfast in our home as far back as I can remember, Uthappam was never a part of our menu. We used to have it once in a while, during our road trips, when we make a stopover at one of those ‘thattu kadas’ (roadside fast food stalls) :-)
One summer break, we were in our native place at my uncle’s house. And one morning, for breakfast, my ammayi(aunt) presented ‘Mama special breakfast’. And that was the first time I had a homemade uthappam and it tasted pretty good. We all praised his cooking talents and saw how easily he was making the uthappams :-) Well, after that, I have never had uthappams from restaurants. When I feel like having an uthappam, I make it at home :-D The good part about uthappam is that you could customize it to your taste. That is, you could put the toppings of your choice. It could be just onions or onion and tomato uthappam. If you want to eat more vegetables with your uthappam, you could also try putting some grated carrots to your uthappam :-) Doesn’t it sound very simple?? Believe me, it is as simple to make it as it sounds :-)
INGREDIENTS:
Note: Cup used for measurement is US measurement cup, 1 cup = 237 ml
Dosa Batter –click for recipe – 3-4 cups
Onion – 1/2 of a small sized one, chopped
Tomato – 1/2 of a large sized one, chopped
Bell pepper/Capsicum – 1/4 of a medium sized one, chopped
Green chilli – 1 no, chopped
Coriander leaves – 4-5 stands, chopped
Salt – to taste(apprx. 1/4 tsp)
Oil – as needed
METHOD:
1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except, dosa batter and oil and give a good mix.
2. Heat the dosa tava/griddle. To check if your tava is at the right temperature, sprinkle some water drops on the tava and it should sizzle away and dry up immediately.
3. Grease the tava lightly with oil. Pour 1 ladle of dosa batter to the tava. Do not spread it like you would otherwise do for regular dosa. The dosa should be thick. Lightly spread it to look like a pancake.
4. Now, take a spoonful of the mixed vegetables and top it on the dosa so that it is spread out evenly. Gently press the toppings to the dosa.
5. Cover the dosa with a deep steel/glass lid/cover and cook in medium high flame till the dosa cooks through and it gets a light brown color at the bottom.
6. With an oil applicator, grease the top of the dosa and vegetables with little oil.
7. Turn the dosa over and let it cook for few seconds till the onions(and other veg) and dosa brown a little and get slightly crispy. This is why greasing the vegetables and the top portion of the dosa becomes important. If you do not grease it, the dosa will stick to the tava and the vegs won’t get the desired texture.
Serve with sambar and coconut chutney :-)
