I’ve stayed in a hostel in Hyderabad for a couple of years while studying for my Master’s degree, and it’s a food lover’s paradise without a doubt. My introduction to proper South Indian dishes happened in these 2 years here. I’ve heard people complain about their hostel food but I was lucky as my hostel mess made some delicious idlis, dosas and uttapams. Recently on a lazy Saturday morning, I was dreaming of my college days and my thoughts drifted towards the hostel dining hall and the smell of those wonderful mini uttapams with delicious chutneys. Ok, I dream about food too. So as soon as I got up, I knew I had to try out my uttapam recipe that weekend!

About my Uttappam Recipe

Uttapam is a popular breakfast served across south India. We make this pan cake with fermented rice and lentil batter. Fun fact – Both dosa and uttapam are made from the same batter, the difference in the shape and taste comes because of different preparation styles. Also, traditionally, uttapam was made from the left over dosa batter on the next day, resulting in the batter going a little sour. Vegetables like onions, herbs, tomato etc and herbs can be added as toppings to balance out the sourness . So today we will focus on the recipe for the Uttapam only and leave the dosa specifics for some other day.

Uttapam Recipe

Prep Time: 12 hours

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 12 hours 15 minutes

Uttapam is a popular breakfast served across south India. It's a pan cake made from fermented rice and lentil batter

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Ingredients

• Rice - 3 cups
• Urad Daal - 1 cup
• Salt - 1 ½ tbsp or as per taste
• Methi Dana/ Fenugreek seeds- ¼ tbsp (good for digestion)
• Oil - Few drops for greasing the griddle
• Finely Chopped Onions - 2 to 3
• Finely chopped Tomatoes - 2 to 3
• Finely chopped bell pepper - 1 to 2
• Finely chopped green chilies - 1 or 2 (Optional)
• Chat Masala - For sprinkling

Instructions

Directions to prepare the batter

1. Take 3 cups/portions of rice (use broken rice), wash it properly and soak overnight (7-8 hours)
2. Take 1 cup/portion of urad daal wash it properly and soak it overnight separately, add ¼  tbsp of fenugreek seeds to it.
3. After 7-8 hours drain out the excess water from daal and rice. First grind the daal in a mixer grinder into a smooth paste, add little water if required. Put it into a Bowl. Now grind the rice coarsely and mix it with the smooth paste of daal. 
4. Keep this mixture in a closed container for 6-7 hours (summers) and for 9-10
   hours (winters) for fermentation. This mixture will be ferment and rise
   beautifully

Directions for making uttapam from the batter

1. Add salt to the prepared dosa batter and mix it properly.
2. Keep a pan/griddle of high flame and allow it to heat up properly, add a few drops of oil on the pan and grease it evenly with the help of tissue paper.
3. Turn the stove flame on low and add one ladle of batter on the hot greased dosa tawa. Don’t spread it too much, let it be a little thick.
4. Some people prefer only onions or only tomatos in topping, I like them all. Add all the chopped vegetables on the uttapam, sprinkle some chaat masala.
5. Add little oil on the sides (if required) – if cooked properly, the sides of the uttapam will start coming out itself. and flip the uthpam. Allow it to cook for a minute. A properly cooked base will be golden brown in color
6. Cook on slow flame, flip and serve with your favorite chutneys.

Notes

• Grinding daal and rice separately will give your dosa and uthpam a good texture.
• After making one uttapam clean the dosa tawa by sprinkling some water on the tawa. Clean it with a tissue paper so that the next one does not stick to the
  it.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

2
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 120

You can also use poha for the batter, it brings down the the soaking time considerably down. My modification to the traditional uttapam recipe is adding Fenugreek seeds (Methi dana) to the batter. Fenugreek seeds help in digestion and I also like the flavor so I would recommend that you try it too.

I you liked this uttapam recipe, you can also experiment with batter ingredients. Like you can add Suji, Ragi, millets or even oats to the batter and get a different flavor and texture. Try out the green dosa or Pesarattu recipe popular in Andhra as well. If you eat too many uttapams, then you may need a few Tangy Mango Candies to help with digestion 😉

Happy cooking.