Akki Roti / Rice flour pancakes

Its always a luxury for me to have someone take care of my son and though I enjoy cooking, its nice to have someone else cook for me and make me that cup of tea when I wake up ! These simple pleasures are something I really cherish when I am in Ma's place.

A couple of weeks left before I head back to the daily grind and heat back in Ahmedabad, so I am really enjoying all the pampering and the good weather here. Its been raining almost every evening and it has cooled down a lot.



This morning, we had akki roti with garlic chutney for breakfast. Akki roti is made either plain like this one, which resembles the wheat flour phulkas, or with some spices, onions and herbs. My sister-in-law makes some amazing akki rotis in a deep curved pan, which is something I have never managed. the dough almost always sticks to the pan, remains undercoked or gets burnt. That one I still have to crack.

Ma's version is simpler, like little rotis and something that I can roll out. Rice flour is essentially gluten free and a good substitute to wheat flour if you are on a gluten-free diet. These rotis are popular in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Ma made this with a roasted garlic and coconut chutney that is a nice spicy accompaniment to these humble rotis.



Akki Roti / Rice flour pancakes

What you need -

1 cup rice flour
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oil

What you do with it -

Add the oil and salt to the pot of water and bring it to a boil
Once the water starts boiling, add the rice flour to the water
Mix the flour into the water using a wooden ladle
The colour will turn into a transparent white
Turn off the heat and cover it with a lid
When it is still hot (as hot as you can handle), knead it using your hands to make a smooth dough
Line the kitchen table / platform with a sheet of baking paper or plastic, like a milk cover
Take a small ball of dough and roll it over the plastic / baking sheet
Don't use any oil to roll it or roast it
Heat a tava / griddle and place the rolled dough over it
Allow it to brown slightly and flip it over
Allow to brown slightly on the other side and take it off the heat
The dough can't be kept for too long, but you can roll it out and store it for a couple of hours and then roast it

Mocha Brownies

I am so glad to be in Bangalore at this time of the year. The showers have started now and its cooled down so much.
Blogging has helped me gain more confidence with my baking and since that's something I started after I moved to Ahmedabad, most friends and family here have seen and read about it more than they got to actually taste it



I was meeting up with my best friend from college and decided to bake some brownies for her
Working in my own kitchen with familiar equipments and ingredients is always much easier. Getting familiar with the new oven here and then not finding the right pan size were a little bit of a challenge, considering I had lined up a lot of things to do, including baking these brownies before I met her for lunch.

I decided on this recipe for mocha brownies by Michael Smith from Foodnetwork. I normally have cocoa powder, chocolate bars, butter stocked almost always at home. Here, I realised we had run out of cocoa and the only bar of chocolate was this bar of Bournville. It all came together finally and the feedback was good, so it was all worth it!



A hot mug of coffee and some mocha brownies is perfect for this weather. I baked another batch of egg free, low fat brownies from Madhuram's blog again the next day. That's coming up soon..

Mocha Brownies
Adapted from Foodnetwork.ca

What you need -

1 cup flour / maida
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 bar of Cadburys Bournville dark chocolate
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

What you do with it -

Line a baking tin (8x8) with parchment paper and grease it lightly
In a bowl, add the flour, instant coffee powder, baking powder and salt
Break the chocolate bar into small piece and place it in a bowl
Add the butter to the chocolate pieces
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C
Place a large pan of water over the heat and allow the water to boil
Place the small bowl with the chocolate and butter above the large one, so the base is just touching the water
Stir the chocolate and butter till it become a smooth mixture
Take it off the heat and add the brown sugar. It may get a little thick and that's really alright
Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract
Add the flour mixture and stir into a smooth batter
Add in the walnut pieces and stir it once or twice
Pour out the batter to the greased pan and bake at 180 for about 40 mins
Allow to cool completely and then cut into 2" squares