Quinoa Oothapams/Savory Indian Pancakes (Instant Pot)
Working down my grains, I am discovered that quinoa fits in well instead of rice, in the traditional idli/dosa/oothapam batter. And if your use a combination of red and white quinoa, you get this rather beautiful purple colored batter. Healthy and Pretty! Just my kind of win. These quinoa oothapams are a healthier option to the traditional rice based option. If you know anything about me by now, you know that I am all about color and trying to make food visually appealing. Naturally of course. As in colored with natural ingredients.
My Quinoa Oothapams Story
What feels like forever, is a little over a month. It sounds like New York is inching to partially get back to normal. With children still at home, this new normal is anything but normal. However, at the moment I am still grateful that we are all safe and sound. With the numbers far from comforting, I wonder when I will ever see the city again.
Now, an interesting observation is that I have not really increased my food shopping a lot. However, we certainly are eating a lot more at home. True, that I am chowing down some stocked up pantry staples. Overall, however shopping much fewer times with more thought is resulting in less wastage. A good thing to be able to maintain once this are more relaxed. At this point, I will take hair salons over sit down eating. Hey, I can cook but cannot really cut hair.
What are Oothapams
Oothapams are savory pancakes, that are made with extra dosa batter. They are spongy in the center and crisp around the edges. A great recipe for oothapams done with a more traditional batter is here.
So on to the recipe on hand.
To make the batter
- I use equal parts of Quinoa and Urad Dal (white lentils)
- Soaking for a long time (About 24 hours), yields very good results
- Throwing in some fenugreek seeds help with fermentation.
- And then throw this into your instant pot, or any nice warm place to ferment the batter. And add any of your favorite vegetables, odds and ends to top these little pancakes. As they say, its all good.
If you like this recipe and want more ideas, do join my Indian Instant Pot Facebook group . Of course Instant Indian is a great idea to pick up,right with its siblings The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles and Spices and Seasons.
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A beautiful take on classic oothapams, using quinoa instead of rice.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of quinoa (I used a mixture of red an white quinoa)
- 1/2 cup of white urad dal
- 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi)
- 1/2 cup of beaten rice (poha) (optional)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped onions
- 1/4 cup of peas
- 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
- Chopped green chilies (to taste)
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Rinse the quinoa and the urad dal well and soak for 1 day, with the fenugreek seeds. The fenugreek can we with either ingredients.
- Grind the dal with a little water until the mixture is soft and fluffy. Do not add too much water. Pour into the instant pot steel insert.
- Grind the quinoa until smooth and creamy, this can be done in the same blender jar without washing.
- Pour this into the same insert as the dal, mix well. Stir in the poha (if using) and the salt. Place the insert in the instant pot and set to the yogurt mode for 8 hours.
- Stir the batter.
- To make the oothapams, heat the oothapam pan and grease gently with a little oil. After a couple of minutes, tablespoons of the batter evenly into each well. If desired, you can make large oothapams as well.
- Cover and allow the batter to set a little. Add in a little of the vegetables while the batter is still soft. Cook for 2 minutes or longer if making larger oothapams. When done, the bottom will be crisp and the oothapam can be removed quite easily.
- Turn and cook for about a minute on the other side.
- Serve hot with a condiment of your choice.