I posted about various types of dosas yesterday. A variation of the dosa is oothappam, a thick rice pancake. In most South Indian households, there is always a stock of idli/dosa batter available. When this batter turns a little sour, it is time to make an oothappam. I, however, do not leave it to providence. Whenever I feel like an oothappam, I normally remove the required amount of batter from the refrigerator the previous evening and leave it in a warm place. By the next morning, this batter would have turned slightly sour. Oothappam tastes best when it is slightly sour. However, there are several people who like this with the non-sour batter. It is an individual choice. To prepare the batter, please see my idli or dosa recipes in this blog. The main ingredients are rice and split black gram (urad dal, ulutham paruppu).

Ingredients
2 cups idli or dosa batter
1/4 cup onions, chopped fine
1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped fine
1 green chilli, chopped fine
1/4 cup capsicum (green bell pepper, Shimla mirch, kodamilagai) – optional
1/4 cup grated carrots – optional
2 tbsp coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Method
Heat a tawa (girdle) on medium heat
Cut a potato or onion in the centre
Rub the flat surface over the tawa to ‘moisten’ it
Ensure that the batter is thick
Pour a ladle of the batter into the centre of the tawa
Do not spread, let it flow out on its own
Sprinkle the vegetables on the batter
Once the bottom side is cooked (about 1 minute), flip the oothappam over
Cook the other side
When this side is also cooked, transfer to a casserole
Rub the tawa again with the cut onion or potato
Repeat the procedure for the remaining batter
Serve hot with your favourite chutney
Enjoy!