Tricolor Othappam or 1 2 3 Othappam.

Tricolor Othappam or 1 2 3 Othappam /Aapam variations.

Othappams are thick dosas and come in a wide variety depending on the composition of the batter and the toppings and other additions made for taste. Talking of Dosas, there is one Hotel in Bangalore which boasts of making 99 varieties of Dosas. See a Video on this at the link* below.   I learnt about this Othappam in some TV programme some years back and which was called 1 2 3 Othappam, because the main ingredients are 3 and 3 types of toppings are added. I have re-named it as Tricolor Othappam because of the color combination and appearance. It is easy to make and is a tasty variation of standard othappam which is made out of the usual Dosa batter.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjaKXkegvxg

Ingredients. A) 1- ½ cup thick aval or beaten rice.  2. About equal quantity of Curds – not too sour. And 3, one and ½ cup of dosa rice or any other rice.
 B) Three items for topping** – 1. Carrot –one.   2. Onion one.   3. Green chillies two.
 C) Salt as needed and oil for greasing the tawa and optionally butter to top up.
** Toppings is for only two Othappams. More will be needed for making all the Othappams, about 8/9, with the total quantity of batter.   

Ingredients: Rice 1 1/2 cups, Aval 1/2 cup, curds, carrot,
green chillies & onion.

 Method.

  1) Wash and soak Aval and Rice for about 2 hours. Then grind to a fine paste adding the curds also. Add salt as needed, and transfer to a large container to make it half full to allow fermentation.  Ferment overnight. 

 2) Next morning, get the toppings ready; grate the carrot, chop onion and green chiilies aslo fine and keep them separately. 

Fermented batter with toppings ready.

 3) Make thick othappam on a greased tawa on moderate flame, quickly decorate toppings in 3 circles, and pat them down gently with the flat dosa laddle.  Cook for 2-3 minutes on low flame, keeping a lid on the tawa. Put a dollop of butter in the centre and serve hot, to be eaten with coconut chutney or other chutney. 

                                                          

Cooking on the tawa with toppings & butter.         My Brealkfast- with 2 chutneys, Fruit juice & fruits

Praparation time : when batter is ready it can be made in 15 – 20 minutes for making 3-4 othappams.   

With the total quantity of batter one can make 8 -10 othappams for 4 – 5 persons.

Aapam Variations:
The batter is similar to Kerala Aapam - both in taste and similar in contents. Both are well fermented rice batters and almost bland in taste. Aapam is made using 2 types of rice or cooked and uncooked rice along with coconut and yeast is added for fermentation. In this 'Tricolor Othappam' instead of coconut we add avalakki and in place of yeast we add curds for fermentation.

To make aapam a special 'Aapam Chatti' is used, but we can manage to have same effect in an ordinary dosa tawa also. Let me show you how-

On the heated greased tawa, first add 50% of batter in the centre and leave it as it is for 10-15 seconds. Then only add second half of the batter and only after a few more seconds spead the peripheral part of the batter thin, leaving the thick portion in the centre. Cook on medium flame with cover.

                                        

50% Batter deposited, but not sptead.                     More batter added few seconds later & spread thin 

                                    

'Tricolor' but without color Othappam+Chutnies.       Othappam with Chilli chutney Podi

Aapam is generally eaten with Vegetables stew, but chutneys also will go well with it. This 'Othappam' can be eaten with Chutnies.  Another variation is topping with chilli chutney podi.  One can top it with very nutritious drum stick leaves also.

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