Uddinahittu / Udupi Recipes

  
Uddinahittu is one of the traditional Udupi recipe which is prepared using urad dal flour and curd. As we all know that urad dal is one of the healthiest and popular ingredient in South India, including it in our regular diet gives a lot of health benefits. Urad dal is rich in protein, fat and carbohydrates. Importantly, it is beneficial for women as it contains iron, calcium and folic acid. Apart from all these, urad dal helps in digestion because of their fibre content, boost immunity and also helps in maintaining bone health.

Idly, Dosa and Vada are the popular recipes which flashes on my mind when it comes to Urad dal. Apart from these recipes, I use urad dal in chutneys and as seasoning in my kitchen. And in today’s recipe, I have used urad dal in a different way which I learnt recently for the shhh secretly cooking challenge group as our theme of the month was Udupi cuisine. When I got to know that Udupi cuisine is for this month challenge, I thought of trying Udupi sambhar which was on my list for so long. But while doing some research on Udupi cuisine, this recipe “Uddinahittu” sounded interesting and after reading about this dish, I was so curious to try as I have never used raw urad dal in my recipes.

Though few websites have mentioned about the option of using roasted urad dal flour, I tried this dish using raw flour as its a traditional method. To be honest, I was so confused about the taste but to my surprise, the dish tasted delicious and the taste of raw flour was not over powering. The highlight of the recipe is the addition of coconut oil. I can say that this addition elavated the flavour. The original recipe called for curry leaves but I did not use it since it is not available near my place. But I am sure that the addition of curry leaves roasted in coconut oil gives a lovely aroma. Anyways, I am planning to go to an Indian store this weekend so that I can try this dish once again by using curry leaves :)

Actually I have to thank shh secretly cooking challenge group and Jayashree who suggested this theme for this month and also, my partner Renu Agarwal Dongre who gave me a lovely ingredients to try this recipe. Jayashree has a wonderful blog in the name of Evergreen dishes. Don't miss her blog to check out for many delicious recipes.  By now, I am sure you would have guessed at least one of the secret ingredients.. Yes ! It’s coconut oil and hing. And yeah, don’t forget to check out my partner Renu's page "cookwithrenu.com " who prepared a delicious Mangalore buns using the secret ingredients given by me. And also, her page has loads of yummilicious recipes, so don't miss it!

In this Uddinahittu recipe, the raw urad dal flour is grounded into a fine powder and then mixed with a curd is finally seasoned with mustard, ginger and green chillies. The addition of coconut oil for the seasoning gives an aromatic flavour to the dish. This dish goes perfect with hot steamed rice and also can be served with any pulao as it tasted similar to raita. 

Here comes the recipe for Uddinahittu...

Ingredients :

3 Tbsp Urad dal Flour
1 Cup Curd
Salt to taste
2 Tsp Coconut Oil

A pinch of Hing powder
1 Tsp Mustard seeds
1 Tbsp Ginger, finely chopped
1 - 2Green chillies, finely chopped ( add chillies according to taste bud )
Coriander leaves, chopped or Fresh curry leaves

Method :

Mix urad dal flour and curd in a bowl without any lump.

If you don’t have urad dal flour, just grind the urad dal and sieve it to get a fine powder.

Heat coconut oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds.

Once it starts spluttering, add hing powder followed by ginger, green chillies and curry leaves ( I did not add curry leaves in this recipe ).

Now add the seasoning to the urad dal - curd mixture along with the required quantity of salt.

Mix well and add the chopped coriander leaves.

Serving Options :

Serve with hot steamed rice.