Pakoras from leftover Dosa batter

I had invited over a really good friend of mine for lunch. She is from Hydrabad, so I decided to make masala dosas for her. We had so much fun together. While my apartment filled up with aromas of dosas and sambhar, we catch up on so many things, along with our intellectual discussion on worldly issues and major discussion on Aamir Khan's show SatyaMev Jayate. I truely applaud Aamir Khan for what he is doing for our country. Being such an influential personalty, I am sure this show will influence many people, specially youngsters which we really need as a nation in India.

Coming back to the recipe, I had a cup full of batter leftover and wasn't sure what to do with it. My friend suggested that I let it ferment for one more day, then add a little bit rice flour, along with onions, green chilies, and cilantro, and fry it up as pakoras. She assured me that they will come out great and she was absolutely correct. I loved every single bite of these delicious pakoras and are perfect as an iftar item or a tea time snack.

Ingredients:

1. Fermented dosa batter - one cup
2. Rice flour - two tblsp
3. Half onion - finely chopped
4. Two green chilies - finely chopped
5. A bunch of cilantro - finely chopped
6. Oil for deep frying

Process:

1. Heat oil in a deep pan.
2. Mix together all the items from #1 to #5 above, making a smooth batter.
3. With the help of spoon place a little lumps of batters in the oil and deep fry till golden brown.
4. Serve hot with tamarind sauce or ketchup.

Sending this to Ramadan Friendly Recipes event hosted by The Halal Foodie...

ENJOY!!!

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Masala Dosa

Masala Dosa – Oh Gosh! You have no idea how many memories are attached with this particular dish. My fast friend in my school in India was South Indian, her lunch would always have different kinds of dosas and my lunch would be the same roti with various curries. We always used to switch our lunches as I loved her dosas and she loved my rotis. :). Oh those good old days! 

 

Also, being from Gujarat, this dish was a luxurious meal for us. Every time we go out to eat, Masala Dosa would be the only thing I would order just like my other cousins. Keep in mind, that in 1990s Indian-Chinese was still unheard of and people normally just cooked food at home rather than go out to eat because whatever you find at restaurants over there you could easily cook at home. With an exception to masala dosa, hence this became a luxurious meal for us. Mom used to make masala dosas in summer vacation time every year and that day would be like Eid for us! I can go on and on about my love for masala dosas but I think I should stop here and focus on the recipe since it’s quite lengthy.  

 

But, before I jump on to the recipe, I want to give you some briefs about dosas. Dosas are fermented crepes made from rice and urad dal. Its origination is from South India but is very well known all around India. It is available in almost all Indian Restaurants in United States.  

 

Ingredients: 

 

For Batter: 

• Three cups uncooked rice  
• Two cups urad dal (split and husked black gram)  
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds 
• Salt to taste   

For the potato filling: 

• Three medium potatoes, boiled and cut into 1 cm cubes 
• One large onion, thinly sliced 
• Half cup green peas 
• Half tomato, chopped 
• 3-4 large, hot green chillies, slit in half  
• 2 tsp mustard seeds 
• 1 tblsp ginger, minced 
• 1 tblsp lemon juice 
• salt per taste 
• 3-4 curry leaves 
• 1 tsp turmeric 
• 2 tblsp cooking oil
• Handful of chopped coriander  

For the coconut and coriander chutney:

• 5 large hot green chillies
• 1 small clove garlic
• 1 tsp ginger
• A bunch of coriander, including stalks
• 5 tblsp desiccated coconut
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tblsp lemon juice
• Salt per taste
• 3 tblsp sugar

Process:

 

For the potato filling:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop, and then add the curry leaves, onions, chilies, turmeric and ginger.

2. Allow to cook on a low heat for 5 minutes. Add the salt, sugar, lemon, tomato, peas and potatoes. Mix well.

3. Let it cook for about 5-10 minutes, stirring in between.

4. Once done, garnish with chopped coriander and mix well.

For the coriander chutney:

1. Blend together all ingredients using a food processor.

For the batter:

1. Wash rice and urad dal separately in cold water for up to 5-6 times.

2. Place them in two separate large bowls and cover with warm water overnight. In the urad dal bowl add in fenugreek seeds.

3. After the soaking period discard the soaking water, reserving about two cups.

4. Place the soaked rice and urad dal in a blender and blend to a thick paste. Add salt and mix well.

5. The consistency of the batter should be just so that it covers the back of a spoon.

6. Add a little bit of the reserved soaking water to help with the blending process.

7. Blend the batter to a degree where it's grainy – this is what's going to make your dosas crispy.

8. Place the dosa batter in an extra-large bowl. Cover loosely and ferment overnight in a warm place.

To make the dosas:

1. Heat a non-stick frying pan, take a small paper towel, dip it lightly into the oil and grease the pan.

2. Take a ladle-full of the batter and spread a larger pancake.

3. Spread the batter in a circular motion, starting from the inside swiftly.

4. When the top becomes dry, take about a ¼ tsp of oil and spread it gently over the dosa with the back of a spoon or spatula.

5. When the back of the dosa turns golden some of the potato mixture into the middle of the pancake and fold the dosa from each sides.

6. Take the dosa off the pan place on a plate and serve with coconut chutney.

I have this step by step instruction for you to use as a guide, but trust me making the dosa is one of the easiest thing to do.

For all my Indian readers, this dish must not be new to you but I am sure it is one of your favorites! For non-Indian readers, you have to try this!! SOON!

You might have some leftover dosa batter after you are done feeding 4 people. You can freeze the batter for later use or make these delicious dosa cakes or uttapam as breakfast item or tea-time snack to munch on.

ENJOY!!!

 

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Dosa/Uttapam Cakes

My last post was on January 25th 2011. I HAD to take a break from blogging due to extensively, ridiculously, absurdly, harshly, outrageously, unreasonably (let’s see did I got all the adjectives??) amount of work and ‘other’ activities that I was involved in for past four months or so. My regular readers know that I am a CPA and work at a CPA firm in Boston, so they would know why I was gone; but hold on, there is more to it. At work, my new year’s present was new clients with tight deadlines; In terms of education, my new year’s present was taking full time classes, in order to comply with CPA licensing rules; and personally, my new year’s present was to hunt for a condo. Needless to say, I was delighted to receive such a wonderful set of presents from three different parts of my life.

Working more than full time, like 65-70 hrs. a week, (is it called overtime? No wait, we don’t get paid for it, so I don’t think it’s called overtime); taking full time classes; and searching for condos in a little time that I was able to find from my crazy schedule. At the end of it all I had no time to cook, no time to write, no time to take pictures, no time to bore you guys :( - resulting in a very unwanted break from my dearest hobby that I had developed in past few years.

Now that the busy season has ended, it is kind of slowing down a bit. Work is normal again 45-50 hrs. a week. The classes will be over soon (May 6th to be exact). The condo project – didn’t exactly come out the way we had thought. After looking at trillion places, we really liked a place which was closer to everything and fitted our needs. We went whole nine yards with the process and were three weeks away from the closing and found out that there was a major issue with the title and the title insurance company backed out on us and it didn’t seemed smart to go ahead with the deal. We ended up backing out as well and decided to rent for now. To tell you the truth, I don’t have any more strength to look for a new place. I really liked the one that we were planning to buy so everything new that I see now, I tend to compare it to the older one. Anyways, we will be moving in mid-May (am I hearing another break? – no definitely not!) I am not compromising this time.

With all this that happened with me in these few months – A LOT has happened in the world as well – good and bad. The unrest in Egypt, Earthquake and Tsumani in Japan, the upheaval in Libya, India’s world cup victory, Anna Hazare’s stand against corruption (a much needed stand I must say!). My prayers go out to all who have been affected by these nature and man-made destructions and my wishes goes to people of India for their great victory after 28 years!

So, like I said earlier, I wasn’t really cooking or rather didn’t really had time to cook, so Mom and Sis-in-law came to the rescue. I love them – they are totally understandable and know what I have been going through and never expressed their disappointment. I am making up for them now :). Mom made these really yummy masala dosas (I will post a recipe soon). We had a lot of batter left and as some of you might know, it does not last that long. I came up with this really cool idea to make dosa cakes out of the batter instead of throwing it away, as you all know, I hate to waste foods.

Ingredients:

1. Dosa batter – 2 cups – click here for recipe
2. One medium onion – finely chopped
3. One medium tomato – finely chopped
4. One small green pepper – finely chopped
5. Two small green chilies – finely chopped
6. Handful fresh coriander leaves – finely chopped
7. Cooking oil spray

Process:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together, dosa batter, chopped onions, tomatoes, green pepper, green chilies, and coriander.
2. Let it sit for about 10 minutes.
3. Heat oven at 350 degrees.
4. Spray oil in muffin tray
5. Pour the mixed batter in each muffin spots till it is half covered – don’t overfill.
6. Place the tray in the oven.
7. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes.
8. Insert a toothpick in each cake; if it comes out clean, it’s all done.
9. Serve warm with tomato-garlic chutney.

All of us really loved these cakes and they are so filling as well. Do give them a try!

ENJOY!!!

Reposted this recipe at http://desizayeka.blogspot.com/2012/07/ramadan-collections.html

Submitting to the following events (see further details at the link above):
Joy from Fasting to Feasting - V

Ramadan Friendly Recipes

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Uttapam

I was/am a big fan of South Indian Dishes.. it brings back a lot of memories from school time.. in India I was a student of Kendriya Vidhyalaya.. mainly known as a military school.... they had students from all over India.. One of my really good friend for years was from South India, D. D used to bring in dosa, idli, uttapam, upma and all that good South Indian stuff in lunch everyday and I used to bring in roti-achar, roti-subzi, kadi-khichdi, all that good Gujarati stuff in lunch, so we used to trade our lunches or share our lunches in afternoon breaks... It was so much fun... I wish I was little again :( :(

I still struggle with making dosas and idli on my own but my mom is an expert on that and every summer we have 2-3 weekends booked just for South Indian food...

One thing I can make very well, Thanks to all those Gits Ready-to-make packages, is - Uttapam.

As we all know that for dosas, idli, and uttapam batter - a lot of work is required and you have to leave the batter overnight in somewhat hot room temp to get better "khameer" on it. Due to the weather in New England area and the time and work required, I always end up using Gits packages and this is the reason why our South Indian weekends are scheduled for Summer :)

Ingredients:

1. Gits - Ready to Make - Dosai package
2. 1 medium onion - finely chopped
3. 1 medium tomato - finely chopped
4. 1 medium green bell pepper - finely chopped
5. a bunch of fresh coriander - finely chopped
6. Water - per package instruction
7. Salt - per taste
8. Oil for frying

Process:

1. Mix all the ingredients listed above, except oil.
2. Heat dosa tava, grease it with oil
3. Pour a small portion of the batter and spread it outwards
4. Add in oil as needed
5. Once one of the side is cooked, flip it and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes
6. Serve hot with tomato-garlic chutney

NOTE: normally the vegetables are kept on top of the uttapam but I like to mix it in with the batter...
ENJOY!!!

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