Dosa

Dosa is a perfect meal. It is light and crispy goodness and has healthful attributes.
It is a good eat anytime of the day. There are many varieties of this crêpe. My personal favorite is the one made with rice and lentil batter. There are many versions of Instant dosas like the whole wheat, Ragi(Millet)Dosa.

Dosa's have a huge array of chutneys and fillings we'll have a few to start with.My Mom makes the best Dosa's. She is a purist making the batter at home. Most homes in South India will have an electric wet grinder. In which they make batter for dosa, idli, appam etc...

Basic Dosa Batter

Par boiled rice (Ponni or Sona Masoori) - 2 cups

Whole urad dal cleaned(White)- 3/4 cup

Fenu greek -1/2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Method
1.Soak rice , whole urad dal and fenu greek seperately overnight.

2.Rinse the rice and urad dal twice or thrice in running water.

3.Blend the urad dal and fenugreek in a blender with a little water and add water as necessary.

4.Once the urad dal has reached a smooth batter remove and proceed the same way with the rice.

5.Mix both and ferment over night in a warm place.

6.In the morning the batter would have doubled in size mix well add salt and store it in air tight container for 4-5days in a refrigirator.

(Easy way out buy it off the shelf in an Indian Grocery)

Please follow this link to have a quick look at how dosa is made as a street food in South India.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLiVz8DPGgg

Whole Wheat Dosa

Atta or Whole wheat flour- 1cup

Rice flour -1 cup

Cumin - 1tsp

Asafoteida- 1 pinch

Salt-to taste

Water - to make the batter pourable

Tadka

Vegetable oil-2tsp

Black mustart seeds - 1 tsp

curry leaves (torn) - 6 leaves

Method

1.Mix both the flours, salt, cumin,asofteida and add qdequate water to make a batter.

Tadka

2.Assemble all the ingredients next to you.

3.Heat oil add Mustard seeds once it cracles add the curry leaves and pourit on top of the batter and mix well.

4. Heat a crepe pan and pour the batter and spread the batter with the back of the ladle in quick circular motion. Drizzle a few drops of oil on the side and turn to cook on the other side.

5. Serve the whole wheat dosa hot with a choice of filling.

Masala Dosa is a dosa which has a classic potato filling. You could also try out a filling of your own. I have a few of my favorites.

Classic Potato Filling

Boiled Russett potatoes - 3 each (peeled and broken into small chunks)

Tadka

Vegetable oil - 3 tsp

Black mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Channa dal - 1tsp

Broken urad dal (Washed) -1tsp

Asofetida - 1 pinch

Turmeric powder - 2tsp

Curry leaves - 10 each(torn into pieces)

Cilantro - 2tbsp (chopped)

Salt- to taste

Method

Tadka

1. Assemble all the ingredients next to you.

2. Heat oil in a kadai or a pan over a medium flame, add mustard seeds once it crackles add channa dal allow it to brown a bit and add the urad dal and keep stirring continously once its golden brown add a pinch of asofetida and stir, immediately add the turmeric powder and stir quickly continue adding the curry leaves once it splutters add the potatoes and salt to taste. Simmer for 23-4 minutes stirring continously.

3. Remove the potato mixture from the flame nd sprinkle chopped cilantro on top.

4. Potato masala is ready to be spread on the dosa.

Baby Shallots, tomatoes, paneer and freshly ground black pepper filling

This is my recent recipe.Really simple.I went to the South Mada street market in Mylapore. It is really an amazing feel to shop in this market which teams with activities in the evenings where loud street side vendors try to attract customers by announcing their goods and prices in rhytemic calls. I'm simply in love with the farm fresh produce and the sheer varitey that is available.

Fresh Paneer- 2 cups (Grated)

Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp

Cumin- 1 tsp

Ginger - 1tsp (chopped)

Sambhar onions (Baby shallots) - 10 each (Thinly sliced)

Green chili- 2 each

Curry leaves - 10 each

Tomato - 1 (smmall cubes)

Cilantro - 5 sprigs

Black pepper- 2 or3tsp (freshly ground)

Salt - to taste

Method

1. Heat oil in a kadai or pan over medium flame, add the cumin allow it to crackle continue adding curry leaves ginger and green chili slivers keep stirring.

2. Add shallots and stir for 5 minutes and add the tomatoes and allow it to wilt.

3. Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper powder and add the grated paneer and mix well.

4. Cook for two minutes and add salt and halved cilantro and remove from heat.

5.Fragrant paneer mix is ready for the dosa.