Thursday, September 17, 2009

Indian dosas ~

Since I had so much fun with The Daring Baker's challenge that I did, I signed up for The Daring Cooks too. :) I needed something else in my schedule. LOL

I'm running late posting here, it was supposed to be on the 14th - but with all the rain we've had, a limb broke off a tree and knocked our power out that day, and we didn't get it back until late Tuesday night. Yesterday was full of church activities after work, so yes, I'm dragging in here late...

Debyi from www.healthyvegankitchen.com hosted the challenge this month - you can find it at www.thedaringkitchen.com as well as other fun stuff. Debyi chose Indian dosas for the challenge, and it was indeed a challenge because I've never made an Indian dish before and also - I tend to not cook vegetarian. You know me and meat. LOL

Anyway - Stevie and I were pretty much the only two who tried it, but I figured that. The guys are boring, us girls are adventurous and daring! I liked it, but it was very powerful and different from anything I've ever made before. Much more spicy and complex than the typical Vietnamese cooking I like to do (when I'm not cooking "regular Southern" food, haha). My favorite part was the filling - Stevie and I think it would be good in any dish where you have a bean type filling, like burritoes or even mixing it up into some baked beans. The sauce was pretty good but I added significantly more salt to it than it called for. I'm trying some over rice tonight. :) The pancakes were, well, kind of bland but you know, with all the other flavors, I don't know if we could take any more from the pancake. It was really a rich dish.

I did have lots of fun making it and am looking forward to the next challenge. :)

Here's the recipe, copied directly from the challenge post:
Dosa Pancakes
1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)
½ tsp (2½ gm) salt
½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder
½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder
½ cup (125ml/4oz) almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.)
¾ cup (175ml/6oz) watercooking spray, if needed

Dosa Filling
1 batch Curried Garbanzo Filling (see below), heated

Dosa Toppings
1 batch Coconut Curry Sauce (see below), heated
¼ cup (125gm) grated coconut¼ cucumber, sliced

Dosa Pancakes
1.Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.
2.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.
3.Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter. Makes 8 pancakes.

Curried Garbanzo Filling
This filling works great as a rice bowl topping or as a wrap too, so don't be afraid to make a full batch.
5 cloves garlic

1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)
2 medium hot banana chilies, minced
2 TBSP (16gm) cumin, ground
1 TBSP (8gm) oregano
1 TBSP (8gm) sea salt (coarse)
1 TBSP (8gm) turmeric
4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans)
½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste
1.Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.

2.Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

Coconut Curry Sauce
This makes a great sauce to just pour over rice as well. This does freeze well, but the texture will be a little different. The flavor is still the same though. My picture of this sauce is one that I had made, had to freeze, then thaw to use. It tastes great, but the texture is a little runnier, not quite as thick as it was before freezing.
1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic
½ (2½ gm) tsp cumin, ground
¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)
3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder
3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)
3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth
2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, diced
1.Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.

2.Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
3.Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
4.Let it simmer for half an hour.

Sauce:
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Filling:
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Pancake:
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Final yum:
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4 comments:

  1. You are definitely daring. Your images and descriptions remind me so much of a Sri Lankan co-worker I knew who would take us to an Indian restaurant. He'd have to order the rava dosa ahead and it would come out thin and crispy and about a foot long. It was filled with curried potatoes and peas and onions -- absolutely filling and delectable! My Sri Lankan friend told me how his dad would grind a special kind of rice and let it ferment several days before grinding again to make the dosa batter. This recipe you've listed sounds quite different.

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  2. It is quite different from your friend's dad's recipe, isn't it Anne? I have no foundation on Indian food so I couldn't tell you why. I think the filling you described sounds more like something I'd like better, with the potatoes, onions, and peas. I might try that sometime.

    Heather, thanks! They were full of flavor for sure. :)

    And just another note - the sauce tasted really great over basmati rice. I liked it better that way than in the dosa. :)

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  3. How interesting! It looks really yummy. I'm not a great fan of Indian cooking but this looks great!

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