Few days ago I was chatting with my friend Priya and she mentioned using parboiled rice in idli/dosas. I don’t usually like the texture of idlis/dosas made with ukdo tandul(matta rice). She mentioned that she makes idlis with all parboiled rice. This is the only parboiled rice I have in the pantry. So I thought I would have to try Matta Rice idli/dosas again. I have to say this was one of the best idlis I have made in a while. They were pillowy soft and delicious.
This Matta Rice Idli/Dosa batter was used for a week in different forms – dosas, idlis, appe, uttappa. This became sour a bit faster than the all idli rice batter but it also made very soft and delicious idlis. I used 50% urad dal with skin. The skin gives some fiber. You can use all this or the whole black urad or dal/whole urad without skin. All the versions work well.
The next day, I made dosas with the same batter. Use a well-oiled tava for making the dosas. I served the dosas with a spicy chutney and they tasted amazing.
Dosas(PoLe)
Then the next day was appe. They had outer crispy sides and but very soft in the center, just the way appe should be.
Appe
Last was uttappa. By now the batter had a sourness. The addition of a lot of onions and coriander leaves offsets the sourness. Give these a try and I am sure you would love these.
For a long time now, I am trying to include more fruits in our diet. But somehow it is one food group that is most neglected in this home. I buy bananas, most of the times we finish them off before they get to the overripe stage. Lately, I find atleast 1 or two that get to that stage before I had a chance to finish them. I thought of making banana bread with them, but get too lazy to bake. Couple of times I made banana puri/buns with them. But lately this kele poLe or banana dosa has become my go to dish. It is made on the similar lines of Konkani classic Surnali. Cardamom makes these slightly sweet dosas very festive.
Pictorial: Grind all ingredients to a smooth batter and keep overnight. Make thick dosas.
Banana Dosa (Kele poLe)
These are thick sweet dosas with aromatic cardamom.
I am bit confused, should I call these dosas or pancakes? Actually I wanted to make pancakes, but ended up making them spicy and more like Indian cousin dosas!. These were infact inspired by zucchini fritters that I saw on TV a while ago, which involved deep frying.
Lately, I have started using zucchini a lot. Ishaan is at a stage where he does not want to taste most of the vegetables. So I end up grating and adding them in many dishes. I am not a great fan of sneaking in vegetables for him because I want him to enjoy them as they are, but at 2 years of age(the dreaded terrible twos!) I am ready to do all mommy tactics to get him eat something healthy without fight!. He did enjoy these dosas a lot, so I was happy.
It takes about 10mins to put together batter for these. They taste really great.
Ingredients: 1 cup grated zucchini 1 cup wheat flour 1/2 tea spn chilli powder 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1 egg white (optional) 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (optional) Oil Salt
Method: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and add enough water to make the batter. Heat a tava and make small thick dosas. Cook from both sides. I served them with pineapple paank. They go well with a spicy chutney.
Lately, I have been very busy. Busy work days, busy evenings trying to keep a toddler entertained and then if I still have any energy left, I work from home. I have missed updating this place. Today I realized that it has been more than 2 weeks since I posted here. So I thought I have to post something, before I totally lost the touch.
This dosa is inspired by my aayi’s ganva polo (wheat flour dosa). She makes it for dinner on Panchami – when my parents don’t eat rice for dinner and make something with wheat. V is a big fan of ganva polo and keeps asking for it. I recently started making it regularly since Ishaan also enjoys it. I changed the traditional recipe to add rice flour and a seasoning to it.
Ingredients: 1 cup wheat flour 2 tbl spns rice flour (optional) 2 tbl spns fresh/frozen coconut Oil Salt
Method: Mix wheat flour, rice flour, coconut, salt and water. Make it quite watery. Heat oil add mustard seeds, curry leaves. Add the seasoning to the batter. Heat tava and spread dosa. Cook from both sides. Serve hot.
When you think about Karnataka food, different things come to your mind – like Gokak Kardantu, Belgaum Kunda, Davanagere benne dose etc. These places have become synonymous with these popular dishes. I have been on the lookout for Davangere benne dose for a very long time. I had previously posted a version of benne dose here. Last week when I was going through my recipe collection – if some of you remember, I had mentioned earlier that my dad had given me a huge collection of recipes that he collected over the years, just for me. Love you dad – I found an article about Davanagere food. And there was a recipe for benne dose. I cannot believe I had missed reading this recipe!. Better late than never.
So I immediately decided to make it and declared to V that he will have these dosas for next day’s breakfast. When I started, I realized that there were some confusions about the recipe. So wherever I got confused, I just went with my instinct. Ohh these dosas –along with its two sides, which make a huge difference – were just out of the world. I want to make this for my parents when they visit next time.
The article says we have to use ‘Jaya thick rice’. Since that is not available here, I used idli rice. It mentions, we have to wash some rice, dry it and make rice flour, but the quantity is not mentioned. I just used rice flour. It also says we can make the dosas 1hr after making the batter, I was not so sure about that. So I kept it for fermentation overnight. The quantity was enough for 3 days for two of us. After making the batter, I took 1/3rd of it out and kept for fermentation. Remaining, I refrigerated. About 1 cup of batter was left out that day. Next day I took out another 1/3rd and mixed the 1 cup left out fermented batter. Let it rest for about 30mins and made dosas. They came out really well. Repeated the same for last batch.
The article says, these dosas are served with bhaji and chutney. While the bhaji is quite bland, the chutney is made very spicy. It is an experience in itself to eat the dosas with these two sides. It also mentions that for the chutney, a special chutney masala that is readily available in shops is used, unfortunately the masala recipe is not given but the article says that the masala is made of moggu, cinnamon and cardamom. Since I did not have moggu, I used cloves. The chutney was very very flavorful.
Give it a try atleast once. I am sure you will love it, like we did.
Ingredients for dosa: 1 cup urad dal 2 and 1/2 cups idli rice/dosa rice 1/2 cup rice flour 1 cup poha(avalakki) 1/2 tea spn methi(fenugreek) seeds Butter Salt
Method: Soak urad dal, methi seeds and rice for 1 hr. Wash poha in water. Grind all together to a soft batter. Now add rice flour, salt and grind again (or mix well with a spoon). Keep it aside for 4-5hrs. Heat tava and spread a thin dosa. Add some butter pieces. Flip the dosa and fry for a min. Flip again and fold. Serve with a dollop of butter on top.
Ingredients for bhaji: 2 potatoes 1/2 cup onion 2 green chillies 1 tea spn mustard seeds 3-4 curry leaves A pinch turmeric Oil Salt
Method: Cook the potatoes in pressure cooker, peel and mash them. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves, green chillies, onion. Fry for few minutes. Add turmeric, salt and potatoes. Mix well.
Ingredients for chutney: 1 cup fresh/frozen coconut 6 green chillies (chillies I used were not very spicy) 4 cloves 1 cardamom 2″ cinnamon 1 tbl spn choppes ginger 1/4 tea spn tamarind Salt
Method: Grind all with minimum amount of water needed.
Horsegram(Kulith) is supposed to be good for health during cold weather, more details here. I remember those days, while growing up, when I hated horsegram. I wouldn’t allow aayi make anything with them. But now, I cook with them frequently.
I made these dosas few days ago. They came out delicious and crispy.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup rice 1/2 cup boiled rice (the red colored rice/ukdo tandul) 1/2 cup horsegram 1/2 cup urad dal 1/4 cup chana dal Salt
Method: Soak everything(except salt) in water for about 3-4 hrs. Grind to a smooth batter. Leave it in a warm place for about 6-7hrs or overnight. Make thin dosas. I spread some chutney powder on the dosa and fold them. They can be served with any chutney or sambar.
When I was working in Bangalore, the company provided evening snacks to all employees. A different snack is served each day of the week. A ragi-vegetable dosa was one of them. I absolutely loved these dosas unlike all my friends. I have been trying to recreate it ever since. I think with this recipe, I came pretty close.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup urad dal 1 cup rice (I used 1/2 cup brown rice + 1/2 cup boiled rice) 1/2 cup finger millet(ragi flour) Salt Oil 1 cup(approx) vegetables (finely chopped/grated carrot, onion and cucumber)
Method: Soak urad dal and rice for about 4-5hrs. Grind to a smooth batter. Mix salt and ragi flour. The consistency of batter should be like normal dosa batter. Keep overnight for fermentation. Next day, mix in vegetables. Make thin dosas. Serve hot.
Serves : 4-5 Preparation time : 30mins
PS: Boiled rice and brown rice both make the dosas very soft. So for more crispier dosas, use normal white rice.
Set dosa has different definitions for different people. I was introduced to it in Bangalore and I instantly became a fan. A stack of 3 spongy dosas is served with sagu – a vegetable side dish. I absolutely adore this combination. Recently, one of my friends told me, the set dosa he knows is a stack of 3 different varieties of dosas. Anyway, I have seen so many different recipes for these spongy dosas. I loved this version which is very simple. This recipe is from some old Kannada recipe collection. I served it with a simple potato side dish.
Ingredients: 1 cup rice 3/4 cup flattened rice (poha) 1 tea spn fenugreek(methi) seeds 1/4 cup yogurt 1/2 tea spn sugar 1/2 tea spn soda Ghee/Oil Salt
Method: Soak rice and fenugreek seeds in water for 4-5 hrs. Grind to a smooth batter. Soak flattened rice(poha) in yogurt. Grind it and mix with rice batter. (I grind both together). Do not make the batter too thin. Leave over night for fermentation. Add sugar and soda next day. Make thick small dosas. Serve hot.
No matter how many different varieties of dosas I make, I am always open for new recipes. I feel they are great for breakfast as the main work – making batter, is done in advance. This is a healthy version with whole wheat. I have become a big fan of these dosas now. These are very crispy and tasty because of all different dals.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup rice 1/2 cup urad dal 1/2 cup masoor dal 1/2 cup whole wheat 1/2 tea spn fenugreek seeds 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 4 green chillies 1 tea spn sugar Salt
Method: Soak rice, urad dal, masoor dal, whole wheat for 4-5hrs. Grind these along with all other ingredients to a smooth batter. Leave it overnight for fermentation. Next day make thin dosas and serve hot.
We have found a very good Indian restaurant here in Kansas. We love the dosas there. They have a Spring roll masala dosa which has a spicy vegetable bhaji. I was told by a friend that, usually spring roll masala dosa has a stuffing which is like chinese spring rolls, but this was quite different. I love it. I just tried to recreate it at home. It came out a bit different but I liked it very much.
For stuffing: Ingredients: 1/2 cup cooked, peeled and slightly mashed potatoes 1/2 cup onion 1 tea spn ginger-garlic paste (do not use store bought) 3-4 green chilies 1/4 cup avrekaLu cooked 1/4 cup chopped capsicum 1/4 cup chopped green beans 2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut 4-5 strands coriander leaves 1 tbl spn chana dal A pinch turmeric 4-5 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1 tbl spn chopped cashews Oil Salt
Method: Heat oil. Add cashews. When they are slightly brownish, add chana dal, mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, turmeric. Fry for minute and then add onions. Fry till they turn translucent. Add potatoes, capsicum, green beans, avrekaLu, salt. Sprinkle some water and close the lid, let it cook till all vegetables are done. Add coconut, coriander leaves. Mix well.
Chutney: 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut A pinch asafoetida 2 tbl spn dalia 3-4 green chilies 3-4 strands coriander leaves 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract Salt
Method: Grind all together to a paste.
Serving : Use any normal dosa batter to make dosas (you can use urad dal dosa, benne dosa or any others). Stuff the stuffing and fold the dosa. Serve with chutney.
