Spicy Potato Curry

I always love to make masala dosa and this spicy potato curry is something I always make with dosa.

Ingredients:

3 Potatoes
1 onion
1 jalapeno
a few curry leaves
1 tbsp channa dal
2-3 tbsp cashews
1 tbsp urad dal
1tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 dry whole red chilli
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp oil
dash of asafoetida
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
salt to taste
cilantro to garnish

Boil the potatoes until they soften and the skin is starting to peel off.

Meanwhile add oil to large pan. Add turmeric, asafoetida, channa dal, cashews, urad dal, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and whole red chillies and fry till lightly golden.

Add chopped jalapeno, and curry leaves and fry for a minute. Add sliced onion and continue to fry till the onion is translucent and starts to turn lightly brown on the edges. Peel and add potatoes and lightly mash with a spatula. Season with salt and add some red chilli powder (optional). Mix well and cook on low for another 5 minutes.

Garnish with cilantro and serve warm with some rice or I love to eat it with dosa.

Amaranth Dosa

After the hectic summer, things have slowed down finally. With plenty of time this week, I wanted to try something new.

In general, there is a simple straightforward recipe for instant dosa: mix 2-3 flours in water and yogurt and soak for 30 minutes. Add salt to taste, some chopped cilantro and jalapeno and off you go.I have posted a few versions in the past, see Healthy Instant Whole Wheat Dosa, Ragi Dosa, Brown Rice Rava Dosa and Brown Rice Buttermilk Pancakes

This is very similar to the Ragi Dosa I had posted earlier. Instead of Ragi flour, I decided to use Amaranth flour. Also I found, making thin dosas was best, since thicker ones tended to cook fast on the outside while the inside still remained uncooked.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Amaranth flour
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup brown rice flour
2 tbsp soy powder
1 tbsp flax seed
1/2 cup yogurt
a little chopped cilantro
1 green chili chopped
1/2 medium onion chopped (optional)
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp oil or as needed

Mix all the powders, add yogurt and approximately one cup of water to mix the batter. Adjust water to make smooth batter. To make thinner dosas, additional water might be necessary. Add chopped cilantro and green chilli. You can either mix the chopped onion in the batter just before you start making the dosa or sprinkle on the dosa in the griddle. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat the griddle, and grease with some oil so the dosa wont stick. Pour 2-3 tbsp of the batter and spread to make thin dosa. Add some oil and cook on medium low flame until it turns golden brown. Flip the dosa and cook on the other side. Add oil as needed.

Serve warm with chutney. I had mine with the quick Peanut Chutney I had posted before. It was delicious. Perfect for breakfast or brunch for a lazy weekend day.

Healthy Instant Whole Wheat Dosa

Continuing my healthy dosa series this is another variation that is faster than the Brown Rice Buttermilk Pancake Dosa I posted a while ago. Typically these are made with white flour (or maida).

Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice flour (usually white rice flour is used)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (usually white all purpose flour or maida is used)
3/4 cup yogurt
salt to taste
some water
some chopped onion (optional)
some chopped (cilantro)
some chopped jalapeno (optional)

Mix the  brown rice flour, whole wheat flour, salt, yogurt and water. The consistency should be sufficient to make a dosa or crepe. Set aside for 30 minutes.

When ready to make the dosa, heat a flat pan. Grease lightly with oil or cooking spray.

Spread out 2-3 tbsp of dosa batter into a thin crepe. Sprinkle some onion, cilantro and jalapeno. Add 1-2 tsp oil and cook till lightly golden. Flip and cook with some oil as needed.

Serve hot stand-alone or with some pickle (coconut, tomato or ginger)

Upma & Pesarattu (Moong Dal Dosa)

If you are waking up on a Sunday morning and wondering what’s for brunch…. here’s one idea!

Upma is a fairly common breakfast or snack (tiffin) item in Southern India. Typically it is made with cream of wheat with choice of vegetables of personal preference. It can also be made with Bulghur wheat or vermicelli.

Continuing my dosa series, here is one made-from scratch dosa that is fast, healthy, nutritious and tasty to boot. Pesarattu is a kind of dosa made from pesara pappu or moong dal or yellow split pea.  Compared to other made-from scratch dosas, this requires very short preparation time, is very easy to make and requires few ingredients.

Both upma and pesarattu are individual breakfast items but quite frequently are combined and served together.  It is very popular especially at wedding breakfasts. The upma is simpler than the stand alone version and is devoid of all the colorful palate of vegetables. In the past I have posted variations of Upma using Quinoa, Coucous and Amaranth. The steps to make upma are exactly the same irrespective of what main ingredient you use.

When making upma for pesarattu I typically use the following formula learned from my mother. It tends to be a little more greaser than the normal one. And what I remember of it is feeling the crunch of ginger as you take a bite!

First make the preparation for the pesarattu.

Ingredients for the Pesarattu:
1 cup pesara pappu (De-husked and Split Green Gram)
1-2 jalapenos
some cilantro
a piece of ginger
salt

The yellow split pea after being soaked for an hour.

To reduce the preparation time, use 2-3 cups warm water to soak the pesara pappu. After 45 minutes to an hour, the pappu will swell and almost double in size. In a grinder, blend the pappu with cilantro, ginger and jalapenos into a smooth thick batter using a little water. Add salt to taste. Set aside until ready to make the dosa.

Ingredients for the Upma:
1/2-3/4 cup cup rava (cream of wheat)
1 medium onion chopped
1-2 jalapeno sliced into circles
a few curry leaves
a handful of cashews
1 tbsp chana dal
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 small piece of ginger chopped
1-2 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp oil

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the seasoning ingredients – chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and cashews and fry till lightly brown. Add jalapeno and curry leaves and fry for 30 seconds. Add onion and ginger and continue frying till the onions turn translucent. Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Lower to medium and continue cooking. Add salt to taste. When the onions are cooked, lower the flame to medium low and slowly start adding the rava while mixing to prevent lumps. Add enough rava that it holds together but not too much that it breaks into chunks. Add the ghee and leave on for a few more minutes. Remove and set aside.

Once the upma is ready and the pesarattu batter is ready, heat a flat frying pan on the stove on medium. Lightly grease with a little oil or cooking spray. For thicker dosas keep the batter thick. For thin dosas, add water to the batter to dilute it a little. Pour 2-3 tbsp of the batter on the heated pan and roll out into a thin crepe. Add a little oil and cook until it starts to brown. This is one of the easiest dosas to make since it does not stick to the pan and starts to peel once it is brown on the side. Using a spatula flip it and cook until cooked. Place the dosa in a plate with the crispy side face down. Add some upma and fold the attu over it and serve warm.

If making only pesarattu, I usually like to sprinkle the attu with finely chopped onion and chopped cilantro. Optionally you can also add chopped jalapeno.

It is excellent when eaten with some sweet and sour ginger pickle!

Healthy Rava Dosa with Brown Rice Flour

Continuing in my dosa series next up is Rava Dosa. The crisp and crunchy dosa variety is another very popular south Indian breakfast item. Traditionally it is made with Sooji (Cream of wheat), rice flour and maida (all purpose flour). In this healthier version, I have recreated the rava dosa, using brown rice flour and whole wheat flour.

If you are waking up on a Sunday morning and wondering what easy, fast and delicious breakfast you can make then look no further. Provided of course you have the ingredients at hand. With 30 minutes preparation time and as little as  three ingredients this is one healthy breakfast to jumpstart a slow Sunday.

Ingredients:
1 cup Sooji (cream of wheat)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 medium onion chopped
1-2 jalapenos chopped fine (optional)
some coriander chopped

Mix all three flour ingredients in a large bowl in approximately 2 cups of water. Use water as needed to make batter that is smooth flowing. Add salt and mix well. Set aside for 30 minutes.

When ready to make the rava dosas, heat a flat pan on medium flame. Grease well with a little oil. Mix in cilantro, onions and jalapeno into the batter. When the pan is sufficiently hot, pour batter onto the pan from a few inches above. Don’t use a spatula or spoon to even out the batter. Don’t worry about the shape of this one. This dosa is usually full of holes and comes out crispy and crunchy.The more holes the more crispy and crunchier the dosa.  Add 1-2 tsp oil around the edges and cook until golden brown. Flip and cook other side adding oil as needed until cooked.

This is so good, you will want to eat the hot rava dosa straight out of the pan!

It can be eaten as is or you can serve it hot with chutney (see Tomato, coconut or peanut) and sambhar on the side.

Brown Rice Buttermilk Pancakes (Challa Attulu)

Dosas are an extremely popular south Indian fare. Varieties abound: made from scratch to instant. Each distinctive, filled with different blend of flavors, spices, nutritional value and taste.

The most common is the plain dosa made from a batter of white rice and urad dal (split de-husked black gram).You can check out a healthier alternative to it made with brown rice instead here.

Utilizing a mix of some rarely used grains such as ragi and other healthy ingredients such as oats, soya and rice flour , all soaked in yogurt produces  some delicious Ragi dosas.

Uttapam is a kind of thicker dosa made from idli batter. A healthier version of this can be made with idli batter made from  brown rice and urad dal. See my brown rice Uttapam recipe here.

Following my exploration with brown rice, here is the 4th dosa variety in the series.

Ingredients:
2 cups brown rice
1 cup pressed rice (poha)
1-2 tsp mustard seeds
1-2 cups buttermilk
salt to taste

Soak all ingredients in buttermilk for 6-8 hours. Blend in a grinder until smooth batter forms of the consistency sufficient to make dosas. Not as thick as idli but similar to making pancakes. Add salt to taste and mix well. Cover and set aside for 10-12 hours.

To make the dosa, heat a flat pan or griddle on medium flame. Add some oil to grease the pan. Add 2-3 tbsp of batter. Do not spread with spoon, but lightly tilt pan to evenly layout the batter in a circle. Add more oil as necessary and cook until it is golden.

Once one side is cooked, flip with a laddle and cook the other side. Add oil as necessary. It might be little sticky when you flip but don’t worry about it. Usually once it is fully golden it should be easy to flip it.

Serve hot with chutney. You can use peanut or coconut chutney. But my favorite is this south Indian gem. Since no south Indian home is devoid of mango pickle (magayi). This is a fairyly easy and quick way to make a chutney for dosas.

Chutney Ingredients:
1 cup Magayi
1-2 jalapenos
some cilantro
1 cup yogurt (use more if necessary)
1/2 chopped onion (optional)

Blend magayi with cilantro and jalapeno. Transfer to a bowl. Add yogurt and onion and mix well before serving with dosa. Enjoy with a cup of hot tea or coffee.

Tasty! Next time I think I will use brown pressed rice if I can find it.

Brown Rice Dosa

Same Ingredients Tossed Differently

Dosa is another traditional south Indian breakfast item, eaten with chutney, sambhar and potato curry. There are many variations to dosa such as plain, masala, andhra masala, mysore masala, rava and so on. Plain dosa is made from a batter of black gram  and rice similar to the idli batter but ratio of ingredients is slightly different as well as the consistency of the batter is different. Dosa looks similar to a crispy crepe.

Ingredients:

1 cup urad dal (de-husked and split black gram)
2 cups rice (I used brown rice this time)
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (optional)
handful of beaten rice (optional)
Salt to taste.

Soak rice and dal in separate bowls for 8 hours. If using fenugreek and/or beaten rice they can be soaked with the rice. Grind together all ingredients into a smooth batter. Add salt and mix well. Set aside for 6-8 hrs to allow fermentation.

When ready to eat, heat a flat pan on the stove top. Grease the pan with some oil evenly. Thin the batter using additional water so as to be able to spoon in a thin layer of batter on the greased pan. Add 1 tbsp oil around the edges. Cook on medium flame till it turns lightly golden and starts to peel off the pan.

Traditionally masala dosa is fried only one side provided it is paper thin, masala powder or paste is coated on the uncooked side and topped with potato curry, folded over like a taco and served with hot sambhar and chutneys (tomato, mint, or coconut).

For plain dosa or when making thicker dosas or uneven dosas it is necessary to flip and cook both sides. Enjoy with a hot cup of fresh brewed South Indian coffee!

Ragi Dosa

My friend Radha had posted a link to this recipe a while ago, after an unsuccessful first attempt, tried this again this morning with better results! If you are looking for a healthy breakfast ideas, give this one a try.  The original recipe can be found here. (Don’t use the two cups of water as it says in the recipe there, add as needed to make the batter. I found one cup works for this measurement of ingredients)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Ragi flour
1/4 cup Oats
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tbsp soy powder
1 tbsp flax seed (optional … my ingredient)
1/2 cup yogurt
a little chopped cilantro
1 green chili chopped
1/2 medium onion chopped (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp oil or as needed

Mix all the powders, add yogurt and approximately one cup of water to mix the batter. Consistency should be similar to that of pan cakes. Add chopped cilantro and green chilli. You can either mix the chopped onion in the batter or sprinkle on the dosa in the griddle. Set aside for 30 minutes. 

Heat the griddle, spread some oil on the surface. Pour half the batter, (turn the griddle to spread the batter, rather than spreading it with a spoon), add some oil and cook on medium flame until it turns golden brown. Flip the dosa and cook on the other side. Add oil as needed.

Makes two medium dosas. Enjoy with some chutney!