Mysore Masala Dosa

Happy Republic Day to all :)

Mysore masala dosa is a popular dosa in Karnataka. I tasted this dosa for the first time at Raj restaurent in Singapore and liked it a lot. A few days ago, I made this dosa with fried gram dal chutney and mint chuteny. Looking at the colours of the chutneys, I felt like taking a picture (first one below). For this, I made a rectangular dosa and spread the fried gram dal chutney on the top part and mint chutney on the bottom part. In the middle, I spread chutney powder with a little ghee in a small circle.
                         

                                               

                                             

           

What you need:

For the dosa batter: Soak one cup of skinned black gram, two cups of sona masuri rice and a quarter teaspoon of fenugreek seeds for four to six hours in sufficient water. Wash the soaked ingredients and grind them into a smooth paste after adding salt to taste. Transfer the paste into an air tight container and allow it to ferment in a warm place. Make sure that the container has enough space for the batter to rise (after fermentation, the batter may double in volume).

Aloo Palya (potato stir fry): Boil four medium sized potatoes, peel off their skins and mash them. Keep this aside. Chop one medium sized onion, two green chillies, coriander leaves and an inch of ginger into small pieces. In a pan, heat two tablespoons of oil and add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the chopped onion, green chilly and ginger. Fry them on a medium flame for two minutes and add the mashed potato. Add a pinch of turmeric powder, a pinch of red chilly powder, a quarter spoon of coriander powder and salt to taste. Mix it well and cook it for four minutes on a low flame while stirring in between. Garnish it with chopped coriannder leaves.

Fried gram dal chutney: Soak three dry chillys in water for ten minutes and break them into pieces. Take a quarter cup of fried gram dal,  a quarter teaspoon of cumin seeds, four garlic cloves and sufficient salt in a mixer jar and grind them into a paste using a little water. The chutney is now ready..

Mint Chutney: Take half a cup of mint leaves, a quarter cup of chopped coriander leaves, a quarter teaspoon of cumin seeds, two cut green chilly, one tablespoon of lime juice and sufficient salt in a mixer jar. Blend them into a smooth paste. The mint chutney is now ready..

                                          
                                                                                         

Preparation:

1. Heat a nonstick pan on a low flame and pour a ladleful of batter on it. Spread it in a circular motion with the ladle to make a dosa. Drop a bit of butter on it and spread the gram dal chutney over the dosa.
2. Spread the potato fry over half of the dosa and add one tea spoon of ghee or oil around the dosa.
3. Roast the dosa for a minute and fold it into half. Transfer it onto a serving plate and do like wise with the remaining batter.
4. Serve the hot dosas with gram dal chutney, mint chutney and chutney powder.
5. You can also enjoy the Mysore masala dosas with coconut chutrney and sambar..

Note: If you want, you can add a part of an onion to the gram dal chutney while grinding. You can add asafoetida to the potato stir fry.

Idiyappam (authentic Kerala dish)

Happy Onam to all those who are celebrating it :)
Idiyappam is an authentic Kerala dish. We visited Kerala in December (2013). During the trip, I realized why Kerala is called "God's Own Country". It's a very beautiful place. It's filled with greenery, coconut trees and the aroma of spices. I came to know the meaning of 'Kerala' is coconut through a cab driver. Coconut has an important role in their cuisine. We had appam with stew and puttu with chick pea curry which tasted amazing. I was also very excited to see the mangrove forests.

                                                  Mangrove forest..

I tasted idiyappam with grated coconut and sugar. I gave this dish a try and wanted to share my recipe with you. The Idiyapams were delicious with coconut milk.

                               
                                   

Ingredients:

Idiyappam flour-2 cups

Warer-2 and 1/2 a cup

Ghee or oil-2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

                           

Method:

1. Heat the water in a vessel with salt and one tablespoon of ghee until you see bubbles. Turn off the stove and put the flour in a bowl.

2. Mix the flour with hot water until it turns into a soft dough. Now grease the steaming plates and murukku press with ghee.

3. Fill the bottom of the press with dough and press it onto the steaming plates using the top part of the press. Do this in a circular motion (similar to pressing murukku).

4. Steam them in an idliy maker for 10-12 minutes. Turn off the stove and open the lid after 2-3 minutes. Serve the steamed Idiyappams separately on a big plate.

Note: If you want, you can use fresh rice flour by soaking raw rice for  two hours and grinding it into a fine powder (after drying the rice for half an hour under a fan on a cloth). Sieve and dry roast the powder for two minutes on a low flame.

Coconut Milk with Sugar

Ingredients:

Fresh grated coconut-2 cups

Sugar-1 cup (as per your taste)

Water-2 cups

Cardamom powder-a pinch

Rice flour and coconut paste (mix 1 tablespoon of rice flour and 1 tablespoon of coconut extract with 2 tablespoons of water)

Ghee-1/2 tsn

                         

                                             

Method            

1. Grind the grated coconut with a cup of water and filter the thick coconut milk into a bowl. Keep it separately and add one more cup of water to the extract and grind it again. 

2. Filter the thin coconut milk into a bowl and heat it in a thick bottomed vessel on a low flame for a minute. Now add the rice flour, coconut paste and sugar to it and stir well.

3. Add the ghee and heat for a minute. Now add the thick coconut milk and cardamom powder. Heat for a minute and turn off the stove.

4. Transfer the sweetened coconut milk into a container and serve it with the idiyappam.

Pour the coconut milk on the Idiyappam and have it :) Simply delicious...

Note: It's important that the whole process of preparing coconut milk should be done on a low flame otherwise it will curdle. And you can also serve Idiyappam with vegetable stew or sambar or any others of your choice.