Friday, August 3, 2007

Instant Dosa with Sambar and Chutney


Instant Dosas


Ingredients for Dosa:
3 cups rice flour
2 ½ cups urad dal flour
1 tsp yeast
Salt to taste

Method:
Mix the rice flour & urad dal flour in a large bowl making sure to break up any lumps.

Add water to this to get the consistency of a batter. This should neither be too watery nor too thick. Mix well.

In a small bowl, add a tsp of yeast & add 2-3 tsp of warm water to this to make a paste.

Add this to the prepared dosa batter. Mix well. Allow it to stand in a warm spot for about an hour or so while the yeast goes about doing its business. (I usually leave this in my oven on the “warm” setting).

After fermentation for an hour, the batter rises significantly. Mix well. Add the required amount of salt, mix again & now you are ready to go ahead and make your dosas!

For step by step pictures and instructions on how to make dosas, please see
this.

Serve hot dosas with some sambar & chutney

Tip:
* Keep the vessel containing the batter on a very large plate while it is in the oven so that it does not spill over as it rises. I learnt this the hard way :-(

*Use a cast-iron pan. It gives excellent results when compared to a regular non-stick pan.





Coconut Chutney

Ingredients for coconut chutney:
2 cups fresh, grated coconut (I use the frozen one)
3-4 red chillies
1 Tbsp peanuts
2 shallots
¼ tsp tamarind paste
Salt to taste

For the seasoning:
1 Tbsp Oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
1/2tsp urad dal
2-3 curry leaves
A pinch of asafoetida/hing
Salt to taste

Method:
Grind all the ingredients for the chutney to a smooth paste using very little water.

Heat the oil in a small pan & add all the ingredients for seasoning.

Add this to the chutney. Mix well.Heat for a minute or so.
This chutney is not cooked & hence does not last for more than a day or two.

Sambar

Sambar can be made in different ways using a variety of vegetables. This was how I made mine.
Ingredients for Sambar:
1 cup toor dal
1 small onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped in big pieces
4-5 drumsticks (I used the frozen ones & thawed them before use)
½ tsp tamarind paste
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp coriander powder
1 ½ -2 tsp sambar powder
A pinch of turmeric
Salt to taste.

For the seasoning:
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp urad dal
2-3 red chillies
3-4 curry leaves
A pinch of asafoetida/hing

Method:
Cook the dal until soft & mushy and keep aside.

In a pan, heat the oil and add the ingredients for seasoning in the order listed above.

Add the chopped onions, sauté for a bit. Add the tomatoes, cook for a minute or two and then add the drumsticks.

Add the chilli, coriander, sambar & turmeric powders & mix well. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes allowing all the flavors to blend in before adding the tamarind paste. Cook for another 2 minutes.

To the vegetable mixture, add the cooked dal and blend well adding the desired amounts of water to get the right consistency.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Serve hot.

35 Burps:

Sharmi said...

instant dosa sound good. can give a try. nice chutney! never tried with shallots.

FH said...

I love the first photo! It covers all the dishes and picture is so perfect.Great job tbc.Hugs to you:)
Now adding yeast is new and if I can make Urad dosa in few hrs,that is heaven sent.I will try next week.Thanks for all three.
Have a great weekend.

Foodie said...

Hey your sambar looks so colorful and I can bet flavorful too. Wow, I am gonna make that sambar anytime soon. That't the only thing being a gujarati I haven't mastered.
Wonderful, I am salivating!
Hugs
Pintoo

aruna said...

Lovely breakfast! I like your presentation

Laavanya said...

A hot favorite indeed! Looks great.

archana said...

I liked your idea of instant dosa. We don't get urad dal flour here. Can I grind the dry dal in a mixer ? Does the dosa have some sour taste ? NIce recipes .Thanx for sharing :)

sunita said...

I adore dosas, sambhar and chutneys...a bit wary of making dosas though...maybe it's time I gave it a try :)

Viji said...

Lovely post TBS. The pictures are great. Will try sometime. Very nice. Viji

Richa said...

sambar looks so appetising with that lovely color. is it homemade sambar pwd, if i may ask?

ushaprashanth said...

Hi!
That's a very easy way of preparing instant dosas!!!!! The tip is surely useful! very good recipe!

TBC said...

Sharmi, You don't need to add the shallots, it tastes good even without it. That's the way my mom makes it.( with shallots)

Dear Asha,
I hope you are having a good weekend.Have you finished watching your DVD's ? Made a decision regarding the procedure you are gonna pick?
Thanks a lot for your feedback on every post. I really appreciate it:-)


Hi Pintoo,
Thanks for stopping by!
I checked out your blog yesterday. You have some great salads & salsa recipes. Now, I know where to go for some ideas if I need to make those things!Do make the sambar & lemme know how it turns out.:-)


Aruna,
Welcome to my blog & thank you!:-)


Laavanya, thanks!

TBC said...

Hi Archana,
Welcome to my blog!
Thanks for your kind words.
Regarding grinding dry dal in the mixer... please don't do that.You have to soak it overnight first before grinding. If not overnight, at least 5-6 hrs.
To answer your second question, yes there is a slightly sour taste to the batter due to the action of the yeast resulting in fermentation.
Hope this has clarified a few things for you.
Do try it & let me know. It is so easy to make!

TBC said...

Hey Sunita,
Nice to see you here!
What are you waiting for. It doesn't get any easier than instant dosas!


Viji,thank you:-)

TBC said...

Thanks, Richa!


Usha,
Welcome to my blog.Thanks for stopping by.

musical said...

TBC,

Hi! You have a fabulous blog here! with all my favorite dishes :). Are you a mind reader ;). I heart Cauliflower au gratin and cream of broccoli.....and the dosa platter looks perfect!

Everything here is gorgeous!

SeeC said...

Instant dosa is very comforting. Doesnt look like it is instant.

Great entry.
Love the picture.

Roopa said...

nice entry TBC :) yeast very handy indeed

bee said...

since batter hates to rise in this house of ours, this is the perfect recipe for us. thanks.

zobars said...

Instant dosa using yeast is such a cool idea. Never ever thought of doin g that. Awesome snaps too.

TBC said...

Musical, welcome to my blog!
Thank you for your kind words.

Viji,thanks!

Roopa,thank you.

Bee, u r welcome!

Zobars,thanks! Actually, it was my husband's idea but I will take the credit for it! ;-)

Suma Gandlur said...

I am drooling, send me over some, girl.
I had tried to leave a comment on your lotus root curry. After I typed it, the post disappeared.

TBC said...

Hey Suma,
Come on over!! We'll have some of that with some hot coffee!:-)

Kajal said...

Your Sambar and chutney looks very delicious with crispy Dosa....

TBC said...

Kajal, thank you :-)

Padma said...

Instant dosa is really good for a lazy goose like me for weekends when I forget to soak the rice n dal for batter the day b4...nice entry for express food

TBC said...

Padma, I have always made my this way & they always turn out great.Just be sure to use a cast iron pan, non-stick is not good for this!

Anonymous said...

i am wondering what the difference would be in taste - i mean its almost the same right?

TBC said...

Lakshi,
I feel that there is no difference in taste. After moving to the US, I have always made my dosas using the flours and each time it has turned out well. Just make sure that you use one of those cast iron pans if possible.;-)

Unknown said...

Hi tbc:) Thanks for visiting my blog and posting you valuable comments:) i think u too have a wonderful blog here, guess u might have to change the name of ur blog from "Budding"Cook to something advanced as ur snaps and recipes look much more than a budding one:) Keep posting such nice recipes:) loved this instant dosa with sambhar , makes mouth water...take care and keep visiting too:) iam adding u to my blogroll:)

TBC said...

Hi RV,
It's nice to see you here.You are very generous with your compliments:-) Thank you for adding me to your blogroll.

Baskaran said...

Hi RV,
Instant Dosas or Appams a great idea!!! and the comments from fellow bloggers are also so luring.Would appreciate if you are a little more elobarate and give details for making urad dal powder. We are in Chennai, do we need to add yeast for fermenting the batter
Thanks and Regards
Baskaran

TBC said...

Baskaran,
Welcome to my space!
I checked for a link back to yours but I think you have not made your blog public yet; hence I am unable to leave this comment there! I do hope you come back to read this:-)
First- I am TBC... I think you got confused by the previous comment left by RV:-)
Regarding the details for making urad dal powder, I don't know how that is done! What I have used is the urad dal flour bought from the store(just as the rice flour was) All I did was mix the two together.
Yes, you do need to add yeast as I have mentioned in my post.
I hope this helps.
You live in Chennai? Whereabouts-if I may ask. I have lived there for some time myself:-)

TBC said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ggg said...

hi,
you mentioned that we should use tsp of yeast,did you use usa standard tsp(measuring spoons) or just a regular spoon,so that i can add exact quantity of yeast.is that okay if by mistake if i add more yeast than required?can i mix the dosa batter and yeast and ferment it overnight and make dosas next day instead of mixing yeast and keeping aside for an hour?
thanks
swetha

TBC said...

Swetha- I used a regular spoon. I don't think it matters too much if you add another 1/2 tsp or so of the yeast. Just make sure you don't overdo it.
I would certainly not leave the batter overnight after adding the yeast. An hour or so is really all it takes for the batter to double in volume.

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