Dosas with Miscellaneous

Recipes: dosa, tomato chutney, cilantro chutney, red onion chutney

Dosa--

Ingredients:
1/2 kg raw rice
300 g black gram
salt as req'd

Method:
1. Wash and soak rice and black gram for at least 8 hours
2. In a blender, blend a little of each with enough water to get a pancake-batter consistency. Pour into a second bowl as needed so you are only dealing with about 2 cups at a time in the blender.
3. Set aside for 6-8 hours.
4. Lightly oil a flat griddle. If desired, rub a raw onion on the pan between each dosa.
5. Heat griddle with high heat. I'd give it about 5-7 minutes to get hot.
6. Turn down heat. With a ladle, add one ladle-ful of dosa batter to the middle of the pan. Pressing down, go in a spiral from the middle, pushing the batter out into a circle. You want the dosa thin so it cooks best so don't be afraid to really spread it out--but using circular motions. Think crepe thinness.
7. Turn heat back to high. With a spoon, drizzle oil around the edge of the dosa.
8. Wait about one-two minutes, right as the edges start to curl and the thin parts look brown, then flip it. Add a little more oil around the edges if you feel it is necessary.
9. Once golden and almost crispy, remove and repeat.
10. I seriously recommend eating a dosa at a restaurant or experienced friend's house before you try this. If you don't really know what a dosa is, it is hard to make. Once you know, it is as easy as pancakes.

Tomato Chutney--

Ingredients:

3 pounds of plum tomatoes, peeled and diced. (Unpeeled tomatoes will end up losing their peel in the mix, which is fine but affects the texture)--> just use two or three cans of peeled tomatoes, it will save you so much time though it won't taste as fresh

3 ounces of fresh ginger, finely grated
1 1/4 c sugar
1 red onion, diced very small
10 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 c apple-cider vinegar
3/4 c balsamic vinegar
2 tsp salt
1/3 c golden raisins (or dried apricots if you prefer)

Method:

Simmer everything but the raisins into a heavy saucepan over low heat.
Cook, stirring frequently over low heat, until you get syrup, about 45 minutes.
Add the raisins and cook 5 to 10 minutes to make them plump.
If the sauce seems runny while warm, it will thicken as it cools.

Cilantro Chutney--

Ingredients:
1 cup coriander leaves
1 tablespoon oil or Ghee
3 small green chilies, minced
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1/4 tsp sugar
salt to taste

Method:
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the green chilies and ginger for about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat and add garlic paste. Remove from the heat and add coriander leaves and mix completely. Place the mixture together with, salt and sugar in a food processor or grinder and mix until well blended.


Red Onion Chutney--

Ingredients:
object2=">2 cups finely chopped red onion
object2=">1/2 cup red wine vinegar
object2=">1/3 cup packed brown sugar
object2=">1 teaspoon mustard seeds
object2=">1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
object2=">1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
object2=">1/4 teaspoon salt
object2=">1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Method:
Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Uncover and cook 10 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.


Potato Curry--(Carrie's recipe)

Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes, peeled and boiled
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 large onion, chopped well
1 tsp tumeric powder
2-3 tsp curry powder
1/2 green chili, finely chopped
some chopped cilantro
salt

Method:
1. Really, I know what's it's supposed to taste like, and all the recipes online are too ocmplicated or I'm missing ingredients, or I feel like they are. So, just spice to taste.
2. Peel and boil the potatoes.
3. In a frying pan, heat oil and add the mustard seeds. They will start to pop. Add onion and saute to golden brown.
4. Add spices and potatoes. Let simmer for a bit. Taste and re-spice as necessary.


I hadn't really eaten a dosa until this past year, and even then, I ate it with the usual restaurant-provided potato curry (what you get when you order Masala Dosa). So I set out to find alternative dips for the dosa. In the end, I loved the tomato chutney. The red onion was nice, but bland next to the tomato. The cilantro was, eh, something I wouldn't do again. And the potato curry was fabulous, as always.

I also cheated here because Grandpa (the father of my boss) made the dosa mix for me the day before. I have seen him do it five or six times, but never done it myself. I would suggest, because the chutneys and potatoes are a handful on their own, to just buy pre-made dosa batter at a local Indian store. It needs to ferment for at least 6 hours, so be sure to find out when it was made to make sure it will be ready when you cook.

In all, it was a delicious Indian-nosh kind of night.