Dosa

Dosa
Dosa is a South Indian snack/tiffin made with fermented rice and dal (lentil) batter. If you want to eat dosas on a Sunday morning then you need to start the preparation process for the dosa batter on Saturday morning.

Soak 1 cup urad dal(black gram lentil),

2 cups rice

1 tsp methi seeds

(fenugreek) for 5-6 hours. Grind to a fine paste adding water. Let it sit overnight with lid for fermentation. Next day mix the batter well adding salt. The batter(which is similar to pancake batter consistency) is ready for making dosas.

Heat a griddle(you can use a non-stick pan). Grease the griddle with peanut oil or any other oil. Pour one ladle full of batter over the griddle.
Spread the batter from the bottom of the ladle evenly making circles. Drizzle oil or butter around the edges of dosa and let it cook on medium heat. The dosa should turn light brown. The dosa generally takes 4-5 minutes to cook on medium heat. Take care not to burn it.

Rava Idli

Rava Idli Recipe
Prep: 10 mts, sitting time: 30 mts, cooking: 10 mts
Makes: approx 12-14 idlis
Cuisine: Tamil Nadu

Ingredients:
1 cup sooji/cream of wheat/semolina/upma ravva
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp channa dal
1″ grated ginger
3 green chilies, finely chopped
5-6 curry leaves (optional)
big pinch soda (optional)
2 carrots, grated
2 tbsps fresh coriander leaves (optional)
2 tbsps grated fresh coconut
salt to taste
1 cup well beaten thick curd
1/4 cup water
2 tbsps roasted cashewnuts (optional)
1 tbsp ghee or oil

1 Heat ghee, add the mustard seeds and once they splutter, add the chana dal and saute till the dal turns golden brown. Add the green chillis, curry leaves and ginger.
2 Immediately add the ravva and on low to medium heat stir fry the rava constantly for 3 mts. Take off heat and cool.
3 Add grated carrot, coriander leaves, grated coconut, curd, water and salt and mix well. Let this sit for atleast half an hour.
4 Grease idli plates. Place a roasted cashewnut on each of the greased idli plates and pour the rava batter over the cashewnut. Don’t let the batter fill till the brim.
5 Steam the ravva idlis on medium flame for around 10 mts. Turn off heat and let it sit for 5 mts. Remove the rava idlis carefully with a spatula and serve hot with chutney of your choice.

Note:
You can add vegetables of your choice like peas, beans and capsicum. Soda bicarb can be replaced with eno salt.

Idli

Idli Recipe
Prep & Cooking: 20 mts Soaking:2 hrs, Fermentation: 8 hrs
Makes approx 24 idlis
Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients:
2 cups idli rava (cream of rice)
1 cup urad dhal (Black gram,minappa gullu)
salt
pinch of cooking soda (soda bi carbonate)

1 Soak urad dal for about 2 hrs. Soak the idli rava in water separately just for an hour before mixing with urad dal batter. After 2 hours drain the water from the urad dal and gring till soft and fluffy and mix with the idli rava. Mix well.

2 Place the mixture in a warm place for 8-10 hours or overnight to let the idli mixture ferment. The fermentation is slow in winter and quick during summer. The key to soft and fluffy idlis is in the fermentation process.

3 After 10 hours you will find that the mixture will rise to at least double the volume. After fermentation, add salt and pinch of soda bi carbonate and mix well. The batter is now ready to make idlis.

4 Grease idli maker plates with some oil and fill with idli batter.

5 Steam covered for about 10-12 minutes and remove each idli carefully with a spatula.
Your soft and fluffy idlis are ready to eat with some hot sambhar and chutney. Left over idlis can be stored in the refrigerator and when required microwave them for a few seconds. I make upma with left over idlis which tastes good and is quick to make.

Note
For those who don’t have a idli maker…you can still make idlis with a flat bottomed wide vessel. Add 2 cups of water to the vessel. Invert a round shaped cake tin on the base of vessel. Take another round shaped cake tin, lightly grease it and fill it with the idli batter leaving about one inch height for the batter to raise. Place this on top of the inverted cake tin. Steam for 8-10 minutes. Remove the tin and cut into square pieces and serve hot.