Dosai Bhaji Masala

Potato, boiled & Mashed – 500g

Onion, sliced – 2nrs

Green chilli, slitted – 4nrs

Curryleaves, a few

Coriander leaves, a few

Oil – 3tbsp

Mustard seeds – a few

Channa dal – a few

Urad dal – a few

Cumin seeds – a few

Asafoetida- a pinch

Tamarind extraction, thick – 4 tbsp

Sambhar powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1.Heat oil in a pan, splutter the Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, channa dal, urad dal and curryleaves.

2.Add onion, fry it for few minutes till it soft. Then add green chillies, fry together.

3.Add turmeric powder, stir all around. Add the water now and bring it into boil.

4.Add salt then add potato and mix well. Let it to simmer for 2 minutes and add sambhar powder.

5.After 5 minutes of cooking, add the tamarind extraction. Simmer the mixture for another 3minutes.

6.Add asafoetida and coriander leaves. Cook it for further one minute time.

7.Serve this new bhaji masala with Dosai and enjoy.

Appam | Appam Recipe | Making of Appam

Golden crispy dish with white fluffy inner –absolutely it is a gorgeous handsome delicacy "Appam". In India, appam used to be the favorite breakfast of keralities. But now the trend is changed. The taste of appam takes it across the world wherever Indians live. Countries like Sri lanka, Malaysia, serves beautiful varieties of ‘appams’ and it is a top notch favorite in the restaurant card.

Appam is another fermented pancake in south India like dosa and it is cooked in specially designed cook ware and needs bit of experience to acquire the original shape of the appam by waving the appam batter in the special cookware (made by cast iron). It is an art that needs some skill, though visibly quite easy but not in reality.

Appam is cooked by combined effect of heat and steam, by closing the appam ware with lid produce steam that makes appam fluffy and steamy soft. Because of its captivating look and being also liked by children’s, most vegetarians’ joints too include this dish in their menu. In Tamilnadu most of us like to eat Appam in the dinner time too.

Mutton curry, Vegetable stew, Coconut milk, Kadalai curry (channa curry) based on varutharacha masala are the best match for Appam.

Kallappam is a type of special appam in which toddy is added to ferment the batter. It gives good taste to appam and this is not cooked in specific appam ware hence it is poured over tawa and cooked as like ordinary pancake.

USEFUL GUIDELINES

Good appam have always slight sour and sweet taste and all bind heavenly with dippings in a curry.


Adding coconut water gives good taste to appam.

Soak rice for two hours in water, dry it well and after this coarse or grind it along with other ingredients.

Reserve the batter for six hours for fermentation.

Adding more urad dal destroys the colour and the original taste of appam and if it is more, it sticks to the cookware and makes into brown quickly.

Add salt and baking powder before cooking.

If appam is not coming out easily from the ware or it’s stuck to the ware, just rub the inner portion of the ware with onions or fry some eggs or do some tempering. Later you pour the batter and now the appam will not stick.

DIFFERENT BATTER STYLES

Preparation of appam batter varies to bring out the distinguished tastes. Each batter style differs in addition or substitution of ingredients in preparations. Some use yeast for fermenting the batter.

Raw rice – 1 kg, Coconut – 1 no, Boiled rice – 1 handful

Method
Soak rice in water and dry it well. Add grated coconut and boiled rice combine all ingredients and grind it in dosa batter consistently. Afterwards let it be kept for fermentation. It is the easiest household method when it often called as “Palappam”.

This is a style of batter preparation we would see across Tamilnadu, mixture of two different rice and urad dal.

Raw rice-1/4 kg , urad dal- 100g, fenugreek- 2tsp.

Method
Soak rice and urad dal and combine all ingredients, grind it like dosa batter. Ferment and use.

This is another style of using rice porridge in the batter to ferment.

Raw rice- 200g, Coconut milk- 250ml, Rice porridge- 50ml.

Method

Soak rice and dry it. Then powder it.
Sieve the rice and use the residue in the siever to prepare the porridge.
Now combine all ingredients. Prepare the batter as little thinner than dosa batter.

NOTE

Use the mix of coconut oil and ghee to elicit the good flavour

Add salt and soda salt at the end

Some use yeast in appam for fast fementation, but it gives hard flavour to appam. This is mostly preffered by industries.

Readers, I believe such an intro’s and bread and butter tips on appam may help household to dish out different styles of appam in their respective house to delight their family.

Happy hot and steamy appam day.

I shall appreciate your feedback.

Secret of Dosas success

Dosas are the jewels of the South Indian culinary term. It is a perfect breakfast and dinner. It has necessary nutrients and easy to prepare at rushy morning hour. But preparing tastiest, crispy dosas are intrigue to commoners. Tracking some nuances in the preparation of dosa everyone can make crisp, tastiest, papery dosas at home itself as like preparing in hotels.

Dosas are very much liked by the elders and children, so households are happy to agree whatever the tips available on preparing dosas and try out the same. Thereafter dosas are offered to the god as oblation in lord Shiva and Vishnu temples. Dosa is a Sanskrit word says dosa = doh + sssh, in hindi “doh” means two, turning the dosa twicely and “sssh” indicates the sizzling sound while pouring the batter over hot plate.

Soaking time of the urad dal has to go minimum two hours and rice for three hours, grind them separately for better result. The measurement determines the best kind of dosas which keep the dosa fresh for a long time, painless to spread the batter over griddle and can take dosas easily from griddle.

Add 300g – 350g of Urad dhal to 11/2kg of dosa rice is the perfect ratio to get desired quality dosas. Some says adding fenugreek, boiled rice, mashed banana gives softness and crispiness but I suggest there is nothing against better than the correct ratio. Even though if you want more crispiness and softness you can mix 100g of maida to the above said dosa batter quantity. For faster fermentation add 25g yeast to 11/2kg of dosa rice batter, takes two hours for the fermentation. Ordinary fermentation goes upto six hours. If you don’t want the batter to ferment much cover the batter with banana leaves which prevents over fermentation.-

Valid Tips

1. Keep the tawa in normal heat, swab the tawa with onion to take out the dosa smoothly.

2. Always use mild accompaniments for dosas, spicy gravies screen the taste of dosas

3. Mix together gingelly oil, dalda, ghee to enhance the dosa flavour, crispiness and for good colour.

4. Slightly sprinkle little water over prepared dosa which preserve the freshness for longtime.

5. Chutnies like Mint and Coriander are the ideal option, lessly spiced mutton gravy, Chicken curry, Kola Pal Urundai are the good dips for dosas.

6. Some prefer tangy curries like Tamarind curry, Fish curry -actually tangy base curries mask the uniqueness of the dosas.

7. NV’s like meaty taste and to increase crispiness may add egg into the dosa batter.

8. For rawa dosa, blend rawa and dosa rice batter in equal proportion.

9. Grind smoothly for dosas, grind the urad dal for 20 minutes and rice for half an hour.

Dosa Recipe

Rocket Dosa

Rice – 1 Kg
Urad Dal – 100g
Maida (Refined Flour) – 100g
Egg – 2 nos (optional)
Salt – to taste

Coconut Chutney – as required

For Masala

Sliced Onion – 100g
Potato – 2nos
Slitted Green chillies – 2nos
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Sambhar Powder – 1tbsp
Oil – 3 tbsp

Ginger & Garlic Paste - 1tbsp
Urad dal – ½ tsp
Curryleaves and salt

Method

Prepare dosa batter with the first five items.
Prepare watery coconut chutney which is not tempered
Make thick masala by adding masala ingredients one by one
Spread the dosa batter gently over tawa and apply the chutney all over
Apply oil over the dosa. Keep the thick masala in the centre of the dosa
Fold the masala dosa into two. Serve hot with accompaniments.

Many varieties, types, tastes of dosas are available, after reading this posting you will be master in dosa preparation. Today our dosa’s and Idlis make great waves in foreign countries; this made the symbol for South Indian food across the world. Another one note, few Tamil scholars says may be the word dosa is derived from the Tamil word Osai. Ok anyhow now you are in the temper of try out.

Have a good dosa at your plate.