Daring Cooks
Hiya! This is Debyi from http://www.healthyvegankitchen.com I am so excited to be your host for the September 2009 Daring Cooks challenge. It took almost a month to decide which recipe that I wanted to do. I wanted to choose something that could be easily adapted for our GF’ers and other Alternative Cooks, as well as still being tasty for everyone else. So, I finally decided on Indian Dosas from the refresh cookbook by Ruth Tal. I had a lot of fun with this challenge, it brought back some great memories, I hope you enjoy it.
My hubby and I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting one of the Fresh Restaurants (www.freshrestaurants.ca) in Toronto, Canada during a business trip. We ate 3 out of our 5 meals there, it was that good. If you ever get a chance to visit, I highly recommend it, they have 3 locations in Toronto. If not, their cookbooks are amazing, everything we have tried has been great.
Requirements: Must be free of animal products, this will be a challenge for you “regular” cooks out there, but its worth it. So that means, no cows milk, butter, meat, poultry, fish, chicken/beef broth, etc. This dish is also 99% oil free, using only what you need to keep the dosas from sticking (I used a quick spritz of cooking spray on the first dosa only), which isn’t too bad with a nonstick pan. You can use a different filling/sauce if you like, but it must be free of animal products. I was just looking at the new Fresh newsletter, and one of the new menu items is Avocado Dosas with a filling of avocados, grape tomatoes, cilantro & hemp seeds with a mango tamarind or cilantro coconut chutney. Might be an interesting way to go too.
Here is my adaptation of their recipe:
Indian Dosas
This recipe comes in 3 parts, the dosas, the filling and the sauce. It does take awhile to make, but the filling and sauce can be made ahead and frozen if need be. You can serve them as a main course with rice and veggies, or as an appetizer. This does take a little planning ahead, so make sure you read the recipe through before starting (I forgot & didn’t start making the rice until everything was ready, oops).
Serves 4
Equipment needed:
large bowl
whisk
griddle or skillet
ladle (or large spoon)
spatula
vegetable peeler &/or knife
large saucepan
food processor or bean masher
Dosa Pancakes
1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)
½ tsp (2½ gm) salt
½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder
½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder
½ cup (125ml/4oz) almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.)
¾ cup (175ml/6oz) water
cooking spray, if needed
Dosa Filling
1 batch Curried Garbanzo Filling (see below), heated
Dosa Toppings
1 batch Coconut Curry Sauce (see below), heated
¼ cup (125gm) grated coconut
¼ cucumber, sliced
Dosa Pancakes
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Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.
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Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.
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Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter. Makes 8 pancakes.
Curried Garbanzo Filling
This filling works great as a rice bowl topping or as a wrap too, so don’t be afraid to make a full batch.
5 cloves garlic
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)
2 medium hot banana chilies, minced
2 TBSP (16gm) cumin, ground
1 TBSP (8gm) oregano
1 TBSP (8gm) sea salt (coarse)
1 TBSP (8gm) turmeric
4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans)
½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste
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Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.
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Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.
Coconut Curry Sauce
This makes a great sauce to just pour over rice as well. This does freeze well, but the texture will be a little different. The flavor is still the same though.
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ (2½ gm) tsp cumin, ground
¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)
3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder
3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)
3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth
2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, diced
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Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.
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Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
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Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
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Let it simmer for half an hour.
Happy eating!
I served this with a side of coconut tempeh from refresh as well. Very yummy!
September 14th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Thank you for this challenge! It was the first time I tried no-gluten cooking
September 14th, 2009 at 1:34 am
Heya
Great challenge. It was good to be challenged to do something I would never normally consider. I realised later I broke the Vegan aspect with the yogurt. It must be so challanging to stick to vegan cooking.
I’m starting to eat a vegetarian (something I’ve done before) No Gluten No Dairy diet, so I’ll be dropping by your blog for some insperation.
Cheers Lisa
September 14th, 2009 at 3:55 am
I was wondering what those little furry thing were. In the last photo, they looked to me like slices of bread.
Though I may have my own views on the nature and implementation of this challenge, I am geniunely thankful that you’d brought about this challenge. There are a number of positive things that I can take away from this challenge, one of which was quite unexpected.
I hope you enjoyed preparing the challenge and reading up on other people’s attempts.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:53 am
i loved this recipe too debyi - thanks for hosting and choosing it.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Thanks for this great challenge, Debyi! I’m excited to try more vegan cooking now.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:28 am
This was a great challenge. The flavors were out of this world! We’ll definitely be playing with this again.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Thank you so much for this recipe, Debyi!!!
The coconut curry sauce is absolutely divine! ;D
September 14th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I really loved this challenge–restricting ingredients is one of the biggest challenges out there whatever the reason. Great choice! I found dosa-making quite fun. If ever I make it up to Toronto, I will definitely have to make the stop.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Hey Debyi!
Thanks for a great challenge
It was interesting to watch the forum explode in a variety of reactions!!!!!!!!! I think you succeeded in selecting something new, fresh & challenging for all of us. Sometimes the biggest challenges in the kitchen are not on the cutting board, but within the chef. Nicely done 
September 14th, 2009 at 11:07 am
This was a great challenge Debyi. Thank you for the challenge and the time it has taken you to host the event this month.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Great challenge, thanks so much for hosting! My family loved it!
September 14th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Thanks for a yummy vegan challenge!
September 14th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Thanks, Debyi, for the challenge: I would have never tried to make dosas without a nudge. It was fun!
September 14th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Thanks for this challenge! I really enjoyed it, both the vegan and indian aspects =D. Your dosas look amazing!
September 14th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Looks delish! I loved this dish, thanks so much!
September 14th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Deb, thank you so much for hosting this challenge. Although mine didn’t turn out as I’d hoped, I learned a lot, and next time, I’m going waaaay light on the curry
September 14th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
[…] wasn’t too sure about these when I saw that Debyi of Healthy Vegan Kitchen had picked them for this month’s Daring Cooks challenge. I was positive that Son would love […]
September 15th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Every Indian I know, myself included, would be shaking their heads at this post and challenge. And unfortunately, the tone of the blog and posts only reinforce every stereotype I have about vegans.
Oh puh-leeze. Who died and made you the health police? Must be nice being way up there on your high horse looking down at the rest of us.
I think I’m going to make some lamb paneer tonight. With ghee.
September 15th, 2009 at 5:00 am
The dosa is nuthing like a true authentic indian dosa…. dosa batter is made of either semolina or with rice and pulses soaked over night and fermented. the dosas as provided in ur blog are actully crepes.
an authentic south indian dosa can be made as under :
http://indianfood.about.com/od/ricerecipes/r/dosa.htm
Dosa shell:
1 1/2 cups rice
1/2 cup urad dal
salt to taste
Oil
Masala Filling:
2 large potatoes
1 medium onion (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon yellow split peas
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1-2 green chili
1 tablespoon oil
salt to taste
Preparation:
Dosa shell
* Separately soak rice and urad dal at least 6 hour or overnight in water.
* Grind to paste.
* Mix together, add salt with water to make batter.
* Leave in room temperature overnight.
* Mix onion and chilies to the thin batter.
* Heat pan or griddle with little ghee or oil.
* Spread the mix on pan in circular motion to make thin Dosa.
* Cook on both the sides, if desired.
Masala Filling (Spicy Filling):
* Heat oil. Add mustard seed, peas, onions and spice.
* Fry for about 5 minutes on medium heat or/until onions are turned into golden brown
* Add potatoes and mix and cook some more Serve
* Add filling inside Dosa and roll. Serve hot with Chutney.
OR
To prepare crisp dosas you need:
· 3 cups parboiled rice (washed and soaked overnight)
· 1 cup urad dal (washed and soaked overnight)
· 1/2 tsp. soda bicarbonate
· Salt to taste
Method of preparation:
· Having soaked both rice and dal separately, wash well with plenty of water.
· Grind dal to a very fine paste.
· Grind rice till fine grains are left (like very fine semolina).
· Mix both rice and dal together after grinding.
· Add soda bi-carb and salt and beat well.
· Add a little water if necessary.
· The batter should be fairly thick.
· Cover and keep aside for 7-8 hours, undisturbed. (preferably in a warm place)
· Beat the curds well.
· Add to the batter, add more water if required.
· The consistency of the batter should be thick enough to thickly coat on a spoon when dipped.
· Heat the iron griddle or non-stick tawa well.
· Pour a spoonful of batter in the centre, spread with the back of the spoon to a thin round.
· Pour a tsp. of ghee or oil over it.
· Remove with spatula when crisp.
September 15th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Thank you for this fantastic challenge! I really enjoyed it!
Your dosas look beautiful!
September 15th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Thanks for hosting this month and choosing a delicious challenge. My family really enjoyed it.
September 15th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Thanks for a tasty and funny challenge!
I like the “bubbles” in your dosas, and would like to try those coconut tempeh.
September 15th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I wanted to mention that I didn’t pick this challenge to be an authentic Indian challenge but a recreation of my meals at Fresh restaurant in Toronto, Canada. Sorry for any confusion.
September 16th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Thanks for the challenge Debyi! I like a girl who can stir up a little controversy
September 17th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Thank you Debyi for introducing something very fresh to the Daring cooks challenge. However, this post probably has taught a lot of fellow cooks a terribly wrong ‘dosa’ recipe. When you say dosa, most indians would expect a golden crepe and not a pancake. I hail from the southern part of India where this dish a staple breakfast item and I sure do know dosas very well. Thank you Akriti for bringing forward the correct meaning of a dosa.
There however, is a mistake in Akriti’s recipe. Dosas are made with par boiled rice and not raw rice as the recipe calls for. Par boiled rice is available in any indian store.They are slightly fatter and brownish in color compared to the regular rice. You may also use idli rice also available in indian store. Additionally, soda bicarb is never used as well.
Debyi’s recipe, though a very successful attempt at recreating something good and healthy, cannot be called a Dosa for obvious reasons. But, the recipe can be very well passed as a “Curried Pancake”, yummy. Bon apetit!
September 17th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Thank you for the correction. I should’ve done a little more research before naming the challenge, curried pancake would’ve been a good one! I’m glad you all enjoyed this americanized version.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Hi Debyi,
This was a really good recipe. Truly worth going through the three-step process. Thanks again.