Koozhu Kaachina Dosai

This is a very traditional recipe which is almost forgotten in the present days. I remember my dad's mom making these. Thatha love this. In those days of stone grinding, this was an easy evening tiffin. Since raw rice is the main ingredient which doesn't need much of soaking time. Without much prior planning, this dosa can be made. Grinding raw rice is easier too. Whenever we talk about those days, invariably, topic of food also comes in. We used to recollect the traditional recipes prepared then. And I used to ask my amma to make this dosa. I love the tangy taste imparted by the tamarind extract.

Here is the recipe

For the batter

Raw rice - 2 cups

salt

For koozhu

Tamarind - marble sized

Ground batter - 1 tblspn

Preparation

Wash and soak raw rice for 3 hrs.

Grind to a fine paste using little water. If you add more water, it will be difficult to grind to a smooth paste.

Preparing the koozhu

Take a tablespoon of the ground paste and mix with the tamarind extract. Add water to make it to 1 cup. It is fine If it is little more also.
Boil the mix on stove top with constant stirring. It has a tendency to form lumps and stick to the bottom.

As it starts boiling, It will begin to thicken. Stop when it reaches a semi solid stage.

This is called koozhu (it will resemble the baby food - koozhu).

The color of the koozhu depends on the tamarind color. I used the fresh tamarind of the season. So it has not turned dark.

Prepare the batter

When cool, mix the koozhu to the ground batter.

Batter consistency should be thinner than the usual dosa batter.

When you pour the batter on to tawa, pour in a circular pattern and later spread lightly with the laddle.

Add oil on sides.

When cooked flip over and cook the other side too.

It is slightly sticky because of the tamarind added. You will be able to flip over without much difficulty.

I feel the koozhu is added to soften the dosa since only raw rice is used.

Needless to say, this is going to the dosa mela hosted by Srivalli.

Kollu Dosa & Sprouted Green Gram Amti

A healthy dosa using kollu. Kollu helps in weight reduction, reduces blood pressure and it is an excellent source of iron.

Ingredients
Kollu/Muthira/Horsegram - 1 cup
Parboiled rice (puzhungalarisi) - 4 cups
Methi seeds(vendhayam/uluva) - 2 tspn
Salt as required

Method

Wash and soak kollu,rice and methi seeds together for 6 hours.
Grind all the ingredients together to a fine paste. Ferment overnight or 8 hours. Batter consistency is of normal dosa batter.
Make little thick dosas. Add little oil on sides.

Cover and cook. Turn over and cook for a minute.


The best thing about this dosa is you can make this using less oil. Very tasty too.
Serve with molagapodi or any chutney of your choice. I served with sprouted green grams amti.


Kollu dosa is joining the dosa mela hosted by Srivalli.



Sprouted Green Grams Amti

Source: Mrs. Mallika Bhadrinath

Ingredients

Sprouted green gram - 1 1/2 cups
Oil - 2 tblspn
Tamarind extract - 1 tblspn
salt
chopped coriander leaves - 1 tblspn
mustard seed - 1/2 tspn
curry leaves few
Since I didn't have enough sprouts, I added one chow chow also to the recipe to increase the quantity.


For grinding
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup (Dry roast coconut till brown on stove top or MW for 2 mts)
Onions - 2 (Chop and fry in onion till brown)
Red chilly powder - 1 tspn
Roast the following spices in little oil
cinnamon - 1 inch pice
cumin seeds - 2 tspn
cloves -3


Grind all the above ingredients to a smooth paste.


Steam cook the sprouts in a cooker for 8 minutes. (No need to keep the weight)
Heat little oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and ground paste.
Stir for few minutes, add tamarind extract, salt and cooked gram.
Pour just enough water and cook till it becomes thick.
Garnish with coriander leaves.

About the new place

The new place is in Little Italy - which is a nice, traditionally Italian neighborhood in the heart of downtown. The location is great and we'll be able to walk to plenty of good spots - restaurants, bars, shopping, grocery store, etc.

It's a typical Baltimore rowhouse, here's the front

We plan on painting the window trim, adding shutters and flower boxes under the windows. We're not sure on color yet, but black is what we've been talking about recently.
There is another window that is hidden behind the jeep just below the first floor window.

It's a quiet street - we have off-street parking across the street in a parking garage, but it seems like there are always a few spots available.

When you walk in the front door you are in this foyer type room. There is a fireplace to the right. The next room is about the same size and has another fireplace to the right. We are hoping we can remove this wall and open up the space. The doors will be stripped and reused elsewhere, they are huge and have some cool, old hardware on them.

This is that second room - that wall directly in front will hopefully be coming down also.

This is where the new kitchen is going. It's a shame that when we rip the wall out that the faux ivy lattice wallpaper will have to come out - it's a gem - more on that later.

There are four fireplaces in the house, two of which are sealed off. The mantles look like they are in good shape and will be salvaged - they should look great in front of exposed brick.

The kitchen is in the basement. It's quite average and getting a new one upstairs is high on the priority list. It'll be nice to have this while the first floor is in shambles.

I wish I could say that we are all pushing 7', but it's not true - the ceiling is really that low. This is the other half of the basement. That wood floor is going to come out (it takes about 5" of height) and the kitchen will turn into more of a wet bar (to accompany the pool table).

This is the master bedroom on the second floor. The wallpaper here is another rare specimen, we can only assume it was hung to have yearlong Easter celebrations. The beams are exposed in this room and are huge - we are in disagreement about what will happen with them. Maybe cover them with drywall, maybe paint them...

Here is some brick that has already been exposed - this is the stairwell wall and the brick will stretch from here to the front door.

Third floor bedroom - they both look about the same.

Some outside pictures. Lots of work to do here - but it is a relatively big space for the city. There is no alley behind the house, which gives it more of a private feel. The deck picture is the neighbors' houses - file this under 'long term goals'.

View from the stoop. This is looking down toward Craig's office building the other direction is more rowhouses. The harbor is just past that block!

I can't give a tour without pointing out the talent of the meticulous wallpaper artist. This is clearly why we love the house.