Mysooru Masala Dosae - A Crepe With A Spicy Potato Suffing

WISH YOU VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

MYSOORU MASALA DOSAE

When some one mentions the name Mysore, what are the thoughts that immediately gush in ones mind? The Mysore palace ? The Brindavan Gardens ? The Chamundi Hills ? Or would it be The Tiger Of Mysore ? Of course all of these and many more. But I must confess that Mysooru Masala Dosae and a hot and strong cup of filter coffee would be topmost in the list, for foodies like me !
We never cooked onions or garlic at home when my great grand mother was alive. Mother mercifully and tactfully satiated our craving by ordering masala dosaes from the near by hotel at least once a week. We used to drool over the heavenly flavours of the dosaes and the accompanying chutney as we impatiently undid the parcels layer by layer. The dosaes were packed in banana leaves which in turn were wrapped up in news papers and were tied with strings. I feel no other dosae can match the taste of those masala dosaes which we had relished in our childhood days.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BATTER
Raw rice ( I have used sona masuri rice) - 3 cups
Split black gram dal - 1 cup
Beaten rice ( Avalakki ) - 2 tbsps
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp ( Helps in fermenting and adds to the flavour )
Bengal gram dal - 2 tsps ( This gives a golden hue to the dosae )
Salt - 1 1/2 tsps
Sugar - 1/2 tsp ( Helps to ferment )

METHOD
1. Wash twice and soak all the ingredients together for four hours. The water should be just enough to cover the ingredients.
2. Check after an hour and add some more water if the previously added water has been absorbed completly.

3. Grind all the ingredients in a mixer adding little water at a time. Table top wet grinders are best for grinding idly and dosae batter.
4. When the batter is smooth and fluffy add salt and sugar and run the mixer/ grinder for a few more minutes.
5. Store the batter in a big vessel with a lid, allowing space for it to rise after fermentation.
Let it rest undisturbed overnight.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PALYA / POTATO CURRY

Potatoes - 6 ( cooked and peeled )
Onions - 3 ( Sliced )
Chopped green chillies - 3
Finely chopped fresh ginger - 2 tsps
Curry leaves - a few
Chopped fresh coriander leaves - for garnishing
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Split black gram dal - 1tsp
Bengal gram dal - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 2 tsps
Cooking oil - 2 tbsps

METHOD
1. Pressure cook potatoes, peel when cooled and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
3. When the mustard seeds splutter add the black gram dal and bengal gram dal, and roast till golden in colour.
4. Add chopped green chillies , ginger, curry leaves and then the sliced onions.
5. Saute for a few minutes and then add the turmeric powder.
6. Stir well and add a cup of water, cover and cook the onions till they are soft.
7. Mix in salt.
8. Crush potatoes one by one between your palm and fingers.
9.Add the crushed but not mashed potatoes and add more water if required.
10. Cook till the 'palya' becomes semi solid. It should neither be dry nor liquidy.
11. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and keep aside.

BELLULLI CHUTNEY / RED CHUTNEY/GARLIC CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS
Peeled garlic cloves - 1 cup ( Or peel 3 to 4 big whole garlic pods to make 1 cup)
Red chillies - 4
Roasted gram ( hurigadle) - 2 tbsps
tamarind - 1 small marble size
salt - 3/4 tsp
Method
1. Grind all ingredients together to a powder.
2. Add 1/4 cup of water and run the mixer again until you get a smooth chutney.

KAYEE CHUTNEY / COCONUT CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS
Freshly grated coconut - 2 cups
Green chillies - 2
Fresh ginger - 2 inches ( Peeled and chopped )
Tamarind - a small marble size
Roasted gram - 4 tbsps
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Coriander leaves ( Chopped ) - 3 tbsps
FOR SEASONING
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 pinch
Split black gram dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Red chilly - 1

METHOD
1. Grind all the chutney ingredients together adding little water into a smooth thick chutney if you prefer a 'gatti chutney' or thick chutney. Adjust consistancy by adding more water for a slightly loose chutney.
2. Heat oil and add mustard seeds.
3. When the mustard seeds splutter add the black gram dal and roast till golden in colour.
4. Add broken red chillies and then the curry leaves.
5. Mix the seasoning into the coconut chutney .

TO MAKE MYSOORU MASALA DOSAE

Preparing the tava and getting it to the right temperature is key to making dosas. The following procedure whereby the very first tiny dosa is made, (sometimes called pilliyar dosa!) helps in doing just that. This dosa will never get the right colour etc. as shown the in pictures below, and usually gets discarded (or is surreptitiously swallowed by the dosa maker!!) and never actually served.

1. Heat a tava and grease it evenly with a teaspoon of cooking oil.
2. Cut an onion or potato into half and use the cut surface to rub the tava with oil. Alternatively, you may use a piece of clean cloth folded into a stub, to grease the tava.

3. When the tava starts to smoke slightly, pour a tablespoon of batter on it .

4. Dribble a few drops of oil around the trial dosae.
5. When the top looks cooked flip it and cook the other side.

6. With this first dosae your tava should have reached the correct temperature. Too much of heat will cook the batter into a gruel which will stick to the pan. If the heat is not even or if it is insufficient, the dosae will look like the one above. The first one or two dosaes will not get the right texture or the uniform golden colour. But once the tava reaches the appropriate temperature the dosaes will turn out well.
7. Maintain the medium even temperature ( this will prevent the batter from sticking to the tava ) and pour a ladle of batter on the center of the tava.
8. Spread the batter into a circle working the back of the ladle in a circular motion.

A perfect dosae will look like the one below.

9. Dribble a tea spoon of oil around and all over the dosae and wait till the top looks cooked. A perfect dosae need not be cooked on the flip side.
10. The dosae will start turning brownish wherever it is transparent. Lower flame at this stage and dribble little ghee on the dosae. This lends a distinct flavour to the dosae.

11. Spread a spoon of Bellulli Chutney/Garlic chutney on top of the dosae.

12. Arrange 2 tbsps of Palya/Potato Curry on one side of the dosae.
13. Roll, or fold the dosae into half and remove on to a serving plate.
14. Increase flame and wait till the pan smokes, rub with the cut onion or cloth stub dipped in oil, and then pour the batter for the next dosae. If the tava smokes too much, splash the tava with little water and rub it with the cut onion/cloth stub for uniform distribution of heat before you pour the batter for the next dosae. Ensure that the pan is greased well before starting to spread the batter for the next dosae.

Top the cooked dosae with a blob of butter and relish the hot flavoursome Mysooru Masala Dosae with Kayee Chutney/ Coconut Chutney.

Kerala Style Eggless Plum/Fruit Cake

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous year ahead. Come December, all the bakeries in Kerala will have piled up the plum cakes. Though those plum cakes are available through out the year, the ones that arrive during the Christmas, is something special. We never miss to buy them during the season. I have been on the look out for the recipe and Aparna posted a Kerala style fruit cake. Now she did quite a research on the variants of the fruit cake and finally zeroed in on Ammini Ramachandran's recipe.

I decided to follow Aparna's since she said that recipe is close to what she had in mind and  her recipe has only two egg whites. As per her recipe, it was for two cakes. I wanted only one cake. So scaling down the recipe will mean only one egg white, which I decided to replace with milk. I agree the texture is not the same, but I got a decent cake and taste was close to what we got back in Kerala. 

Here is my version

You need

Dry fruits for soaking

• Raisins - 1/2 cup (I used a mix of black and brown ones)
• Dates - 1/2 cup
• Tutti fruity - 1/4 cup
• Candied orange peel - 2 tblspn
• Candied ginger - 2 tblspn
• Nuts - 1/2 cup
• Orange juice - 1/4 cup

For Caramel Sauce

• Sugar - 3 tblspn
• Boiling water - 1/4 cup

For the cake

• Maida - 1 cup
• Butter - 100 gms/ 1/2 cup
• Powdered brown sugar - 3/4 cup

• Baking powder - 1/2 tspn
• Baking soda - 1/4 tspn
• Milk - 2 tblspn

• Spice powder - 1/2 tspn (Combo of clove+cinnamon+nutmeg powdered together)
• Ginger powder - 1/4 tspn
• Shahjeera- 1/2 tspn
• Vanilla essence - 1/2 tspn

Method.

Take the dry fruit mix in a bowl. Add orange juice. The more it is soaked, better it tastes. I soaked for two days under refrigeration. On the day of baking, bring it to room temperature. Microwave it for 2 minutes or cook it on stove top till the fruits soften and the liquid dries up. Leave it to cool

To prepare the caramel, take sugar in a kadai and heat it. Let the sugar melt. Let the melted sugar take a dark brown color. Keep stirring it. Keep 1/4 cup of boiling water ready. When it reaches the brown color, slowly add the boiling water. Take care not to splash the hot liquid on your hand. Mix well. Remove from fire. Let it cool.

Bring butter to room temperature. Cream butter until cream and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar to the butter and mix well. Reserve 2 tablespoons of maida. Sieve the dry ingredients- maida, baking powder, baking soda together.

Stir in the dry ingredients along with the spice powders to the butter-sugar mix. Fold in gently. Don't over mix. Add the caramel sauce and milk too. Dust the soaked fruits with the reserved maida and fold into the batter. 

Grease the cake tin and  transfer the batter. I lined the tin with a butter paper.  Bake in a preheated oven at 175 C for 1 hour 30 minutes. Please check after 1 hour and 15 minutes. My oven tends to take more time than the suggested time.

Its always said, fruit cakes taste better as it matures. So decided to leave it for two days. But I was very impatient and couldn't control myself for more than a day and had to slice it to see, how it turned out. 

I felt the cake was very sweet. Probably the dates and the candied fruits added to the sweetness. So may be next time, I will reduce 1/4 cup of sugar considering the dry fruits added to it.


Here is wishing all my readers, friends and fellow bloggers a very happy and sparkling 2011.  As a blogger, I wish we see less of  Plagiarism in the coming year.

Santa Claus is coming to Mela

Wah ini nih salah satu order mendadaknya..gara2 liat profil bb co aku,dia langsung pesen. Waduhh soalnya orderan dadakannya jadi banyak bener..aku takut ga sanggup.. Tapi aku ga mau kecewain customer..ya sutra aku bikinin..


Dia pulang kantor nya jam 3 sedangkan yang masih mo dianter banyak bener.Lumayan bikin pusing takut keburu pulang Mela nya..


Pas bgtttt jam 3 teng aku nyampe sana, Mela uda tunggu di lobby, kebetulan kantornya di seberang Pacific Place jadi gampang..

Duh maap ya uda cepet2 jadinya fotonya pas uda di packaging trs penampakan santa nya ga keliatan semua


Comment : Kak,,,,lucuuu bangeeetttt apalagi Santa nya, aku ga tega makannya..Kak, aku pesen ya buat Januari..Pokoknya jangan lupa..Januari ya kak mo bikin buat ade ku,.Siapp Melll..hehehe


Eh 2 hari kemudian baru dimakan lah itu cupcake, dia bbm aku :


Kak, gileee enakkk bangett cupcake nya..Coklat bangettt trs lembutt dalemnya...Eh kak nambah ya..aku booking buat Febuari sekalian ya..


Thanks dear..