My favorite breakfast

Most folks from the southern part of India would have grown up eating this fabulous dish. It is a personal favorite of mine.

 I remember when I was in engineering school, I stayed with my grandma for 4 years. She never used to make this dish. I coerced her into learning it. She started cooking it for me. Even though I have been cooking this for more than 6 years now, I don't even come close to her.

This recipe is from my dear sister Smitha, she taught me how to make this .

I love my sister and this post is for her.

Masala Dosa 

Ingredients :


For the dosa batter :

1 cup urad dal
3 cups rice (long grain)
1/2 cup chana dal
1 teaspoon methi seeds
1 cup thick poha

Soak the first 4 ingredients in water for around 6 hours. ( I soak them before I go to work).
Then soak the poha in the same water for the last 15 minutes. ( I do it around 7 in the evening)

Grind the mixture into a smooth batter , adding salt and some cooked rice if available.

Ferment this mixture overnight. ( I place it in the oven , with the oven light on for some heat ).

Wake up next morning and the mixture should have 'puffed up' a little.

Make the masala:

Ingredients :

3 white onions (medium) sliced thin
5 potatoes (medium) cooked and cut up in small chunks
6-8 curry leaves
a pinch of asofetida (hing in hindi)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
4 green chillies
4 red chillies
3 tbsp oil


Heat up the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, red and green chillies , and a pinch of hing.

Wait until the mustard seeds start to pop, add the onions to the pan and cook till slightly brown.

Add some turmeric powder to the above, enough to give it a nice yellow color .

Add the cooked potatoes, salt and a little water and cook till properly mixed.

You can garnish it with cilantro.


Chutney recipe:

Ingredients :

2 cups grated coconut
4 green chillies
2 red chillies
1/2 tsp of tamarind paste
salt to taste
one inch piece of ginger root

For the tempering :


2 red chillies
5  curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of hing


Method :

Grind all the ingredients for the chutney in a blender.

Heat up a little oil in a container. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing, red chillies. When the mustard seeds pop, remove the mixture and mix in the chutney.  Add salt to taste to the chutney.

Making the dosa:

I have an electric griddle that I use at 400 Degrees.  If you have a dosa tava or a non stick pan, that will work too.

Take a paper towel and dip it in some water. Squeeze the water out of it and then apply this paper towel on the griddle/tava, taking care to get to all the surface.  ( In India, I have seen a few folks use half an onion for the same purpose)  Do this step before each dosa. This ensures that the dosa will spread evenly and not break.

Put some oil on the griddle / tava

Take 1/3 cup of dosa batter and gently pour it onto the center of the griddle

Begin to spread the batter in a sweeping circular motion to form a circle as shown below

No worries if it develops tiny holes as you spread the batter. This is normal. 

Put some oil on the sides of the dosa with an oil spray ( for those of you in the states, I recommend MISTO . Readily available in Bed bath and you can use your own olive oil in it ) 

Cook the dosa for a few minutes. I only cook on one side. Some folks flip it, but I do not.

When the dosa is about done as below, put some masala on it, scoop it up on a plate and serve with chutney on the side.

I used to be able to eat 6 of these. Now all I can manage is 2 or 3.  Life is catching up. :) 

Enjoy 

Mushroom Risotto

I have these wonderful friends called Helen and Guido.

Guido is Italian (I am sure you had a hard time figuring that out), and Helen is Irish.

Helen makes a very good risotto.

The following is my interpretation of Helen's mushroom risotto.

Ingredients: 

• 2 portobello mushrooms sliced
• 1 red onion sliced 
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 6 cups chicken stock ( or more to cook the rice)
• Butter 
• Some olive oil 
• freshly ground black pepper 
• Parmesan cheese 
• 2 tbsp chives 
• salt to taste
• 2/3 cup white wine 

Method :

Put a little olive oil in a pan and saute the mushrooms with a little black pepper. Saute them for around 5 minutes on medium heat until done. Place them on a plate.

Put some olive oil in a pan and add the red onion, saute for a few minutes till transparent.
Now add the rice, a little butter and saute till the rice browns a little.

Add the white wine to the rice, cook for another few minutes. Then add the broth mixture to the rice, 1/2 cup at a time till all the broth is absorbed by the rice.

Note: this is the most crucial part of the recipe. The rice mixture has to be constantly stirred for around 10 - 15 minutes on medium flame to make sure that the broth is all absorbed and the rice is 'al dente' . Stop cooking.

Tip:  If you are using canned broth / bouillon cubes / powder , skip the salt as there is quite a bit of sodium in it.  If you are using home made broth, then add salt to taste.

Now add the mushrooms along with any cooking liquid , grate some parmesan cheese on top , add some fresh chives  and finally sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper on top.

Enjoy.

My first recipe post. Eggplant Afghan style.

I used to work with an Afghan guy. He once invited me for dinner and cooked one of the
most amazing eggplant dishes that I have ever had. I fell in love with it, and in fact even had
it on the menu for my wedding reception.

The following is my interpretation of the recipe. I claim no authenticity, but the result is
undeniably pleasing to the palate



My recipe for Eggplant Afghan style.

Ingredients :

• 1 whole eggplant ( the thick american variety)
• 2 whole tomatoes sliced  (medium sized)
• 1 red onion sliced 
• 1 bell pepper sliced ( I have used red, you can use any kind )
• 2 cups yogurt 
• 6 garlic cloves ( or less depending on your love of garlic)
• 1/2 cup water 
• oil to shallow fry the eggplant 
• red chilli powder 
• salt and pepper to taste 

Method:

Cut the eggplant into 1 cm cross sections . Put some salt on both sides. Wait around 15
minutes and then dry the slices with paper towels.

Put some oil in the pan and shallow fry the eggplant on both sides till it turns slightly brown.
You don't have to cook it fully. Just make sure that it browns a little .

Do this with all the slices and then put them on a plate. Let stand .

Saute the onion in the same pan . Don't cook fully.

Place the onion on another plate .

In the same pan, make layers of eggplant, onion, tomato and bell pepper.
Sprinkle some red chilli powder  on each layer.
Make at least 2 such layers.  Add the water and cook covered for 10 minutes or so until the
eggplant is fully cooked.

Mix the yogurt with the finely diced garlic and some pepper.
In a baking dish / corning dish  add one layer of the yogurt .

Take the veggies out of the pan, taking care not to break the eggplant.
Put one layer of veggies on top of the yogurt mixture, top with  another layer of veggies
and finally the  rest of the yogurt mixture on top.

Delicious eggplant afghan style is ready to eat.

Bon appetit.

First Posting

Hello all, this is my first posting.  I will be uploading my culinary experiments on this blog.  For those of you who know me, you already know that food is an obsession.  Both eating and cooking are two of my favorite indulgences.



Stay tuned for recipes and possibly some anecdotes.

Gopal