Daring Cooks: Dosas!

When I was in London during my study abroad (gah! 4 years ago!!), there was the little corner Indian fast food shop that we would frequent because 1. the food was really good and 2. the owner was so nice. He had free wifi that he let us poor American college students use frequently. Our B&B didn't have any internet and our only other option was to use the numerous but sometimes expensive internet cafes. While coming and going or using the wifi, we bought numerous inexpensive but absolutely delicious Indian delicacies. My favorite was the spicy potato filling in a tortilla like wrapper. I can't remember what it was called but it was so amazing. Perfect for when you weren't too hungry but you knew it was going to be a long time before you ate again. Especially on those many, many nights we had to go to theatre performances.

Debyi of The Healthy Vegan Kitchenwas our host for this month and she chose Indian Dosas from the reFresh cookbook by Ruth Tal. Because of the economy and having to cutback on my grocery budget, I am always looking for vegetarian and vegan options for dinner. Vegan is a little bit harder to do at times but on all the occasions I have attempted it, I have always been impressed. The absence of animal products was not as noticeable as I thought it would be. With this month's challenge, I was excited to be combining both vegan and Indian. Two options that I have only had in limited quantities.

The dosas sounded just like the burrito like meals I had at the Indian shop in London. That made this challenge even more of a must for me. I have yet to have them again and have missed the quick, portable meal they were.

I only made one change to the dosa pancake recipe. Instead of having to locate and buy spelt flour, I used some garbanzo bean flour that I had leftover from another recipe. I am in love with this flour and use it any chance I can. We were given free reign on our filling and topping for the dosas.

For my filling, I went pretty simple. I used avocado (because I am an avocado addict!), cherry tomatoes, garlic powder, and a touch of salt as well as some lime juice. That is one of my favorite combinations to use with just about anything. Of course, considering its almost a chunky guacamole and I am from Texas...maybe its not so surprising.

For my topping, I got a little more complicated. Since my filling and the dosa pancakes were pretty simple, I made a sun-dried tomato chutney from The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving. Let me tell you, this chutney is out of this world good. I wasn't so sure about the curry powder that was in it but there is only 2 tsp in the whole batch so it isn't overwhelming. Plus it tied into the curry powder in the dosa pancakes.

I had issues with the size of my dosas. I'm not sure if my batter was too thick or my pan too hot, but I could never get my pancakes thin enough. They always ended up a little too thick so I could not wrap them into a burrito. Oh well. Open faced dosas for me! On a better note, I am much better a flipping dosa pancakes than I am regular breakfast pancakes I have found. Not one smushed, streaked pancake in sight!

I looooved these! All of the flavors worked together perfectly. Nothing overwhelmed the other. I liked the garbanzo bean flavor of the dosa. Light but so delicious. The filling was amazing as always. I could eat that with anything. The sun-dried tomato chutney was the real star. Sweet yet definitely works with Indian food because of the addition of the curry. I'm sure it would also be wonderful on pasta or grilled meats. Even though my dosas were open faced, they were a great (though not portable!) dinner. Filling but not too much if you aren't overly hungry.

A big hit this go around! I'll definitely be making these again. For more dosas, check out the Daring Cooks Blogroll.

Even though I didn't use it, the example recipes for the filling and topping are below. They look pretty tasty so maybe next time I'll given them a try!

Dosa Pancakes

1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour) (I used garbanzo bean 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.) (I used soy milk)
¾ cup (175ml/6oz) water
cooking spray, if needed

Dosa Pancakes
1.Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.
2.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.
3.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

1.Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.
2.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. My picture of this sauce is one that I had made, had to freeze, then thaw to use. It tastes great, but the texture is a little runnier, not quite as thick as it was before freezing.

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

1.Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.
2.Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
3.Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
4.Let it simmer for half an hour.