Hope everyone's having a great Navaratri. This year Navaratri feels so different without inviting people over but we are trying to make the best out of it. 

Here is a simple Usli made with Sweet Corn. 

Adai Dosae or simply called Adai is one of my favorite recipes from Tamil Nadu. It makes for a great protein packed breakfast 

People either love Adai or really seem to hate it. I love it.  It is a bit heavy on the stomach & can keep you full for hours 

Though traditionally eaten as breakfast, I like to eat serve them as dinner sometimes. 

Also, what I love about this version is the addition of Moringa Leaves or Nugge Soppu as we call it in Kannada. 

Moringa Leaves is a Super Food, The Leaves do not have a strong taste so they can be added into a variety of things like Dal, mixing in the chapati dough, Akki Rotti or even Upma for the dose of nutrition.

The Batter needs to be ground into a slightly coarse paste. Also, the batter is slightly thicker than a regular Dosa Batter 

This is what it is going to look like. 

You Will Need:

• 2 cups Raw Rice 
• 1 cup Urad Dal
• 1 cup Chana Dal
• 1 cup Tuvar Dal
• 1 cup Moong Dal
• 2 cups  Moringa Leaves 
• Salt as per taste
• A big pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
• Oil for cooking the Adai

Cabbage is one vegetable that we are quite bored of at present. I always make a quick stir fry (Palya) out of it as my family doesn't really care about Cabbage Sambar or Cabbage Dal .. 

Apart from adding it to Noodles or Fried Rice, I didn't know how to out it to use .. I made a quick Cabbage Pulao with shredded Cabbage & onions. Honestly, it was quite nice 

I am going to be making this often as a weekday lunch, now that we are in the middle of Online Schooling chaos, we need loads of under 30 minute meals :)

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups or Half a head of shredded cabbage 
• 1 large Onion - sliced lengthwise 
• 1 1/4 cup of Basmati Rice (I've used the traditional Paavu Measurement)
• 1/2 cup Frozen Peas 
• 2 cups Water (Preferable Hot)
• Salt as per taste 

• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder 
• 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder 
• 1 powder MTR Pulao Masala 
• 1/2 teaspoon Kitchen King Masala 

Serves 4 

 You Will Need:

• 1 cup Medium Rava/Bombay Rava - 230 grams 
• 3 cups Hot Water 
• 1.5 teaspoon Vangi Bath Powder 
• 3-4 Green Chilies - finely chopped 
• 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 1 teaspoon grated Ginger 
• Salt as per taste 
• 3 tablespoon Ghee 
• 1 tablespoon Oil 

• 1 Onion - Very finely Chopped 
• 1 Tomato - Very Finely Chopped 
• 1 small Carrot - Grated 
• A handful of Green Beans - Very finely chopped 
• 1/2 of a Green Capsicum - Very Finely chopped 
• A Handful of Green Peas - Optional 

We all love restaurant style Dose, don't we? The ones that are crisp & evenly golden brown. 

This restaurant style recipe has been doing rounds on the internet & I finally decided to give it a try. It uses Red Rice along with regular Raw Rice. 

Using Red Rice gives it a nice deep golden color that Darshini Style Dosaes have. 

Makes 22-24 Dosaes 

You Will Need:

• 1 cup Gota Urad Dal (120 Grams)
• 1.5 cups Raw Red Rice / Kempu Akki (190 Grams)
• 1.5 cups Sona Masuri Rice (190 Grams)
• 1/4 cup Chana Dal
• 1/4 cup Tuvar Dal
• 1/4 cup Thick Poha 
• 1.5 teaspoons Methi Seeds
• 1/2 cup Rice Flour
• Salt 

Soak in a wide bowl with enough water because Urad Dal will swell upon soaking. Soak for 4-6 hours

Do Not discard the water used for soaking as it aids in fermentation

Use a wet grinder or a mixer to grind into a smooth batter. I use a mixer & grind the batter in 3 batches, adding little water at a time

Pour the batter into a large vessel, Add Salt & mix with your hands, cover & set aside in a warm place. It should take anywhere between 8-16 hours to ferment depending on the weather.

After the batter is fermented, before you proceed to make Dosaes, add 1/2 cup Rice Flour & Mix well so that no lumps are formed 

Keep these points in mind before proceeding to make the batter

• To make Crisp Dosas, always use Raw Rice & Not Idli Rice .. We use Sona Masuri Rice to make the batter

• The Batter is ground slightly thicker than the regular Dosa Batter

• Adding Chana Dal & Tuvar Dal is very important to get that crisp texture 
• Since we are using Red Rice, the dosaes turn brown pretty quickly. So make sure you roast them on Low Medium flame to get an evenly roasted Dose 

          

Potato Stuffing (Alugadde Palya)

--------

You Will Need:

• 4 large Potatoes (I used Gold Potatoes)
• 2 medium sized Onions - sliced lengthwise
• 5 Green Chilies
• Half teaspoon Mustard seeds
• A big pinch of Hing
• 1 teaspoon Urad Dal
• 1 teaspoon Chana Dal
• 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder
• A sprig of Curry leaves
• Coriander leaves
• Salt as per taste

How To:

Clean & scrub the Potatoes. Cut into halves & Pressure cook with a little bit of salt for 1 whistle. Let the pressure settle down.

Drain the water & once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the skin & roughly mash them into chunks.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat cooking oil. Splutter mustard seeds. Add Hing, Urad Dal, Chana Dal, Green Chilies & Curry Leaves. Sauté on low flame for 30 seconds until the Urad & Chana Dal are golden in color

Add sliced onions & turmeric & fry until the onions turn pink, Add the mashed potatoes & salt & mix well

Turn off the heat & add chopped coriander. Set aside & allow it to cool

      

HOW TO MAKE DOSAS

-------

You Will Need

• Dosa Batter
• Potato Filling 
• Red Chutney (For Mysore Masale Dose)
• Oil + Ghee + Melted Butter (Mixed in a Bowl)
• Coconut Chutney to Serve on the Side 

Masala Dosas are slightly Thicker than Regular Dosas 

Making the Dosas in a Cast Iron Pan makes Crispier & Evenly Roasted Dosas as Compared to Non Stick Pans.

In a bowl, add equal parts of Ghee, Melted Butter & Oil & whisk it well & use this instead of just Oil to make Dosas. This enhances the taste.  

Heat a good cast iron griddle, once hot enough, Set it to medium flame.

Grease it with oil & wipe it down with a towel before proceeding to make the dose. 

Wipe the Tawa with a wet cloth before pouring the batter everytime you make a Dose 

Pour a ladleful of batter in the centre & spread into a slightly thick circle.  Drizzle oil+Ghee+Butter mixture along the edges  & center & roast on medium flame until it turns golden brown 

If using Red Chutney, after the Dosa is slightly cooked on top, take 1/4 teaspoon of Red Chutney & smear it on the dosa evenly. Let it roast well on medium flame.

Use a Spatula to loosen the Dosa from the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture in the center & fold the Dosa into a semi circle 

Since we are using Red Rice, the dosaes turn brown pretty quickly. So make sure you roast them on Low Medium flame to get an evenly roasted Dose 

Enjoy Hot Dosas with Coconut chutney 

Khatta Dhokla/Safed Dhokla, also known as Idadaa is made using Rice & Urad Dal. 

I recently discovered that you can make some brilliant Gujarati Khatta Dhokla/Safed Dhokla using our very own Idli Batter. Karnataka style Idli batter made using Idli Rava/Idli Tari works extremely well for this recipe as the Idadaa batter is also a bit coarse in texture 

The recipe for Idli Batter can be found here .. While you are at it, you might want to check my recipe for Instant Nylon Khaman here 

This is yet another example of how our cuisines are different, yet quite similar in many ways