Jhatphat Dosa

This is another childhood fave...I would get so excited to see this brown crispy, yet soft dosa on my plate. I attempted to make it a year ago, working on memory for a list of ingredients. It did not turn out well. C ate it, most likely because we were still in the honeymoon phase of our marriage and he felt obligated. I made it once more trying to perfect it, this time with help from the Konkani cooking goddess (a.k.a. my mom). It came out better, but C was not a fan. Then, inspiration struck and I added a lot more water and voila! It came out perfect! This time, I added too much salt, so C was just about done with this dosa but nevertheless, I persevered. I begged him to try it justonemoretimepleaseifyoureallylovemeyou'lljusteatitandstopbeingapain pretty please and he did and whaddaya know? It came out perfect. He is now a jhatphat dosa fan. Not as big a fan as I am, but I'll take it! :)

On to the recipe!

Serves: 3-4

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1.5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp asafoetida
2 tsp freshly grated coconut
1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
3 green chillies, chopped
4 curry leaves (karbev)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds (sasam)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp oil

1. Place chopped chillies, coconut, ginger, salt, asafoetida and sugar in a bowl. Muddle until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add flour and stir. Gradually add water until batter has a thin consistency.
2. Add 1 tsp oil and mustard seeds to a pan on medium high. When mustard seeds start to pop, add curry leaves. Be careful, because the oil will splatter once you add the leaves.
3. Quickly take pan off heat and add oil/seeds/leaves (phan) to the batter. Stir until mixed evenly.
4. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into a hot, well-oiled pan. Batter should spread instantly and bubble. If it does not spread, add more water. Mix batter before pouring as some ingredients will settle to the bottom. Place a little oil at the circumference of the dosa to make it easier for removal. Flip dosa until both sides are browned to your satisfaction.
5. Put on a plate and serve!

'Til the next dish...

Bread Upkari (Spiced bread)

I thought I would break the monotony of Indian/Konkani dishes by throwing in a Pad Thai dish. That didn't last too long because here I am again with a Konkani dish. For me, the point of this blog is to create an online recipe book for myself, so that I have a record of the winning recipes for my favorite dishes. :) 


Bread upkari isn't a 'fixed' recipe and by that I mean there are tons of variations on the recipe I'm about to post. I've looked online for some and found that people add peas and carrots to theirs. I'm a purist (or rather, I grew up eating a purist recipe) and I don't like adding peas and carrots and whatnot to my bread upkari. Although, there's nothing to stop you from adding them if you prefer them. :) 


Ingredients:


1/2 pound slightly stale bread (1/4 a sliced loaf), cubed
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps plain non-fat yogurt*
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium red onion, sliced
3 green chillies, sliced
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
3 tbsp shredded coconut
1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp fresh lime juice 
1/2 cup water


*Omit if using fresh bread


1. Place bread cubes in a large bowl and add the turmeric, salt and yogurt. The yogurt is used to soften the slightly stale bread, so do not use it if the bread is fresh. Mix until the turmeric is evenly distributed. The bread should have a slightly yellowish hue to it, so add a little turmeric and then increase if it looks very pale. 

2. Heat oil and butter in a pan. Add mustard seeds until they start to pop. Then quickly add green chillies and curry leaves. Fry for about 10 seconds and add the sliced onions.

3. Cook onions until they are translucent. Add the bread and stir. Once the bread and onions are well mixed, add two tbsp of water around the edge of the pan and quickly stir the bread. Continue to add water (sprinkling is better than pouring) until bread achieves soft and slightly moist texture. 


4. Add coconut, cilantro and lime juice. Stir until well mixed and serve!


'Til the next dish..

Pad Thai

I guess if I'm posting a recipe for Pad Thai, it's safe to say I love Pad Thai. :) I used to get by with using this premade Pad Thai sauce even though it tasted *nothing* like restaurant Pad Thai. I told myself that it was probably better than attempting to make the sauce myself. That is, until I happened to come across this website. It's still not restaurant Pad Thai quality, but it's a helluva lot better than the premade sauce that's for sure! So it's a keeper.


Sauce Recipe:


1/2 cup hot water
3-4 tsp tamarind paste
4 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp brown sugar (packed)
1 tbsp peanut butter (optional)


1. Boil rice noodles until they are almost cooked. My method of testing the 'doneness' of the noodle is to stop it when I think it needs a couple more minutes to get the perfect consistency. Once noodles are cooked, drain and separate into portions. I separate right away because once the noodles dry, they tend to stick in clumps that makes it hard to separate them.

2. Stir fry vegetables and 2 eggs (optional). Heat 2 tsps of oil in a wok and bring it to high heat. You can use any vegetables you like or would like to try with your Pad Thai. I usually add napa cabbage, mushrooms, green onions, and sliced carrots. Remove vegetables when done. I like my vegetables to have a slightly charred look. I think they taste better that way. Also, don't forget to lightly salt the veggies while they cook. 

3. Prepare sauce by dissolving tamarind paste in hot water. Tamarind paste looks exactly like tar. It also has a very bitter (?) taste. If you've never eaten it before, add half the amount. Once the paste is dissolved, add the soy sauce, brown sugar and peanut butter. I use the crunchy peanut butter so that there are flecks of peanut in the final dish. Creamy peanut butter is an equally good alternative.

4. Pour enough sauce for a portion into the wok. Wait until it bubbles. Add noodles and stir until they are coated with the sauce. It will look like there is too much liquid, but keep stirring and it will thicken. Add the vegetables and stir until they are coated as well.

5. Serve and eat!! :)


'Til the next dish...

Set dosa

There's a Hindu temple in Flushing, NY that has a canteen in the basement. When I used to live in NJ, and my parents would suggest a visit to the temple, I would jump at the chance because that meant I would get to eat at the canteen. Sounds irreverent, but I was never very religious, except when it comes to dosas. :)

The composition of the set dosa batter is slightly different from regular dosa batter in that the former has the addition of flattened rice. Regular dosa and masala dosa (posts to follow soon) batters have black gram (urad dal), rice (medium grain), fenugreek seeds (methi), split chick peas (channa dal), and pigeon peas (toor dal). Set dosas have urad dal, rice, fenugreek seeds, split chick peas and beaten rice. Almost the same, but not quite. In any case, it's supremely delicious!

The recipe isn't tedious, but it is time consuming. Most of it involves soaking the grains or letting the batter ferment. Nothing you can do about it other than let it happen.

Recipe:

2 cups medium grain rice

1 cup urad dal gota (black gram whole)

2 tsp chana dal

1/2 tsp methi seeds

1 cup beaten rice (poha)

1. Wash the rice a couple of times and cover with water. Place the urad dal, channa dal and methi seeds in another bowl, rinse and cover with water. Soak overnight (6-12 hours)

2. Reserve water in a measuring cup and place rice, urad dal, channa dal and methi seeds in a food processor. Grind to a fine paste while adding water to produce a batter with the consistency

of pancake batter (should be pretty thick, simple test: if you pour a spoonful in a pan, it should not rapidly increase in size, that's an indication it has too much water). At this point, add the poha and continue processing until the batter is smooth.

3. Pour out the batter into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Keep in a warm place for 6-12 hours. If that's not possible, heat the oven to 100F, let it cool a little and place it in the oven overnight. The dosa batter ferments best in a temperature similar to a hot summer day so if the oven temperature feels very hot, it will probably cook the batter. Unfortunately, this is not a step you can skip since it produces a unique taste in set dosas.

4. Pour out 1/4 cup of batter onto a well-oiled/seasoned pan. Cover with a lid until set dosa has bubbles on the surface. Place a few drops of oil onto the top surface and flip to cook the other side. Once done, you're ready to serve (or eat).

Yum, I just finished the leftover batter tonight and these pictures are making me drool... :P

Enjoy!!

'Til the next dish...

Gobi Manchurian

Health-0-meter: 2/5 (5 being healthiest)
Ease: 2/5 (5 being difficult)

I first tasted this dish in India, and found out that it was invented in India for Indians who wanted Chinese food, but with an Indian taste. Sounds weird, but really it's quite a delicious combination!

Last night, I was feeling lazy and not in the mood to cook so we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. They're one of the few restaurants I know of that have dinner buffets and on a Friday no less! Lucky for us, they decided to feature gobi manchurian on their menu, and I got really excited! Too bad it tasted awful - the cauliflower tasted gummy and the sauce was too thin and had a strong tomato taste. Ugh.

This is the second gobi dish in the last two weeks, so you might be thinking I love this veggie. Well, yes and no. I do love a good cauli dish, for sure, but I had half a head of cauli sitting in the frig and I didn't want it to go bad. Plus, my sis-in-law makes *great* gobi manchu and I had to make good use of the recipe I begged for and got. :)

On to the recipe!

Sauce (traditional):

• Soy Sauce 1/4 cup
• Ketchup 1/4 cup

*We didn't have ketchup at home and the hubs was grossed out at the thought of ketchup in his main dish, so we got steak sauce instead. We used 1/2 cup of the steak sauce.


The steak sauce we used

Try it on chicken, steaks, burgers... and indochinese food!

For the rest:

• Cauliflower, split into florets*
• 6 green chillies, medium sized**
• 1 tbsp garlic, grated
• 1 tbsp ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp corn oil (or vegetable oil)

*Make sure florets are not too big as they will not cook all the way through when fried. The smaller the better, but that can get too time consuming if there are too many florets.

**Chillies can be added/subtracted according to taste. We found 6 chillies to be perfect. If you want it spicier, add more. If you're not too fond of spice, cut down on the number of chillies.

Garlic/ginger paste can be used, but fresh always tastes better.

Batter:

• All purpose flour, 1/4 cup
• Cornstarch, 2 tbsp
• Salt, to taste
• Water, 1/4 cup
• Oil for frying

The ratio of flour to cornstarch is 2:1, if the recipe needs to be scaled up.

1. To make the batter, mix the flour and cornstarch and salt with a whisk. When thoroughly mixed, add the water and use a fork to mix. Batter shouldn't be too thick, i.e. should be able to coat the cauliflower florets without too much of the cauliflower peeking through.

2. Wash the florets and dry them thoroughly. If even slightly wet, they will either not stick to the batter, or will splatter in the oil (bad, BAD situation).

My florets are ready to be dipped and fried!

3. Heat oil in a deep frying pan or wok. Make sure oil is at 350F (use a candy thermometer). If you don't have a thermometer (like me), place a drop of batter into the oil. The oil should bubble furiously around it - that's when it's ready to go. Use a metal slotted spoon with a long handle when frying. Placed fried florets on paper towels to drain while the sauce is made.

Yummy, delicious fried cauliflower

4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or deep frying pan. Placed the chopped chillies, grated ginger and garlic into the oil and cook until the ginger/garlic is almost brown, but not quite. When it looks like the picture below, it's ready.

5. Add the florets and stir on a low flame. Once the ginger/garlic/chilli mix has sufficiently coated the florets, add the sauce. Make sure the florets are thoroughly coated with the sauce. This is the "dry" version of this dish. More sauce can be added according to personal taste.

And voila! You are done and ready to eat! They came out absolutely perfect and delicious. Try it, you'll love it!

'Til the next dish...

Alu Gobi

Health-0-meter: 4/5 (5 being healthiest)
Ease: 2/5 (5 being difficult)

In Hindi, Alu means potato and Gobi means cauliflower. We Indian folk like to name our foods after what it contains. Makes it easier when planning dinner "Hey you guys want alu gobi?" versus "Would you lot care for black pudding?" See what I mean about knowing what's in your food?

Most Indian dishes begin with the trifecta of onions, garlic and ginger. This one is no different. The combined flavors give each curry their distinctive taste that makes them so yummy! The important part is to make sure that the ratio of garlic and ginger is 1:1 and that the onions are cooked thoroughly. Too much of one will overpower the other and will make the dish taste different. Uncooked onions will be noticed, trust me. I was impatient the first time I made it and it tasted really off.

On to the recipe!

You will need:

• A wok or a pan with at least 2" high sides
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 medium potato, diced (bite size pieces)
• 1/2 lb cauliflower florets (broken into individual florets)
• 5-6 baby carrots, sliced into rounds
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 1.5 tsp (2 cloves) garlic, finely minced
• 1.5 tsp Ginger, finely grated
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2.5 cups of water
• Salt
• 1 tsbp of corn oil (or vegetable oil)

A note on ingredients: Everytime I've made this dish, I've used fresh veggies. I'm not sure how frozen veggies would work; I'm guessing they would need to be completely thawed and microwaved to remove any water and then added to the curry for 10-15 minutes before serving for them to take in the spices.

These spices are common in Indian cooking and can be purchased at any Indian store. Eyeballing is key in Indian cooking. If the amounts of ginger and garlic look about the same, it will work out fine. Exact measurements were provided for those incredibly anal-retentive cooks like me.

1. Measure out garam masala, turmeric, chilli powder and cumin seeds. Mince garlic and grate ginger. Finely chop onion. Keep aside.

2. Heat oil in wok/frying pan. Add garlic and ginger and stir rapidly for 20 - 30 seconds. They should NOT turn brown, that means the garlic is burnt and it will impart a bitter taste to the curry.
3. At this point, add the onions. Here's the tricky part. The oil might not seem like it will be enough to cook the onions, however do NOT add any extra oil or your curry will taste oily. Make sure the onions are mixed well enough that the garlic and ginger and oil are evenly distributed. Keep the heat to a medium-high and stir every 2-3 minutes until the onion looks caramelized. Like so:

See how the volume has decreased (water loss) and more importantly, see how they're shiny in the second pic? That's the oil re-appearing! It's a good indication that the onions are done. When they look like the pic above (right), turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

4. Add the spices - garam masala, cumin seeds, turmeric and chilli powder. Mix until all the onions are coated with them. Keep stirring for another 2-3 minutes. The spices need the heat of the pan to release their flavor and to get into the onions.

5. Add the tomato and the tomato paste. If stirring is difficult, add about 1/2 cup of water to help stir the mixture. If the onions are well cooked, then adding the water and stirring should result in a paste.

6. Add the vegetables and make sure they are well coated with the paste. Stir for 1 minute.

7. Add water to cover all the veggies (see pic below). At this point, add the salt. Potatoes can absorb a lot of salt, so add a little more than necessary. Leave on medium low for 30 - 40 minutes without a lid to cook. Stir every 5 minutes or so until vegetables are tender and liquid has reduced to half the original volume.

Enjoy! Til the next dish...