Welcome aboard!

Indian cuisine is a riot of colours, flavours, and spices. Every state has its own unique culture- ingrained taste bud. And, to many of us staying within familiar tastes is a sacrosanct act. Of course an occasional trip to a speciality restaurant that serves another fare is ok. But, as a matter of routine ...at home...NO!

One of the benefits of being born to parents who dared an interstate marriage (am talking about India of the 70's) was being able to widen a regional taste bud to accept, experiment and, relish eclectic cuisines :-)

I love food! Be it traditional or fusion, cooking is all about turning out fare that is tasty and healthy.I welcome all lovers of good food to come on aboard and share your kitchen adventures.

If you like what you see, do leave a comment. If you don't, please leave a suggestion to help me make this better.

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Happy cooking!

Dershana

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Aval dosai (Rice flakes dosa)

When I mentioned that my trip home to India for delivery was due soon, so many of you blogger friends turned up with good wishes. It felt so good to have met and made friends with so many like minded souls through blogging! Thank you all, my dear friends, for all your good wishes. Now to get to today's recipe, Aval dosai, a Tamil Nadu special.


Aval dosai has been one of my favourite tiffin items right from childhood. Growing up at my maternal grandmother's house at Salem, my childhood food preferences were greatly influenced by Tamilian cuisine. Amma, having relocated to dad's place at Kerala, has more or less given up on Tamilian fare except for when I turn up at home and ask her to make me something from grandma's kitchen. Aval dosai is one thing I make perfectly well at my kitchen but still ask amma to make for me whenever I visit her. Love it with pottu kadalai chutney (roasted gram). Here is my paatti (grandma) and amma's recipe for the yummilicious aval dosai...


Raw rice - 2 cups
Aval (Rice flakes/beaten rice/poha)- 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds (uluva/methi/vendayam) - 1 teaspoon
Sour curds (plain yoghurt)- 1 cup
For seasoning
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2 Nos
Onion - 1 medium sized
Ginger - 1" piece
For tempering
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Dry red chillies - 2 Nos
Curry leaves - 3-4 sprigs
Bengal gram (Channa dal/ kadala paruppu)- 1 teaspoon

Wash and soak the rice and fenugreek seeds together for about 4 hours. Whisk the yoghurt with a little water to make it a little thin. Add the rice flakes to it and soak for about an hour. Add sufficient water and blend the rice and fenugreek in a mixie/food processor/wet grinder into a smooth batter. Do the same with the soaked rice flakes. Mix the two together and add salt to taste. The consistency should be like that of ordinary dosa batter (see picture). Allow to ferment overnight or for about 8 hours.

Chop the onions, ginger, and green chillies fine. Heat a teaspoon of oil and saute the bengal gram and red chillies. Add the mustard seeds and allow them to crackle. Throw in the curry leaves, chopped onions, ginger, green chillies, and coconut. Whisk in to the batter.



Heat an appa chatti (see picture) and pour out a ladleful of the batter. Cover with a lid and simmer cook till done (approx 3 minutes). The bottom should have formed a golden crust and the top should be cooked well. You need not turn this over but if you like both sides golden, you can flip and brown the other side too like I've done.



PS : An appa chatti is a shallow pan traditionally used to cook palappams (vellayappams) in. If you do not have this you can use an ordinary dosa gridle (flat pan) to make aval dosai. For more detailed pictures of the 'appa chatti' check out the Vellayappam recipe link http://thefootloosechef.blogspot.com/2008/05/vellayappam.html

Sending this over to EC's WYF : Cuisine event. The event is on at http://simpleindianfood.blogspot.com/2009/03/wyfcuisine-event-announcement.html till March 31st.

35 comments:

FH said...

I love this spongy dosas(almost like K'taka set dosas) too, although I don't make it often.Looks thick and yummy.
Love that aapam chatti, I bought one just for RCI Kerala post last year! :D

Varsha Vipins said...

wow..they look like our thattukada dosa's..so yummy..:)

Unknown said...

Nice entry.. looks Soft & yummy..

Cham said...

So u re flying now... Take care and enjoy every moment... Looks delicous the aval dosa!

Manju said...

looks nice and soft..i wonder whether you can use brown aval also for this..n Dershana, didnt know you also had a hybrid tam-mallu culture in you, like me!! :)

Vidhya said...

looks perfect and this is the first time i am hearing dosa from aval. I usually make upma. will try it soon

Dori said...

Looks so good, wish I could taste it!

Deepa Hari said...

Yummy doses...looks soft and perfect...very cute appam chatti Dershana.

Sum Raj said...

they loks soo cute and healthy..

A_and_N said...

Nice recipe Dershana :) This is similar to Neer-Dosa made in Karnataka :)

Sujatha said...

wow, new recipe to me! they look like othappam.. I love the addition of coconuts too.. bookmarking this..

Unknown said...

dosa with aval sounds good yaar..wil try it sometime..

EC said...

It looks so soft...thanks a lot for the entry

Sanghi said...

Hi Dershana.. First time here, u have a great place. Excellent dosa! do visit mine..!

Chitra said...

i love dosoras in any form,looks like uthaapam,isnt it..love ur recipe,will try it out soon:)

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow simple and yum. Looks fluffy and yum.

Malar Gandhi said...

Aval Adai...very spongy, right...love ur cute kadaai. Adai looks pretty.

Indian Khana said...

Looks so gud...I have bookmarked it...thanks for sharing the wonderful recipes

AnuSriram said...

Looks very soft and spongy... Delicious!

Usha said...

Dershana, this looks so soft and spongy ! Loved your aappa chatti , need to get one of those ! Definitely will try this recipe:-)

Preety said...

your blog is a best stop of wonderful south indian dishes..this one is easy i thik i can make this one , i always had a hard time in making the normal south indian dosa..:)

vandana rajesh said...

Wow this looks delicious and aval, yogurt an rice is healthy too.

Deepthi Shankar said...

these are soo incredibly soft .. I love these

Unknown said...

looks so soft and yum Dershana

Swapna said...

Looks perfect, fluffy & delicious. nice click...

Anonymous said...

Nice recipe dershana.Thanks for sharing.I have never tried this before.I have a bag of aval sitting in my pantry for so long.I'll surely try this one.:)

Dershana said...

Thank you all, dear girls! and yes Superchef, you can add red rice flakes to make aval dosai. in fact I stock only red (matta) rice flakes in my pantry :-)

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

ooohh i am in love with your dosa..i am a dosa fan and can eat even everyday! aval dosa should so very soft and fluffy right...yummy

Jaishree Iyer said...

Iam gr8 fan of aval dosa.I make it too often.Looks so soft and yum Dershana

Unknown said...

Lovely recipe. I just made a unique banana dosa today, and the recipe said to throw in a bit of aval! ..and here you are, with another Aval dosa:)

:) Nice blog.

- Sharon

Yasmeen said...

tasty!I'm sure you'll get to relish many such tiffins back home,must be all set to go:)

Uj said...

Aval dosai.. have never tried it.. But I am sure it must be spongy and soft with the addition of aval to it :)

Vibaas said...

That's yummy.

Here's something for u -> http://vibaas-world.blogspot.com/2009/03/potato-sandwich-and-awards.html

Anonymous said...

good food...delicious taste...yummy

FoodShoutOut said...

You have some great recipes on your site and it would be great if you could share them at FoodShoutOut.com
FoodShoutOut.com is a place for people to discover and share great indian recipes from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, FoodShoutOut.com surfaces the best stuff as voted on by users.

 
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