Dosa

If you have a bucket list, be sure to add- eat masala dosa at a South India home. To us, dosa is anytime food, meaning we can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Back home, amma makes dosa for breakfast and they have them occasionally for dinner too. The best combination that we like is masala dosa, tomato chutney and sambar. If you want to add a whole different level to it, sprinkle some home made idli powder over the dosa. A morsel of dosa and a sip of coffee- food fit for the gods. Please no french vanilla or caramel machiattos please :)


Watch the TV segment that broadcast live March 28th 2009, on CBS13 Sacramento




If you want to serve dosas on a Saturday morning, the process begins on Friday. Soak the lentils and rice on Friday morning and grind the batter on Friday evening. Let it ferment in the oven all night and you will have the batter ready for Saturday morning. Traditionally batter is made for the whole week. So take as much as needed and leave the rest to be used the next day.

Ingredients

Rice (any kind) – 4 cups

Fenugreek Seeds – ¼ tsp

Black gram lentil (skin peeled and whole) – 1 cup

Method

· Soak the rice and lentil separately in water for about 6 hours.

· Add the fenugreek seeds with the rice to soak.

· After 4-6 hours, rinse the rice and lentils well before you start grinding in a blender.

· Grind the lentils in a blender with as little water as possible. They almost get the consistency of a soft peak, like when we beat the egg whites.

· Pour the batter in a large bowl, and without washing the blender start blending the rice.

· You can add a little bit more water to grind the rice to a very smooth consistency.

· The consistency of the batter is that of a pancake batter.

· Pour the batter into the same bowl.

· Add 1 tbsp of salt and mix the batter with your hands. The warmth of your hands helps to ferment the batter faster.

· Close the bowl and place it a warm corner in the kitchen or even in the oven with the lights on.

· Let it sit undisturbed overnight and the dosas are ready to be made the next day.

Tips: In the winter months, warm the oven for a little while and place the batter in the oven. You don’t need to do this in summer it is already warm.

How to make the dosas????

· Heat a griddle (you can use a non-stick pan).

· Pour one ladle full of batter over the griddle.

· Spread the batter using the bottom of the ladle evenly into a circle.

· Drizzle oil/butter/ghee around the edges and a little bit in the center of the dosa and let it cook on medium heat.

· The dosa should turn light brown. The dosa generally takes 2 minutes to cook on medium heat. Take care not to burn it.

· Flip the dosa over to cook on the other side.

· Once cooked, flip it over, spoon a tablespoon of the potato filling on one side and fold it in half.

My mom would brush some ghee on top before she served us.

Thopukarnam ; yoga for the brain

Praying to lord Ganesha the God of intellect and wisdom, can actually cure Alzheimer's and make you brainier.

When praying to Ganesha, we were taught to pinch our earlobes with opposite hands and do sit ups. Recent research has shown that our age old Indian traditional ritual, actually stimulates the brain by activating pressure points.


This video has made me appreciate our Indian traditional ways which many scoff and consider superstitious, but made the few of us who did follow a bit better. My Dad who is 84 still does this every morning when he prays. Shankari just remembered her teacher make her do this for not paying attention in class, as a punishment.