Onion-Rava Dosas with Carrot Chutney

Rava Dosas with Carrot Chutney and Honey Tangerines

Colorful & Tangy Carrot Chutney

I got married to my Bengali husband 7 years ago. His family after getting over the initial shock that their bengali babu was marrying a "madrasi" thought I was going to open up the golden gates to South Indian delights such as Masala Dosas, Idli-Vada Sambhars and other intricate delicacies. Well, here on my food blog I will come out and express how utterly lazy I am about grinding, fermenting and waiting for that infamous dosa batter to get ready. In all the years I have been married to my husband I can count the number of times I have made him or his family Masala Dosas. Also, I have a secret weapon - my dear amma! Why would I expend all that energy creating dosas and idlis from scratch when I can call her up 24 hours in advance and say - "amma, we would like some dosas, pretty please!".

Obviously, I know how to make the dosas, I have her recipe stashed away in my inbox which I asked her to email me many moons ago when she was visiting India and I was desperate to make it and "show-off" to my bong in-laws that I was an adept cook. I think after seven years though my in-laws know my little secret and can see right past my indolent behavior but now I use my children as an excuse for being lethargic about grinding, fermenting and making masala dosas. In my opinion there are plenty of other South Indian edibles that are equally good and tasty and Rava dosas is my favorite! It requires no grinding, the batter once mixed can be used instantly and the chewy-crisp texture of the dosas I personally prefer over Masala Dosas. But, hey everyone has their personal favorites and making these dosas with my own carrot chutney was a perfect lunch item for all of us. N, my son who typically doesn't care for many Indian food items devoured rava dosas. I think this NYT article that my friend sent is appropriate answer, its genetic! He is a chip off the old mama block!

The carrot chutney was a spin-off from my mother's onion chutney recipe. I modified her onion chutney recipe by substituting carrots boiled tender in tamarind water and the results were pleasing to all of us. My chutney recipe is not very spicy, we have a few people in my family that cannot handle spiciness so if you are into spicy food, increase the chillies accordingly.

Rava Dosa Recipe:

• 1 Cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Fine Semolina (Rava)
• 1 Cup Rice Flour
• 6 Cups Water
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 2 to 3 Teaspoons finely chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
• 1.5 Teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon chopped curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Finely chopped chillies (optional)
• Peanut oil for making dosas

Method:

Take a large mixing bowl and combine all all-purpose flour, rava and rice flour along with cumin seeds, half of the bay leaves, cilantro leaves and salt to taste. Add about 4 cups of water and mix thoroughly and keep adding extra water till you have very runny, thinner than crepe batter consistency. For my 3 cups of various flours, it took almost 6 cups of water to get the right consistency. This is very important for getting those thin, hole-y dosas. Don't be bashful in the water department! Once this batter is ready, set aside and heat up a pan or dosa tava for making the dosas. I prefer non-stick pans as it takes a little less oil and easier to handle. Combine chopped onions, cilantro, bay leaves and optional chopped green chillies in a bowl and have it ready by the stove.

Once the tava is hot, lower the heat on the stove to medium heat and sprinkle 1 or 2 teaspoons of onion-cilantro mixture onto the tava. Gently ladle some batter on the tava and roll the tava around to get the batter in a thin layer with plenty of holes. Lace the edges and dot the dosa with some peanut oil and cover the tava to let it cook through for a minute or two till the edges are crispy brown and batter is cooked. Gently fold the dosa in half and remove from tava and serve right away with chutney. Taste the first dosa to make sure its salted enough, if not add more salt.

Carrot Chutney Recipe

• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 Dry Red Chillies (I used karnataka chillies, called madege menasu), use more for spicy chutney
• 1 teaspoon urad dhal
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• Pinch of hing
• 2 to 3 curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil

Method:

In a medium sized pot, add water, tamarind paste and chopped carrots and bring to a low boil. Cook carrots in this tamarind water till fork tender. In a separate pan, heat up peanut oil and add urad dhal, mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and hing. After the mustard seeds jiggle and urad dhal is a golden brown, remove from heat. Save half of tempering for garnish and add the rest to carrots. In the same tempering pan, saute onions till they are translucent. Blend/puree carrots & tempering mixture along with sauteed onions till it reaches a semi-smooth consistency. Add a little bit of water to the mix if you its not blending well. Serve chutney garnished with rest of the tempering with your favorite dosas.

Our rava dosas is a big hit in my family, try it out and let me know what you think!

Source: Rava dosa, my amma, Carrot Chutney, my own creation.