Masala Dosa

When my mother took my brother and I to live with her in India, we were your typical food phobic children. Never having so much as had a curry back in the U.S., I was not buying into the idea that Indian cuisine was edible. I stubbornly resisted eating anything Indian for quite a while. I survived off imported Kit-Kat bars, Masala Lays and Fanta orange soda.

You wouldn't think that would be great diet for weight loss, but wow did it strip off what few pounds I had to my frame back then. Maybe I should pursue a career as a diet guru? Ms. Humble's Kit-Kat-Spicy Chip diet! 10 weeks to a more emaciated you! You know, I bet that diet book would actually sell.

Anyway, eventually hunger got the best of me and those strange dishes were beginning to look appealing. The simple Masala Dosas was the first thing to break my Indian food fast and after that, there was no turning back...



Once I moved back to the U.S. it was hard to find my favorite foods, particularly the southern Indian dishes. It would be years before I actually tried making dosas. Urad dal typically isn't something one can find at your corner grocer, but most Indian food stores have it on their shelves. In fact, your local Indian or Pakistani market can be a great place to stock up on all your rice, grains, flours and legumes in bulk.

Dosas, for those unfamiliar, are essentially a light, crispy crepe. Dosas stuffed with spiced potatoes are probably one of the most common forms of this dish, but really they can be filled with just about anything. Best of all, with a Cuisinart (or similar food processor) the dosa is very easy to make.

Not so Humble Masala Dosa:
makes roughly a dozen
1 1/2 cups dry basmati rice
1/2 cup dry urad dal
1/4 of a large yellow onion
1 teaspoon minced green chili
salt to taste
oil

Place the urad dal and basmati in two separate bowls and cover with several inches of water. Cover and allow the bowls to sit out at room temperature at least overnight and up to one day.

In the morning, drain and rinse the rice and dal and add to your food processor. Grind the two together into a paste, add the onion and chili and salt (about 1/4 teaspoon) and continue to grind. Start adding water to the mixture, until you get a smooth creamy and slightly thin batter (just a tad thinner than your typical pancake batter). Continue to mix this in the processor until you can rub it between your fingers and the grit remaining should be a little finer than cream of wheat.

Heat a large flat, oiled griddle over medium high heat, or your largest flat bottom non stick pan. Pour 1/2-3/4 cup of batter into the center of the griddle and working quickly with a large spoon or heat safe silicon spatula, swirl the batter outwards into a very thin flat pancake. The thinner the better. Don't be too concerned about holes or getting it perfectly round, just focus on spreading it thin.

Cook the dosa until the underside is golden brown and the top is no longer glossy. This will only take a few minutes and do not flip the dosa. If your dosa seems a little thick, too chewy or not quite crispy enough, blend the batter again and add a little more water.

Remove the dosa from the pan and fill with several tablespoons of the following potato filling and a little squeeze of sriracha. Roll up and serve immediately with sambhar or your favorite chutney.

Masala Filling:
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (ideally black mustard seed)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium yellow onion finely chopped
1-2 green chilies minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
salt to taste

sriracha (optional)

Boil the cubed potatoes until fork tender, drain and set aside.

Heat the oil over medium high heat and add the mustard and cumin seeds. They will begin to pop and shoot all over your kitchen within a few seconds so have the chopped onion ready to go. Once the mustard starts to pop, add the onion and green chili, sauteing for a couple minutes. Add the ground cumin and coriander and mix, gently stir in the cubed potatoes as you don't want to turn them to mashed potatoes. Add the turmeric, garam masala, chopped cilantro and mix well. Add a little water (~1/4 cup) to thin the mixture and salt to taste.

Gobi Manchurian

I find that when traveling it is fun to not only try out the local food, but also the region's take on more exotic fare. I love seeing (and tasting) how a particular place interprets and adapts a foreign cuisine.

For example, seeking out 'American food' abroad tends to provide an interesting experience. I've sampled pizza in India, country fried chicken in Thailand, McDonald's in Paris, hamburgers in Belgium, chicken cordon bleu in Malaysia (and many others). Trying familiar things in unfamiliar places can be a fun culinary side trip.

I mean, you wouldn't believe how classy the Pizza Hut in Bangalore, India was. Decked out with marble, chandeliers, and crisp linens, they even had a host to seat you! Talk about stepping though the looking glass... and I would love to ramble on about eating abroad but I do need to get to the gobi at some point.

Now, I love Chinese food but when it comes to Chinese-fusion food, American-Chinese has nothing on Indian-Chinese cuisine. It isn't even a fair fight, that stuff is inspired. Who knew the marriage of a little soy with Indian spices could be so delicious?

When I lived in India, I ate a lot of 'Indian' egg rolls, dumplings and my favorite: Gobi Manchurian.

This is like a vegetarian hot wing. Florets of cauliflower, poached, battered and then fried. Tossed in a fiery sauce. As someone who loves spicy food, these satisfy with every sinus clearing bite.

(Mmm deliciously blurry)

One of my favorite gobi experiences was over a decade ago, sitting at a single table outdoor restaurant in Hampi (Southern India). Our adorable and very professional waiter, who was all of seven years old, took our lunch orders (Gobi, Vadai and Thumbs-UP colas, if I remember correctly). He brought us cold bottles of soda and then promptly got on his bike and peddled away. He came back from... somewhere, laden with fresh vegetables for our meal. These were taken back to his mother, our chef, who cooked them up for us.

Now, I might not be able to offer up anything as charming as that experience, but I can at least provide a recipe for good Gobi Manchurian.

Not so Humble Gobi Manchurian:
serves 4-6
1 head cauliflower, cut into medium florets
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chick pea flour (or corn flour)
1/3 cup rice flour
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon grated garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped green chili
pinch of salt
warm water

Manchurian Sauce
this is very hot, consider yourself warned
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1/3 cup finely chopped green onion (white part only)
1 dried red chili chopped
1 inch ginger minced
2 jalapeños seeded and finely chopped
1-2 thai green chilies seeded and finely chopped (optional)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha chili sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons ketchup

cilantro chopped
green onion chopped

Core and cut the cauliflower into medium florets. Bring a pot of water with a little salt to a boil and add the florets, cook for 10 minutes until tender and drain.

In a wok or deep fryer, heat a few inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees. For the batter, combine the flours, chilies, garlic and ginger, adding just enough water to make the mixture smooth. Toss the florets in a bowl with the batter to coat, then sprinkle in an additional 1/4 cup of rice flour and toss gently. Fry the florets in small batches until they are a deep golden brown and crispy, then drain on paper towels.

Meanwhile, saute the garlic in the sesame oil over medium high heat for about 30 seconds, add the green onion, garlic, ginger and chilies and saute for another minute. Add the remaining ingreidents and cook over medium heat for a couple minutes until thick and bubbly.

Add the crispy fried florets to a bowl and pour the sauce over them, tossing to coat. Garnish with green onions and cilantro and serve immediately.

Red Lentil Dal with Roti

There are probably as many recipes for dal out there on the internet as there are food blogs. This recipe of mine is a favorite, not only because it is delicious but it is an easy to make dish that is really good for you. In the never ending quest to mind my waistline I find myself eating a lot this stuff.

It also plates up beautifully with its swirl of spiced tempering oil and a little fresh cilantro.

Not so Humble's Easy Red Lentil Dal:

2 cups turkish red lentils
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 tablespoon salt
6 cups water

Tempering Oil:
5 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
5 whole dried red chilies
1 teaspoons finely minced garlic
4 teaspoons peeled and grated garlic
1 pinch asafetida (optional)
2 thai green chilies
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Wash and pick over the lentils and add to a pot with the salt, turmeric and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, skimming the surface well. Cook for 15-20 minutes until lentils are soft, adding more water if necessary. Remove a cup of the lentils and puree with a fork or food processor and add them to thicken the soup.

For the tempering oil heat the oil to about medium-medium high in a skillet and add the cumin seeds and saute until they darken slightly. Add the dried red chilies and cook for a minute more. Then add the ginger, green chilies, garlic and asafetida and saute briefly to cook the garlic. Remove the oil from heat and add the cayenne. Add half of the oil to the dal along with half the cilantro and the lemon juice. Taste for salt and additional cayenne.

Plate the dal with the remaining cilantro and tempering oil on top. Serve with bread and/or basmati rice.

Samosas with Tamarind Chutney

My first introduction to these satisfying little snacks was in Southern India. Potatoes were an unintimidating meal for an exotic food-fobic girl when I was living there. I remember traveling overnight by train and being woken up frequently by the chaiwallas calls at each stop. You could purchase a handful of these little pastries, wrapped in grease spotted paper, through your window for the price of a few rupees.

Not so Humble Samosa Recipe

Filling:
5-6 medium sized potatoes (little under a pound)
1 medium onion diced
2 tablespoons oil
3 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 green thai chili (optional)
1 jalapeno
1/2 cup green peas
3 teaspoons pealed and grated ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
salt
cayenne pepper

Pastry:
4 cups flour
5 tablespoons ghee
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

For the pastry, combine flour, salt and ghee with your hands until well combined and mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add warm water, a few tablespoons at a time until the mixture forms a dough. Kneed the dough for about 5 minutes till smooth and wrap in plastic and set aside at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Boil potatoes till fork tender. Allow the potatoes to cool then peel and cut into small cubes.

Dry toast cumin and coriander in a skillet over medium heat until the mixture darkens slightly and becomes fragrant. Grind half of the spice mixture into a fine powder and set aside.

Add oil to the skillet and saute onion till golden brown. Add cumin and coriander, ginger, peas and diced seeded chilies and saute for a minute then reduce heat. Add potatoes, turmeric and garam masala and combine. Remove from heat and add cilantro and lemon juice, mix and season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Allow mixture to cool.

Roll out portions of dough into thin 9 inch rounds and cut in half. Pinch together a cone from each half and fill with two to three tablespoons of filling. Seal the top of the cone and set aside to deep fry.


Fill a wok with a couple inches of oil and fry the samosas, a couple at a time until golden brown.







Serve with your favorite chutney or raita