Dosas with tomato chutney

My days here look something like this:

Wake up as Lou and Meghan are going to yoga class. Have an Indian coffee (2 spoons of instant, 2 spoons of sugar, top up with milk.). Take a bucket bath (with warm water now!). Skype Jam, write for a wee bit. Then go to yoga.

After yoga I'll go to the coconut stand and have a couple of young green coconuts, then wander home, past the little shanty town, past all the houses, up a small hill (past the tree where people dry out the cow poo) and back to Pushpa's. Where she's waiting with breakfast and coffee.

Yesterday she was waiting for me with dosas and tomato chutney. Pushpa makes me dosa instead of chapati (though she doesn't understand why I will not eat the chapati. Threats of diarrhea and migraines and swollen joints and tummy cramps really don't convey just how little I want to be bed-ridden for 3 days of my short trip). They're a morning dosa, and an evening dosa, as I found out a few days ago when I ordered a dosa in a restaurant at 3pm. The waiter looked at me like I was actually insane, and pointed to the list of puri, which are an afternoon food. I ordered a sweet lime soda, tried not to be in a bad mood about the whole thing, and went back at 5pm when dosa time started. Hmph. By the way, a meal for 3 of us, with sweet lime sodas and (we were being extravagant) lassis too, with a butter dosa for me, and palak paneer and Lou had a vegetable jalfrezi and Meghan (which means 'cloud' in Hindi) had something coconutty, with rice and puri and raita cost us around $5. This is the most extravagant meal we've had since we got here. Aside from the plane fare, which was quite expensive, one can have a lovely holiday here and spend less than one would spend in a week in the US.

But back to the dosas. The crispy pancakey dosas, that have a slight sourness to them, and a crunch on one side (softness on the other). They're really simple to make-- Pushpa will throw the ingredients together in the morning, then at 7pm (she was very specific) will blend the whole thing. Leave it out overnight, and in the morning it's ready to go.

Dosa

2 parts rice

1 part white lentils

pinch fenugreek seeds

2 parts water

Put all the ingredients in a big bowl, and leave out to soak for about 7 hours. After 7 hours, put in a blender, or food processor, and blend until it's a thick soupy mixture. Add salt (a couple of pinches should do), and put back in the bowl. Leave out overnight (or refrigerate) and the next morning it's ready to cook.

Heat up a crepe pan, dosa pan, or frying pan of some kind. Oil it, and when it's very hot, ladle a scoop of the batter out onto the pan. Pushpa uses the back of the ladle to spread the batter out across the pan, instead of picking up the pan and swirling it around (which is what my impatient self would do). So use the back of the ladle and make a spiral from the centre of the batter, out towards the sides of the pan, moving the batter (but obviously not touching the bottom of the pan, or you'll have holey dosas). Cook until it's a dark golden brown on the bottom, and the top is cooked though. Flip it over, cook for 30 seconds or so, then flip back, and fold in half, and then onto a plate. Serve with chutney.

Tomato chutney

Tomatoes (about 5 medium)

1 onion

coriander leaf (1/4 cup, chopped)

1/2 spoon mustard seed

big pinch turmeric

1 spoon green chili

big pinch asafoetida

3 curry leaves

salt to taste

lemon juice-- 1 tsp

pinch sugar

Heat a pan with oil (according to Pushpa: put pan, heating with oil), and fry the mustard seeds until they pop. After popping, add the onion, and sautee until golden brown. Then add the tomato. Add the turmeric, green chili, asafoetida, coriander, curry, salt, and lemon juice. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off.

It'll keep up to a week in the fridge- just reheat before serving.

Can be eaten with rice, dosa, idli, on toast, on cheese, on anything.