Daring Cooks September 2009: Vegan Indian Dosa

This months Daring Cooks Challenge was Vegan Indian Dosa from Debyi at Health Vegan Kitchen. This was a challenge for me and I nearly backed out of doing this one so many times, I don't have a problem with veganism per se, but I find it difficult to understand. I also had to go out and buy rice milk and potentially spelt flour, but I have to say I cheated slightly and used regular plain flour, as I couldn't justify buying a whole bag of spelt flour I would never use again. But in the end I really loved doing this challenge, I have never made anything similar before but I loved the whole idea of the dish, and I found the making of the recipe really enjoyable. I also really enjoyed actually setting aside the time to do nothing but cook for a couple of hours.

I am usually absolutely rubbish at time management, and it was really nice to be able to practice this with all the different parts to this recipe, which could be made in their own time and let on the stove to keep warm. I made it just for myself so I halved all of the recipes, and ended up with a really thick dosa pancake, but I still have loads of leftovers of the curry filling and sauce. I served it with rice with cloves, cardamom and star anise, and some cucumber. It was delicious, so thank you to Debyi and Daring Cooks.



Indian Dosas
(Serves 4)



Coconut Curry Sauce

1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ (2½ gm) tsp ground cumin
¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)
3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder
3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)
3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth
2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, diced

1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.

2. Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.

3. Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.

4. Let it simmer for half an hour.



Curried Garbanzo Filling

5 cloves garlic
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)
2 medium hot banana chilies, minced
2 tbsp (16gm) cumin, ground
1 tbsp (8gm) oregano
1 tbsp (8gm) sea salt (coarse)
1 tbsp (8gm) turmeric
4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans)
½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.

2. Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

Dosa Pancakes

(Makes 8)

1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)

½ tsp (2½ gm) salt

½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder

½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder

½ cup (125ml/4oz) almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.)

¾ cup (175ml/6oz) watercooking spray, if needed

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.

2. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.

3. Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter.