Chettinadu Style Masala Dosa~Indian State Tamil Nadu

Chettinadu Style Masala Dosa~Indian State Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu literally The Land of Tamils or Tamil Country) is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital is Chennai (formerly known as Madras), the largest city. Tamil Nadu is a land most known for its monumental ancient Hindu temples and classical form of dance Bharata Natyam. 

Tamil cuisine is typical of south Indian cuisine, in that rice and rice-derived dishes forms the major portion of a diet (see rice and curry). There are regional sub-varieties namely Chettinadu, Kongunadu, Madurai, Tirunelveli varieties etc. Traditionally, food is served on a banana leaf instead of a plate and eaten with the right hand.

Rice is the staple food of Tamils and is typically eaten mixed with coconut chutney sambhar  (with or without ghee), vegetarian or non-vegetarian kulambu, rasam, curd and buttermilk. This is accompanied with various vegetarian and/or non-vegetarian dishes like kootu, aviyal, poriyal, appalam, varuval, peratal, kothsu, varieties of pickles and chicken, mutton, or fish fry.

Breakfast and snack items include dosai, Adai, idly, vadai, pongal, appam (aappam), paniyaram, puttu, nuppumavu (uppuma), santhakai (a sort of noodles), idiyappam and uthappam. These items are eaten along with sambar, varieties of chatni and podi. Traditionally prepared filter coffee is unique in taste and popular all over the state.

The Chettinad region is famous for its spicy non-vegetarian cuisine, while Ambur  and Dindigul are known for their Biryani. Sweet items that are native to Tamil Nadu are Athirasam, Chakkarai Pongal (prepared during Pongal) and Kuli Paniyaram. The city of Thirunelveli is renowned for its unique sweetmeat, Thirunelveli Halwa, while Palani (pazhani) is known for its Panchamirtham. (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Given this background I was on tenterhooks about my post on Tamil Nadu! Why my girls think Dosa and Idli are the only two things I make everyday day in and out. I just could not make up my mind. So I watsupped PJ (it was going to be Valli and PJ but PJ happed to be lucky :D) and mentioned to her that I wanted to make Chettinadu style food, you guessed right I had eaten Chettinadu style gravy that day and my hubby too liked it. PJ being PJ sent me  a list of links and I tried out dosa, Chettinadu style.

I did mention the girls are mad because I make only dosa and idli all the time I soaked the ingredients with a smallest cup I could find. I had all the preparations ready the batter was ground and fermented, I made the masala and chutney sambhar in the most miniscule quantities I could manage. Came home from work to empty pots and pans and thankfully a clean sink….(bacche seekh gaye). The explanation was the whole thing smelt so good , when you make something good why is it so little….and   so on …

So I made another batch this time bigger. This time however I did not get down to make the coconut chutney. But the dosas were well appreciated. Thanks PJ and Pratibha! 

Chettinadu Style Masala Dosa~Indian State Tamil Nadu

 Chettinadu Style Masala Dosa

Indian State: Tamil Nadu
Recipe Sources: Seducing your Tastebuds and Chef and Her Kitchen

Ingredients:

For Batter:

• 2 cups raw rice
• 2 cups boiled rice
• 1 cup white urad dal
• 1/4 cup toor dal
• 1/4 cup chana dal
• 1/4 cup flattened rice (poha)
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• Salt to taste 
• Oil/ghee, to roast dosas

To mix in batter before making dosas:

• 2 tbsp fine rava
• 1 tbsp sugar ( I did not use)
• A pinch of cooking soda( I did not use)

Masala for the dosa:

• 1 chopped onion
• 1 inch piece of dalchini/cinnamon
• 2 laung/cloves
• A few curry leaves
• 4 red chillies
• 1 tblspn dhania/ coriander seeds
• 1 tsp ajwain (its later I discovered that aniseed is not ajwain)
• 1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
• 1 tsp kali mirchi/ pepper corns
• 1 tsp khus khus/poppy seeds
• 1 tblspn grated coconut
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 3 cloves garlic
• A few springs coriander leaves
• ¼ tsp haldi/turmeric

Method:

To make dosa batter:

• Wash and soak raw rice, boiled rice, urad dal, toor dal, chana dal, fenugreek seeds together in water for  4-5 hours.(mine was soaked for 8 hours)
• Soak flattened rice (poha) for 1/2 hr.
• Grind all the ingredients in the mixer to make a fine batter add water if needed.
• Add   salt at the end of grinding and mix well.
• Allow the batter to ferment for 12-14 hrs.
• On the day of preparing dosa take out the required amount of dosa batter into a vessel and add rava and sugar, soda if using to it and mix well and let it keep for an hour.
• Meanwhile roast all the ingredients in a kadhai to make the masala in a little oil. I roasted them all together till you get a fine aroma about 7-8 minutes on low flame.
• Cool and grind to a fine paste. In case you need to add water add the dosa batter to grind to a fine paste.
• Mix with the batter and check the seasoning.

 To make Masala Dosa:

• Take a non-stick tava (traditionally beed was used) grease it lightly and then heat it.
• Take a ladle of the dosa batter and in smooth circular moments spread it on the tava. If you want it thin the spreading will have to be faster and with lesser batter but if you want it thick then take your time to spread the batter.
• Cook till the edges turn brown. Gently work on the edges (especially if you have a paper dosa on the tava) and peel the dosa off the tava. If your dosa is thin enough you do not have to turn it over else do turn it over and cook it to your liking.

Notes: 

• This batter will give you soft dosas i.e. the thick ones. But in case you want to make them crisp use the batter here.

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