Being a vegan my everyday food is vegan. 5 years back when I was vegetarian I used to eat dairy products. In the vegetarian society in India, the dairy products have so much indulged in cooking that in even authentic vegan recipes dairy products are started to add in a delusion that recipe will become rich.
Here I will talk about DOSA, the staple food of south India which has become special food in north India. In south India, Dosa is an authentic vegan food but when it is treated in north India as a special food some dairy ingredients are started to add in the recipe to make it rich and tastier but still, the authentic vegan recipe of Dosa is more delicious, healthy and economical.
Making of Dosa
Dosa is very simple and easy to prepare with minimum ingredients. It requires only 2-3 ingredients. To make dosa we must plan in one day advance. In south India, Idli, Dosa, Uttapam etc it is prepared every day and the same batter is used for all these recipes so they have batter ready all the time. If we want to prepare it once in a while we have to plan in advance.
Take 3 cups of rice and 1 cup of urad dal(split and de-skinned black lentil (Lens culinaris)). Wash thoroughly and soak in sufficient water separately for about 6-8 hours. Add 2 tsp of fenugreek seeds with dal while soaking.
Grind them separately to a fine paste, consistency should not be watery. Mix both of them, cover with a cloth and keep at a warm place for 12-18 hours for the fermentation process. At this stage, so many people add dairy curd in a delusion that it will ferment well and become sour, but it is not true. It doesn't require any curd to become ferment and sour. It naturally ferments and become sour.
Making of Sambar
When Dosa batter is ready, keep aside and prepare sambar. Dosa is always eaten with Sambar and coconut chutney.
The base of sambar is Toor dal (split pigeon peas). Cook dal in a pressure cooker add a pinch of turmeric before boiling.
Make vegetable stock with various seasonal vegetables. I used cluster beans, onion, bottle gourd, tomato etc. Pumplin, brinjal can be used. No need to strain the stock. Stock with vegetable will be used to make sambar.
Cooking dal and the making of vegetable stock
Now we will make sambar by cooking dal, stock and various species altogether.
Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan and cumin seeds, mustard seeds, asafoetida, green chilli, curry leaves. Saute them for a while and add cooked dal and vegetables with stock.
To develop the taste following ingredients are added while cooking-
- Salt as per taste
- Jaggery to balance the taste not to make it sweet.
- Tamarind past for sourness.
- Garam masala powder
- Sambar Masala
What is Sambar Masala?
It is a powdered mix of different spices mainly like coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chilli, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, chana dal, dry mango(amchur), black pepper etc.
All the above spices are taken whole and roasted for a few minutes separately. Cooldown and ground to a fine powder.
Sambar masala is also available readymade in the market.
After adding all the above bring it to a boil and taste. If required balance the taste with adding more salt, jaggery, tamarind paste and sambar masala.
Sambar is ready!
Dosa
Now to make dosa take some batter and adjust the consistency with water. It should be free-flowing but not watery. Add salt as per taste.
Heat an iron or non-stick pan and spread the batter evenly. Add oil as required and cook till becomes golden brown.
Coconut Chutney
It is very easy to prepare and no cooking required to prepare it.
- Take coconut flesh and cut into small pieces.
- Add green chilli, tamarind paste, salt, green coriander leaves and ground to make a fine paste. Chutney is ready. ( As shown in the 1st photograph of this post)
Serve this meal hot! Dosa should be served hot directly from pan to plate, as it tastes the best while it is hot!
Why it is simple, budget and a healthy vegan meal?
- It requires only a few ingredients like rice, pulses, vegetables and some spices.
- Rice and pulses are very basic ingredients of any meal so available at a very reasonable cost in every country.
- Some spices might be unavailable in some countries in that case that spices can be skipped and can be prepared with very basic spices like turmeric, chilli, cumin salt etc.
- Making sambar might be tricky for some people so it can be skipped and Dosa can be served with chutney, which is very easy to make and dosa taste grate with only chutney also.
- This complete food is a healthy option as it contains rice and pulses which are a good source of carbohydrate and protein. Spices used in it have various health benefits. Most important it is a fermented food so easy to digest and good bacteria developed in it are good for gut health. There is no deep-frying and only little oil is used to prepare this meal.
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