Instant Savory Spring Onion Dosa

I know, 'Instant' sounds always good. No soaking, no grinding and no fermenting, totally free from all these time consuming process. This is such a dosa where you can whip up the batter with a few ingredients already available from your pantry. This savory dosa had a great crunch from the spring onions and a spicy kick from the green chilies. You can also add grated carrot or zucchini and make it more colorful and healthy. And here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

1 cup Besan flour 

2tbsp Sooji (Rava)

1tbsp Rice flour

1/4tsp Turmeric powder

1/4tsp Ajwain seeds

1 pinch Baking soda

1/4 cup plain Yogurt 

1 cup Water

1tsp minced Ginger

2 small Green chilli (minced)

3 stalks Spring Onion/Green Onion (finely chopped)

1tbsp Cilantro (chopped)

1tsp Salt

Oil

How to:

• In a big bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: besan, sooji, rice flour, turmeric powder, ajwain and salt.

• Add yogurt and water and whisk well to form a lump-free batter.

• Now add the green chilli, ginger, cilantro and spring onions, and mix'em well. 

• Let the batter sit for 15-20 mins. Add baking soda just before using the batter.

• Apply oil on a hot tawa/griddle, pour a ladle full of batter and spread it out.

• Cook for 2-3 mins or until evenly browned and flip the dosa. 

• Continue cooking for another couple of mins and serve hot with chutney or sambar.

Anaheim Pepper Stir-fry

Anaheim pepper is a very mild variety of chili pepper. These peppers are mainly used in mexican dishes for stuffing the cheese and frying the same. In our cuisine, this is a perfect crunchy stir-fry for accompanying our rice dishes. With a few ingredients, you can make the mild peppers spicy and flavorful. Here goes the recipe, 

Ingredients:

4 Anaheim Peppers (de-seeded & chopped)

1/2 Red Onion (finely chopped)

5-6 Curry leaves

1/4tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp Coriander powder

1tbsp Masala powder

1/2tsp Cumin seeds

1/2tsp Mustard seeds

1/2tsp Urad dal

1tbsp Oil

Salt 

Masala powder:

4 dry red chilli

1/2tsp mustard seeds

1/2tsp Cumin seeds

1tbsp Coriander seeds

1tsp urad dal

2tbsp peanuts

6-7 curry leaves

• In a pan, dry roast the following in the same order: dry red chilli, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, urad dal, peanuts and finally curry leaves.
• Now let the mixture cool and coarse grind it.

How to:

• Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and urad dal.

• Then add the onions and curry leaves, followed by salt and turmeric powder.

• Now add the coriander powder, saute for a min and add the peppers.

• Add another pinch of salt and the masala powder and cook for 3-4 mins or until the peppers are tender.

• Check salt for taste and switch off.

• Serve hot with dal or sambar rice.

Basbousa / Hareesa

Basbousa or Haressa is a sweet cake made of semolina and coconut soaked in syrup. It is famous dessert in Eastern mediterranean cuisines which has a variety of names. The syrup makes the cake super moist and juicy. Just like the different names, there are a few different recipes to prepare it. Actually it is quite simple to make and really delicious. I first had this dessert at our usual eatery 'Aladdin gyro-cery' here at Seattle. Its a treat for your sweet tooth. Its open on all days until 3 am i guess. We love our late night dinners there, and i mean really late, like 2am after finishing our road trip. Oops! got carried away with my story. And here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups Semolina/Rava

1/4 cup All purpose flour/Maida

2 1/4tsp baking powder

1/4 cup +1tsp shredded Coconut (frozen and thawed)

1/4 cup Ghee(melted)

1/4 cup Olive oil

1/2 tsp Almond extract

1/4 cup + 2tbsp plain Yogurt

1/4 cup Sugar

15  raw Almonds

For Syrup:

3/4 Sugar

1/2 cup Water

3/4tsp Rose water

How to:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
• Grease and flour a baking dish/cake pan and keep it aside.
• Roast the shredded coconut in a medium flame until dry and keep it aside. (Instead you can use store bought dry coconut flakes.) Also dry roast the almonds.
• In a bowl, mix together the semolina, flour, baking powder, sugar and the roasted shredded coconut.

• Then add the wet ingredients; ghee, olive oil, yogurt and almond extract. (The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter, but i used 1/4 cup each ghee and olive oil. Its up to you to use whichever you prefer.)

• Knead into a soft dough and transfer it to the baking pan. 

• Press and spread the dough with you hands to equal thickness.

• Sprinkle the roasted 1tsp coconut flakes over the top and place the almonds pressed over it.

• Bake the cake for 35 mins.

Meanwhile, lets prepare the rose water syrup.

• In a sauce pan, add sugar and water and bring it to a boil at medium heat.
• Simmer for 5 more mins, pour the rose water and switch off.
• Let the syrup cool down.
• Remove the baked cake from the oven and immediately make squares with a sharp knife.

• Now pour the syrup all over the hot cake to absorb it.

• Allow the cake to sit for 2-3 hours to soak up all the goodness before you serve it.