Indian Food - A Review

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Indian food is loved all over the world. In many parts of the US and UK, there are chains of Indian restaurants that serve to delicious dishes of innumerable varieties. In one of the restaurants I went to, people were ready to wait till they got a free table.

There are many Indian dessert recipes that are easy to make. All you need is milk, sugar, clarified butter and one other ingredient such as rice, chickpea powder, semolina (coarsly ground wheat), etc. You can garnish all these desserts with cashew, almond, cardamom and saffron. Or have them without garnishing, if you are worried about the calories gained.

A number of rice recipes are fast to cook. They make a complete meal with all the required nutrients. Cooking rice can be done on the stove in a pressure cooker or in the oven. Not all rice preparations require special spices, many can be made with simple easy to acquire ingredients.

One of the difficult things to make is dosa. Dosa when cooked appear similar to a Pancake or Omelette. Dosa is not difficult but the preparation of dosa batter is difficult. If you get instant pancake mix, dosa is very easy to make. All you need to do is to take the required amount of the ready-mix, add two times water, spread it on a pan and cook on medium fire and your dosa is ready.

What do you eat the dosa with? You can eat it with “chutney” a special preparation made with coconut. When you buy the ready-to-make-pancake-mix you can prepare “chutney” in seconds. All you need to do is to take the required amount and add double the amount of water to it.

Here is a simple set of instructions for making dosa. Please send me your feedback on this:

1. Get all the things ready. The dosa batter (the ready-mix plus water), non-stick pan (preferable but you can use an iron pan also), cooking oil (one tea spoon per dosa), a ladle, a spatula and a tea spoon or basting brush to spread the oil. I have attached a picture of the supplies you need.

2. Place the pan on the stove and turn on the heat / flame at medium high. The heat can be at this level throughout.

3. Fill the ladle upto 3/4 level with Dosa batter. Spread this batter in a circular shape on the pan. Start with the outer circle and move on to the inner area. You can spread the flour with the ladle to fill any gaps in between.

If the batter is a little thick you can pour the batter in the center and then spread it - as you would prepare a pancake.

You can try both ways and choose the one you find comfortable. You can also add more water to the batter at any time to get a thinner constitution that can be spread easily.

4. The size of your circle can be big or small depending on the size of your pan. Normally it will be about 8″ diameter. You will see the dosa develop tiny holes as you cook it. It is normal and it helps the dosa cook well.

5. Take a tea spoon of cooking oil and spread it on the corners of the dosa. Start pouring the oil around the corner and move across the middle of the dosa, sprinkling a little oil all the way.

You can also make dosa completely oil free. For this you need a non-stick pan and a litlle thicker batter that would come off the pan easily.

Oil helps you to flip the dosa easily. So if you are making dosa for the first time, you should use oil. You can use a basting brush instead of the tea spoon to coat the non-stick pan with oil.

6. You can cover the dosa while it is cooking, if you have a circular lid (for example, the pressure cooker lid). If you do not have one, it is ok to cook the dosa without covering. Once the bottom turns brownish and the upper part looks cooked you can fold the dosa. You can check the bottom by lifting up the corners slightly with the spatula.

7. There are two ways to folding the dosa. You can fold it in the middle - halfway. Or you can fold both the corners in such a way that they overlap in the center. You can pick up the folded dosa and flip it. Cook the other side for about 30 seconds.

8. After making a few dosas, if the pan gets too hot, you can cool it by sprinkling water on it. Or you can take a paper towel, fold it into a wad, dip it in a bowl of water, squeeze out excess water, and rub it all over the pan.

9. You can serve the dosas with chutney. You can also have more side dishes such as sambar and potato curry.

You can also make money while relishing your favorite food or by suggesting it to your friends. You can earn $1 per kg of dosa mix sold. Find out more about the affiliate program from Rangoo.