Monday, December 21, 2009

Kitchen adventures: Masale dose

For a south Indian, me making this dish and blogging about it could be 'duh! big deal' - well fellas welcome to my world, anything that needs constant attention near the stove is a big deal - so bear with me.

Over time, I have almost mastered making some things just right, coconut chutney and potato palya - both very important for a successful dose (dosa for other south Indians)



In simplistic terms here is how you make the above combination in the picture:

Dose: 1 cup idly rice, 4 tbsp chana dal, 2 tbsp menthya - soak for about 6 hours - grid to smooth paste - let it ferment for about 8 hours (If the normal temperature is cooler, keep it in your oven with the lights on)

aloo palya: peel and cube 2 potatoes and microwave with little water for about 8 minutes or until just about cooked - after tadka of whatever you want (that's the way I roll ;) add some hot chillies (split along the length) and sauté for a while before adding onions and sauté until translucent. You can add some turmeric with onions if you want. Finally, add the cooked potatoes with some water - after a while sprinkle coriander and lemon juice.

chutney: a good recipe here http://www.syvum.com/cgi/online/serve.cgi/recipes/srcpm2.tdf?0

And off you go, make your own dose :)

Kitchen adventures: Baking an apple cake

Rule #1 in baking - You have to precise with the measurements. Unless you are a pastry chef and know what you are doing, stick to the measurements - 1tbsp is 3 tea spoons -  not more not less.

We had a dessert potluck at lunch Friday last and I decided on baking a apple-cake this time - bundt style.


Found a recipe online which was a 'tube pan' version. Also found a variation of it using a 'bundt' version. All credit to web 2.0 - the link to the variation was in one of the comments of people who tried the recipes.

The reason for the bundt version is obvious. I don't have a tube pan (note to self: get a tube pan)

The recipe is simple enough.

Step 1: Get 6 apples (Macintosh, Gala), peel, core and chop to bite sizes, toss with a tablespoon of cinnamon and 5 table spoons of bakers sugar

Step 2: Mix 2 and 3/4 cups of all purpose flour (don't forget to sift), 1 table spoon of baking powder, a tea spoon of salt.

Step 3: Mix 1 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup orange juice, 2 1/2 tea spoons vanilla extract and 2 cups bakers sugar

Step 4: Fold wet (step 3) to dry (step 2) ingredients, and mix 4 eggs into the mixture, one at a time

I hope you had preheated the oven to 350, it's time to bake.

Final step: Grease the pan, layer 1/2 of batter and 1/2 of the apples, and repeat. Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Check the cake every 5 minutes after the hour with a stick until it comes out clean.

You got yourself a fantastic cake!

Credit where it's due:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/moms-apple-cake/
http://cookingupaphd.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/apple-cake-two-ways/#more-290