Monday, February 23, 2009

Besan Dosa (Chickpea flour crepes)

When I was growing up in Bombay,Besan dosa was a very popular dish in most Udupi restaurants and was even sometimes called "Vegetarian Omelet". Besan dosa was also sold as a filling inside sandwiches which were named "Veggie omelet sandwich"! Funnily enough,I hated them at that time and preferred my regular 'egg omelet' to the veggie omelet. I made Besan Dosa for the first time sometime after Diwali as I had a pack of leftover 'besan' that my mom who was visiting,had used to make sinful 'besan laadus'. I used it for making kadhi a couple of times and was wondering what else I could do with it (pakodas are a strict no-no).That was when my mom mentioned that I could make Besan dosas but also reminded me that I never much cared for them when I was a kid. Finally,one day I tried it out and to my amazement, loved it(thankfully it was appreciated by hubby and little brat) and so now it's a regular feature at home. Make sure you use a good non-stick pan when you make this-that way,you won't need to use a lot of oil.Besan Dosa
Besan Dosa (Chickpea pancake):Serves 4
Ingredients:
  • Besan/Gramflour/Chickpea flour: 2 cups
  • Rice flour:1/4th cup
  • Rava/Semolina/Cream of wheat: 1/4th cup
  • Whole wheat flour: 1/4th cup
  • Curd (plain Yogurt)-3 tbsp
  • Onion:1/2 small(finely chopped)
  • Tomatoes:1 small(finely chopped)
  • Green chillies:1-2(finely chopped)
  • Corriander leaves/Cilantro: 2 tablespoon,finely chopped
  • Hing/asafoetida: a pinch
  • Turmeric powder: 1/4th teaspoon
  • Jeera/Cummin seeds:1/2 tsp
  • Salt:to taste
  • Oil:1 tsp, to grease the pan
Method:
  1. Mix all the ingredients.
  2. Add enough water to make a batter of dosa/pancake consistency.
  3. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan on medium flame.
  4. Pour a ladle of the batter and spread like a dosa. Cover for a 3-4 minutes.
  5. Then,flip the dosa over to the other side and cook for another 1-2 minutes.Make sure not to burn them.
  6. Serve the besan dosa hot with mint,ketchup or a spicy chutney.

2 comments:

Malar Gandhi said...

Nice alternative, looks perfect for me.

chow and chatter said...

love dosa yum yum i have a grinder sometimes the batter works sometimes it doesn't. I think its better in warm weather, you have some cool features on your blog Rebecca