Instant Chickpea Vada

[caption id="attachment_250" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Chickpea Vada"][/caption]There are many chickpea delicacies that are nutricious. Chickpea vada is absolutely delicious and crispy.

Chickpea Vada is known as kadalai vadai in Tamil. You can also make pakodas with the same batter.

In all these instant mixes what you need to add is only water, that is, after the mix is ready.

All the mixes mentioned on this site can be stored in the fridge for months.

How to Make Chickpea Vada

Ingredients

- 2 cups - Chana Dal - Chickpea
- 2 cups - Tuar Dal - lentil split
- red chilly - one or two
- green chilly - one or two
- salt to taste
- asafoetida - a pinch
- copra powder - 5 tbs
- coriander leaves

Grind both the dals coarsely,\.

Add dry red chilly, green chilly, salt, asafoetida, copra powder and
coriander leaves. Run through the mixer grinder once to mix everything well.

Store in the refrigerator.

[caption id="attachment_253" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Crispy Vadas"][/caption]Whenever we want to make vada we take the required amount, add a little water to make a thick paste and deep fry the vada in oil.

If it is made in the round shape it is vada and to make pakodas, we can take a huge ball of the paste in our hands and drop small pieces of the mix in oil.

[caption id="attachment_252" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Chickpea Pakoda"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_251" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Instant Chickpea Vada"][/caption]

Instant Medu Vada & Dahi Vada

[caption id="attachment_174" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Vada"][/caption]Vada is a delicious South Indian dish. The main ingredient is black gram. Black gram is rich in potassium, phosphorus, calcium and sodium. It has iron and hence all black gram dishes are prescribed by herbal doctors for anemia.

Making of the vada is a long process unless the Vada Mix is available.

How To Make Vada Mix

Ingredients For Black Gram Vada

- 2 cups urad dal - black gram - coarse powder
- red chilly - to taste
- green chilly - to taste
- ginger grated - 1 tea spoon
- hing - asafoetida
- coriander leaves

We can add one or two pieces of red and green chilly depending on how much spice we prefer.

Make a coarse powder of black gram.

Grind red chillly, green chilly, asafoetida without water.

Add coriander leaves, black gram coarsely ground powder and grind again once to mix everything well.

How To Make Vada

Take the required amount of powder in a bowl, add a little water to make a thick paste. Take oil in a pan and drop the vada mix in the pan using your fingers or a table spoon.

Deep fry till the vadas turn brown.

Dahi Vada & Dal Vada

Vada can be put in seasoned dahi to make dahi vada. The more they soak in the dahi they become soft.

In the same way medu vada can be put in dal to make dal vada.

[caption id="attachment_170" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Instant Vada Mix"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_171" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Vada Paste: Vada Mix With Water"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_172" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Deep Fry Vada In Oil"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_173" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fry Vada Till It Turns Brown"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_169" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Eat Vada Or Add To Curds To Get Dahi Vada"][/caption]
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Instant Upma Mix

Upma Mix

Upma is supposed to be an easy affair compared to idli or dosa. The process is not long drawn and you can cook up a simple Upma in 10 minutes.

But a nutritionally enriched Upma with good garnishing takes a lot of time.

My mother has created a Upma Mix for me which helps me make a nutritionally enriched Upma in a three minutes.

How To Make Upma With Instant Upma Mix

Ingredients

1 kilo suji - Semolina
1/4 kilo peanuts
1/4 kilo cashewnuts
Green chillies
Red chillies
Coriander and curry leaves
1/4 kg freshly grated coconut - roasted
Or copra powder - dry coconut grated

Seasoning

Tālitthal’, Tadka or seasoning means to add flavor to the dish with mustard seeds fried in oil. For this two spoonfulls of oil is taken in a pan and heated. After it is heated about 10 gm of mustard seeds are dropped in the oil. Learn more from common seasoning for all rice recipes.

Procedure

- Roast Semolina and set aside
- Deep fry peanuts and cashew nuts and add to Semolina
- Prepare seasoning - Take a little oil in a pan, add 50 gms mustard
seeds, 10 red chillies, 10 green chillies, 50 gms chick pea, curry
leaves
- Add roasted Semolina and roasted nuts to this seasoning
- Add salt and mix well
- Add grated dried coconut

Mix everything well and store in the fridge. When you want to make Upma, take the required amount, add it to heated water and mix well.

You can also add cooked vegetables to this Upma to make Vegetable Upma. Here I have taken out some frozen peas from the freezer. I am boiling them in water. I will add the Upma Mix to this water and my Upma will be ready in three minutes.

[caption id="attachment_161" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Frozen peas boiled in water to be added to upma"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_163" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Upma Ready To Eat In Three Minutes"][/caption]

If you want to learn the long process of making vegetable Upma read this post.

Appam, The South Indian Dessert

This recipe is in response to a question I have received - how to make Appam, the South Indian Dessert.

Appam, the south Indian Dessert

Appam is made with "maida" - the regular flour you use to make cakes.

To make the appam sweet you need jaggery. Grate the jaggery and take one cup of jaggery for one cup of flour. Add water to jaggery and let it melt.

Add the flour to jaggery and make a thick paste, similar to pancake mix.

Add grated dry coconut (Kopra), cashew nuts and cardamom powder to enrich the mix.

Take some cooking oil in a deep frying pan and heat it over medium heat.

Take a ladle full of the flour and jaggery mix and pour it in the middle of the pan to form a circular shape.

Deep fry it until cooked.

Note: After heating the jaggery and water and melting it, you have to allow it to cool and then add the flour to it.

You can add two tbs of grated coconut (not fresh coconut, but dry one) to one cup of flour.

There is another appam that is made with roasted rice. I will post it next.

Appam batter:

Aloo Bonda

Aloo Bonda

Potato is called Aloo in Hindi.

Ingredients to make Aloo Bonda

Potato curry - 1 cup

Chickpea flour - 2cups

Water - 1/2 cup

Cooking oil - 1/2 ltr (for frying the aloo bonda

curry powder - 1/2 tsp

lemon juice - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Make potato curry as explained in the previous post:

Potato Curry and Masala Dosa

- Roll potato curry in small balls (a small lemon size)

- Take the chickpea flour in a bowl, add curry powder and salt

(curry powder is free with instant dosa mix)

Alternatively you can add garam masala or chillie powder.

- Add water little by little and mix the chickpea into a smooth paste.

- Add a pinch of cooking soda (optional)

- Add the lemon juice and mix well (optional)

- Warm the cooking oil over medium heat in a deep frying pan.

- Take a potato ball, dip it in chickpea paste and roll it so as to cover it completely with chickpea paste.

- Gently drop the potato balls, dipped in chickpea paste, one by one, into the warm oil.

- Deep fry the potato balls in warm oil. At a time you can fry five or six balls together.

- Roll the balls in oil so that all sides are evenly friend.

- When well fried the bondas will turn golden brown.

You can eat the aloo bondas with tomato sauce or mustard paste.

You can also eat the bondas with coconut chutney (free with instant dosa mix)

Vegetable Upma Part II: How to Cook This Balanced Diet?

Vegetable Upma is a nutritious meal that is easy to cook, healthy to eat and delicious to taste.

Watch this video and learn to make vegetable upma.

Vegetable Upma




If you want to prepare an instant Upma Mix and shorten this process of making vegetable Upma read this post.

Vegetable Upma Part I: Ingredients

Indian Food- Vegetable Upma - Ingredients in This Balanced Diet



Main Ingredients:

Semolina, Vegetables (beans, carrot, tomatoes, potato, peas), cooking oil, clarified butter (optional)

Garnishing Ingredients (optional):

Coconut, Curry leaves, Coriander leaves, red chillies, green chillies, mustard sees, two dals (white lentil and chickpea)

Listen to the Tamil words for these ingredients :)

I think you should read Tamil stories and ebooks while relishing this vegetable upma.

Curry Recipe - Bataka Powa Curry Recipe - Flattened Rice & Potatoes

Healthy Curry Recipe Nutritious Potato & Flattened Rice Recipe

• Curry Recipe - Bataka Powa - Potato and Flattened Rice


• Potato Curry Recipe - Bataka Powa - Flattened Rice and Potato


• for your sunday lunch: a recipe for batata powa (fluffy rice with ...


• The tiny seed that packs a big punch

Funny Video - Dosa Stuck - Five Things to do

Did Your Dosa Get Stuck?



Watch the funny video. Don't worry if your dosa gets stuck.

Here are five things you can do:

1. If you are using instant dosa mix, it is stick proof. Even a child will be able to get the dosa off the pan in a jiffy. But if it gets stuck you can add a bit more of the mix and make it thicker. This will help you easily flip the dosa.

2. If you are making dosa in the usual way, the long process of soaking, grinding and fermenting, add a few tbs of all round flour. It is better to add rice flour but you can add your regular flour. No problems. Dosa will come off in good healthy shape.

3. Dip the spatula in cooking oil. Pass it through the edges of the dosa. Slowly and gentlly relieve the dosa that is attached to the pan with ever lasting love :). Then fold it in one sweep and flip it. You have done what the usual Indian parents do when they catch their daughters deep in love.

4. Cut an onion in the middle. Give the pan a nice massage with the onion and it will be ready to accept the next ladle full of dosa batter and be ready to let go of your dosa without a murmur.

5. Roll a tissue paper into a ball, dip it in water, squeeze it out and then rub the top of the pan.

If none of this works, post a comment here. And I will tell you what more you can try.

Indian Restaurants in the United States

I read a good review of Indian restaurants in the United States and wanted to share it with you:

"Indian restaurants in the United States tend to fall into one of four main categories. The largest category serves a pan-Indian cuisine that, while not associated with any particular region of India, has become the de facto standard — samosas, chicken tikka masala, lamb vindaloo, etc. The next largest, and growing, category is the first category’s poor relation — pan-Indian food as fast food. The third category, high-end, creative Indian food, sometimes focusing on a particular region, is also growing, but remains a small segment of the market, primarily focused in a few major urban areas. The fourth is vegetarian".

Read the complete post The Jewel.

Send me your review of Indian Restaurants around the world and I will share it with the readers of this blog :)

Indian Restaurant Owners Protesting in UK - Time to Get Restaurant Food At Home?

Daiji World reports: Owners of Indian restaurants staged a protest outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh against recent changes to immigration rules that have adversely affected the Indian food industry in the United Kingdom.The new rules prevent chefs from being recruited from the Indian sub-continent, threatening the existence of thousands of Indian restaurants across the UK. Many have closed down due to shortage of chefs.

After the demonstration on Thursday, the protesters met Alex Salmond, the First Minister, who described the issue as 'really serious'.

Salmond promised the Indian restaurant owners that he would continue to draw the UK government's attention to the matter.

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If half the restaurants close, the queue for Indian food will grow longer. It may be time to learn to cook these dishes at home.

Decisions take ages but instant dosa can be prepared in under two minutes. Did you watch the video?

If you want more videos, let me know, I will create them for you :)

Dosa Batter to Dosa In Under Two Minutes

Dosa Instant gives you the details of making dosa in the usual way. You can read about it in this post:

Dosa Recipe Without Instant Ready Mix

If you do not want to spend hours in shopping for the ingredients, soaking, grinding and fermenting...

If you do not want to wait for hours before getting the first delicious dosa piece in your mouth...

You can try instant ready to mix dosa batter powder.

Your dosa will be ready in under two minutes and it will taste as delicious as dosa made through the long process.

To make the dosa batter all you need to do is to add water. Everything else is added in the mixture. No need to shop for anything. No need to soak and grind. No need to wait till the fermenting process is over.

Check out our idli mix and curry powder too. All instant and all delicious time savers.

Watch a video here to see how to make this dosa batter and dosa in under two minutes:

Dosa Batter to Dosa In Under Two Minutes

Indian Food Industry in UK Showing Signs of Decline

The Times of India says:

"LONDON: The one billion pound Indian food industry in UK is showing signs of decline as most young ethnic Asians are not interested in working in kitchens and new immigration rules make hiring chefs from the Indian sub-continent difficult.

There is not a single British town or village which does not have an Indian restaurant, but staff shortage has led to several of them closing down".

According to the news Children of first generation restaurant owners prefer to take up professions other than those of their parents.  And they don't want to work in the kitchens.

I can understand that because I hardly spend time in cooking. Just today I had a conversation with another lady who is not been able to pursue a desired course because most of her time is spent in cooking and cleaning.

Not only in developed countries, but even in India where most people love home cooked meal, it is becoming more and more difficult to find time for cooking. At the same time we have to have healthy food rather than go for junk foods.

This has started a trend of instant ready to make items that save time, help you churn out dishes in minutes and are filled with healthy nutrients. In such food items you have to carefully note their shelf life and what type of preservatives are used.

Instant Dosa Mix that is used to make dosa batter in minutes has no artificial preservatives. Whatever is added to the mix is rich nutritious ingredients that help you keep fit. You can preserve the powder for months.

Potato Curry, Aloo Bonda and Masala Dosa

Potato Curry, Aloo Bonda and Masala Dosa

Potato curry is used for aloo bonda as well as making masala dosa.

1. How to make potato curry

Ingredients Per serving

Main Ingredient

Potatoes - 2 big ones or 3 small

Grated coconut (optional) 2 tsp

Curry Powder - 1 tsp

Cooking oil - 1 tbs

"Tadka" - Special Garnishing

(It is possible to do the garnishing only with mustard seeds. All the other ingredients add flavour and nutrition but it is possible to do without them.)

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

chickpea dal - 1/2 tsp

White lentil dal - 1/2 tsp

red chilly - 1

Green chilly - 1

Curry leaves - 3

Coriander leaves - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - one pinch

There are two ways of making potato curry.

1. You can peel and cut the potatoes in thin slices and make the curry.

2. You can cook the whole potatoes in pressure cooker or micro oven and then make the curry.

1. Potatoes chopped

- Take a deep frying pan, place it on the stove over medium heat.

- Add a tbs of cooking oil.

- When the oil is warm add the mustard seeds.

- When the mustard seeds start popping, add the chick pea and white lentil dal as well as the red and green chillies.

- Add the curry leaves and coriander leaves.

- Add the chopped potatoes and mix well.

- Keep stirring the potato and cook it over medium heat.

(Alternatively you can do part of this process in the micro oven. After the mustard seeds pop up, you add the chopped potatoes, mix well and then keep it in micro oven for 10 minutes.)

- Add a tsp of curry powder. (you get this curry powder free with instant dosa mix)

You can also add garam masala powder if you do not have the curry powder.

- Add salt to taste.

- Add grated coconut (optional)

- Cook until the potato is soft and well cooked. You can stick a fork into it and check if it has turned soft. The fork will pass through easily when potato is well cooked.

Transfer the potato curry to a serving bowl. Decorate with coriander leaves and curry leaves.

2. Potatoes cooked whole

Cook the potatoes whole along with the skin in a pressure cooker or micro oven.

If you are cooking it in a pressure cooker you may need to wait for three or four whistles.

If you are cooking in micro oven you need to keep it at high for 10 minutes.

Peel the skin of the potatoes. If you are peeling the potato when the potatoes are hot, you may need to use cold water to cool the potatoes.

- Take a deep frying pan, place it on the stove over medium heat.

- Add a tbs of cooking oil.

- When the oil is warm add the mustard seeds.

- When the mustard seeds start popping, add the chick pea and white lentil dal as well as the red and green chillies.

- Add the curry leaves and coriander leaves.

- Add the chopped potatoes and mix well.

- Add a tsp of curry powder and salt to taste.

You can add more or less curry powder depending on how spicy you want the potato curry to be.

Cook for a minute, constantly stirring till the curry powder and the potato get mixed well.

Transfer to a serving bowl and decorate with coriander and curry leaves.

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Aloo Bonda

Potato is called Aloo in Hindi.

Ingredients to make Aloo Bonda

Potato curry - 1 cup

Chickpea flour - 2cups

Water - 1/2 cup

Cooking oil - 1/2 ltr (for frying the aloo bonda

curry powder - 1/2 tsp

lemon juice - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

- Roll potato curry in small balls (a small lemon size)

- Take the chickpea flour in a bowl, add curry powder and salt

(curry powder is free with instant dosa mix)

Alternatively you can add garam masala or chillie powder.

- Add water little by little and mix the chickpea into a smooth paste.

- Add a pinch of cooking soda (optional)

- Add the lemon juice and mix well (optional)

- Warm the cooking oil over medium heat in a deep frying pan.

- Take a potato ball, dip it in chickpea paste and roll it so as to cover it completely with chickpea paste.

- Gently drop the potato balls, dipped in chickpea paste, one by one, into the warm oil.

- Deep fry the potato balls in warm oil. At a time you can fry five or six balls together.

- Roll the balls in oil so that all sides are evenly friend.

- When well fried the bondas will turn golden brown.

You can eat the aloo bondas with tomato sauce or mustard paste.

You can also eat the bondas with coconut chutney (free with instant dosa mix)

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Masala Dosa

Ingredients

Instant Dosa Mix 1 cup

Water 2 cups

Potato curry - 2 tbs

Cooking oil - 2 tsp

Take the dosa mix in a small bowl, add water little by little.

Mix well to get dosa batter without knots.

The batter should be thin enough to easily spread.

Place a flat pan over medium heat.

Smear the pan with a little oil. (You can roll a tissue paper into a tiny ball, dip it in oil and smear the pan)

Take a ladle full of dosa batter and spread it in a circular shape on the flat pan.

Add a tsp of cooking oil around the corners of the dosa.

Cook for a minute.

Take a spatula, pass it around the corner of the dosa.

Slightly lift a corner and check if it has turned golden brown.

Spread potato curry on one half of the dosa.

Fold the other half to cover the potato curry.

Flip the dosa.

Add a tsp of oil and cook for a minute.

Now masala dosa is ready to eat.

You can eat it with chutney, dal or any other side dish such as Tomato sauce or mustard paste.

Ragi Health Drink - Finger Millet Recipes

Ragi or finger millet is known for its nutritious qualities.

Ragi Dosa tastes different from Masala Dosa or Plain Dosa made with rice and dal.

A variety of tasty dishes are made out of Ragi. ragi recipes or finger millet recipes are supposed to be good for diabetic patients.

You can check out a special Ragi Health Drink on this site.

Radha Deep's Ragi Recipe

Ingredients:

Two cups of ragi; 2 cups of wheat; one cup of sprouted green gram (moong dal in India); two tablespoons of almond; 2 tablespoon of fried gram, one tablespoon of peanuts, a pinch of saffron; 5 cardamoms

Method:

Roast all ingredients, except fried gram, cardamom and saffron. (Roast peanuts separately and remove the outer skin.) Add these two to the roasted mix and grind to a fine flour. Add one tablespoon of the malt thus obtained to 1 cup of warm milk. Add sugar/ sugar substitute or honey as sweetener, for a delicious and healthy beverage.

Cardamom and saffron are storehouses of nutrition containing ample proteins. Minerals like calcium and iron, and Vitamin C. Saffron also contains vitamin A. Besides, the carbohydrates, minerals and fiber of the various grains are counterbalanced by the proteins provided by the green gram lentil and the almonds. Adding fruits and milk to the malt provides essential vitamins and antioxidants. All in all, a fully balanced meal that is delicious and easy to prepare.

The ragi malt thus prepared is also called huri hittu in Kannada. (Huri-roast, hittu – floor) here are a few one-minute recipes for huri hittu. Add milk, honey and fruits to two tablespoons of huri hittu, to get custard like consistency. It makes a great snack, high on nutrition Add a tablespoon of huri hittu to a cup of milk for a great health drink. Honey or sugar is optional. Prepare jaggery syrup and add the huri hittu to it with a spoon of ghee (clarified butter) and knead to make small balls. Ideal for a between meal snack for children.

Healthy Food Recipe - Balancing Elements in Indian Recipes

Indian food menus are becoming more popular the world over. Indian recipes are known for the healthy ingredients the use of which are based on ancient texts and this knowledge is passed on from one generation to another. What is more important is that these recipes are now being improvised to suit modern needs.

In most Indian food menus, the food item has a pair of ingredients - one working to compensate the side effects of the other.

For example, dosa is an Indian recipe that is a complete nutritious meal in itself. One dosa can provide your body with most of the required vitamins and nutrients. Hence if you are on a weight loss diet, you will be able to have a filling, complete, nutritious meal once and will not feed the urge to eat anything between meals.

The idea is to get your stomach and tongue feel the satisfaction of a delicious and filling meal that it does not crave for anything in between meals.

Ingredients Complimentary and Counter Active

In Indian dosa we use lentils called "urad dal". This white lentil is rich in protein and is good for health. White Dal is good for improving hemoglobin count. In India herbal doctors prescribe one dosa per day for people suffering from anemia.

So urad dal has all the good qualities that we need. But nothing is perfect in this world. Good healthy ingredients do have a part that is not good for us. So does urad dal. Eating a lot of urad dal can produce 'stomach gas'. So to deactivate this component of urad dal, Indians use asafoetida called 'Hing'. By using a pinch of 'hing' in the dosa batter the bad effect of urad dal is removed and we can benefit from the nutritious quality of urad dal.

Another ingredient added to dal to overcome its side effect is cooking soda. Cooking soda again is good for digestion and prevents 'stomach gas'. A third ingredient used in dosa batter is cumin seeds.

What we are doing here is to benefit from a nutritious meal and have a three pronged attack over its side effects. The three ingredients, asafoetida, cooking soda and cumin seeds, which are used for overcoming the side effects of dosa, have healthy nutrients in themselves. So we have removed the bad effects and added more nutritional value to the meal.

This is just one example of the many, many ways Indian food lovers have perfected the art of eating healthy nutritious meal. This knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next.

Modern Indians do not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Necessity is the mother of invention. Instant food items that retain the healthy, nutritious quality based on the ancient wisdom of Indians are coming into the food market.

These healthy recipes have such ingredients that work against the bad effects of each other as well as compliment the nutritional values of one another.

Dosa Recipe Without Instant Ready Mix

How do you prepare dosa, if you do not have the ready mix?

You can, of course, prepare dosa without instant ready mix. All you need is rice, lentil, fenugreek and a few other flavors.

Of course preparing the side dish is not covered in this recipe.

1. Take three cups of rice and soak them overnight. Add enough water to immerse the rice completely.

2. Soak a tea spoon of fenugreek seeds along with the rice. Fenugreek is good for health and it adds to the taste of the dosa.

2. The next day morning take a cup of lentil (urad dal) and soak it in water. Urad dal is white and you get the whole and split dal in the stores. The whole ones are good for making dosa and idli.

3. You will need a mixer grinder, a dosa pan, ladle and spatula. The rice is passed through a mixer grinder to get a coarse paste. You can also make the paste using a traditional hand driven stone grinder or an electric dosa grinder available in stores.

4. After grinding the rice to a paste, remove it and keep it aside. Start with the dal. Grind it to a fine paste. You can go on sprinkling water on the paste periodically and grind further. One cup of dal paste will fluff up and become equal to three cups of rice paste.

5. Now add the rice and dal paste and grind them together with salt and a few other flavors that will make your dosa exotic.

Now your dosa batter is ready for use.

From here it is the same procedure as making a dosa with the instant dosa mix. You can watch the video and see how to make dosas.

If you want to make idlis, leave the batter overnight to ferment.

The consistency of the batter will determine, if your dosa gets off the pan or not. In case you have problem separating the dosa from the pan, follow these steps:

1. Dip the spatula in cooking oil.

2. Pass it through the edges of the dosa.

3. Slightly move towards the center of the dosa and lift it slowly off the pan, without breaking the dosa.

4. Lower down the flame so that the dosa does not get burnt when you are trying to get it off the pan.

5. For the next dosa your pan might have got too hot. Sprinkle a little cold water on the pan to cool it. Smear a little cooking oil first. And then make the next dosa.

If you do not have the time to go through the long process of making the dosa batter go for instant dosa mix.

Now we have more products:

- Instant Adai Mix

- Instant Wheat Dosa Mix

- Instant Healthy Roti Mix

- Instant Chutney Powder

- Instant Curry Powder

and more...

Here is what Mike Seiler who has tried out our product says:

"The Instant Dosa Mix (Indian Pancakes) arrived very quickly. It was a joy to be able to make our own Dosas without having to spend a lot of time tracking down ingredients. Besides, the Instant Dosa Mix tasted better than when I put the ingredients together myself anyway.

The convenience can't be beat!

We ran out far too soon because the mix was so delicious. The whole family is anxiously waiting for more".

- Mike and Rachel, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Try it once and you will come back for more :)

Should I Smear The Pan With a Little Oil Before Making Dosa?

I have been receiving some questions about making dosa.

One of the questions is about the use of cooking oil - when to use it and how much to use it.

You can smear the pan with a little bit of cooking oil before you make the dosa. It is not absolutely necessary, if you are using a non-stick pan.

But if you are making dosa for the first time, you may find it easier to fold and flip the dosa by smearing the pan first with a little oil.

If you want a crisp dosa, as you might have tasted in restaurants, you need to use two tea spoons of oil. You need to cook the dosa on low medium flame. The longer it takes to cook, the crispier it will be. Two tea spoons of oil around the dosa makes it very crisp.

If you want the dosa fat free, you can steam the dosa by covering it with a lid while cooking. You can use less oil this way. You can also make the dosa completely without oil.

For this take a piece of tissue paper folded into a wad. Dip it in water and squeeze out the wad. Smear the pan with that water. Make dosa with dosa batter. Cover the dosa with a lid. Steam cook it for a minute. Fold and flip. You must have a non-stick pan for this type of dosa. This dosa will not be crisp. It will be soft and tasty.

In the video you can see that no oil is being smeared before the dosa is made. Two tea spoons of oil is added around the dosa, after the circular shape is made on the pan. If you have not seen it yet, watch the video and learn how to make dosa.

The Making of Dosa - Easy or difficult?

If you want to make dosa the usual way, you have to prepare a day in advance. In fact, it is two days if you include the fermentation process.

You need to soak rice and dal, grind it and leave it for fermentation.

But making dosa with instant mix is child's play. It takesa few minutes to make one dosa. No advanced preparation is necessary.

All you do is to take two table spoons of the mix, add four table spoons of water and cook on a pan with two tea spoon cooking oil.

Everything including salt is added to instant dosa mix.

Even if you have never made dosa before you will be able to do it in minutes.