Masal dosai

Idly and dosai are popular dishes of Tamilnadu, India. They are consumed as a main course for dinner and a staple for breakfast. Proper fermentation of the batter is the key behind the successful idlies and the hot climatic condition prevailing there throughout the year will make the idly petal soft. Though making the perfect idly depends on how much care we give for maintaining the temperature, dosa comes handy for all who long for native food.

We can see an idly vs dosai scene in almost any Indian house. When the mother wants to steam some idly in a jiffy, one fuzzy person may always demand for a dosai . That demanding person can be satisfied only by a hot dosai, while others has to eat the idly:) Just like that whenever anyone goes to an Indian restaurant , crispy dosai would be in the top preference. The restaurants would serve the dosai with variety of chutney and that makes the platter pretty.Mostly I make coconut chutney or sambar only and rarely both. But I would make masal dosai if I have some left over poori kilangu after having poori the previous day. Nowadays readymade batter is also available everywhere (I suggest making your own batter for fresh taste) and so dosa making becomes more handy.
 
Prepare this delicious Masal dosai and enjoy!

Masal dosai with sambar and chutney.

Take a look inside: ) Potato masala stuffed inside a thin crispy dosai.

Ingredients:
Dosa batter - 1/2 cup per dosai
potato masala filling - 2 or 3 tbsp per dosai
sesame oil / ghee - few tsp

Method:
For making perfect crispy dosai we may need a thick dosa tawa, sharp spatula, a medium sour dosa batter.
Add a tbsp besan flour for 2 cups of dosa batter and mix well. (Besan flour gives dosai a red hue. Some times I skip this step).
Apply one drop oil on tawa and spread uniformly using a spatula.
Heat the tawa to maximum. Check the heat by sprinkling a drop of water. Wipe the tawa clean, using a kitchen towel.
Now without applying oil to the tawa, pour a ladle full of batter on it. Using the back of the flat spatula or a small cup, spread the batter to a thin circle.
Drizzle few drops of ghee or sesame oil.
As soon as it shows little red color, flip , reduce heat and cook for 10 seconds.
Flip again, so that the beautiful red side lays down. Place 2 -3 tbsp of poori masala in the center and fold , so that the red color shows up.
Some people fold thrice like a newspaper (see photo above) and some fold only once so that dosa looks like a semicircle.
Masal dosai is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot immediately (for crispiness) with coconut chutney and sambar.

Note:
For details on dosa making see my paper roast dosai recipe.

Chennai fish curry

Chennai fish curry is a spicy, tangy curry. It is one of my favorite versions of fish curry. Chennai has a huge fishing harbor in Royapuram which supplies many markets all over the city and state. One can get excellent quality sea fish in all the Chennai markets.Also fresh water fish is caught from many lakes around. People living there for generations are very good at making delicious fish curries and sea foods. One popular fish recipe from chennai is the Kasimedu meen kulambu. This typical Chennai fish curry differs from southern Meen kulambu by the following hints:
1.There won't be any coconut paste in chennai fish curry. Fish curry will smell just like fish curry, the way I like it very much:)
2.Chennai fish curry should have more fish pieces and it will give a strong fish flavor.Use any chunky fish pieces like king fish.
3. Madras / chennai meen kuzhambu needs lot of onion and tomato with lesser tamarind. Chennai people won't make fish curry without tomato, whereas others care less for tomato.
4.If needed chennai people would add little coconut milk extract (very rarely), but not the ground coconut masala.
5. Any cooking oil like peanut oil, sunflower oil or sesame oil can be used in chennai fish curry, while village style south fish curry demands sesame oil only.

Salmon fish in Indian curry.

Salmon and Evoo in Madras meen kulambu. Any chunky fish like King fish and peanut oil are traditionally used there.

Tangy spicy Madras style fish curry.

Ingredients:
King fish / salmon - 1/2 kg (1 lb)
Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
red onion - 2 (medium big)
garlic - 10 cloves
tomato puree (3 crushed) - 3/4 cup
red chilly powder - 1 1/2 tsp
coriander powder - 3 tbsp
turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
curry leaf - 2 sprigs
oil - 3 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
fenugreek seed  (venthayam / methi) - 1 tsp
cumin seed - 1 tsp
sea salt - 2 tsp (as per taste)
green chilly - 2

Method:
* Soak tamarind in warm water along with salt. Extract juice using 2 cups of water.
Put coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, salt in the tamarind extract. Keep aside.
* Clean the fish in water and cut into medium size pieces. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric powder and let it marinate till we prepare the curry (15 minutes).
* Chop onion very finely. Heat oil, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin. As soon as mustard starts crackling, add curry leaves, finely chopped onion and saute till onion turns soft and mild red.
Then add the crushed tomato (chop them finely and squeeze with hands) and saute till the oil shows up. Put the peeled chopped garlic and saute for a few seconds.
* Then pour the tamarind extract, slit green chilly. Bring it to a boil. let it boil for 5 minutes in medium heat till raw smell goes.
* Then add the fish pieces. Cook covered in very low heat till curry gets little thick (10 minutes). Don't stir in between. If needed gently shake. Switch off.
Chennai fish curry is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve hot as curry over rice.
The usual side dish for meen kulambu and rice are fried fish, omelet, ripe mango pieces.

Note:
I have used extra virgin olive oil and salmon instead of the traditional ingredients as I had that in hand on that day and we liked the curry very much. Salmon tasted similar to King fish:)
Add a tsp of jaggery (brown sugar)before switching off,  if it needs lesser sourness.