Dhosa - easy quick almost dhosas

I fancied some dhosa today  Dhosas are thin pancakes made from a fermented rice and urid lentil mixture, and are eaten in South India.  There the chefs make spectacular shapes when serving these, including giant rolls and fans.

Last time I made them I did the full process-soak urid lentils and long grain rice separately for a specified number of hours, grind utill smooth in the blender, mix and leave to ferment for several more hours.  Today I didn't feel like doing all of that and so simply mixed my usual flour (405urid, 40%tapioca and 20% cornmeal) with some brown rice flour- and I don't have any idea what type of rice this was.  The protein balance of different rice varies and it makes a difference in how the rice behaves in recipe. .

These dhosas weren't completely like proper dhosa, and the shorter maturing time meant that they hadn't fermented properly.  The acid flavour of the fully fermented dough is too strong for some so this milder version may be more palatable, although the nutritional value will be slightly less as the long fermenting increases bio-availability of some nutrients.

This amount serves two/three with some curry


Ingredients
125g rice flour
70g gf flour mix (40%urid, 40%tapioca, 20%cornmeal)
300g water

Mix until smooth and leave to sit for a couple of hours or more in a warm place.  The dough should be quite thin - like single cream.  If it is too thick add a bit more water.  You should be able to place a ladlefull on a cold crepe pan and swirl it around so that it is covered completely.

To cook
Start with a cold pan.  Place a ladlefull of batter on the pan and swirl so that you get an even thin pancake. Cook on a medium heat until the bottom begins to brown. You will be able to see this without lifting the pancake as it is so thin.

Lift off carefully and roll to whatever shape you want while it is warm.

Cool the pan under cold water until you can touch it without any discomfort.  If you don't let the pan cool between dhosa you will not be able to get the dhosa to be thin.  Instead they will be lumpy and thick.  I read up about making dhosa and this is how they are usually made.

Because the pan is cold at the start of each dhosa they take longer to cook than if you were making crepe in a hot pan.  Be patient.  You may find them difficult to make neat- but they taste just as good.  The one I photographed was about my sixth - I didn't quite believe the necesity for the cold pan to start with.

These dhosa are partially soft and flexible and partly crisp.  I ate mine served with spicy chickpeas.

Pancakes – American style / English drop-scones)

I like pancakes as a quick breakfast or snack for hungry kids. I make the small fluffy variety, whereas my husband specialises in the French-style crepes, which he makes using a dedicated flat crepe pan and wooden utensils he bought in France. I’ll show you these another time.

I tend to regard these as so easy they don’t need a recipe, but that is because I have made them so often and they are such a forgiving recipe in terms of quantities that they can be done half asleep.

These can be made with baking powder, which is how I always used to make them. I recently started making them by whisking the egg whites instead, which gives a better flavour and isn’t as much effort as you might thing. I whisk the egg whites with a balloon whisk as I am too lazy to get the machine out of the cupboard. I make sure I hold my shoulder in the right position and it gives me a bit of helpful exercise – my shoulder slightly dislocates and regular careful exercising is important.

Ingredients

100g gluten free flour – I use Doves Farm for this

100ml milk or non-dairy substitute

2 eggs

optional: if you are worried about them sticking or are using a fat free liquid add half a teaspoon oil. If you would like a slightly sweet pancake add some sugar or syrup – I like a squirt of agave syrup. Add salt if you want.

Method

Put a griddle or flat-bottomed frying pan on to heat. You want it a medium heat. Alton Brown says cook pancakes in an electric griddle at 350F – so I guess that is probably what we are aiming at. If I buy one of those laser temperature measurers I’ll check and let you know. I’ll show you what happens if you have it too hot. If you cook them on too cool a pan it is boring waiting for them to cook and they are more rubbery.

Wipe some vegetable oil over the pan with some paper towel. Keep the oily paper towel handy and re-wipe the pan between each batch of pancakes.

Separate eggs and place egg whites in a large clean bowl. Whisk them until the egg white is at the soft peak stage.

Mix the egg yolks and milk together then stir in the flour until the batter is smooth. Add any oil or sugar at this stage.

Fold the egg whites into the batter until almost smooth. Don’t worry about a few bits of egg white as they won’t be a problem – you don’t want to loose all the air by over mixing.

If you want to add berries, bananas or sweet corn to the batter do it gently at this stage.

Dollop whatever size pancake you want onto the pan.

Cook until it stops looking wet and bubbles are showing. Flip over to the other side and cook until it is golden.

If you have the pan too hot they will cook very quickly with large bubbles, but you will probably find they are too dark on the first side by the time you get around to turning them.

Eat with pleasure. To keep them warm wrap in a towel or keep in a warm oven. Thee freeze fine too – just zap briefly in the microwave or pop in the toaster to defrost and reheat.

We had these with home-grown blackberries and apple sauce; I composed a nice picture but I am using a new (washable) camera and the picture was blurry. Sorry, just imagine a stack of these pancakes with your favorite accompaniments.....