Monday, September 14, 2009

Daring Cooks' September Challenge - Vegan Indian Dosas


For the first time since I joined the Daring Cooks, I completed a challenge more than two weeks before the deadline! Even better: I’ve also already finished my Daring Bakers’ challenge for this month! What’s with the sudden efficiency, you ask? Well, I just knew I wouldn't have time to do it later. Besides, it's nice not to rush things last-minute, for a change.

Anyways, you’ll hear about the Daring Bakers’ challenge in time, but today is all about the Daring Cooks. This month’s DC challenge was hosted by Debyi from The Healthy Vegan Kitchen , and she chose Vegan Indian Dosas as a recipe.


I admit I didn’t know what dosas were – turns out, they are a type of pancake, served with a savoury filling. However, I love Indian food: I make curry regularly, and I’ve tried my hand at making naan bread (a pathetic failure – the flatbreads came out looking more like pitas). Moreover, I recently went against a waiter’s warnings by ordering chicken vindaloo at an Indian restaurant. It was definitely one of the spiciest things I’ve ever eaten, although it didn’t quite beat whatever it was I had at that Thai restaurant in Vienna (of all places!). Anyways, I like it hot.

This month’s challenge, however, wasn’t particularly spicy, at least not necessarily. The one requirement (apart from actually making the dosas) was that the meal had to be entirely vegan. This was definitely a first for me, as I’ve always been an omnivore. Still, it’s not so rare for me to inadvertently cook vegetarian meals, so it didn’t feel like going vegan for a day would be too much of a stretch.

It wasn’t. The only “unusual” thing I had to buy was soy milk, to make the dosa batter. The recipe didn’t require that much milk, so I had to finish the rest some other way. I tried it for breakfast, with cereal, and honestly, I don’t think I’ll be buying it again unless I have to: it was too sweet for my taste.


I’ve made crepes before, so making the dosas themselves wasn’t too difficult, except that I never did manage to get them as crispy-thin as I would have liked – I think it’s because I forgot to properly sift the flour. I was on a miniature-kick at the time, so I made fairly small pancakes. For the filling, I stuck with the recipe we were given: sautéed chickpeas with a few other veggies and a heavy amount of spices (especially cumin, which is one of my favourite spices of all times). The filling was very good, but a little dry: a few crushed tomatoes would have added some nice moisture (or some yogurt, had this been a non-vegan challenge).


I made a second version, this time foregoing the vegan requirement: I used regular milk for the batter, and greased my skillet with butter, rather than oil. The dosas tasted about the same, but it was definitely easier to peel them off the pan.

For my second filling, I borrowed various ingredient combinations from different curry recipes. I used diced chicken thighs, zucchini, eggplant and bell pepper, seasoned with cumin, tumeric, coriander seeds, garam masala, fresh ginger, and garlic. I also added crushed tomatoes, and a garnish of fresh coriander and cashews. Unfortunately, I added too many tomatoes, which drowned out most of the spices I had incorporated, and as a result my filling tasted more like ratatouille than curry.


Truly, my favourite thing about this challenge was the coconut curry sauce we were given the recipe for. It was seriously delicious, and I used it both times, for drizzling and dipping. It froze well, too. It tasted wonderful with the dosas, but was also amazing on plain basmati rice.

I’d like to try making dosas again, to hopefully get them to come out crispy. This was a fun challenge, and a particularly delicious one. I’m also glad to have gotten a taste of what vegan cooking can be like, thanks to Debyi.

Check here for the full recipe, and here to see what the other Daring Cooks did this month.

22 comments:

  1. WOW! Great job! Those look amazing :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great job. Seems very tasty. beautifully plated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your dosas look terrific. You've done such a nice job with this challenge. Your photos are marvelous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your dosas looks great! Love the way in which you served them :) very yummy! Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love your cute little bundles. Your pancakes turned out beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm inspired by your lack of procrastination--maybe next month i'll do mine in advance! I found that swirling the batter with the ladle really helped get them thinner. They do look beautiful :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your dobos look and sound great! And fantastic job on your photography!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Awesome!! I love how you tied them up - So cute!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice work with the post! Love the presentation of the dosas and it the post overall was an interesting read.

    I found the coconut curry to be my least favourite part so it's interesting to see a differing perspective on the matter.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The tied-up packages are so cute! I love the presentation. As an aside, my dad LOVES vindaloo anything and when I was growing up, we ate a lot of oatmeal and he'd mix vindaloo paste into his bowl. He's a heat-freak.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your little bows really set off the presentation of this dish. Excellent idea. I think the more traditional fermented rice/lentil batter makes for a more thin crispy dosa.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, I love your presentation! I agree on the sauce, definitely my favorite part. Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  13. OMG, Val..your dosas and photos are gorgeous! I wish I had done a 'double' take on them, so at least I could have thoroughly enjoyed the 'animal fat' one..lol

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love how your dosas look Valerie! Fabulous job (and fabulous photos too!) I am kind of sad that I didn't get to complete this challenge since I wasn't here. I was hoping I could do it before going away but that was just wistful thinking. Too much other stuff to do! I might still make them at some point (probably a non vegan version though..)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great presentation! Really love the way you decorate dosas on the serving plate! And absolutely looks scrumptious.

    Regards
    Kris

    ReplyDelete
  16. Super belles photos Valérie! Ta présentation est très jolie. J’aime ta deuxième version avec les aubergines et j’adore les mets épicés!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Very original presentation valerie tied with chive. They look scrumptious. And I adored the coconut sauce too...I love coconut.

    ReplyDelete
  18. They look beautiful!! LOVE the presentation!!!

    I am with you on the soy milk, totally not my thing. I just used veggie broth!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I need to figure out how to get ahead of schedule with my Daring Kitchen challenges... I made the challenge Sunday and was a day late on the posting. Definitely going to try to get DB challenge out of the way this week!

    J'adore ta présentation avec les petits "paquets"... très jolie!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Beautiful presentation...love your idea of adding yogurt to the filling.

    ReplyDelete