Dosa-Dakhini Shoro Chakhali and Scottish Baps

The other day when we, I mean me and my daughter were coming out of her school, she pointed to a group of ladybirds in one corner of her school playground, quite near to her classroom and started talking about them.

My daughter with a little giggle -“look Mamma, it looks like these ladybirds are having a puppet show.”
I, quite astonished -“What!! Puppet show, that's Interesting? But some of them are going some another way. Don’t they?
My daughter-“Well looks like to me they are going for some shopping, not interested in puppet show anymore.”

And with that we both burst into laughter.

You know these innocent talks give me so much to ponder and when I look back it reminds me of my childhood days. When we would run in an open green grass field of our school. And after coming back in home, we would hurriedly finish our afternoon snacks. We kids then would meet up in our neighborhood playground area and then there will be no stopping, for couple of hours.We would play till we get dog-tired.

Although, we were told by our mothers to come before the lights on the street would be put on. But most of the time we would forgot that and it would be our mothers who would be coming to the playgrounds yelling at us to come home. They would then give us the final ultimatum that she would complain about this to our dads and that’s it, that would nail us down and like a mannered cow we would follow her to our homes.
But when I see today’s kids so engrossed in play stations and computers games and so active in all the social networking sites, I wonder do they really are missing something here or is it just my conventional small town upbringing which is quite laidback or in Gen “X” language “outdated”.
Are we heading for a society so materialistic and money driven that we don’t have time to sit back and enjoy some good time with our kids doing some simple things?

Anyways now to the recipe now

Dosa –dakhini Shoro Chakhli
Dosa and shoro chakli two similar things but different names. There is a marked difference though i.e. the fermentation process. We do not ferment the batter for shoro chakli and dosa needs a proper fermentation cycle.
Shoro chakli is the batter made with yellow moong dal or dhuli huyi urad dal in Hindi and with the rice flour. If you like to see the recipe for shoro chakli then visit here Here
I tried to add some toor dal in the dosa batter also for the extra touch of lentils. However, only urad dal works fine for the dosa batter.

Ok, an honest confession all the dosa turn out little thick, I was expecting the paper thin restaurant quality dosa, but it seems a far illusion right now for me. They turn out good but not the kind of dosa which are served in restaurant. This is not this time but whenever I have made them in past, they never turn out paper thin and crisp. Looks like I need a lot of work to do. Any suggestion??
For the dosa batter
Roughly 2 and half cups of rice
1 cup of urad dal
¼ cup of toor dal/arhar dal or chana dal
Pinch of salt
1 tsp of methi seeds
Method
Soak the rice and urad dal+ toor dal separately with enough water.Soak some methi seeds with rice also.
After 6-7 hrs, they will bloat up.
Now make smooth paste of rice and dal separately in a food processor with very little water, just enough to rotate the grinder.
Mix in rice paste with the dal paste.Stir it well.
Let it ferment overnight.Don't forget to add some salt.
Other day scoop out some batter, add little bit of water. Check the flow of the batter, the laddle should be well covered with the batter and should not be too runny.
Prepare the tava
Heat up the tava/iron skillet well. Sprinkle some oil and with the end of a cut brinjal or some plain cotton cloth, rub this oil well over the iron skillet well. Sprinkle some water if the water droplets sizzles, Tava is prepared for dosa preparation.
Now scoop 2-4 heaped tbs or one large laddle full of the batter and smear it over tava like this.

Add oil by the sides of the dosa.
Flip the side and cook for 1 mints at medium-high flame also.
Prepare other dosas like this way.

Now finally posting this recipe sambhar with huli podi which is sambhar powder in real. Making sambhar with it was my to-do list for some time now. I am glad it turned out just like any good restaurant style sambhar and that too with home-made sambhar powder.
Prepare the sambhar
1 cup of toor dal/arhar dal
1 onion chopped finely
2 tomato chopped finely
1-2 cups of vegetables of your preference (I put up some Brinjal, Bottle gourd and carrots)
2-3 tsp of huli podi/sambhar podi Huli Podi
1 tsp of red pepper powder
2-3 tsp of mustard seeds
Some curry leaves (optional)
Half cup of tamarind puree
Prepare the tamarind puree
In cup of warm water, soak some tamarind approx 2-3 tsp
Let it sit there for half a hour.Now squeeze the tamarind and mix with the warm water. Microwave for 1 mint if the water is not warm enough.

Method
Pressure cook toor/arhar dal with 1 tsp of turmeric powder and salt.
Now in a saucepan, add 2-3 tbs of oil, temper it with mustard seeds.
Now add in chopped onions and tomato. Fry them well for 5-7 mints.
Add in vegetables of your choice and fry them well. Let it cook till the vegetables turn soft. Or you may add the vegetables when you are pressure cooking the dal.Whenever I am running short of time I prefer doing the later i.e. adding with the dal and pressure cooking them.
Now transfer this to the cooked dal.Add approx 2 cups of water to the dal.
Add in huli podi,red pepper powder. Add half of the tamarind puree, taste it if you like more sour and tangy sambhar then add more slowly. We prefer less sour sambhar so half cup of puree worked fine for us.
Sprinkle some freshly chopped curry leaves.

I came across a splendid breakfast bread Scottish Baps at Foodie's Hope and tried making them last week. I just used all purpose flour, well that is what I had in my pantry.However, Asha says to use strong bread flour also.
Scottish Baps
Recipe requirements
3 cups of all purpose flour +some more while kneading the dough
¼ cup of melted butter
2 tsp of active dry yeast
1-2 tsp of sugar
1 cup of warm milk
3-4 tbs of sugar
Method
Prepare the rising agent
Dissolve the active dry yeast in 1 cup of warm milk.
After 10-12 mints the yeast will rise and flourish.
Now make a well in the centre of the flour.
Microwave the butter for 2 mints at med-high. That would melt the butter.
Add this butter which is the “moane” in Bengali.
Now add in sugar
Gently start kneading with the help of milk mixture and if required add more flour.
Let this dough sit there for 2-3 hrs in a warm corner of your home.
Now pinch the dough again and with the help of some flour divide this to 7-8 portions.
Gently roll them into half inch thick and 4 inch diameter small rounds.Cover it let it sit again for 1 hr or till they rise up again.
Now preheat an oven at 180 deg C ,Asha says to bake preheat this at 375 Deg F.
Bake it for 18-20 mints. Serve warm with some jams or marmalade or custard.
This is a lovely accompaniment at the breakfast table. Freeze left-over and when you are ready to eat, just Microwave it for 1 mint at med-high. Soft and delicious Scottish Baps ready for you.

After the hectic 7 day consecutive blogging challenge, I am now little tired and I am planning a month long summer break. Also, I will not be able to visit your lovely space for that reason.

You all take care and enjoy warm sunny days if you are living abroad. And you all people back home, enjoy the rainy season if it has started in your part of the world.Hope it brings some relief from the scorching summer heat waves.

Happy cooking