DC: Vegan Indian Dosas

When I first read our challenge for September I was a little bit shocked and confused. Indian dosas sounded delicious, but then I read the part where it all had to be Vegan. I am a 100% omnivore. Vegan food for me is a side item to a nice hunk of MEAT! Most vegan food to me is bland, not filling, and boring, but I have to say... this Vegan food is AMAZING!! Its delicious and filling, and definitely something I could eat alone, not as a side item. I made an Indian spiced yogurt chicken to go with it, but I don't even need to eat it. The dosa alone is enough. Needless to say, this recipe is great. It does take a bit of time and prep, but overall it is well worth it. Much thanks to Debyi for choosing this delicious adventure! I can't wait to eat more of this tomorrow for lunch during my 30 hr shift.

I did make a few changes:

*I used whole wheat flour instead of spelt flour (I honestly didn't want to buy something I would likely only use once and then leave to clutter my pantry). The whole wheat flour required a bunch more liquid to reach the appropriate consistency for the pancakes.

*I added spicy garlic chile sauce (I buy from Asian store) to bean filling and sauce. I like my food spicy. I also added a bit more of all of the spices. I like my food to be spicy and strong.

*I only used one can coconut milk in the sauce, it seemed adequately coconutty with just the one.

*I added some tomato paste to the sauce as well, and less whole tomato. Tomato makes my brother vomit on contact with his mouth... (He once ate a piece of sushi at the restaurant at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va thinking it was tuna, but really it was a slice of tomato, and gagged and wretched at the table and didn't eat anything for like 48 hours from the trauma.)

Indian Dosas


This recipe comes in 3 parts, the dosas, the filling and the sauce. It does take awhile to make, but the filling and sauce can be made ahead and frozen if need be. You can serve them as a main course with rice and veggies, or as an appetizer. This does take a little planning ahead, so make sure you read the recipe through before starting (I forgot & didn't start making the rice until everything was ready, oops).

Serves 4

Equipment needed:
large bowl, 
whisk
, griddle or skillet, 
ladle (or large spoon), 
spatula
, vegetable peeler &/or knife, 
large saucepan, 
food processor or bean masher

Dosa Pancakes:


1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)


½ tsp (2½ gm) salt


½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder


½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder


½ cup (125ml/4oz) almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.)


¾ cup (175ml/6oz) water


cooking spray, if needed

Dosa Filling: 
1 batch Curried Garbanzo Filling (see below), heated

Dosa Toppings: 
1 batch Coconut Curry Sauce (see below), heated


¼ cup (125gm) grated coconut
, ¼ cucumber, sliced

Dosa Pancakes


1.Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.


2.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.


3.Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter.

Makes 8 pancakes.

Curried Garbanzo Filling


This filling works great as a rice bowl topping or as a wrap too, so don't be afraid to make a full batch.

5 cloves garlic


1 onion, peeled and finely diced


1 carrot, peeled and finely diced


1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)


2 medium hot banana chilies, minced


2 TBSP (16gm) cumin, ground


1 TBSP (8gm) oregano


1 TBSP (8gm) sea salt (coarse)


1 TBSP (8gm) turmeric


4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans)


½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste

1.Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.


2.Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

Coconut Curry Sauce


This makes a great sauce to just pour over rice as well. This does freeze well, but the texture will be a little different. The flavor is still the same though. My picture of this sauce is one that I had made, had to freeze, then thaw to use. It tastes great, but the texture is a little runnier, not quite as thick as it was before freezing.

1 onion, peeled and chopped


2 cloves garlic


½ (2½ gm) tsp cumin, ground


¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)


3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder


3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)


3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth


2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk


3 large tomatoes, diced

1.Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.
2.Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
3.Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
4.Let it simmer for half an hour.
Happy eating!

Perfection in a Bar: Samoa Bars

So Girlscout season came and went, and all I was left with was one box of Samoas, my all time favorite girl scout cookies. Sure, tag-a-longs are good, and thin mints are a close runners-up, but be serious. Samoas are the best. Coconut, caramel and chocolate is possibly the most awesome flavor combination there is. While perusing Tastespotting, as I do almost daily these days, I kept noticing gorgeous pictures of homemade samoas, and then samoa bars. Samoa bars...yum. All the flavors of samoas without having to use two completely different sized cookie cutters and rolling pins and other kitchen equipment I was simply not inspired to use at the time. Sometimes I love a good complex recipe that allows me to show off my creative genius. Other times I just want something quick, relatively easy, and oh so fulfilling. This recipe definitely fits into the latter. I used a homemade Samoa cookie recipe by Baking Bites.

While these bar cookies aren't that hard to make, I will definitely offer some suggestions on issues I ran into while making and eating these cookies.

1. Keep the dough as thin as possible while maintaining some structural integrity. I know this is a tough line to navigate, but I did feel like the shortbread was a bit thick on my cookies. Also, I may use the shortbread recipe on the actual Samoa Bar recipe Baking Bites has, and not the recipe for the cookies. The shortbread recipes are a little bit different, and I think using the bar version will lead to a shortbread that sticks together better when cut and dipped, as mine had a tendency to fall apart, especially when dipped in the chocolate. (Still tasted great though, once you chew it a couple times it all gets to the same state of destruction.) The dough will puff slightly as it cooks, so I would even recommend erring on the thinner side than the thicker one.
2. Pour the coconut mixture on while the shortbread is still rather hot, and while the caramels are still hot and melted. Mine started to cool just a bit too much and it made it difficult to spread evenly. I ended up with a thick part in the center. Reheat the caramel/coconut mixture if necessary to ensure easy spreadability. The thicker this layer, the harder to cut- leading to fragmented shortbread, and the harder to chew, leading to sore jaws.
3. Keep the chocolate as hot as possible. I'm not sure if there's a way to thin out chocolate, but if you know the secret, please, let me know and use it to dip the cookies in. The chocolate was so heavy (for lack of a better word) that the cookie would stick to the chocolate and fall apart instead of sticking to the coconut.
4. Be careful. Once you eat one, you'll want to eat the whole batch. They're THAT good.

Homemade Samoas Bars

Cookie Base:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Topping

3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

12-oz good-quality chewy caramels

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp milk

10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.

Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.

When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).

Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish.

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 30 bar cookies.