The Vegan Friendly Masala Dosa Making Class with The Naan-Americans Home Kitchen

Dosa is a popular Indian breakfast dish. Indigenous to the southern part of India, this crispy rice and lentil crepe has now gained popularity and is widespread across the world.

 The dosa and its manifestations can now be seen in many Indian restaurants across the globe as well as food trucks and street food festivals in popular cities like New York, London, Boston and more.

 The classic representation of a Masala dosa would be the large perfect round shaped crepe, crisp and golden in the bottom and a white soft mesh-like texture on the top. This now is generously smeared with the red garlic chutney and filled with the classic Onion-Potato filling and served with either sambar or coconut chutney or both on the side.

 Despite its popularity and it’s ubiquitous nature, the Dosa making is still an art. One needs to know the tips and tricks to get that perfectly thin, round, golden, soft, crispy dosa. As easy as it may seem, the spicy potato filling needs some tweaks and tricks, love and care,  to make it juicy and delicious and not dry and bland.

The cooking classes and culinary events with The Naan-Americans will help you with just that. Our goal is to show and teach our guests the small nuances, the tips and tricks, the hidden idea behind a recipe so that our guests can go back home and recreate the dish with confidence and ease.

 

 

Our latest Masala dosa making class was one such beautiful experience. Our guest Erica is a lover of Indian food. She frequently dines at Indian restaurants and has even tried to cook some Indian dishes at home. She mentions that she probably has the largest Indian spice collection in her kitchen. Her only concern would be that since she is Vegan she always needs to make sure the restaurants don’t serve her dishes that are cream based or even throw in a dollop of butter on top of her Rotis or Naan.

This was her first Masala dosa making class. She was excited because everything in here was Vegan. There was no room for error. The class met all her requirements. No dairy, No meat. Just perfect. She had a vegetarian host-instructor for the night who is from the Southern part of India and knows the in and out of Dosa making.

And what a beautiful evening it was. Our guest was super excited to attend this class while getting a chance to free herself a bit and get that Me-time, that we all sometimes crave for.

She was ready to get her hands on the Dosa making starting with the potato filling. The instructor had few things prepped ahead of time and had displayed the whole ingredients needed for their cooking party this night. Soon enough the spicy potato mixture was cooking in the Kadai, the aroma of the sweet onions filling the tiny kitchen. The guest was proud and happy to learn this new dish which was good just by itself.

A Simple Tomato Chutney

A very simple recipe of tomato chutney that tastes great with Dosas, Idlis or just plain rice and ghee.

Here ,ripe red tomatoes sauteed in oil and cooked until smooth paste with red chilli powder and salt. A generous amount of Hing is a must in this recipe.

This dish is a keeper. Meaning it stays good without refrigeration for about 2 days as it is cooked in just oil and there is no extra water content.

What we need:

4 Juicy red tomatoes, diced

2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 big pinch of asafoetida

salt per taste

3 tbsp oil.

Method:

In a pan, heat oil.  Once hot add mustard seeds and Hing. Once it splutters, add the diced tomatoes. stir a couple of times, bring the heat to simmer. Cover the pan and let the tomatoes cook in its own juice and oil until completely soft and mushy.

Keep stirring once or twice in between. Do NOT ADD ANY WATER.

After a while , check the tomatoes. By now the oil would have separated from the tomato paste. At this point add salt and red chilli powder. stir well. cook for 5 more minutes.

turn off heat. Serve hot or cold.