Kal Dosa happens to be one of my favourite breakfast. It's something I picked up from Chennai all thanks to Tiffanys- our humble cafeteria in IIT Madras. I hadn't stumbled upon this dosa till my third year at IIT and I owe a big thanks to Sonu for introducing me to this Dosa. I guess what appeals to him and many Malayalees like me when we taste this dosa is it's resemblance to appam a delicacy we hardly get to taste on IITM campus. So the nearest we manage to get is the Kal dosa with the classic vegetable kurma. I guess it's called a Kal dosa because it's made on a Kal ( a cast iron tawa). I would not have thought of making these beauties at home, if not for that journey we had last May. On our way back to Bangalore from Kerala ( also our first road trip on the Bangalore- Kerala route ) my hubby missed a turn and we ended up in a small town. That's when looking for directions we landed in front of a shop that sold traditional pans and pots made of cast iron. We always dreamt of buying a cast iron tawa and kadhai for appams and we believe the universe conspired into getting us to this shop. And that's how this tawa got home. I doubt if my mother ever used one. I am sure she didn't have one in our childhood in the middle east and so she use the non stick pan more often.
Now the best part about using cast iron tawa is that it retains heat quite well compared to it's non stick counterpart. This gives a crispness to the dosa which a non stick pan cannot give you. My hubby calls this 'the thattu kada effect' it takes you back to your grandma's kitchen or your favorite local tea shop where you had the crispiest dosa. In short I am enticing you to get these pans :)
I make these dosas quite often in fact I call them a cross over between appam and dosa so I make them when we have guests and serve it with egg curry and chicken curry. The basic difference between a Kal dosa and appam is that Kal dosa used urad dal which is something an appam batter avoids and appam batter is fermented using yeast which is a component kal dosa doesn't require. But I love them both equally and find Kal dosas more convenient to make. I have added the recipe of ridge gourd chutney along with the recipe for Kal dosa. I often postpone my posts on chutneys hoping to make separate posts out of them but that doesn't seem to be working so I decided to post this recipe with the dosa. I don't remember where I tasted this the first time. I guess it could be at my aunt's convent in Cox town or maybe back home when mom made this or even at an Andhra restaurant but it happens to be one of my favourite. I love the fact that this chutney is made out of the scales of the ridge gourd something often discarded so I make it a point to buy ridge gourd often so that I can have this chutney. I am a great fan of Andhra cuisine and my respect for them increased manifold ever since I started making Andhra style chutneys for breakfast. I guess that's quite long an intro and I sometimes wonder if anyone reads the whole thing :)
So go ahead and get your cast iron pans and tr these beauties :)
Ingredients for Kal Dosa ( Recipe courtesy- cooking4allseasons.blogspot.in)
Parboiled rice- 1 cup
Raw rice- 2 cup
Urad dal- 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp
Directions
Soak the rice and dal for 5-6 hours and grind to a smooth paste along with little water and the fenugreek seeds. Let the batter ferment for 6-8 hours, preferably overnight. Grease the cast iron pan with little oil. If you are using a non stick pan you would not need the oil, but the grease enhances the flavour. Pour a ladle full of batter onto the greased pan.
Don't spread the batter too thin like the normal dosa. Cover the dosa with a lid. Remember you don't flip over a Kal dosa unlike the regular one. Like Appams these dosas are cooked on one side and covered with a lid to cook the top under steam. When you lift the lid you will see holes in the dosa and the bottom would have become crisp. Serve with piping hot sambar and chutney. I have often seen these dosas with vegetable kurma so that's an option too.
For Ridge gourd chutney
Scales of a ridge gourd and some pieces if you want to add them
Dry red chillies- 6
Madras onion-5-6
Tomato-2
Channa dal- 1 tsp
Ginger- small piece
Coriander leaves- a sprig
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Grated Coconut- 1/4 cup
Salt- to taste
Tamarind - size of a lemon
Directions
Heat oil in a pan add the channa dal and fry till its golden brown. Now add all the ingredients except tamarind, coriander leaves and salt. Saute for five minutes till the ridge gourd scales soften. Let the ingredients cool. In a grinder grind the sauted ingredients along with coconut and coriander leaves. Once the chutney is ground perfectly add salt and tamarind extract.
