fancy a weekend food project? dosas with a pea and potato curry and paneer

dosa pancakes with peas, potato
and paneer curry
Do you fancy trying a weekend food project? Dosas, lacy savoury southern Indian pancakes made from a fermented mixture of soaked rice and urad dal lentils are not difficult, just a little time consuming. It may takes about two days, but the results are well worth the effort. If you follow the recipe for dosas by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall here, you should have no trouble at all! 

This curry is one of the simplest - it is a useful curry to have in your back pocket, particularly if you need a vegetarian one in a hurry! 

Serve with a selection of fresh Indian chutneys and a simple tomato and onion salad.

Serves 4
Skill level: Easy

ingredients:
dosas
150g paneer, cubed (or other soft white cheese such as ricotta)
pea and potato curry

2 x large potatoes (about 450g), peeled and diced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 x green chilli, very finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 x medium English onions, finely chopped
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
half tsp ground turmeric
quarter - half tsp ground chilli
2 x tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
250g blanched fresh peas (or thawed frozen peas)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh coriander, finely chopped (to serve)

directions:

  1. Peel and cut and the potatoes into a 2 centimetre dice. Parboil them in a pan of salted boiling water for 10 minutes. (I often place the peelings in a sieve over the pan so that the boiling water bubbles through. I am convinced that the peelings add extra flavour to the potatoes. It definitely seems to for roast spuds. But you may think it is too much of a faff!) Drain the potatoes well and set aside.
  2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and fry until they begin to pop and splutter in the hot oil.
  3. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, before adding the onions. Lower the heat and cook the onions for about 10 minutes, or until soft.
  4. Add the rest of the spices and cook for 1 minute before adding the peas, tomatoes and potatoes. Stir well to combine and simmer for about 5 minutes. Check the seasoning.
  5. Assemble the stuffed pancakes by placing a little of the pea and potato curry in the centre of the dosa with a sprinkling of fresh coriander.
  6. Top with a little of the paneer and roll up.

tips:

  • You could use a mixture of lightly cooked cauliflower, chickpeas or broccoli.
  • Add a few spices and herbs to the dosas before cooking.
  • I used urad dal (white split lentils) but you could use red lentils.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

looks beautiful and those lacy pancakes are very pretty... I love a good veggie curry in the bank too!

Marmaduke Scarlet said...

The pancake were really fun to make and a really nice texture - a bit more substantial than a crepe. But I adore veggie curries. It's my standard for checking out a curry house - if they care enough to cook a good veggie curry then you can trust the rest!

Unknown said...

I love the idea of these pancakes. I always end up either making naan, or frying up popadums (which is one of my FAVOURITE things to do in the kitchen) but these look brill. I'm a big fan of HF-W so may be I'll be a bit more organised next time we're having a curry and do these

Marmaduke Scarlet said...

Hi Sally - I couldn't recommend it more highly. Much as I love naan, these are a lot less filling. I am wondering whether you could make up double the amount of batter and freeze it. I would have thought that if you can freeze sourdough starters then fermented batter should be no problem!

Anonymous said...

Love dosas! I follow the recipe from the Prashad indian vegetarian cookbook that was published last year. If you like vegetarian curries then you need this book. Sundays in our house are spent making curry and Mondays are for eating leftovers.

The dosa pancakes I make are flavoured with fenugreek seeds. I have used various potato curries but if you do get the Prashad book do try the coconut, mustard seed and curry leaf dip with your dosas -though I could eat it by the spoonful!

Marmaduke Scarlet said...

Funnily enough the Prashad cookbook is on my list of must-have books. I just love veggie curries! Good tip on the fenugreek, thank you!

Anonymous said...

I came across your blog via a comment you made on Azelia's Kitchen about using Whissendine mill flour. I use this flour too and it makes a great white sourdough.

Anonymous said...

Oh... Anjum Anand's Vegetarian Feast would be another book to consider. Very different from the Prashad book but they compliment each other. Anand is not vegetarian but her mother was and her husband is and they are bringing up the children vegetarian. You get a real feeling that she uses a lot of these recipes at home. The recipes are very well written... Precise... But she is always recommending you to taste and season. There are traditional indian recipes included but also some fusion dishes. There are a number of her takes on English dishes. I tried the cottage pie with Quorn. I am not a great fan of Quorn but this was okay and my wife loved it. Beautiful photographs too. But the pulse dishes are my favourite :)

Marmaduke Scarlet said...

Ray - I love the way we discover each other through blogs; it's all rather wonderful. I had only just discovered Azelia!

As for Whissendine Mill - I can't pretend to be an expert on traditionally milled flour but out of all the flours I have tried this has to be the best. My bread (which I loved the flavour of anyway!) now tastes divine! Like bread should taste! :)

Marmaduke Scarlet said...

I haven't seen Anjum Anand's Vegetarian Feast - I shall definitely look out for it. I used to be a veggie years ago, and while I love cooking with meat I don't actually eat much meat (probably contrary to what my website looks like). But good veggie cooking just proves you don't have to load up like Desperate Dan!