Venthiyam Dosai (Fenugreek Crepes) and Poondu Milagai Podi (Garlic-Red Chili Roasted Powder)

Life seems good again after a library membership. Now I can feed my book starved mind and pacify it's greed. Having been told by the plumber, movers and electrician that our home is quite a neat crib, I can "phew" in relief. This year has loads to offer me for sure. A trip to India after 2 years, loads of travel in NY, meeting my cousin at Boston....Just can't wait to pack my backpack.

After so much of outside food (while moving), one does tend to get gassy and uncomfortable. That is when I saw Chitra's post on venthiyam dosai (feenugreek crepe) recipe. I have had this dosai a couple of times at Coimbatore's restaurants as a kid. She suggested that the dosai tastes best when served with poondu milagai podi. Thanks Chitra, the dosai was really light and helped reducing gas and body heat.

Venthiyam Dosai

Ingredients:-

4 cups of Idly rice
1/3 cup of fenugreek seeds/ methi/ venthiyam seeds
2 tsp urad dal
1 tsp toor dal
3-4 tbl spns of salt (accd to taste)
water – as required to grind the batter.

Method:-

Wash, clean and soak the rice and toor dal together for 2 hrs.
Wash, clean and soak urad dal and methi seeds for 2 hrs in a separate bowl.
Grind the methi seeds and urad dal with water for 15-20 mins in a grinder until smooth and fluffy. Slowly add water little by little during the 20 mins of grinding. Keep aside in a clean bowl.
Grind the rice and toor dal  with required amount of water to make a smooth batter.
Mix this batter to the previous urad dal batter with salt.
Let it ferment over night. (12-14 hrs in winter)

The next day ,mix the batter well with the help of a ladle
Heat a wide pan with 1 tsp of oil. Keep the flame at medium heat.
Pour and spread 1 ladle full of batter to form a neat circular dosa. Made it 1/4th inch thick.
Add 1 tsp of oil along the circumference and cover it with a pan.
Cook for a min till the bottom in golden brown and top is cooked with tiny holes formed on the surface.
No need to flip this dosa. Take it out from the pan and serve hot.

 Poondu Milagai Podi

Ingredients:-
7-8 Long dry red chillies
6 large pods of garlic grated
2 tbl spns of grated coconut
1 tsp of sesame seeds
1 tsp of bengal gram
1 tsp of jaggery
salt

Method:-
Dry roast red chillies, coconut,sesame seeds and bengal gram for about 2 mins in low-medium flame.
Grind this mixture to coarse powder along with salt and jaggery.
Add grated garlic and mix well.
Store in an air tight container and serve with dosa.

Sending the dosai recipe to Nupur's Blog Bite's #2: Copycat Edition