October 17, 2007
Monday, we spent the evening with Leena Sham learning to make masala dosas. Dosas are a very traditional south Indian food, though Uma told us they're from Tamil Nadu, another southern state in India, not Kerala, where we've been filling our bellies with them. But they're really good, wherever they're from, and David decided he just had to learn to make them. And guess what: it turns out we're missing a pressure cooker! Seriously, owning one would ease the way to making Indian food successfully. So we're going to buy one, though obviously not for the next six months or so. Another reason we had to learn to make them is because most Indian food in the US is Punjabi. Southern Indian food is much harder to get, so we'll just have to make it for ourselves.
In addition to learning to make dosas, which are the flat crepe like wraps, we also learned to make the masala, the spicy potato mix that is put in the middle of the dosas. Plus, we learned to make sambar, a sort-of-but-not-really-soup, coconut chutney, both of which are served with dosas, and banana lassis and Indian chai. These last two were sort of bonuses; they don't have to come with the meal, but they often do.
The lesson was lovely, especially since we got to eat the results, and we're hoping to be able to practice our new recipes at Uma's, when we descend on her in under a week. But we had another tasty food encounter in Kochi. We went to Dal Roti, a wonderful northern Indian restaurant (though not Punjabi), where the owner, a people person if ever there was one, has a website with recipes. The food there is amazing, Ramesh has an open kitchen for people to watch the prep work that goes on before lunch, and if you don't find the recipe you want on his website, he'll email it to you. You should really check it out. But you might want to get a pressure cooker if you plan on making any of the dishes..
