Madurai kari dosa

Makes 6 to 7

Dosa batter- 1 to 1 1/2 cups (not too loose)

Ghee/ sesame oil- couple of teaspoons

Eggs- 2 small

Mutton kheema- around 3/4 cups

Salt- to taste

Pepper- to taste

Coriander leaves- 3 to 4 tbsp, finely chopped

Make the mutton kheema as per this recipe. Use mutton mince and omit the potatoes.

For the dosa, you wont need 500gms mince, so for me this is mostly a what-to-do-with-leftover-kheema kinda dish.

Beat the eggs till slightly frothy.

Place a dosa tawa on medium heat and pour in one ladle full of the batter. Dont spread it too much, it must be thick, like a kal/ thattu dosa.

Cover with a lid, and just when you start seeing the bubbles, drizzle some ghee/oil along the edges.

Reduce the heat a bit and add about 2 to 3 tsp of the beaten egg, spread it carefully.

Season with salt and pepper and top with 2 to 3 tsp of kheema followed by a sprinkling of coriander leaves.

Press the meat slightly using a spatula and cook for about a minute,

Carefully flip the dosa and cook for another minute or so.

Make sure you dont burn the kheema, it should be a fried consistency.

Serve hot with some empty gravy on the side.

Notes: When i had this at the legendary Konar Mess in Madurai as part of the food walk i did, they drizzle a bit of mutton curry as well on top of the egg and then top with the kheema.

Also, the dosa is really thick.

The kheema on the dosa must be slightly fried and not burnt. So when its flipped, make sure you dont keep it on for a long time.

Prawn thokku/ roast- A guest post for The Captain's Kitchenette; and the Andy Bates American Street Feasts Show

There are so many wonderful food blogs out there, that I find it difficult to browse through all the yummy recipes they post. I still manage to run through a few once in a while, and eventually end up with tonnes of recipes bookmarked. Serah's beautiful blog, The Captains Kitchenette, certainly falls into this category and its her simple, easy-to-follow recipes that makes me a fan. I landed up on her blog after her sister (we were hostel mates in Chennai) posted a link to a recipe on FB. I was immediately hooked. We then exchanged a couple of emails, became friends on FB and the rest is history. She's now more of a friend than a random food blogger and I hope some day I get to meet her and her lovely family she cooks for. I also have to appreciate her for taking time to cook, photograph and blog in spite of having a toddler to tend to. Like I was telling her the other day, I complain if I have to continuously cook for a week ;)

Since Serah was taking some time off to tend to other commitments, she asked me if I could do a guest post for her blog and I truly obliged. She gave me full leverage on what I could whip up and since she said she preferred sea food, I thought I'd make this prawn thokku for her. I came across the recipe on one of my recipe search sessions on the internet and immediately wrote it down (yes believe it or not, I actually wrote it down). Completely forgot to bookmark the page and so apologies to the person who originally posted it. I did try searching for it again, but since this was written down ages back, I really had no luck.

Thokku, loosely translated means paste, and I presume this is more a TN preparation as opposed to the mallu (Kerala) way of making prawn roast. The use of fennel seeds make this dish quite unique, and of course something with grated coconut can never go wrong. This is a favourite prawn recipe of ours and has made its appearance on quite a few occasions. Although it goes well with some warm rice, dal and pappad, my favourite way to have it is as a starter with some chilled beer. just thread it onto small skewers, sprinkle the masala on top, and serve. It's a crowd pleaser, trust me!

So without wasting more time, head on over to Serah's kitchenette for the recipe and while you are there dont forget to take a peek around and drool. I have bookmarked a whole lot of recipes from her blog and seriously, dont forget to check out the authentic Coorgi recipes she's put up. Absolutely droolworthy!

Thanks a bunch for having me over Serah :)

On another note, here's something street food lovers might be interested in. Food Network is hosting a brand new series documenting the vibrant street food scene in the US called American Street Feasts and is hosted by the charming Andy Bates (yes, the blue-eyed Pie-Man with a delicious Brit accent). I have caught bits and pieces of his show here and is quite an eye-opener, especially because street food is seriously catching on and we have just started exploring some of the places.

The show basically follows Andy on a street food odyssey across the US, visiting the most vibrant food destinations and discovering the stories behind the recipes. He uses them as inspiration to create his own recipes, some of them being the Braised pork belly and Waldorf salad in a pretzel wrap and the Crawfish ball and Jambalaya. The show is aired every weekday at 12.30pm and 6.30 pm on Food Network and if you haven't been able to catch the previous episodes, visit Andy's collection page and give it a go. You can also use the interactive 'Street Food Map' to find out where to get the best street food in UK and while you are at it, go on and submit your suggestions on what to feature and so on. For the fans out there, Andy Bates' new cookbook is out in the market, so go on and grab you copy from any of the leading book stores or Amazon.

With thanks to Food Network for a copy of the cookbook

Potato bhajias (fritters)

I think this is probably the second recipe I would be posting from a recipe book taken from the library, the first being Amritsari dal, again from a Madhur Jaffrey book. For some strange reason, both the libraries in my Borough seem to have a lot of Madhur Jaffrey Books. I'm wondering its because most of her recipes cater to the locals, or so I think!

The book I have with me now, Simple Indian Cookery, has a bunch of neat recipes, but most of which I think are nothing great, just average and a little bland considering they are curry recipes. The potato bhajias, along with a flaky flat bread with cumin seeds were the only two recipes I thought were worth noticing.

These bhajias are pretty simple and straightforward and I wouldn't have given it a go if it wasn't for the cold, windy weather we experienced a couple of days back. It was so sunny and bright the first half of the week and then suddenly it became very unpleasant. 

I was craving some banana fritters and Ro wanted English scones. Too bad  that I was the one with the upper hand in the kitchen and he had no idea how to make scones. But with no bananas at hand, I was left with the option of something savoury. These potato bhajias served the purpose...I mean it was deep fried, it was hot and paired with a cuppa it was bliss.

Potatoes- 2 large, well scrubbed and peeled 

Besan/ Chickpea flour- 100 gms

Soda powder- 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Chilli/ Cayenne powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Water- about 100-150ml

Vegetable oil- for deep frying

Sift together all the dry ingredients and the cumin seeds.

Pour in the water bit by bit stirring as you go, to make a smooth batter.

Cut the peeled potatoes into rounds, about 1/4 inch thick and drop into the batter.

Stir to coat them well.

Heat the oil in a kadai or deep frying pan. test to see if batter is hot by dropping a wee bit of batter into the oil and it should fizzle to the top immediately.

Take as many potato pieces as will fit in a single layer and scatter them evenly in hot oil.

Fry, stirring occasionally, until they are golden brown in colour on either sides.

remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towels.

repeat the process till you are done with the entire batch.

Serve hot with some chutney. I did an array of dips like a tamarind chutney, a mustard relish and chilli ketchup.

Notes: The potatoes need not be peeled. I just did it by accident :)

Try the same with courgettes or even brinjal/ eggplant