I made that!

So this month was my first time participating in the Daring Cooks Challenge! This month’s challenge was hosted by Debyi from http://www.healthyvegan.com, and she picked a recipe for a vegan dosa, with a coconut curry sauce. I was super excited, since I (shamefully) haven’t cooked much Indian food and have never even attempted these little Indian savory crepes.

I started out by chopping up all of the ingredients and putting them in cute little bowls:

Then I sauteed them. While I was doing that, John was hustling on the crepe batter and the coconut curry sauce. Because, well, I haven’t had a day off in weeks and I just don’t have the energy to spend hours on dinner! OK, and I was making 2 batches of jam at the same time, but still.

Then tossed in the spices to get nice and toasty.

Then I pureed some cooked chick peas and mixed them in with some tomato paste. Now at this point my confidence was at an all time low. As you can see, it wasn’t the most appetizing mixture. And well, I’m just not a huge fan of tomato paste. I decided to throw a little water and stock in and let it stew a bit, to let the flavors meld.

But I chugged along, because I was hungry and we had guests arriving to eat with us. I fried up a stack of crepes.

I stuffed the crepes with the filling and poured coconut sauce all over. And it was so good! I’ll never doubt the ability of Indian food to taste delicious even when it looks…well you know…

RECIPE:

Serves 4

Dosa Pancakes:

1 cup  flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp curry powder
½ cup almond milk
¾ cup water
oil for cooking (I cheated and used clarified butter)

1.Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.
2.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.
3.Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter. Makes 8 pancakes.

Curried Garbanzo Filling:

5 cloves garlic
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 bell pepper, finely diced
2 medium hot banana chilies, minced
2 TBSP ground cumin
1 TBSP dried oregano
1 TBSP salt
1 TBSP turmeric
4 cups (30 oz) cooked or canned chick peas
½ cup (4 oz) tomato paste

1.Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.
2.Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

Coconut Curry Sauce:

1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp salt
3 TBSP curry powder
3 TBSP flour
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, diced

1.Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.
2.Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
3.Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
4.Let it simmer for half an hour.