Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Mysore Masala Dosa


Masala Dosa makes all those south Indian’s born in 70’s, 80’s (or early 90’s for that matter) nostalgic. Treat for us was Masala Dosa or roadside masala puri + pani puri until 12 standard. After that, slowly started our ice-cream parties & the dhaba treats (spending couple of hundred rupees could fill 5-6 people tummy easily).
I, being born in a orthodox Brahmin family, was not allowed to eat out. I remember my mom packing some snacks even for a movie!! My mom was opposing me from eating from neighbor’s house or friend’s house, because of usage of garlic & onion at their places. But, a visit to GTR every month for a Sunday breakfast was like an unwritten family rule. GTR (Gayathri Tiffin Room) is a "world-famous restaurant in Mysore" . It is located in Chamundipuram area. We used to wait for that Sunday, get up very early in the morning, take headbath (one more rule in our family), wear nice clothes & be ready by 9 a.m sharp. The entire family used to be in front of GTR at 9:30a.m. Entrance of GTR used to disappoint us, as most of the times we were made to wait 10-15mins.
Once we get seated, waiter used to serve water & ask our choice. My father’s response would be 4 masala dosas, for one masala dosa don't smear red chutney (reason being: red chutney contains garlic & my mom is off to it), 2 upma, by-two coffee & 1 cup milk. This was our standard menu for many years!!! By-two coffee was for me & my dad, milk for my mom!!! I keep telling my mom that, you are missing greatest pleasures in life by not drinking coffee & not eating garlic. She can starve out but will never touch garlic or drink coffee.
Those were my wonderful primary & middle school days. Later, my father got transferred from Mysore & I said a “bye” to beautiful Mysore & also our favourite restaurant GTR. I got a chance to go to GTR again when I was in my 2nd or 3rd year of graduation. The place was still the same as I saw it 7-8 years before, but generally felt, it lacked the glamour of other happening restaurants around & hence couldn't attract the crowd. I happily went, enjoyed each bite & ate till I was full. It tasted heaven. After that, I never got a chance to visit GTR. But, I keep dreaming that I shall once take my kiddo, hubby & my parents to GTR to recreate moments…, hope to do it during my next visit to India.
I know, most of us have such nostalgic moments, when it comes to our favourite dishes. We all can go for hours talking about this. Let me list down the ingredients before you go down the memory lane…

Ingredients
For Dosa:
1 cup urad dal
½ cup channa dal
4.5 cups rice (normal sona masoori rice or idli rice could be used)
1 cup beaten rice
3/4th cup cooked rice
Salt according to taste

For potato palya (Potato dry curry):3 medium sized potatoes
2 onions
A handful of fresh/frozen green peas (optional)
2 green chillies
1/4th tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp urad dal
1 tbsp oil
Pinch of turmeric
4-6 curry leaves chopped
Cilantro/coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt according to taste

For red chutney:
3-4 pods of garlic
6-8 red chillies
½ tsp lemon juice
a fistful of coconut (optional)
½ tsp oil
salt according to taste
(One more version of red chutney can be found here)


Method:Red Chutney Preparation Steps:
  • Add oil to a small pan, roast the garlic until raw smell disappears (one can use raw garlic too, I don’t like the raw smell of garlic, hence like to fry it a little)
  • Remove the garlic & add red chillies & fry it for a minute.
  • Allow them to cool & blend garlic, red chillies, lemon juice & coconut together (don’t add water while grinding). It should become like a coarse powder with little stickiness.

Potato Palya preparation Steps:
  • Boil the potatoes (keep it in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles). Allow it to cool
  • Meanwhile, finely chop the onions & green chilli.
  • Take a broad pan, add oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackle, add urad dal & fry till it turns golden brown.
  • Then add chopped green chilli, curry leaves, onion & sauté till onion turns golden brown
  • Add green peas, turmeric & cook for another 1-2 mins.
  • Mash the potatoes, add potatoes, salt, mix well.
  • Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Dosa Preparation Steps:
  • Soak all the listed ingredients (except cooked rice & salt) for 4-5 hours.
  • Grind it to a smooth paste, add cooked rice to it while grinding (batter should be of pouring consistency).
  • Allow it to ferment for 7-9 hours (I normally keep it in a dry place one night).
  • Next day morning, add salt to it, mix well & prepare dosas
  • To prepare dosa, pour a ladle full of batter in the center, spread the batter in circular motion (clockwise) until it becomes 10cms diameter.
  • Immediately smear the red chutney prepared, add ½ tsp of oil. Cook it for a minute.
  • Now, place a tbsp of potato palya prepared in the centre.

  • Close the dosa & serve it hot with chutney of your choice.
  • Repeat the same with the remaining batter. 

28 comments:

  1. MMD looks awesome Sushma. Needless to say that I devour it whenever I am given a chance!

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  2. Reading about GTR made me drool! :D

    Masala dosa looks so yummy, good job girl. Making me crave for some!:)

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  3. GTR... our favorite was Raju Hotel on the by-lanes of Ramanuja Raste, off the Mysore Palace. It used to a ritual in our home as well.. Sundays means Mahabharata (cartoon later on)/ Abhyanjana/ Bisi bisi oota and evening Masala Dosa and peanut chikki in the Mysore Palace lawn and of course - Palace illumination. My younger sister was so young that she used to say 'matal sose' for masal-dose lol! Ah! miss those days. Makes me nostalgic. BTW dose looks perfect.

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  4. Dosa is awesome...I have bookmarked it...but your tale is more interesting.....love reading it

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  5. Dosa is making me drool..My all time fav..

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  6. Tumba chennagide,,nanna favourite dose idu:)

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  7. Wow Your GTR story reminded me of Janata hotel .MMD looks so yummy...Never enough to eat this..

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  8. Wow, love masala dosa.. need to go to GTR when i visit india !! Looks so gud with chutney an bhagi !!

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  9. masala dosa looks so mouth-watering. So tempting pic.

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  10. I enjoyed reading your post,Mysore is a lovely place, i enjoyed my childhood in Mysore.Masala dosa is my all time favourite, looks delicious.

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  11. @LG,
    Yaru MMD chance bidalla nodi.., they can eat many times a day & still crave for it ;)

    @Asha,
    Thanks & people like you are inspiration for me, I can never imagine cooking whole recipes that you cooked for Shivratri or for Haryanvi event alone :)

    @Smitha,
    I have heard of Raju hotel, Mylari hotel & many small, but yet very famous hotels in Mysore. My cousin used to stay in Ramanuja Road, he used to tell me about this Raju hotel. Good old & cherishable childhood days that we are missing now :(

    @Priti,
    Thanks a lot, try it & give me your comments

    @Ashwini,
    every one has their own (but very similar) nostalgic moments attached with this dosa & a hotel. BTW, where is this Janata Hotel?

    @Paru,
    same pinch, nangu ista idu.

    @Archy,
    Thanks, do you stay in Mysore?

    @Uma,
    Thanks a lot for visiting my blog.

    @Pavitra,
    Thank you, even I spent a part of my childhood days in Mysore. I love that place.

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  12. love your post ..dosa looks very delicious..one of my fav dish. First time here you have a very nice collection here.

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  13. Nice Entry.I can have MMD anytime and anywhere.Yours looks tempting.

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  14. @Trupti,
    Thanks a lot. Do visit again :)

    @Ankita,
    Even me, I love MMD & thanks for your precious comments

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  15. I dont know abt Mysore but this was my staple during my college days at the canteen. LOVE it :)

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  16. I love mysore masala dosa ... thanks for the chutney recipe .. I can make at home now. :-)

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  17. I love GTR and make it a point to visit everytime I'm in Mysore. Last time, the dosas were a little disappointing. I think the serving in the baaleyele adds to the aroma and that was missing. The uppittu was really good (had that there for the first time). I love their chutney too.
    The Mysore Masala Dosas you get here are smeared with chutney pudi. I never have that, after being used to the authentic Mysore Masala Dosasa. The pic looks great, btw.

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  18. @A_and_N,
    Mysore is a nice place, visit it when you get time :)

    @Sharmila,
    I feel that the fan followers of masala dosa are infinite ;) Try the chutney & let me know how is turned out

    @Vani,
    I have not got chance to visit GTR from more than 7 years already :(, that is a long time, but whenever I visit I take 1 masala dosa, upma & coffee. I love upma prepared out there too :) Thanks for your precious comments

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  19. I made masala dosas today and prepared your red chutney to kick it up a notch and make it Mysore-style. I had no idea that these were the ingredients that went into the red paste smeared on the dosas. Thanks so much for the recipe!

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  20. ಸುಷ್ಮಾರವರೆ..

    ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆದರೆ ಪರವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ ತಾನೇ..?

    ನಿಮ್ಮ ಲೇಖನ ಓದಿ ಬಾಯಲ್ಲಿ ನೀರು ಬಂತು...

    ಮಡದಿಯವರಿಗೆ ಹೇಳಿ ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲೂ ಮಾಡಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವೆ...

    ನಿಮ್ಮ ಬ್ಲಾಗನ್ನು ಅನುಮತಿಯಿಲ್ಲದೇ ಅನುಸರಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವೆ..

    ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು...

    ReplyDelete
  21. @TBC,
    Nice to know that you liked the recipe.

    @simentu maralina madye,
    khandithavagiyoo baribahudu Kannadalli, thanks for following my blog.
    nimma madadi maadidamele, hegittu antha helodu maribedi :)

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  22. I love dosa or tosei as we call it here..

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  23. Masala dosa is awesome, also red chutney is great. It really sounds delicious. Thanks so much for sharing.

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  24. We used to go to GTR every weekend!! We used to climb the betta and have GTR masala dose with bisi kaapi...aahhh...

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  25. HI, could you post the recipe for 'mylari dosai', if possible? Thanks...

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  26. Could you post the recipe for 'mylari dosai', if possible? Thanks...

    ReplyDelete
  27. I loved your story about the childhood days. I guess for almost every kid born in 70's and 80's your story looks so much like theirs. your doda and your writeup made me nostalgic about my childhood days - My grandpa used to take me on his cycle to the hotel and buy me dosa, and idlis for all the other grand children. That was the privilege i had for being his fav grand daughter..:) Loved this write up..

    ReplyDelete

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Thanks for visiting 'Savi-Ruchi'. I would try my best to update the blog with new & interesting recipes.
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