I learnt this kara dosai recipe / Toor dal dosa from my friend Shalini. She shared her mom’s recipe with me. This karam dosa looks similar to adai / mixed dal dosa but its different in ingredients and taste. Also the batter needs fermentation. So this dosa cannot be prepared instantly like adai. Idli rice, dosa rice / raw rice and toor dal are the base ingredients for this dosa recipe. It is prepared without urad dal. You can make both super crispy dosa and thick dosa with this batter. But this dosa batter becomes sour quickly. So its better to use it within 2 days by refrigerating the batter. Ok, lets see how to make this yummy, colorful kara dosai also known as toor dal dosa with step by step pictures.
Wash and soak rice and toor dal together for 4 hours.
In a big mixie jar, grind red chilli, coconut, tamarind, salt and hing.
Add rice + dal and grind in batches to a smooth batter adding enough water.
Mix the batter with hands and ferment overnight or 8 hours.
Make thin or thick dosa as you wish. Serve with coconut chutney or jaggery !
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
In a wide bowl, take the rice + toor dal. Wash it twice. Add enough water and soak them together for 4 hours.
In a big sized mixie jar, take the red chilli, grated coconut, tamarind, cumin seeds, hing and salt. Grind to a coarse powder.
Add soaked rice + dal and grind in batches to a smooth paste. Mix all the batter together using your hands. Keep the batter covered. Ferment overnight or 8 to 12 hours depending on the weather.
The next morning mix the batter. Add little water if needed and bring to dosa batter consistency.
Heat a dosa pan. Pour a ladleful of batter. Spread the batter to thin or thick dosa as you like. Drizzle a tsp of oil around the dosa. Cook for few minutes till golden in the bottom.
Flip the dosa and cook the other side too. Remove the dosa and serve hot with coconut chutney.
Enjoy !
Note
Adjust the quantity of red chillies as per your taste.
You can use either dosa rice or raw rice (Sona masoori) for lunch.
If you want you can reduce the quantity of toor dal to 3/4 cup.
Usually we make vendakkai puli kulambu for rice without coconut. Its my MIL’s recipe. Recently I tried this vendakkai kara kuzhambu with coconut just for a change. It came out so good and flavorful with all the masala. I followed Madras samayal Youtube channel’s recipe and modified slightly as per my taste. I added more lady’s finger and had it as side dish without making any.
If you want to make any side dish, you can try keerai kootu, chow chow kootu or cabbage kootu. Ok friends, lets see how to make vendakkai kara kuzhambu with coconut, fennel seeds masala with step by step pictures and video.
Vendakkai kara kuzhambu / Lady's finger kara kulambu
Vendakkai kara kuzhambu / Lady's finger kara kulambu for rice
Sambar powder or kuzhambu milagai thool - 1 to 1.5 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt & water - as needed
To temper and saute
Sesame oil / Gingely oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/ 2 tsp
Methi seeds / Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - Few
To Grind
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Small onion / Big onion - 2 / 1/4th
Garlic cloves - 2
Fennel seeds or cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
HOW TO MAKE VENDAKKAI KARA KUZHAMBU
Wash and chop lady’s finger into 2 inch cubes, chop onion, tomato. Soak tamarind in water. Take the extract.
Grind coconut and other ingredients to a smooth paste. Keep it aside.
Heat oil in a kadai. Splutter mustard, cumin, methi seeds and curry leaves.
Saute chopped vendakkai till its half cooked. Then add onion, tomato and saute till tomato becomes mushy.
Now add sambar powder, turmeric powder, salt and saute in medium flame without burning.
Add tamarind extract. Boil till lady’s finger is cooked well.
Lastly add coconut paste, boil and simmer for few minutes till oil separates.
Remove and serve hot with rice.
VENDAKKAI KARA KUZHAMBU - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Wash and chop lady’s finger / vendakkai into 2 inch cylinder shape. Wash and chop onion, tomato into small pieces.
Heat gingely oil in a kadai. Splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds, methi seeds and curry leaves. Saute chopped vendakkai till its half cooked.
Add chopped onion, tomato and saute till tomato becomes mushy. Add turmeric powder, sambar powder / Kuzhambu milagai thool, salt. Saute well for a minute.
Add 1 cup of tamarind extract and cover cook in low flame till lady’s finger is cooked well.
Grind coconut mixture to a smooth paste. Add the paste to the kuzhambu, add required water and boil the gravy in medium flame till raw smell vanishes.
Simmer the kuzhambu till oil starts to float in the sides. Switch off the flame and serve with plain rice. Add few drops of gingely oil or ghee while serving. It gives a nice taste.
Enjoy !
Note
You can use brinjal instead of lady’s finger.
For variations, you can use cumin seeds instead of fennel seeds.
You can use any brand sambar powder or kuzhambu milagai thool. I used my homemade sambar powder.
Try this easy, yummy vendakkai kara kuzhambu and enjoy with plain rice !
20 Tomato chutney recipes / Collection of tomato chutney varieties. Tomato based chutney is my most favorite among all the chutney recipes I make in my kitchen. So I love to try varieties of tomato chutney recipe for idli dosa I come across in cookbooks, TV shows, friends and relatives. Here I have made a collection of 20 tomato chutney varieties starting from easy tomato chutney recipe to tomato chutney without onion garlic, tomato thokku recipes , green tomato chutney etc.
I have also shared a tomato garlic chutney for roti. All these recipes tastes great with idli, dosa, paniyaram, pongal and appam. Friends, do check out this collection and try your favorite. I have also shared a video below for 3 easy tomato chutney varieties. Do watch it. Also don’t forget to share your feedback with me. Lets see the list of tomato chutney recipes for idli, dosa below !
This is a simple ellu podi recipe that tastes great with plain rice, idli, dosa. I learnt this sesame seeds powder recipe / til powder from my MIL. It needs just 2 ingredients. Usually we make ellu sadam for festivals like Aadi 18, Kaanum pongal. But that is a different recipe using black sesame seeds, urad dal and coconut. Please check it HERE.
Recently when my MIL visited my house, I told her to prepare 5 podi varieties for rice and took videos. She prepared coconut podi, paruppu podi, sundakkai podi, paruppu podi and ellu podi. I will share the recipes one by one in my space. To begin with here is an easy ellu podi for rice. I used white sesame seeds in this recipe. You can also use black sesame seeds. This podi stays good for more than 10 days if you store properly with clean handling. Friends, do try this yummy ellu podi recipe for rice and enjoy.
Heat a kadai and dry roast the sesame seeds and red chilli till seeds splutter.
Remove in a plate and cool down.
Add required salt and grind to a powder.
Do not grind for long time as sesame seeds leaves oil.
Remove in a box, use clean spoon. Stays good for 10 days.
Mix with plain rice adding sesame oil or ghee. Enjoy !
ELLU PODI RECIPE - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Heat a kadai and dry roast sesame seeds and red chilli in medium flame. Saute till sesame seeds starts to splutter. Make sure it doesn’t burn. Switch off the flame and cool down.
Add required salt. Grind to a fine powder. Do not run the mixie continuously for long time because sesame seeds release oil and it becomes a paste. So grind to a fine powder carefully. Remove in a box and close with a lid. Use a clean spoon for handling.
You can mix this powder with plain rice adding few drops of ghee or gingely oil. If you like, you can have it with idli, dosa too.
Enjoy !
Note
Adjust the quantity of red chili as per your taste.
You can use black sesame seeds instead of white ones.
Do not grind the mixie for long time to avoid becoming paste.
For variations, you can grind a garlic clove for additional flavor.
Try this easy, yummy flavorful ellu podi for rice and enjoy !
Sorakkai sambar / Bottle gourd sambar with freshly ground spices (Arachuvitta sorakkai sambar in Tamil) is an yummy, flavorful sambar recipe for rice. I have never tried varieties of sorakkai recipes for rice apart from paal kootu , Poricha kuzhambu, sorakkai dosai and poriyal. When I heard about this sorakka sambar from my neighbor, I was tempted to give a try. Basically bottle gourd is a bland vegetable. It doesn’t have any appealing flavor or taste. But its a healthy vegetable with lots of benefits. It has more water content which helps for weight loss, provides cooling effect to body, reduces liver inflammation, treats constipation etc. So I try to include this veggie atleast once in a week in my diet. For this sambar instead of following my usual sambar recipe, I added Tamil brahmin style arachuvitta sambar masala by roasting and grinding the spices, chilli and coconut. It came out very well with an awesome aroma. We loved this sambar very much. In Karnataka, my friends make Sorakkai sambar in a different way by adding a different masala. Soon I will try to learn from them and make a post. Now lets see how to make Tamilnadu style sorakkai sambar recipe with step by step pictures.
Sambar powder – 1/2 tsp (Optional, Use any brand or homemade)
Salt & water - as needed
To roast and grind
Cooking oil - 2 tsp
Coriander seeds / dhania - 1 tbsp
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli - 6
Raw rice - 1/2 tsp
Hing - 2 pinches
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
To Temper
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - Few
Coriander leaves - to garnish
HOW TO MAKE SORAKKAI SAMBAR
Wash and peel the skin of sorakkai / bottle gourd. Cut into two and chop the spongy portion. Discard it. Chop sorakkai into big cubes and set aside.
In a pressure cooker, take the toor dal, chopped bottle gourd, onion, tomato, green chilli, cumin seeds, required water and a drop of cooking oil. Cook for 1 whistle in very low flame. Mash the dal gently and set aside.
Heat oil in a kadai. Roast all the items given under “To roast and grind”. Grind to smooth paste.
To the cooked dal add tamarind extract, ground masala paste, salt and some water.
Roll boil for 5 minutes till nice aroma wafts. Temper in ghee and add to sambar. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with rice !
SORAKKAI SAMBAR RECIPE - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Soak tamarind in 1 cup of water. Wash the bottle gourd and peel its outer skin using a peeler. Cut into two pieces and remove the center, spongy part using a knife and hands. Discard the soft part with seeds. Now chop the sorakkai into big pieces as we are making sambar with it. For poriyal or kootu, you can chop it finely.
In a pressure cooker base, take toor dal, chopped bottle gourd, chopped big onion, tomato, slit green chilli, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, required water and a drop of cooking oil. Keep the flame high and cook till steam starts to come out of the nozzle. As soon as steam comes out, lower the flame completely and put the weight valve. Let it pressure cook in very low flame for one whistle. It may take 8 to 12 minutes depending on the size of cooker. (If you use small sized cooker, keep it in small burner gas stove. For bigger sized cooker, use big burner.). Open the cooker lid after the steam is released on its own. Mash the dal gently with a ladle. Make sure you don’t mash the sorakkai pieces.
While pressure cooking, you can roast the ingredients for sambar masala. For this, heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai. Roast chana dal, urad dal, red chilli, methi seeds, coriander seeds and raw rice. Roast in medium flame till dal turns golden brown. Do not burn any ingredient. After roasting, grind everything to a smooth paste adding coconut and water.
Add 1 cup of tamarind extract, sambar powder (optional), ground sambar masala paste to the cooked dal. Adjust the consistency of sambar by adding water. Add required salt. Let the sambar roll boil for few minutes till nice aroma wafts through your house. Add little water based on the thickness of sambar. Switch off the flame and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
Last but not the least do the tempering part. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a small kadai. Splutter mustard seeds, curry leaves and add to sambar. Mix well and close with a lid. Give a standing time of 30 minutes to 1 hour for best taste and flavor.
Mix this sambar with plain rice. Do not forget to add few drops of ghee while serving !(This sambar thickens as it cools down. So add some water, give a boil and serve hot whenever needed).
Enjoy !
Note
Do not chop sorakkai into small pieces. It gets mashed up while pressure cooking. So use big pieces.
Adjust the quantity of red chilli as per your spice level.
This sambar thickens over time. So you should add water whenever needed, give a boil and serve hot.
Addition of sambar powder is optional in arachuvitta kuzhambu. But I use little.
Do not forget to temper in ghee for more flavor.
Try this yummy sorakkai arachuvitta sambar and share your feedback with me.
