Red chutney

This is a good chutney to serve with a dosa, but don't put it too much! It's spicy!! 

 Ingredients:
2 tbsp roasted lentils
4-5 garlic cloves
2-3 red chillies
1 onion, roughly chopped
salt as required
water

In our store you usually don't get roasted dal, so for the roasted lentils you can just fry them with some oil in a small pan, until they're brown.
Blend all the ingredients and add some water until you have a smooth paste.
This chutney keeps good in the fridge for 1-2 days. 

Masala dosa

One of my relative once told me that the best way to impress your guests at dinner is to prepare some exotic food. That's not exactly why I usually prepare indian food, but he was right. I tried to do dosas at home, a typical south indian dish and everyone that's ever been in India knows that the picture below doesn't look like a real dosa. Yeah, even my experiments aren't always successful, but on the other hand the taste was good, so I'm sharing the recipe anyway! 

Ingredients: 

Dosa batter: 

240 gr parboiled rice

75 gr lentils

salt as required 

water as required

Masala filling:

2 large potatoes

1 small onion

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp mustard seeds

1tsp masala powder

oil

Wash and soak both rice and lentils 5-6 hour separately. Drain the water and grind the lentils adding needed water until smooth and fluffy. Do the same with the rice. Mix them together and add salt. Leave it for 7-8 hours in a large container.

Masala potatoes: 

Cook the potatoes with the skin in cold water. When the water start boiling, cook for 15 minutes. 

Heat some oil and fry the finely chopped onion. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Add them to the onion with the spices. Stir well and cook a few minutes. 

Heat a non stick flat pan (tawa) and add some oil. Take some batter and pour it on the pan from the centre towards the edges in a circular motion. When cooked on one side, flip it over. 

When it's ready put it on a plate, add the masala potatoes and fold it. Serve with some red chutney or with the chutney you prefer. 

Coconut rice (for ricecooker)

This is a great rice to serve as a side dish with spicy indian food. It will make a great combination of flavours.

Ingredients: 

290 gr basmati rice

240 ml coconut milk

480 ml water

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 tbsp shredded coconut

If you don't have coconut milk, don't worry, it's very easy to do at home. You need 225 gr desiccated coconut and 450 ml boiling water. Put the coconut in a food processor and pour the over the boiling water. Process for 20-30 seconds, then cool. 

Place a cloth over, bring the ends together and twist it to extract the liquid. You can keep the coconut milk in the fridge 1-2 days or it can be frozen until you need it.

To prepare the coconut rice, put all the ingredients in a rice cooker and stir well. Cover and set to cook. Stir once or twice while it's cooking. Serve with some indian curry or with the food you prefer, but I think it's the best way to balance the flavours with very spicy food. 

Banana & Pistachio Lassi

What about a cool drink for these hot summer days?
My suggestion is to have a cold indian drink called lassi. In India they drink it with the spicy food (it helps to digest it), but you can actually have it whenever you want to. :)

This recipe serves 4 people.

 Ingredients:
300 ml natural low fat yogurt
1 tsp sugar (optional or according to your taste)
300 ml milk
30 ml puréed banana
1 tbsp crushed pistachio nuts, to decorate

The preparation of this drink is very easy. Put the yogurt in a pitcher and whisk it until frothy. Pour in the milk and the fruit and continue to whisk 2 minutes. Serve in long glasses and decorate with some pistachio nuts on the top.