Curried chick pea dosa, with coconut gravy

An Indian brunch maybe not so Indian… Well, dosa is the pancake from India, but this recipe has traveled via Canada, it seems.

This month is a retro challenge, as we had to pick an older one we had not done yet, so mt choice was September 2009’s Indian Dosas (Vegan Style) :
Recipe here.

The 3 elements : curried chick peas and veggies, dosa crepes and the coconut sauce.

The curried chick peas with shishito peppers and kabocha pumpkin.

The coconut gravy with a shishito pepper and a little bit of habanero pepper.

I made the dosas with plain flour. Well, that’s easier and quicker, I prefer rice and lentil dosas :

red dosa
green dosa

Side veggies : goya bitter squash and cucumbers.

So let’s fill the crepes…

… pour the sauce and sprinkle coconut snow.

Mexiiiiiico…ooosaka !

Today’s lunch is Mexican style and plant based. I tried to make it not spicy for a guest not fan of hot chilis but, but…

Home-made whole wheat tortillas

Azuki beans, simmered with red wine, paprika, onion, garlic, a few shishito peppers, lots of cumin, thyme, a little cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, olive oil.

Mitsuba leaves, grilled shishito and avocado.
The idea is to fill the tortillas with beans and these greens.

Problem : Shishito peppers are usually not spicier than bell peppers. But it’s the end of Summer, and these are relatively hot… That’s great for me, not for those that have a sensitivity to hot peppers.

Side dish : okonomiyaki cabbage. Well it’s simply stir-fried with garlic and ginger, then flavored with sauce (Bulldog) for okonomiyaki.

As a dessert, double chocolate muffins :

Deep dishing notes

I had never made that type of pizza. Interesting experience. It’s a work in progress. Here are my impression.

Impression after first degustation :
It’s not pizza, it’s a totally different animal from the Italian pizza. When that is said, it’s a delicious savory bread full of sauce. I was afraid to get something heavy on the stomach, but no, it’s lighter than those delivery American pizzas as there are lots of veggies in the sauce.

Of course, I am judging my home-made version. I can’t say about the original.

Rich pizza dough. I mixed in flour, salt, yeast+sugar+ water and generous amount of oil. Enough hot water. Brief kneading.
It doubled in 2 hours.

The cheese layer :
I’ve mixed 2 cheeses (some soft spread cheese and pizza mix), and some tofu to make volume. The greens are leaves of mizuna.

The tomato layer :
A chunky tomato sauce from cubed tomato with olive oil, onion, garlic, chili…

I have put grits in the bottom of the dish (it’s useless IMO, but it’s the fashion). I’ve pre-baked 15 minutes then filled. I thought I didn’t want my toppings to overcook. The dough really expanded a lot.

You had already seen the Obama pizza. It’s made roughly the same way (minus tofu and mizuna + Hawaiian topping).

All leftovers from the 2 (Hawaiian and tofu). On a layer of dough, the tofu mix, shishito peppers, ham, topped with tomato sauce. I didn’t pre-bake. And the toppings were not overcooked.

Conclusion :
I liked the 3… but maybe preferred the third with leftovers, the tofu, ham, cheese, veggie mix was delicious. And thinner dough.

Next time :
I won’t precook the dough. I’ll try a thin deep dish one.

Shishito no kushiyaki – A skewer of lion peppers

A.simple.Japanese.delight.

Take tasty ingredients, do the minimum to showcase them.
These small Japanese peppers, called shishito (lion pepper) have spent the Summer under the sun, and you can smell and taste it. They have an incredible flavor.