Breakfast menu - Atta Dosa

Without much ado, let me announce my theme for the next series of posts. I'm calling it - 'Breakfast Menu'.
You must have got the idea. This is meant to explore alternative breakfast options (alternative to toast, butter and jam,of course) for families where the breakfast maker, with a love for sleeping in after silencing the ringing alarm, rises and faces the task of making fast, hassle free and filling breakfast which must be nutritious also.
The theme has already been touched upon by a main author of this blog here. So, I will just take it up from there.

To start in the order of the least preparation time, the one thing that comes to my mind is Dosa made from Atta. If you're doubled over laughing with wonder at whether I am going to explain how to make Atta dosa, you bet I am! :)

There are so many kinds of dosa that I'm sure each of us have our favourite ones among them all; but I do have my doubts that those of us who like whole wheat dosa are numbered. Somehow it doesn't seem to have caught the popularity of the normal dosa or the fanciness of the rava and other varieties of stuffed dosas, but it used to be one of the regular weekly dishes at home, and I've liked it since then. I like it even more now that I'm cooking and it is just so easy to make considering the planning and effort in preparation that normal dosa batter demands.

As with all dishes, there are many ways you can make this one too, but let me tell you the easiest one (it takes all of ten minutes if you do it the simplest way). All you need for the basic batter is Atta, water and salt. Here it goes - 
1. Take as much Atta (wheat flour) as you need to make the batter. Add enough salt and mix.
2. Pour water lavishly until the batter becomes loose enough to be like flowing liquid. Use your hand to mix well and remove any lumps remaining. When all lumps are removed and the mix flows like a normal dosa batter with the consistency that you require, then your batter is ready.

3. This step is optional- if you are not satisfied with the batter as it is, you can spice it up with seasonings depending on your taste - sliced green chillies, chopped ginger, shredded coconut etc can be added with the batter. Also, seasoning can be done with mustard seeds and curry leaves spluttered in oil.

4. This is the common factor to all dosa preparation - heat the tawa, pour the batter onto the hot tawa, spread and wait till the ends of the dosa start turning up, then flip it and wait till the other side is done. Take off the tawa when it's toasted right. 
Serve with coconut chutney.

That reminds me- I have many stories to share about coconut chutney, but let's save it for the next part of this series. So until then, happy Dosa time to all. Cheers!

Struggles with Atta - pursuing the perfect Chappathi

Note: I use the names 'Roti' and 'Chappathi' interchangeably in this post, referring to what is called 'Indian flatbread', shown below:

My struggles with Atta (whole wheat flour) started in my early twenties when I started living with four other girls in our rented apartment in Chennai. Those were the initial days, when the perseverance for the perfectly round roti was very high. Until then, all the experience that I had with atta was after it was in round shaped flat form. My area of expertise in my mother's kitchen was to take care of it after it was put on the heated tawa. The steps up till then were taken care of by her.

In the company of girls cooking together for a night's meal, I started learning the intricacies of mixing the atta with water and working on it until the right consistency of dough was reached. We each had our roles in the process, and mine quickly became the one of the dough maker and while I pumped and coaxed the atta into submission, work would progress simultaneously on cooking the sabji to go with the roti. Meanwhile hands were ready and waiting to take the dough and roll into the flattened and perfect round form.