Javarsi Oats Dosai ~ Sabudana Oat Dosa ~ Savory Oat and Sago crepes

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As I mentioned in this post, R and his family frequently talk about the sago dosais they tasted when they visited Bandipur park in south India. That dosai has become a legend in my home and the story of that dosai was my main inspiration to adding sago seeds to dosai for the first time. Sago seeds lend a great deal of softness to dosai, my only reservation with it is that, as far as I have been able to research it, sago seeds do not seem to have any great amount of nutrition in them. It seems to contain mainly starch and because of this I do not frequently use it, even in dosais.

 

On the other hand I really do enjoy the extra soft quality to dosais that comes from adding sago and from time to time feel tempted to try my hand at another variation of sago dosai.  This time around when I thought of adding sago seeds to dosai I decided to add some oatmeal to it too. The idea behind adding oatmeal was to add a bit of additional nutrition and I thought it would assauge my guilt over using both sago and white rice in this recipe. This dosai turned out to be "oh so soft" and was very delicate and lacy. I loved this version of dosai so much I could have happily had this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I didn't............but I definitely could have....I loved it that much:-)

 


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Ingredients and Method to make Oat Sago Dosai
1/2 cup brown rice ( I use brown basmati ) (can be substituted with white rice)
1 cup white raw rice
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi/ mendiyam)
1/2 cup black gram lentil (without skin)(whole udad dhal/ muzhu ulundhu) (can be substituted with split black gram lentil/ udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)
3/4 cup sago seeds (sabudana/ javarsi)

In a large bowl add all the ingredients except sago seeds. Mix well, fill with water and swirl with your hand and drain water. Fill with water about double the quantity of the grains and allow to soak for at least 3 to 4 hours.

In another bowl add sago seeds and fill with just enough water to submerge the seeds. Allow the seeds to soak for about 3 to 4 hours as well.
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Using your blender/grinder, grind the grains and oatmeal in batches adding a little water until it forms a smooth batter. The batter should be a little thick and not too runny.

Grind sago seeds adding a little water until it turns to a smooth paste, this does not take very long, just a few turns in the blender. Add the ground sago seeds paste to the batter made from grains and mix gently. Add salt to taste, mix well.

Alternatively you can add sago seeds to the last batch of grains after it is a little smooth and add some more water and grind until sago seeds are smooth. This second method makes it easier for the sago seeds to blend in with the batter. Proceed as mentioned with salt etc

Keep the batter covered in a large container (at least twice the size of the batter) and keep in a warm place to ferment for about 7 to 8 hours.

After the batter is fermented, mix it well and you can store this batter in the refrigerator if you do not plan to use it immediately. It can be stored for 4 to 5 days.

When making dosais (crepes)heat griddle/tawa/ heavy flat pan,when hot, pour a little batter in the center and immediately spread into a thin circle. Pour a few drops of sesame oil around the circumference of the dosai. Allow the lower side to cook for a few seconds until it is evenly golden brown, then flip and cook the other side until it has brown spots.

Here is a video clip of the process...........................



Remove and serve hot with your choice of chutney/ sambar/ molaga podi/ potato masal curry or any combination of the above four.
Proceed with the rest of the batter in the same manner.

Notes
When adjusting the consistency of the batter, err on the side of making a little thicker batter, that can be corrected easily then when it is too runny. When adjusting the batter, remove a little batter in a bowl and add a little water and mix it in, this way if it is too thin you can add some more thicker batter to it and get the right consistency.

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Javarsi Aval Dosai (Sabudana Poha Dosa/ Sago & Beaten Rice Crepes) Gluten Free

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There is a story in our household regarding sago crepes. It so happened that quite some time back R and his family had been to a place called Bandipur National Park in India. This is a place where you get to see a lot of wildlife in their natural habitat. So  they have a lot of memories from that place and one of the memories was about how amazing it was to see deer and other wildlife when you looked out of the window at the cabin where they were staying. But in addition to the tales of these animals R and his parents always talk about one more thing from this place.....food....not something you expect someone to remember from their visit to a wild life sanctuary. 

Apparently in the place they were staying, there was this cook who on the day of their arrival offered to make them sago crepes(dosai). When he got it for them they were all completely blown away by the softness and taste of the crepe/dosai they were offered. They happily consumed copious amounts of bite sized little crepes/dosai and remember it until now. When the family sits together and is reminiscing about old times often this tale about their trip to Bandipur followed by the tale of sago dosai is almost always brought up.Unfortunately though none of them thought to take the recipe from that cook and this dosai and its memory has become a legend around our home. 

So now whenever I experiment with something in my kitchen and tell R I made it out of the top of my head R suggests to me that maybe I should try my hand at making the sago dosai.He has been ever hopeful that somehow I will be able to put together the ingredients of an item I have never even seen, let alone tried, and will be able recreate the exact same dosai he once enjoyed. What can I say, R is an eternal optimist when it comes to my cooking :-)   He helpfully gave me two clues to help me in my quest for the perfect sago dosai, he told me that that the dosai he had was soft and it had sago in it:-) 

Well that information has led me to experiment with various proportions of sago and other ingredients in dosai, sometimes with disastrous results, and sometimes like this one, when I hit upon something that tasted yum and that we enjoyed.This dosai has been the softest dosai I have had and had a very light and delicate texture and for those who like their dosai to be crunchy when made very thin and kept on the tawa for a bit longer it turned very crunchy too.

My search for the elusive Bandipur sago dosai/ crepe continues and at the very least this search has proven to be very interesting until now and has the fringe benefit of contributing to my collection of recipes in the process.

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Ingredients and method to make Sago Rice crepe ( Sabudana Dosai)

1 1/2 cups brown rice (or white raw rice)

1/2 cup sago (sabudana/ Javarsi)

1/2 cup Beaten rice flakes/ flattened rice (jada poha/ aval)

1/2 cup cooked brown rice (or cooked white rice)

salt to taste

A few drops of sesame oil

Wash, drain and soak the rice in water for at least 4 to 5 hours

Soak sabudana in water ( the water should just cover the sabudana) for about 4 to 5 hours

Just before grinding, wash and drain the flattened rice and keep aside.

Grind the rice until smooth adding water as required. It should be free falling but not runny.

Grind the sago,cooked  rice and flattened rice together until very very smooth. Add water as required but keep this sago,cooked rice and flattened rice mixture thicker than the ground rice.

Mix both the ground mixtures together and add salt to taste and mix well.

Heat the tawa/griddle/flat pan on medium heat and when it is hot pour a ladle full of this batter in the center and spread quickly into a thin circle as possible.

Add a few drops of sesame oil on top and let it cook.

Flip over and cook the other side too.

Serve hot with Spice powder (molaga podi)  or chutney  or sambar.

Yields about 12 to 15 dosais (depending on size )

Variation: 

For those of you who like things spicy you could grind a couple of green chillies (or more or less according to taste) with the rice or the sago to spice things up a bit

Notes for Sago rice crepe

I used long grain brown rice( brown basmati) but any type of white raw rice can be substituted in its place.If you use white rice, this dosai will also look whiter and not have the creamish tinge mine had

The batter should be free flowing but thick not runny. For those of you familiar with both idli batter and dosa batter it should be thicker than dosa batter but a little thinner than idli batter.

If the tawa gets too hot the batter will start rolling even as you try to spread into a circle, so try and keep the tawa on a medium heat throughout.

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Sabudana Khichdi ( Sago Pearls Khichdi)

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This simple and delightful dish comes from Maharashtra, a state in the western region of India. This is traditionally served for breakfast or as a light snack but can also be served as a light dinner. This is one of my favorite dishes and it never fails to amaze me that such simple flavors can come together to form such a tasty final product. 

This khichdi also evokes some good memories for me. I remember when my mother used to make this I used to "assist" her in peeling the skin off the peanuts and used to consume quite a few of the peanuts along the way and " borrowing" a few soaked sago pearls to play with as my mother was getting this dish ready.

Sago and Tapioca are kind of similar, and one is often mistaken for the other. But there are differences, to find out more about sago  check here  and about tapioca  here

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Ingredients and Method to make Sabudana Khichdi

1 1/4 cups of Sago pearls (Sabudana/ Javarsi)

1/2 cup raw peanuts/ or 1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts (Mungphali/ Shingdana/Kadalai)

1 large potato or 2 small ones peeled and cut into small pieces (Aloo/Urlakizhangu)

3/4 tsp cumin seeds (jeera/jeeragam)

3 green chillies (cut very finely) (or to taste)

3 tsp oil

salt to taste

half a handful of cilantro (coriander leaves) washed and cut fine for garnish

Soaking time for the sabudana/ sago is about 5 hours.

First wash the sago in water and drain completely leaving about 4 to 5 tbsp of water in it. Every hour or so, add a few more tablespoons of water to the sago (about 2 tbsp each time) and mix the sago well.Do not add too much water to the sago as it will become mushy when cooked and will become a sticky mess. When the sago is about double the original size and soft it is ready to cook.

If you are using raw peanuts dry roast  peanuts until the peanuts are evenly roasted and keep aside. If you choose you may skin the peanuts when cool and grind to a powder in a spice grinder. Do not grind too long, use short bursts of power otherwise the nut butters can cause clumping.You may grind the peanuts to a fine powder or keep it coarse according to your choice.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan and add cumin seeds to it, when the cumin seeds splutter add green chillies to it.  When the green chillies start turning whitish add potatoes and saute  for a little while until the potatoes are cooked.

Add the sago to this, saute for a minute or so, add the ground peanut powder and salt to taste and saute until the sago seems a little softer and transparent (about a couple of minutes). Do not keep the pan closed with a lid at this stage as the sago will become mushy. 

Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

This dish tastes best when served hot and fresh on the day it is made. In case you refrigerate it heat it in a microwave before serving.

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