Tuesday, February 13

Dosa, Sambar and Strawberry Cheese Cups

These are my entries for this month's AFAM(strawberry cheese cups) by Maheshwari and Pooja's valentine's special. You may wonder what Dosa and Sambar has to do with Strawberry cheese cups...Yes this is what I made specially for my husband. Dosa and sambar is my husband's all time favourite. He can have it without any complaints for breakfast,dinner and even lunch. He doesn't like many desserts... doesn't eat icecream ,almost all sweets ... I had made these strawberry cheese cups before and he liked it . As I wanted to make a really nice dessert for him, I chose this one. Though the menu sounds extreme, I wanted to make only this because this is SPECIALLY FOR HIM!!!!!

Dosa



Ingredients
Idly rice- 4 cups
Urad dal- 1 cup
Methi seeds- 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
Method
Wash and soak rice and Dal+methi seeds seperately. soak for atleast 4 hours. Grind dal in to a fine past by adding water little by little . Then grind rice into a fine paste and mix it with dal .Add salt to taste and ferment it for abt 8 hours or overnight.(It may take a longer time in winter)
Sambar


Ingredients

For sambar powder
Red chillies- 2 to 2 1/2 cups
Coriander seeds- 2 cups
Bengal gram dal- 1/4 cup
Thoor dal- 1/4 cup
Pepper- 3 tsp
Fenugreek- 2 tsp
Jeera- 3 tsp
Curry leaves- a few
Dry roast all these seperately and powder.
Thoor dal- 1 cup
green chillies- 5 sliced
garlic- 5 cloves
tomato- 1 chopped
pearl onions- a few( u can use one chopped big onion too)
methi seeds- 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Hing- little
Tamarind juice- from small lime sized ball
Veggies of ur choice- (carrots, brinjal, drumsticks... etc)1/2 cup
For Seasoning
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
red chillies-1
hing- little
jeera-1/4 tsp
pepper- 4 to 5
methi seeds- less than 1/4 tsp
curry leaves- a few
coriander leaves- a few
Oil - 3 tsp
salt to taste
Method
Wash 1 cup of dal and add greenchillies, garlic,turmeric powder, hing, methi seeds, tomatoes in one bowl and the veggies in another bowl and pressure cook this .
Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds , when it splutters add the other ingredients for seasoning and then the onions . Saute till the onions are transparent . Add the tamarind juice and 1 to 2 tsp of sambar powder. now add the cooked dal (mash it well with a ladle) and the cooked vegetables. Add enough water and salt to it.simmer it and close it with a lid for 10 mins. garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Sambar is ready. Serve hot with dosa,idly or rice.

note

Sometimes when I grind sambar powder I was not able to get good colour cos of the red chillies. so I reduced the amt of chillies (10 ) and prepare powder. Then when making sambar I add 1 tsp of readymade sambar powder(i use shakti masala) and 1 tsp of the sambar powder which I made.By this way I get good colour for sambar.

Strawberry cheese cups


Actually I found this recipe for the cups, in the Pepperidgefarm puff,pastry sheet packet . They had printed a recipe for choc peanut butter cups and I replaced it with creamcheese filling.. Crispy puff and creamcheese was real Yumm!!
Ingredients
pepperidge farm's puff pastry sheets
cream cheese-1/2 cup
powdered sugar-1/4 cup or to taste
heavy cream- 2 tbsp
strawberries- a few(slitted half)
Method
Thaw the pastry sheet at room temperature 40 min. Preheat the oven to 400F.Unfold the pastry on the lightly floured surface , roll it and cut into 4" squares approx.Press the squares in the muffin pans. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Mix sugar, creamcheese and cream together and beat well till u get a smooth texture.
Place the cream in the puff cups and then a piece of strawberry on top.


About Valentines day... Though we knew what is valentine's day in our schooldays we didn't celebrate it or bother about it much.There was an 'Archie's gallery' opposite to my college and it used to sell wonderful valentine cards. That's how I got a better picture of valentine's day . Me and my husband had exchanged valentine cards only in the first year of marriage as feb 14 was only one week after our wedding. After that we don't care much for V'day because I feel that if u want to epress ur love to someone u can do it anytime, not only on v' day.

And now about my Husband.. His Name is Sundar.. He is a person who doesn't talk much while on the other hand I talk a lot...(I think in these 7 yrs it has reduced a bit ). He is a very patient guy while Iam not.Though we are chalk and cheese in some aspects there are a lot of other aspects where we have similar tastes too, and all these makes life interesting... He has stood beside me during some of the hard times in my life and I can never forget that. In short, He is a real gem of a person(My Husband who sitting near me ,reading this gave a big,broad smile )Happy Valentine's day!!!

23 comments:

USHA said...

Hi Prema,

Perfect Tamilnadu breakfast,even myhubby likes to have dosai for all the 2times...

Strawberry Cheese cups is good try and nice entry for AFAM event...

So nice to hear about both of you...I wish happy valentine day and many more to come...

Bong Mom said...

Thanks for the sambar masala recipe. I always use MTR :)

The straberry cheese cups look very cute and nice , great entry

All the best to all the three of you

Sia said...

very crispy dosa with delicous sambar and to end with strawberry cheese cup... yummm...
chalk and cheese in some aspects han? he he he...

Unknown said...

Hi prema...we love sambhar with dosa.I like the idea of mixing both homemade and storebrought sambhar powder for getting good color.I always have that problem of color with smabhar, now i know what to do..:D.

Strawberry cheese cups looks delcious and very easy to make.Thanks for this entry..

FH said...

Prema,I will pull up a chair beside your husband for dosa and sambhar.I love it .Thanks for the recipes and a wonderful looking dessert too.Great job dalring girl and have a great day today.Hugs!:)

Mishmash ! said...

Guess what..I'm yet to have my lunch and now what u offered here looks like a perfect one for me !! :)dosa , sambar and a dessert too !!!

Happy V-Day :)

Shn

Dr. Soumya Bhat said...

Hey Prema,
This dosa looks great and those strawbery dish are awesome.Good job dear..

KF said...

Dosa and Sambar is a good combination..My hubby's favourite breakfast..I prefer to have dosa with coconut chutney...Really nice strawberry cheese cups...Good selection for ur Valentine!

Kavitha said...

I can understand the dosa/sambar thing. as my hisband is the exact same in that aspect. morning noon or even midnite... Am sure it was perfect.

swapna susarla said...

hi prema
lovely recipe for the AFAM..

indosungod said...

Prema, nothing can beat Dosai/Sambhar combo, so it is always welcome. Strawberry Cheese Cups look tempting.

jacob said...

hi Prema,
The dosas look so crisp. and i love the way the strawberry cheese cups look. must taste wonderful.

Vini K said...

Hi Prema,first time here.Gret idea of filling the puff pastry sheets with cream cheese and strawberries.love dosa.Infact whenever we go out,all I eat at the indian restaurant here(Saravanaa bhavan) is dosa-either plain or masala..

nice reading about you both.you are right-when you want to express love to someone esp hubby,then it can be anyday or any time of the year!

Syam said...

dosa neengaley suteengala..illa photo net la suteengala...parkum bothey joll varuthu :-)

sailu said...

Dosa n Sambar - I think one of the most favorite b'fast dishes. And the dessert pictures are lovely.

Mrs. K said...

Wow! I am all over your strawberry cheese cups! Looks great. I guess it would make a wonderful dessert for a party.

Linda said...

Hi Prema, it all looks delicious, and I especially want to try your homemade sambhar powder! Thanks for sharing :)

LERA said...

prema ,so many dishes :)a perfect Breakfast that's too mouthwatering to resist,wish I fly right away to your place !

marriedtoadesi.com said...

Love the cheese cups. I will definitely try that recipe!

Kanchana
(from www.marriedtoadesi.com)

Vani said...

Looks like you both had a special Valentine's Day! The dosas and sambar look good and the strawberry cups for your cupcake too! OK, ok I know that was too cheesy but couldn't help it!! :)

J said...

Perfect breakfast! And am drooling over the dessert.:)

Bong Mom said...

hey
I put a link to your "Tofu Podimas" in my Tofu Burji post
thanks

Nidhi said...

Delicious Sambhar and Dosa and those strawberry cups are looking divine! I have to try it. Thanks for the recipe.