Pesarettu (Andhra dosa) and Onion chutney

At the behest of fans (yes, you two), this blog is back, baby.
I present here, my recipe for pesarettu and an accompaniment to the dish (onion chutney).

Pesarettu (dosa, Andhra style):
Assuming folks reading this know what a dosa is, I only post the batter recipe.

Makes : 10 dosas.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice.
2 cups uncooked whole green moong lentils
5 green chillies
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder ("heeng")
2 TBS fresh coconut
1 large white onion finely chopped
1 potato (boiled and mashed)
1 bunch cilantro (chinese parsley) leaves ("dhania")
Oil (preferably sesame oil) for shallow frying the dosa (a cooking spray such as Pam minimizes the oil used)

Method:
1. Soak moong for 45 minutes in 2 cups water, after picking out from it things that resemble rocks and other inedible foreign objects. Yes, this's a common occurrence! If you own a Vitamix, however, you can get in denial about it, because it really pulverizes it all.

2. Soak white rice for 10 minutes in 1 cup water.

3. Drain out the water from steps 1 and 2.

4. Grind the soaked moong and rice with 1 cup water and green chillies in the Vitamix (or other inferior blender) under high, for 1 minute, into a coarse paste. You're done when you see uniform consistency. You don't want to keep grinding until you see steam (which is a possibility if you have gone for 2 minutes under high with the Vitamix). Steam, implies the batter's cooking!

5. Add salt, asafoetida, coconut, mashed potato, cilantro leaves, and mix with a spoon to thick dropping consistency.

6. Make the dosas, using a high lid to cover it as it cooks (so it cooks better, with some steam). This takes up about 1 tsp oil per dosa. Pam cooking spray is an option.

Onion Chutney :


Ingredients:

1. 4 red onions, chopped coarsely.
2. 2 TBS tamarind paste.
3. 2 red chillies (dried)
4. 1 tsp oil.
5. 8 curry leaves (fresh)
6. 1 tsp black mustard seeds
7. 1 TBS udad dal
8. 1/4 tsp asafoetida (heeng).
9. 2 roma tomatoes.
10. salt to taste.
11. 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves.

Method:
In a hot saucepan, add 1 tsp oil, and the mustard seeds. Wait for it to crackle, and immediately add the red chillies, udad seeds and curry leaves and heeng. Saute the onions until browned (about 5 minutes), and then the tomatoes (about a minute). Add tamarind paste, and saute for a minute. Turn off heat. Wait for it to cool a bit, and throw into Vitamix (or other inferior blender), and run on high for 40 seconds. Throw in cilantro leaves and run the Vitamix for another 20 seconds.

Enjoy the pesarettu with the onion chutney as accompaniment!