Brown Rice Dosa and Tomato Onion Chutney!!

Dosa,being the staple breakfast in many south Indian homes appears regularly on their breakfast menu.These days many people avoid eating them as it has large proportion of white rice which makes then feel it is bit unhealthy.For such kind of people brown rice is a nice and healthy substitute to the regular rice in making dosa.One need not to even compromise for the taste of dosa as I felt there is no major difference between the regular and brown rice dosa other than a slight dullness in the color of dosa because of the usage of brown rice.Though the calories,carbohydrate and protein contents are similar in both the rice varieties,brown rice has low glycemic index when compared to white rice and also it has required dietary minerals and vitamins which are essential for the body.As I have made my dosa healthier I had to even pick a low calorie side dish which goes with it other than the coconut chutney which is loaded with calories.So I made Tomato-Onion chutney to pair up with my healthy brown rice dosa.I make this tomato chutney very rarely as husband always prefers coconut chutney for idli and dosa and that is the reason it rarely appears on my menu,but I made this specifically to make this breakfast combo healthy.

Brown Rice Dosa:

Ingredients:
3 cups normal brown rice(I used sona masuri variety)
1 cup whole urad dal(skinless)
1 cup mix of toor dal,chana dal,moong dal (approx 1/3 cup each)
1 cup beaten rice(poha)
1 tsp methi seeds
salt to taste
oil/ghee to roast the dosa

Method:

• Wash rice,dals and methi seeds all together for 2-3 times in running water and soak them for 6-8hrs or overnight.
• Next day morning soak poha for an hour before starting the grinding process of the batter.
• Grind everything together to a smooth paste in the wet grinder for better results.Add enough salt to the ground batter and mix well and let it ferment for 9-10 hrs at room temperature or keep it in hot oven in winters for speeding up the process of fermentation.
• I am sure everyone knows how to make simple plain dosa,still I explain the process of making it for people who are not familiar with it.
• Mix batter well.Pour a big ladle of batter onto a medium hot pan and spread it in the circular motion to form a uniform shaped dosa.
• Pour 1 tbsp oil approx over it and cover it with a lid.(No need to add more oil if using Non stick pan,you can completely replace oil with ghee for better taste if you are not calorie conscious).
• Let it initially cook on low flame for 1-2 mins and remove the lid and increase the flame later and cook for a couple of mins until you see brown/red patches.(No need to turn the dosa).But do not try to remove the dosa in between while it is roasting.We should remove it only when you are sure that the dosa is perfectly roasted.
• Remove the lid and pour some ghee in the center and you can even close it from two sides or three sides like we get in hotels.
• Brush the dosa with ghee and place it in the center of the pan to make it more crispier.How ever it is optional.
  
• Serve it directly and do not drop them in hot boxes.It should be served on to the plate immediately to enjoy the flavor and crispiness of the dosa.
• Reduce the flame for one minute and then start preparing the next dosa.Do not pour the batter on high flame.

Serve dosa with chutney of your choice like coconut chutney/groundnut chutney/mint chutney/tomato chutney/tomato onion chutney.I served dosa with tomato onion chutney.

Variations:

1. Use regular white rice instead of brown rice to make regular plain dosa.
2. Use your regular proportions for dosa like how you usually do and just replace white rice with equal quantities of brown rice.
3. I add toor dal and chana dal sometimes to my dosa batter,but never added moong dal to the dosa batter,one of my friend recommended to use it so I thought of making an attempt and it turned pretty tasty though not much of difference.

Tomato Onion Chutney:

Ingredients:
2 large juicy tomatoes,chopped
1 large onion,chopped
2 tsp urad dal
1 tsp chana dal
4-5 red chillies
1/2 tsp tamarind pulp(if using hybrid tomatoes which are not much of sour)
salt to taste
2 tsp oil

for tadka:
1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
a sprig of curry leaves
a pinch of hing

Method:

• Heat a tsp of oil and roast red chillies,chana dal and urad dal separately until brown and keep them aside.
• Heat another tsp of oil in the same pan and fry onions until translucent and then add chopped tomatoes and fry until they are pulpy.Add a pinch of turmeric to it and tamarind(if using) and let it cook for few mins.Cool the mixture completely.
• Grind the roasted dals,red chillies with salt to a fine powder and then add cooled onion-tomato mixture and grind to a slightly chunky paste.
• Heat ghee in the same pan and crackle mustard seeds and add urad dal and curry leaves and fry until brown.Add a pinch of hing and pour this tadka over the chutney and give a nice stir.

Serve it with Idli/Dosa/Rice/Uttapam/Rotti etc.

Variations:

1. You can use either chana dal or urad dal or combination of both in the above chutney.Everything tastes equally good with slight difference.
2. You can even add a handful of coriander leaves while the tomatoes are being cooked to make it flavorful.
3. If you like mint,you can even add a handful of mint leaves while the tomatoes are being cooked.
4. You can make the chutney bit rich if you add a couple of tea spoons of grated fresh coconut while grinding the chutney.

Note:

• For a Vegan version use only oil while frying as well as in chutney for seasoning.

I am sending this to Siri's 'WWC-Brown rice for Dinner',the event started by Sanjeeta.