Vani's Recipies

Some of the recipies require grinding with a stonemill, but I'm sure the food processor from Home Depot will be a suitable substitute.

Chapatis (you need a clean stovetop to make this one)
1.Add 2 part wholemeal flour to 1 part water
2.Knead dough
3.Let sit for some time (30 min.), Vani also admitted that if she has not time, she doesn’t bother with this
4.Grab a small fist full, roll into a ball, flatten, put some flour on both side and flatten it some more with a rolling pin, until it’s the size of a personal pizza
5.Then put on the pan- wait, flip, wait, flip, put directly on stove fire. It will rise very quickly, remove immediately.

Idly
1.Soak 4 part rice and 1 part ural dal in water for 5-6 hours
2.Grind up the above and as you do intermittently and cautiously add water, until you get a consistent paste.
3.Let this paste sit for 12 hour or until it rises (this step helps to create the flufiness of the idly. 12 hours was given for humid Chennai weather, but in cold wintry weather you should leave for at least a day)
4.Steam for 10 minutes

Tomato Chutney
1.Put 4 tomatoes in 1 cup of water. Boil in water for 5 min. (until soft) – Don’t throw away water!
2.Peel skin, then mash lightly
3.Dice up finely 1 onion, 10 cloves of garlic, 1-2 chilli, fingertip size piece of ginger
4.Put oil and mustard seeds in a pan, heat, then put in the onion, follow by all the other contents of 3.
5.Cook slow until light brown, then sprinkle tumeric powder and (if you like) half spoon of chilli-powder
last, add the tomato puree from 2 in the pan
6.After tomato dry up a bit, add the water from 1
7.Cook until boil, then garnish with finely chopped cilantro

Dosa
1.Add 1 part wholemeal flour to 1 part water (it should have a watery consistency)
2.Pour two small ladles of mixture heated pan (vite! vite!)
3.Gently spread the mixture in the pot with the bottom of the ladle, starting from the center, forming larger and larger rings, until the mixture is completely flat (There should be tiny air holes in the mixture, but there shouldn’t be any large rips. If you get one of these rips, then you’ve made yourself a “mistake dosa”)
4.This mixture will cook very quickly, so you should work fast. After you spread it, flip immediately. Spread a teaspoon of oil on the dosa, then flip again.

Rasam (I actually found in this microwave recipe book that Vani handed to me when I told her that my dinner usually consists of instant noodles. Rasam is a mixture, South Indians add to the rice at the end of the meal. Like most other traditional Indian food, I was told it was “good for health”)
1.Combine 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, 1.5 teaspoons of coriander seeds, and 8 pepper corn into bowl. 2.Microwave for 2 minutes at 70%
3.Grind above, then keep aside
4.Pierce tomato with fork and microwave in 4 minutes, remove skin, mash lightly, then add 3 cups of boiling water (or you can use steps 1,2, and 7 from Vani’s Tomato Chutney recipie)
5.Combine 2 tablespoon of taramind pulp, ¼ teaspoon of tumeric powder, ½ teaspoon of chilli, ¼ teaspoon of asafetida, salt to taste, and all the contents of 1 and 3. Then microwave for 4 minutes