fiber rich barley dosa and a tomato and peanut chutney

Dosa is a savory pancake that can be made really thin and crisp or you can make it thick and soft. You start understanding your favourite ways of having dosa once you start making regularly at home. This barley and chana dal dosa is one of the soft dosas that we love for our breakfast mostly.

In fact a savory pancake or crepe (dosa) is a perfect idea of breakfast for me. It allows me to keep using different grains and lentils every time and the chutneys with it can also keep changing with a good protein boost to the breakfast.

This barley dosa made using hand pounded pearl barley is a fiber rich and low GI recipe, soft and yet a bit grainy and soaks the chutney dip really nicely. This dpsa is an improvised version of the south Indian dosa as i haven't fermented the batter and have included some green chilies and ginger etc in the batter. 

The chutney keeps changing, sometimes we even make a sambar or salad with it and enjoy a satisfying meal. I am yet to see a person who has tasted this and not liked it, what's more interesting is that this dosa keeps you full for hours and you don't feel like snacking before lunch. Drink lots of water when you eat such food and you are in for a detox. The fiber works for you wonderfully.

ingredients

whole barley hulled 3/4 cup
chana daal or split chickpeas 3/4 cup
cumin seeds 2 tsp
black pepper seeds 1 tsp
ginger chopped 1 tsp
green chillies 2-3 nos.as per taste
salt to taste
ghee to cook the dosa (1 tsp per dosa)

preparation

Soak the barley and split chickpeas overnight or for 3-4 hrs separately and grind them when you need to prepare the dosas.

Grind the barley first as it remains a bit grainy, just when it looks like a coarse paste add the chana daal, all the spices and salt to taste and grind again to get a smooth paste. Add water and grind again to get a thick batter. The barley in the batter will be a bit grainy till the end and will give the prepared dosa a distinct texture.

The batter does not need any fermentation and you can make the dosa immediately or keep the batter in the fridge for further use.

Heat a cast iron tawa or dosa pan and grease with ghee. Cool down a bit to medium heat and pour a big ladle full of batter on it. Spread with the help of ladle by gently moving the ladle outwards in a circular manner.

The dosa will be like a pancake of about 2 mm thickness. Wait till small holes appear on top and then flip the dosa to get the other side browned. Some more ghee can be added to make it crisp but I prefer just to grease the pan in the beginning which gives one side of the dosa crisp and the other side soft. The barley gives it a perfect dual soft and crisp texture.

Repeat the process to make more dosas.

Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

chutney of tomatoes and peanuts

grill or roast 3 tomatoes till soft and peel the skin, grind a 4 tbsp of roasted peanuts with 2 garlic cloves and 2-3 whole red chilies to a fine paste, add the tomatoes and salt to taste and grind again and serve. You can add some roasted sesame seeds to this chutney too.

I suggest having 2 chutneys with this dosa, one is this tomato based, another can be a gourd based chutney to make this meal more suitable for weight loss and daily detox.

Gluten free or minimal gluten is always good.