JEYASHRI SURESH
Bottle-gourd (sorakkai) thosai is easy to make. It is healthy and can be served with coconut chutney or sambar.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes per thosai
Makes: 12 thosais
Ingredients: Bottle gourd/sorakkai cubes: 2 cups Idli rice: 1 cup Toor dal: 2 tbsp Chana dal: 2 tbsp Red chilli: 7-8 Salt: As needed Onion: 1 Oil: For making thosai
Method: 1) Wash and soak the idli rice, toor dal, chana dal and red chilli in a vessel for three hours. 2) Grind this into a fine paste along with chopped bottle gourd. 3) Adjust water consistency. It should be like thosai batter. 4) Add salt and one finely-chopped onion. 5) Mix well. No need to ferment the batter. 6) Heat a thosai pan and pour 11/2 ladles of sorakkai thosai batter. 7) Spread this thin. Drizzle a teaspoon of oil on the sides. 8) Once it is cooked on one side, flip it. Drizzle oil if needed. 9) Cook for a few seconds and take it out. 10) Crispy sorakkai thosai is ready. Serve it hot. 11) Repeat the same for the rest of the batter.
Notes: a) You can add a few cloves of garlic while grinding. b) Bottle gourd can be replaced with white pumpkin. c) The sorakkai thosai batter stays good in the fridge for two days.
Jeyashri Suresh runs the vegetarian food website www.jeyashriskitchen.com