South Indian Dinner Party!

I missed my super special friend's birthday, because I was off leading a yoga retreat... A valid reason, but still! I had to make up for it! So I invited Jane and her family over for a big South Indian Birthday Feast. Jane is the pal I went to India with together last year, and so I recreated some of our favorite foodie finds from the trip.

The first thing to make was the dosas! I love dosas so much... and actually they aren't that hard, as long as you get started at least a day ahead of time, so that the batter can properly ferment. Jane's awesome daughter B was such a big help! It turns out she is a really great little dosa maker! Snoopy was trying to help too, mostly just by being so damned cute.

Here's a finished dosa, doesn't it look perfect?! I made a potato malasa with lots of peas and cashews.

We also cooked up a few uttapam to share... Oh, how I love me some uttapam. Dosas and Uttapams are made of the same batter - from fermented dal and rice mixed up together (mad props to Kittee for her awesome yet-to-be published recipe - it's worth waiting for, I promise!) - so, uttapams are like a dosa, but they are thicker and full of cooked in yumminess. This one is sort of a classic: tomatoes, shallots & cilantro. So good. You cook 'em veggie side up...

 ... and then you flip 'em for another little bit. I was stoked on how nicely they cooked up.

This is a special top-secret dessert uttapam that Jane & I dreamed up when we were in Indian together. I think this was Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats' favorite thing of the whole night!

Yummy uttapam close up shot. Ready to be eaten!!

As is customary, I made a batch of coconut chutney to go with the dosas and uttapams. This was my most yummiest batch ever! I used a recipe from one of the South Indian cookbooks I brought home with me... it was perfect! This stuff really makes a dosa go from good to great... it's such an important part of the meal.

There was also a batch of my favorite Garlicky Spinach Dal... the recipe straight from our favorite spinach dal spot in Pune... As delicious as it is green!

Of course, I made some simple Cumin Rice too. Basmati rice cooked up with some cumin seeds for extra Yum Power. So good.

We even had lime soda - which is easy and delicious. Basically, it's freshly-squeezed lime juice + simple sugar syrup + sparkly water... mixed together to each person's tastes. It's so easy and so good, I really should make it more often - especially since we have such a productive lime tree!

Because this was such a special fun occasion, I even busted out my most prized "National Integration Party Tissues," one of my most favorite souveniers from our trip. The box features friendly drawings of Indian people of all different religions and persuasions. It's so cute.

All in all, it was a huge feast with TONS of food and great company, and we were all just glowing with love and happiness and Indian-food-bliss afterwards. It just goes to show, a birthday celebration is always better late than never!