Thursday, June 26, 2014

Bollywood & Dosa Friend Night

Last week, two of my special friends came over for a quality night together. One of my pals just took off for two months in Europe, and I'll be gone for a bit too, so we wanted to revel in some serious QT together (quality time, folks) before being apart. 

Miss K had an idea to have a girls' night and watch a Bollywood movie together, and then Ms S and I decided that as long as we're watching a Bollywood movie, we may as well also be eating dosas and uttapams. What Fun!

thematic centerpiece!

We split up the work of cooking: I made a batch of dosa batter, some coconut cilantro chutney, and an unintentionally huge batch of sambar. My buddies made the dosa filling, some tamarind chutney, and a glorious batch of pistachio-cardamom ice cream


a little peek inside!

I really love dosas, and I really love uttapams... but usually if you go out to eat, the servings are so huge that I am forced to chose one or the other. With the joy of home cooking, we made small dosas and small uttapams so everyone got to try both.

Both dosas and uttapam are made with a fermented batter of rice and dal, and you can make a thin crepe with it (that's the dosa), or you can make a thicker pancake with it (and that's the uttapam)... it's cool because you get two pretty different culinary experiences out of one batter. We went for a pretty traditional potato-masala filling for the dosas (busted our frozen curry leaves out of the freezer!), and for tomato-onion uttapam

the whole spread of glorious yum

If you've ever gone out for South Indian food, you know that it's always served with lots of components: usually at least two chutneys and the sambar on the side. So, it can be a lot of work to do it right if you're doing all the cooking yourself! Sambar is one of my favorite foods, and this was the first time I've made some that I really loved. I used this recipe I found online, and it was just right for the spice and flavor profile that I prefer. The only thing I would change is adding still more tamarind, because I like my sambar with a good sour punch. 

I used another recipe from the same website for the coconut cilantro chutney and was equally delighted with the results! Again, my favorite chutney I've made to date. I gotta check out more recipes from that site, pronto. 

The tamarind chutney that Ms. S brought was a really perfect compliment to the one I made, and I was so glad she brought it. As you can see, I even busted out my special little metal bowls that I bought in India for our condiments! 

This night was The Best
We even got furry snugs.

After stuffing ourselves silly with deliciousness, we retired to the sofa and checked out a few different Bollywood trailers before settling on "Jab We Met." Ms. K had the genius request of a blanket for more snuggly goodness -- so we each got blankets, a hot drink, and cozied up. After a little digestive time had passed, we got the ice cream out of the freezer and busted into it. Wow. I don't know how she did it, but Ms S. made a truly wonderful and balanced Pistachio Cardamom Ice Cream - a strong cardamom flavor that wasn't overpowering, a super creamy texture, a beautiful pale green color... It was lovely, but I didn't photo-document it, so you'll just have to imagine it!

I asked for Bollywood movie suggestions on Facebook and got so many great ideas. I'd already seen quite a few of them, but I'll share the list here in case you're looking for a fun night with your friends!
3 Idiots
Hum Tum
Dhoom 2
Chennai Express
Om Shanti Om
Bride and Prejudice
Monsoon Wedding
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Kambakkht Ishq

Have fun!!

16 comments:

  1. woah that is one awesome feast! i need to have some dosa +movie nights too :)
    i like Jab we met. it is a cute movie. quite full of cliches, but well made and acted. :) unfortunately for the 2 actors, the actress dumped the guy right after the movie after a bunch of years of being together. ** bollywood gossip ** :D

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    1. oh! i didn't know the gossip! yeah, it was cliche, but fun. we picked it because we knew it would be light, and also because it was only 2 hours long! Already we were up until midnight watching it!

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  2. I love South Indian food but it's not as easy to find in restaurants as North Indian. I keep meaning to make dosas and uttapams but it requires planning ahead, which is sometimes a problem for me. You've inspired me, though. Bollywood movies are so much fun to watch, and would be even more appealing with a delicious feast. I'm going to go look at the recipes.

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    1. i know what you mean... we have a few indian restaurants here in town, but they are all North Indian. There are some good spots about an hour away, but I never make it over there.

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  3. What a sweet evening! I recently watched Veer-Zaara, which was long, but lovely.

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    1. oh cool! another good movie to add to the list! <3

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  4. this is incredible! you have so much fun and i love it. i need to take a page out of your book.

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    1. Caitlin, it was such a fun night!

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  5. Aw, so fun! I love cooking Indian food at home. Will have to check out the movies, thank you!

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  6. So sweet and fun and holy cow you make great dosa!

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  7. You make the best feasts with friends.

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  8. I say this every time you host a party, but I want to come to one! You always have such a feast.
    I'm a huge fan of dosa and uttapam. Haven't made my own for ages though.

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  9. Anonymous7:08 AM

    What a fun evening! Everything looks and sounds delicious!

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  10. Anonymous9:43 AM

    That sounds like a lot of fun. The dosas look really delicious. I've never attempted making them; I've only even had them ordered at Indian Restaurants.

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    1. my new blog address - http://www.veganlovlie.com

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  11. this is incredible! you have so much fun and i love it.

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