Panpolo / Neer Dosa

Panpolo or Neer dosa is a very common breakfast dosa in a konkaNi household. Neer - meaning water in kannada - is a main constituent of this dosa along with soaked rice. The consistency of this dosa is also watery, which is why the name probably. In konkaNi, I think it associates with Paani (water) polo (dosa). However, this is just a guess :) There are several versions of this dosa, with coconut, cucumber, magge (mangalore cucumber / melon), water melon peel etc., I love all these versions, but they all have distinct flavors and I think they are all acquired tastes.

I remember when my mom used to make these dosas (although she makes the coconut version of these called soye polo), they used to turn out so soft that every bite would melt in your mouth. We used to eat them with ChurNu (konkaNi), which is a mixture of grated coconut and jaggery, or with honey. I never preferred to eat this dish with chutney, although, if I insist on honey or churNu nowadays, my mom will probably call me a baby :P Not that I care... I stick to my tastes often !!

Oh BTW !! These dosas are similar to crepes. Anyways, heres the recipe you guys.... You will love this dish and it is so simple to make.

Serves 2 Preparation Time (3.5 hrs - on and off)
Set-Aside Time (4 hrs / overnight)
Cooking Time - 20 mins approx


Ingredients

Rice - 1 cups

Salt - as per taste

Water

Oil - for roasting

Method

Soak the rice for 2 - 3 hrs. Hence the large preparation time :)

Grind the rice with as less water as possible to a fine smooth paste. Pour it into a vessel and add considerable quantity of water... Don't worry yet about the consistency of the batter. Don't yet add the salt at this point. 

Keep the watery batter overnight or at-least for 4 more hours. The batter will now separate out from the water and the water can be seen floating on top of the batter in the vessel. Don't shake the vessel a lot and pour out the water from the top of the vessel, by tilting the vessel slowly. Don't worry if a little bit of water is left behind. This process is to get a little bit of elasticity to the batter when kept aside for some time. If this process is omitted, the dosas might break when spread on the tava, since rice does not have an inherent elasticity.

Now add some salt to the batter. Add water enough to make the batter to the consistency of milk. Not too thick, but not very watery either.

Heat a tava on medium flame. Sprinkle a few drops of oil on it. Throw some of the batter with a ladle. If the tava is a round one with an edge or rim, you can just pour some batter on the tava and tilt the tava to spread the batter. Do not spread the batter with the ladle like a normal dosa. Cover and cook for a min or two. Fold the dosa and serve. This dosa is not flipped and cooked like regular dosas. Enjoy with any kind of chutney or ChurNu or honey. It tastes heavenly.

I had prepared peanut-garlic chutney to go with it.
YES !! I realize the tea-cup is almost empty,
but that is when my friends let me finally take this pic :)

Yummy Days !!

Prepping for garlic bread pizza

Into the oven it goes !!

Yumm !!! Baked bread pizza pieces....

Tostones !!! Mexican - Cuban dish.... Really yummy *slurp slurp*

Egg Masala Curry.... prepared it, but never tasted it :(

Aloo Wada !!

Masala Dosa !!! *drool drool*

Sambar !!! :P

Dabeli......

Parathas..... !!

Aloo Bhajiyas -- bhajiyas and chai on a windy rainy day :P Awesome combo :)

Besan ke laddoo --- every grandmom's nightmare :P

Gobi Masala !!

Pan Polo / Neer dosa --- my ever favorite dish :D

Peas Pulao and Masala boiled eggs

SLURRRRRRRRRRRPY !!! Paneer Tikkas....

Can you ever refuse Gobi Manchurians !! ?

Kachoris !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaah ....

Walnut brownie --- just warm out of the oven :)

FOOD FOOD and more FOOD ............... !!!

So, I have been on this whole cooking spree the last few days, mainly because I did not have many vegetables at home (ironic huh !!) and I dint have the time to go grocery shopping.... So, I had to make do with other stuff, like daal, dosas and stuff which you buy at some point of life :) but have almost not used in a long long time (peanuts etc.,)

So, I made the following dishes in the past week or 2 (recipes coming soon....... just click on the food titles for the recipe links).

Panpolo, Peanut Garlic Chutney, Aloo Carrot Curry, Chickpeas Usal with Tomatoes, Benda Sagle, Kyala Koddel

Panpolo -- This is a konkani delicacy, also called Neer Dosa in kannada, which literally means Water Dosa (mainly because its batter is of the consistency of water). Anyway, as I said earlier recipes will follow soon...

Peanut Garlic Chutney -- The bestest (I know double superlative, but still) chutney after of-course coriander chutney.

Benda Sagle, another konkani delicacy with coconut based gravy (Lady's finger / Okra -- had some frozen ones from god knows how long ago - just kidding). This was probably the only vegetable I had that you can call a proper vegetable.

Kyala Koddel (raw banana with a coconut based gravy) --- this I prepared at my friend's place -- she asked me what's the best dish using raw bananas w/o making it feel sweet and this is it.....

Aloo Carrot Curry (Dry) -- A couple of days ago, I had few potatoes and loads of carrots, which I wanted to finish off --- had bought it the last time I made Carrot Halwa.


Chickpeas Usal with Tomatoes -- Today is the last day that I can cook anything at all, because I had just 4 small tomatoes, which I used up in this dish. I absolutely need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. Anyway, this was a very easy and simple dish with a subtle coconut flavor to it.

So the whole point of this post is that, I am amazed to know that if you love cooking and experimenting, you can manage to go a whole year without repeating the same dish. I soon plan to do that ONE DAY :) Also, you can always manage with any small items at home too. You dont always need fresh veggies in your refrigerator to cook something. This is like a week's worth of dishes. There are 6 dishes here, and the one left out day I think I managed with simple daalithoy (konkani style of making daal).

So long guys !!! Keep reading for more recipes.