Locomotoring

Last weekend, we went back to one of our favorite Bay Area restaurants, Juhu Beach Club (JBC). Last time we ate here, we could still eat gluten and we were impressed by the pavs. This time, we opted for the JBC Fried Chicken n Doswaffle – gluten free! Waffles were made with dosa batter – fantastic concept, yes? And the fried chicken were dipped in lentil batter.

Juhu Beach Club Fried Chicken and Doswaffle

We wanted it to be perfect. What turned out on the plate however was much less so. Chicken was overcooked and oily even though the lentil batter was excellent. Dosa waffles were sour and fluffy but otherwise bland in taste. The tamarind syrup was unidimensional, mostly sweet.

I can’t make fried chicken but I decided that the dosa waffle was worth the effort of perfecting at home so one had some gluten free breakfast options. I had not liked the blandness but what if that could be fixed?

I picked up some of the “Shastha” dosa batter at our local Indian grocery store. Dosa batter can be made at home but the ones at the local store are pretty good. The important aspect of the batter is the proportion of rice and urad daal, the sourness of fermentation and its consistency.

To the batter, I added some sputtered mustard seeds and fried moong daal, fried in sesame oil. Then some sliced picked thai chills (fresh is better but I only had the piclked variety at home), finely chopped shallots and slivered curry leaves. Then proceeded to make the waffles. End product – the waffles came out spicy and crispy with bits of suspended crunchy daal in them. Wow!

Home made waffles with dosa batter+spices and an desi omelette

These Doswaffles were consumed with desi omelette which is nothing but eggs cooked with green chillies, spring onions and coriander leaves. Next time, I will make a syrup to go with Doswaffles – I am thinking a refined version of the tamarind chutney that usually comes with chaat – flavored with red hot pepper, cumin seeds and jaggery. Yummm…