Daring Cooks #5: Vegan-style Indian Dosas

There's a small, unassuming Thai restaurant in the town where my mother lives. It's on a corner at the edge of town in a mostly residential area. No other stores are nearby, so I often wonder how it manages to stay in business. It must have a very loyal clientele. When we visit, we always try to eat there at least once, and we always get one particular item: yellow curry.


I've tried to duplicate the flavors and color, but haven't succeeded until now, when I made the sauce for this month's Daring Cooks' challenge. Bingo. It was the yellow curry we've been seeking.



September's challenge was just that, a challenge. We were tasked by Debyi from The Healthy Vegan Kitchen to make Indian Dosas without using any kind of animal product. Although we're omnivores in this house, we mix it up a lot and intersperse meatless meals in the weekly menu. To make it vegan, though, I had to concentrate on ingredients so I wouldn't inadvertently use chicken broth or some other animal-based product.


I had planned to make the sauce and filling the night before I wanted to use it, but when both items were simmering away on the stove, and they smelled SO heavenly, I just went ahead and made the little crepes and served the dinner the same night. It was really very simple.


On my last order from King Arthur Flour, I had purchased some dried coconut milk powder to have on hand 'just in case,' so here was my opportunity to actually use it before 20 years had passed. For the yellow curry sauce, it was perfect. With fresh tomatoes from the garden and freshly made coconut milk along with fragrant spices, the sauce simmered on the stove, thickening nicely and filling the kitchen with a wonderful fragrance.


Next came the filling, a mixture of garbanzo beans, tomatoes, and more spices.




While the sauce and filling were minding their own business, I prepared the batter for the little crepes. I had never used spelt flour before, so this was a new taste for us. A pleasant one, too. Since I already had some coconut milk made up, I used that for the liquid. I make crepes, pancakes, and tortillas quite frequently, so these were fast and easy to make. I used a non-stick pan with no additional oil and spread the batter into a circle with the bottom of the ladle.



For assembly, I placed some of the filling into the crepe,


and rolled it up enchilada-style. (We affectionately called these Indian Enchiladas.)


Some of the delicious yellow curry sauce was ladled on top, and rice and garnishes were added.


Let's just say that two of us polished off every morsel of food that evening. We even fought over the sauce, it was that good.

Thanks to the Daring Cooks and to Debyi for a most delicious challenge. If you want to make this for yourself, go to either the Daring Kitchen or to Debyi's blog for the recipe.