Spiced Sweet Potato & Chickpea Indian ‘Dosa’

Authentic dosa pancakes are made by soaking, blending and fermenting black gram lentils (urad dal) and rice. Delicious as they are, I wanted to make a recipe that can be made without too much advance thought and preparation. So, this is my take on dosa pancakes, which are wrapped around an aromatic spiced sweet potato and chickpea filling.

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Ingredients

sweet potato 500 g (chopped)
raita 120 g
fresh coriander 80 g (chopped)
garlic cloves 4 (crushed)
ginger 25 g (grated)
mixed chillies 20 g (chopped)
coriander seeds 2 tsp
cumin seeds 2 tsp
ground turmeric 1 tsp
chickpeas 400 g (drained)
fennel seeds 2 tsp
dried curry leaves 1 tbsp
mustard seeds 2 tsp
onion 1 (sliced)
bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp
rice flour 125 g
chickpea flour 125 g
basmati rice 240 g
sunflower oil 2 tbsp

Method

To make the pancake batter, put the rice and gram flour into a large bowl with the bicarbonate of soda, mustard seeds and a good pinch of salt. Gradually whisk in enough water, about 400ml, to make a loose, smooth batter, like the consistency of double cream. Set the batter aside while you make the filling.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes. Peel and grate the ginger. Crush the garlic. Thinly slice the onion. Finely chop the chillies. Roughly chop the coriander leaves and stalks
Peel and crush the garlic cloves. Drain the chickpeas, reserving the liquid for later.
Toss the sweet potatoes in half the sunflower oil and spread out on a large baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring on the tray once or twice during cooking, until soft and starting to caramelise around the edges.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining sunflower oil in a large frying pan and fry the fennel seeds, cumin seeds and coriander seeds for around 30 seconds. Stir in the chilli, onion, ginger, garlic, dried curry leaves and ground turmeric. Cook over a low heat for 10 minutes until the onion is softened.
Add the tinned chickpeas and 100ml of chickpea water from the can. Stir well to bring all the flavours together. Add the roasted sweet potatoes and chopped coriander to the pan and season with a good pinch of salt. Keep the mixture warm until the pancakes are ready.
Cook the rice according to the packet instructions.
To cook the pancakes/dosa, heat 1 teaspoon sunflower oil in a large non-stick frying pan or pancake pan over a medium/high heat. Add a large spoonful of batter to the pan and immediately twist so the batter coats the base and slips up the edges.
As soon as the top of the dosa looks dry and starts to cook away from the sides of the pan and there are lots of bubbles it's time to add the filing. Add a large spoonful of the sweet potato filling and gently spread across the dosa.
Once the base is crispy, loosely roll up the dosa in the pan and transfer to a serving plate. Keep warm while you continue with the rest of the batter and filling.
Serve with the raita and rice. Enjoy!

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Spiced Sweet Potato & Chickpea Indian ‘Dosa’

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