Tuesday

A 'handful' of nutrition - Mushti Pole

Try asking my mother or aunts for a recipe and it is possible that at the end of the conversation, you will have a complete understanding of what goes into the dish, how long it takes to cook, what you could serve it with... essentially everything except the exact measures!

Before leaving for the U.S. when I wrote down recipes of my favorite dishes from the women in my family, instructions included such gems as 'add abc ingredient with a light hand' or 'mix as much of xyz ingredient to make the batter just so'! Utterly frustrating for a new cook as you can imagine :-)

There is a word in Marathi that encompasses this cooking philosophy - "andaaz"; which requires the cook to "sense" how much of an ingredient to add. Mushti pole (pronounced po-lay and is Konkani for dosa) has its roots in this old school of cooking I guess. Mushti means a 'handful' in Konkani, so I assume women just soaked handfuls of rice and lentils overnight and rolled out pancakes for breakfast.

pole

MUSHTI/ MUSTI POLO (Rice-Lentil Dosa)
2 cups rice
1 cup poha
1/2 cup urad dal (split black gram)
1/3 cup grated coconut
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
salt to taste
oil for frying

Soak dal, rice and fenugreek seeds in enough water to cover for 2-3 hours. Wash then grind to a fine paste in a blender. Next add (washed) poha and coconut. Grind till well blended. Remove in a large bowl, season and mix well. Set aside in a warm place overnight for fermentation.

To make dosa -
Heat a tawa/ skillet with a teaspoon of oil. Drop a ladleful of batter in the centre of the pan and spread lightly with the back of the spoon into a fairly thick pancake. Cover and fry on one side only. Serve hot with chutney.

Entry for ARF/ 5-a-day Tuesday at Sweetnicks.

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35 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great Recipe

11:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i've been oogling your blog for a few weeks. i love the food represented~ i've not had the opportunity to try any yet. however, my appreciation for food is huge. and just reading about the recipes, who has made them and of course, the gorgeous pictures just makes me so happy.
thank you for the effort of putting this all together.
it's like ice cream on a sunny day, every day. :)

11:24 AM  
Blogger KA said...

Looks delicious Ashwini!! Great presentation.

1:38 PM  
Blogger Rajesh &Shankari said...

the dosas look yummy. After you grind the dhals and rice, do you let it ferment or can you make them immediately?

1:40 PM  
Blogger RP said...

Nutritious dosas! Chutneys look beautiful.

6:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can only say wow!!!!...nice pictures and definitely very delicious recipe.

9:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your dosas look so light and crispy - I have never tried making them. I am saving this page to try over a weekend soon. Thanks!

10:21 PM  
Blogger BDSN said...

Nice pictures Ashwini..Actually there is a word mushti in telugu too..i mean andhra telugu..i have heard my friends use it.....and i feel it means the same thing too..handful...

6:59 AM  
Blogger Lakshmi said...

nice recipe, i luv chutneys

7:04 PM  
Blogger archana said...

You never fails to impress me Ashwini,there is always something interesting in your blog.
Thanks for posting this recipe, will try it out soon.
Archana

7:30 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I am completely bowled over by all the effort you put into writing out the recipe... adding pics of the ingredients and really taking such cool pics too...
I cant still do such a marvellous job!

If i dont mind i am going to post this link and recipe on my yahoogroup "chilliesandchutney" today!

I love "pole"... my grandmother was brought up in Maharasthra and I have eaten so much Marathi and Konkani food... i want more! *big huge smile*

9:36 PM  
Blogger Kitchenmate said...

Good one! We make similar kind of lentil dosa and we call that as soft adai.. we also include handful each of dried peas, black-eyed beans, whole moong dal,..whatever dried dals we have at hand. They taste yummy, protein packed power:)
Next time when i make this dosa, then side would your chutney..looks delicious!

10:01 PM  
Blogger Ashwini said...

Rajini, BDSN, Vineela, Lakshmi - thanks!
Archana - let me know if you try the dosas
KM - those sound delicious. I love dried lentils so I must try soft adai soon
Perspective - (a lovely name btw) thanks! You are kind. I am glad you like our food. No problem about linking - I dont mind at all

12:27 AM  
Blogger Vaishali said...

Ashwini,
They are such good-looking pole. And all photographs are simply gorgeous. You are improving every day.
I follow my mother-in-law's recipe for Mushti pole, which does include beaten rice as you have mentioned in the post. And hey, I fully understand that 'don't-ask-me-to-use-andaaz' syndrome. I was thoroughly bogged down by it as a new cook.
Btw, I, too, have clicked snaps of veggies in a basket last week. Will be publishing them soon.

3:52 AM  
Blogger Vineela said...

Hi ASHWINI,
i tried your falooda .It was very nice.But i dont have rose water so i used mango pulp pureee with seeds and tiny semolina strands.
I added less than a pinch of orange color.It came very well by following your recipe.
Thank you .
Vineela

2:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The new template looks fabulous !!!
The picture looks gorgoeus in this layout.

I liked the food quote . Funny ;)
Nice idea of adding quotes.

Love your book collections too.

3:57 PM  
Blogger reshma said...

Ashwini, a much belated Birthday wishes.I know am too late, yet...and the new look is really neat! Love and Peace always.

5:17 PM  
Blogger Neelu said...

Hey U have this ownderful blog with indian touch...Just saw it through vaishalis links...I like it..I have added it ot my fav link n hope to visit it often.

5:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Ashwini,
I love your new layout :). Your blog looks verry nice now :).
We too make Tausalli. But never use it as cake :(. We usually make it for breakfast with chutney.Its one of my favourite dish :).

5:29 PM  
Blogger Nabeela said...

The new look on the blog is very good...i love the classy olive oil...

6:31 PM  
Blogger Nabeela said...

i just posted a comment..it seems to have vanished off the face of the earth!!
Anyways...I just wanted to say I love the new layout you have here...the olive oil bottles look very classy

6:32 PM  
Blogger Ashwini said...

Priya, Reshma, Neelu, Shilpa & Nabeela - thanks!

8:23 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Ashwini... we got a great response on your recipe on our group
chilliesandchutney@yahoogroups.com

And I tried the recipe and this is how great it turned out :)
I added the puffed rice or poha to add crunchiness to the dose.

http://luvbitesforall.blogspot.com/2006/05/mushti-pole.html

10:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lovely! Coming from Priya's blog and after seeing her adai post and now your mushti pole, I am craving for these awesome looking pole!!!
Great presentation,Ashwini!!

6:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi ashwini,

sheetal here, mushti pole looks a nutrtious recipe...so just want to try it soon...just need to clear few doubts...is it that the rice should be ground first and then in the same rice batter all the daals should be ground, whts the sequence?...or can I grind each seperately and then mix

and one more thing abt the batter setting time, has it to kept till it ferments, as we keep for idli/dosa?

Thanks in advance,
have a nice time

11:55 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WoW! Great pics.

7:47 PM  
Blogger Catherine said...

Hi Ashwin,

I hope you'll post a lentil recipe to Something In Season's lentil challenge!

12:35 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hi ashwini:) my name is roopa and i tried mushti polo, iam a konkani from cochin, and i liked your recipe a lot:) and the pictures are very yummy,...i added your link to my favorite link list, hope u dont mind:)

10:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

HI ASHWINI,
Beautiful pictures and great presentation.
I learnt from my mom and i do make this "adai".Really tastes good and healthy too.

11:12 AM  
Blogger SJ said...

Hi Ashwini,

Looks delicious and I love that you don't need to wait for it to ferment as in the "true" dosas. Does this work well with the stardard blenders available in US or do you have a Sumeet/Preethi which you use for grinding with less water for this?

4:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fantastic recipe Ashwini . The presentation is very good. And since also overnight fermentation is not required , it seems easy to cook.Thanxs for sharing

12:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shushma,
i think it is mentioned that overnight fermentation is required.

12:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Ashwini,

"Set aside in a warm place overnight for fermentation."
As you mentioned it needs fermentation, how did Snighdha and you both echo that it does not need to ferment.
"Other than the fact that they dont need to ferment these dosas also taste delicious ;-)"...confused..

12:29 PM  
Blogger Ashwini said...

Welcome to my blog. And thanks everyone for all your kind words.
Shankari - I set it aside overnight for fermentation.

Lavanya - I checked out your link, they look great! Glad your group liked it too

Sheetal - glad you liked the recipe and want to try it. I confirmed with my m-i-l - there is no need to grind them separately. Just dump everything in the blender and let it go.
Keep the batter aside overnight.

Vineela - glad you liked falooda

Roopa, glad you liked mushti polo. Its one of my favorites too :-) Thanks for adding me to your blog roll.

Snigdha, Sushma – the batter needs to be fermented. I used an American blender until very recently. It needs to run for a little more time to get a smooth batter.

Anon - my bad!!!! I was probably thinking of paan pole when I was writing that. The batter DOES need to be fermented. After making the pole under my m-i-l's guidance, I have also now edited the recipe to reflect her method and measurements. One thing doesn't change - they are still delicious!! Good luck.

2:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These are looking so beautiful all stacked up like that! Making these for breaka tomorrow - too drool-worthy to procrastinate!

1:47 AM  

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