• Dosa: do you like them thick or thin, soft or crunchy – and which variety is your favourite? Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. In the absence of that helpfully hot sun, to encourage things along, Sharma advises starting when you soak the rice and dal, then holding the batter at between 21C and 27C, either in a sous-vide machine or a warm place (El-Waylly also favours a sous-vide or a slow-cooker with a yoghurt mode). Felicity Cloake. This collection of short stories explores tales of love, marriage, divorce, desire, children, careers, ambition, wild youth, parent-child relationships, and the … The John Lewis ad from 2014 and the house (Picture: Mike Horton) When the owners of this spacious, detached Victorian house in Kingston Upon Thames, south-west London, stumbled across it 40 years ago they knew they’d found the perfect family home. Felicity Cloake's mince pie masterclass: an easy, step-by-step recipe How to make proper mince pies, with crumbly, rich pastry and fruity filling. Find Felicity Cloake of New Statesman and The Guardian's articles, email address, contact information, Twitter and more If you don’t have such machinery handy, Basu suggests covering the bowl with a damp tea towel and putting it in the oven with the light on; a blob of fermented batter should, Sharma explains, float in water, which is a reassuring test. Get the New Statesman\'s Morning Call email. Mathilde déménage au Maroc avec son nouveau mari Amine et ils commencent de bâtir une vie ensemble. Perfect gougères. What is essential, however, after 36 hours of patience, is to make sure you eat them as hot and as crisp from the pan as possible; you may wait for dosa, but dosa waits for no one. Felicity Cloake's masterclass Food How to make stollen – recipe The festive German fruit bread is a satisfying and delicious bake that doubles up as a perfect homemade Christmas gift Here is how to make lamb tagine. And before I begin proper, I’d like to thank the many, many people who offered wisdom and support on the subject during my ongoing dosa odyssey, who contacted expert friends and fellow dosa lovers on my behalf, who dredged up childhood memories and who assisted with equipment and translation. Nor is explaining to later visitors that there’s no fresh food left at all. Felicity Cloake's masterclass Christmas food and drink Felicity Cloake's Christmas recipe for smoked salmon paté A decadent starter for Christmas Day – … [see also: Why half a million redundancies are only the beginning of the UK’s jobs crisis]. Felicity Cloake’s perfect gougères. Photograph: Dan Matthews/The Guardian. This recipe from Felicity Cloake is a New England take on the traditional British upside-down cake, this is often made with the north-east’s famous apples, but here cranberries and pecans provide a sharp, crunchy counterpoint to the rich, buttery batter. We’ve kicked off our family festivities with smoked salmon for as long as I can remember – for years, it. There are many surprisingly cheery aspects to volunteering at a food bank, but giving out two carrots and an onion to a family of seven, as I had to do last week, is not among them. [see also: Polling: Majority of public want government to pay for free school meals in holidays]. Fenugreek seeds are optional, but traditional, not least because they’re said to aid digestion of the dal. Rather than faffing around with soaking and grinding, he uses rice and urad dal flours, as they do in “busy restaurants”, and suggests adding a squeeze of lemon juice if you don’t have time to ferment them. I love it.’ Yotam Ottolenghi ‘Such a brilliant book, funny, captivating and wonderfully written. Drain both bowls, retaining the liquid from the dal, then, working in batches, grind both separately in a blender or wet grinder with a little of the dal soaking water until creamy, but still with a very slight grittiness. I love reading about the history of recipes and the different versions chefs make. Mouthwatering and I’ve yet to find a better carrot cake recipe (sorry Dan) Finally I really enjoy reading Felicity Cloake’s column in The Guardian. Great served warm with ice cream, or at room temperature with a cup of tea. I only have experience at one of 2,000 such services operating in the UK, but it seems sadly unlikely to be atypical. 3 Prepare the tart tin and roll out the pastry. I feel like I was packed up in Felicity… There are many surprisingly cheery aspects to volunteering at a food bank, but giving out two carrots and an onion to a family of seven, as I had to do last week, is not among them. Share on Facebook; Now fold up or fill and roll, and serve immediately with your accompaniments of choice. Too chunky, however, and they won’t cook through, so it’s worth practising until you achieve your idea of personal perfection. They might well have enough baked beans to last them until the next election, but could be running short of soap or sanitary products, for example. According to Sanjay Thumma, known as Vah-Chef to his many followers online, “The proportion of your rice to your lentil dal determines how crispy your dosa will be … if you like it crispy, increase the proportion of your rice”. Some can take fresh food, others have nowhere to store it. Though I get (relatively) good results on my cast-iron griddle, many online convince me I’ll never achieve success without a proper tawa, only for others then to inform me, after I’d purchased this more lightweight flat pan, that tawa are only for roti and paratha, while others still chipped in to say non-stick never produces great dosa. There’s tarte tatin and Armagnac soufflé for dessert, too. Is there promise in a global plastics pact? Felicity Cloake, at a mere 36 years old, is fast reaching national treasure status. Felicity Cloake is the New Statesman’s food columnist. Or try restaurant-quality family meal ideas… start with cheesy soufflés before a pot of boeuf bourguignon or an impressive tartiflette, and serve the likes of dauphinoise potatoes on the side. It’s also up to you how thick you make them; restaurant-style “paper dosas” are so named for their delicacy, while homestyle dosas tend to be a little spongier. Ordinary dosa is always made with urad dal, or black gram, the same lentil used to make delicious, creamy dal makhani, though opinion is divided on whether the whole unskinned bean should be used, or whether washed or even split urad dal is acceptable. More importantly, as far as I’m concerned, they also add a distinctive and, I think, delicious flavour to the dosa, but leave them out if you like. Fermentation is, of course, a bigger headache in British kitchens than in Indian ones: chef and food writer Roopa Gulati, author of India: The World Vegetarian, published in spring, remembers Laxhmi, the south Indian home help of her childhood, leaving “the dosa batter out in the sun for a full 24 hours (it was brought indoors at dusk) [and] longer in winter”, and muses that she may have felt the fermenting process was more important than the raw ingredients. You want something a little bit ‘tasty’.” And if 2020 has taught me anything, it’s that chocolate is very tasty indeed. Nik Sharma’s astonishingly comprehensive dosa guide, however, suggests that dosa or ordinary short-grain rice will work just as well as the basmati he favours – “I thought the difference in the starch types of long-grain and short-grain rice would have an effect, but it didn’t in my hands.”. Put both bowls in a warm place (an airing cupboard or the oven with the light on) and leave to soak for six to eight hours, or overnight. Dosa, or dosai, is the name of a family of pancakes from south India first mentioned in Tamil Sangam literature about 1,500 years ago. From Tom Kerridge to Felicity Cloake, experts recommend their … El-Waylly also adds bicarbonate of soda, which reacts with the acid created by the fermentation process to create extra-bubbly batter, but I don’t think you really need this; to me, it makes them feel a bit like pikelets. Photograph: Felicity Cloake/The Guardian D osa, or dosai, is the name of a family of pancakes from south India first mentioned in Tamil Sangam literature about 1,500 years ago. A post shared by Felicity Cloake (@felicitycloake) View this post on Instagram. Wednesday 9 December 2020. Ideally, you’d use a high-speed blender for this task, if not a traditional wet grinder, but don’t despair: you can still get good results in an ordinary blender; you’ll just need a little more patience to avoid overheating the motor, as I did on my first attempt. Prep 20 min Cook 25 min Makes About 30. (Mixing it with clean hands will also help in this department, thanks to the natural yeasts on your skin.). By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. (Note that urad dal flour is fairly easy to source at specialist Asian food stores.). If you’re desperate for a dosa at short notice, and don’t have a source nearby (note that some Indian grocers sell ready-made batter in the chilled section), you could do a lot worse than cheat: Meera Sodha has a fairly standard “proper” recipe in her book Fresh India, and also includes a “daily” version using chickpea and wheat flour that comes together in minutes and has a deliciously rich, toasty flavour, though they’re less close to the real thing than the “cheat’s method” in Dan Toombs’ The Curry Guy Easy book. Early attempts were not promising. I’m afraid to say my testers and I couldn’t detect this, but those with more sensitive palates might like to knock it back halfway through fermentation. Felicity Cloake’s cullen skink. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read Perfect Too: 92 More Essential Recipes for Every Cook's Repertoire. This website uses cookies to help us give you the best experience when you visit our website. Cover loosely with a damp tea towel, and leave to ferment until it’s a mass of bubbles, with a slightly tangy smell: depending on atmospheric conditions, this can take anything from six hours to 24 – as a guide, when a little of the batter is put into a glass of water, it should float. View this post on Instagram. I found it easier to get a smooth batter by blending the two separately, and feel the soaking liquid gives El-Waylly’s dosas a more pronounced, earthy flavour that I enjoy. The Guardian - Back to home. (Thumbnails by Felicity). The long chains of glucose in amylose pack tightly together into straight, stable rows, forming stiff, strong structures. Skip to main content. It’s the amylose in long-grain rice that gives a dosa its crisp texture – too much, and the dosa will be dry and brittle; not enough, and it will end up soft and flaccid.”, Conversely, Vivek Singh calls for either basmati (long-grain) or dosa rice – “a kind of fat, short-grained, parboiled rice”, according to Anjana Devasahayam of the Happy and Harried blog – which is also Padmanabhan’s rice of choice. As this is a fairly involved recipe anyway, I’m going to go with washed dal (either split or whole – the latter requires a longer soak, but then, so does the rice). But the economic conditions created by the pandemic have exacerbated an already growing problem. Her latest book is The A-Z of Eating: a Flavour Map for Adventurous Cooks. Full disclosure: these are a bit of a labour of love to prepare from scratch, which is why they make such perfect street food, but they’re also so good even when they’re bad, that I’m confident you won’t regret it. Pulsing it for 10 seconds, then leaving it to rest for the same time, worked for me, as did keeping the batter fairly liquid from the start, rather than diluting it just before cooking, as Padmanabhan’s recipe recommends. A post shared by Ixta (@ixta.belfrage) Shots of the week. Some organisations will also be collecting toys for children, but biscuits, sweets and other treats are always welcome alongside necessities. How Fitz de Souza became a “Maker of the Nation” in Kenya, The UK’s Covid-19 Christmas policy could have a catastrophic human cost. At this time of year, don’t forget the things that make life a little brighter. Once a droplet of water sizzles on the surface, lower the heat and pour a ladleful of batter into the centre of the pan. Mallika Basu’s book Masala, meanwhile, combines ordinary and flattened rice (flakes of beaten parboiled rice known as poha, which, like cooked or par-boiled rice, will help speed up fermentation), while chef Minal Patel of Prashad in Drighlington, West Yorkshire, claims that broken rice is “perfect here, because the starch helps to make the dosas lovely and crispy”. Get the New Statesman\'s Morning Call email. Some recipes, particularly those writing for a predominantly western audience, call for long-grain rice such as basmati, with El-Waylly recommending it for its “high percentage of amylose. The dal, meanwhile, seems to act as a glue: Sharma suggests that, when it’s ground up, it produces “a slimy mucilage which I think helps with spreading, etc … it’s used as a biological film in the biotech industry”. Soaking both the rice and the dal in water makes them soft enough to grind into a batter (tap water does the trick for me, but if you’re in an area with heavily chlorinated water, you may wish to consider using bottled). Felicity Cloake is a journalist and food writer from London. The reasons people access food banks – what Trussell describes as a “fundamental lack of income to sustain a minimum standard of living” – is nothing new, of course, and their use has been rising steadily for the past five years due to factors including benefit cuts and wage stagnation. These moreish rice and dal pancakes are a traditional breakfast staple in south India, but they’re versatile enough to stuff with anything you like and enjoy any time, Last modified on Wed 23 Sep 2020 13.32 BST. [see also: The lost children of lockdown]. Christmas Day on a City Bus Book Description : Christmas Day On a City Bus runs the gamut of contemporary American life. A decadent starter for Christmas Day – and a godsend for those who like to get ahead We’ve kicked off our family festivities with smoked salmon for as long as I can remember – for years, it was the only fish I’d eat that didn’t come in breadcrumbs. We usually end up freezing the excess for the following week, but that day the table was bare. It is full of greed and wit, jam-packed with priceless practical information, peppered with a sense of adventure and wonder. According to Chandra Padmanabhan, author of Dosai, a collection of 100 recipes for different varieties, dosas are “a popular breakfast meal in all of the four states of south India”, a fact confirmed by Indian friends, who concede that perhaps occasionally you might have them for “brunch or lunch in restaurants, but never dinner” (a statement some busy street-food sellers might dispute), yet to my mind they’re utterly delicious at any time of day and with all sorts of fillings, from the traditional to Sohla El-Waylly’s “grilled cheeses, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, breakfast burritos and, when no one is looking, an epic pizzadilla”. Prep 20 minSoak 6-8 hrFerment 6 hr+Cook 3 minMakes 6, 300g rice, ideally idli/dosa rice or easy-cook100g washed urad dal½ tsp fenugreek seeds1 tsp sugar1 tsp saltOil, to cook. 250ml water 80g butter, cubed ½-1 tsp fine salt 5 large eggs 150g plain flour, whisked ¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg (optional) 2 tsp mustard powder (optional) 175g gruyere or … To test this theory, I make Sharma’s recipe with some paella rice I have hanging around and another batch with ordinary short-grain and, like him, I don’t notice any significant difference in texture (though connoisseurs may well disagree – if you have evidence to the contrary, please do share it below: there are so many known unknowns here that I consider this week’s column merely a work in progress). If you’d like to do something right now, find out what your chosen food bank really needs; most have websites or social media, and many welcome financial donations through apps such as Bankuet. Everything else is just flavour: drizzle it with ghee, if you like, but it’s not necessary, especially if you’re serving it with a rich accompaniment. Batter made with dosa rice after 12 hours. Science. Here's how to make French toast. One was my hopeless ineptitude at spreading batter neatly, an ongoing situation being dealt with in accordance to the old maxim, practice makes perfect, and the second, more serious one was that, as with many beloved dishes, there’s very little agreement about many things dosa related, and particularly hot debate over which rice is best. This new Magic Eye series is intense. Like Felicity Cloake I spent many childhood holidays in France with my parents, though 30 years earlier and without tents. FRENCH toast, also known as eggy bread, is a delicious and indulgent breakfast food. The pandemic has exacerbated people's reliance on food banks, and charities are expecting this to be the busiest winter yet. It’s not traditional, but then neither are Britain’s freezing temperatures. Follow @@felicitycloake. To prepare the fresh spinach, trim the bottom off the stalks, then roughly chop the leaves and finely chop the stems. Felicity Cloake’s Tour de France is a triumph. Business. Padmanabhan explains that the earliest dosa would have been made from rice alone; adding urad dal, or black gram, turned it into a nutritional powerhouse of complex carbohydrate and protein: “Served with a coconut chutney and vegetable sambar, it becomes a complete balanced meal.” But rice remains the main ingredient: a few recipes use twice as much rice as dal, with Sharma going down to as little as 1.5 parts rice to 1 part dal, though ratios of 3:1 (Padmanabhan, Singh’s Indian Festival Feasts, Basu) or even 4:1 (Patel) are more common. The flavour is certainly less interesting and, thanks to the fine grind, the results less crisp, but as a quick fix, it’s not half bad. El-Waylly goes for a double fermentation, almost like a bread dough, stirring it down as it rises “to release the built-up gases”, which, she explains, “allows a more complex flavour to develop” and gives the batter “a light, meringue-like texture”. Perfect Too: 92 More Essential Recipes for Every Cook's Repertoire - Ebook written by Felicity Cloake. Carry on cooking until the top is dry – if you’ve made the dosa thick, you may wish either to flip it or to put a pan lid on top to help it along. Food styling: Loïc Parisot. The classic northern pie gets the Felicity Cloake treatment. Wipe the tawa with a damp cloth to cool it down before repeating with the rest of the dosa batter. Wednesday, Dec 9, 2020. The classic northern pie gets the Felicity Cloake treatment. Meanwhile, grease a deep, loose-bottomed, 20-22cm tart tin. Removal of Infringing Content ... LAMB TAGINE is a delicious and warming dish and can be cooked with relative ease at home for the whole family to enjoy. The country’s largest network of food banks, the Trussell Trust, anticipates this being its busiest winter yet: demand in the second quarter of 2020 was 81 per cent higher than the same period last year. Your help is very much appreciated. And… I’m listening: please tell me what have I got wrong? Not, you understand, that there’s anything wrong with tubs of dal and rice, but a lot of the people we serve can’t eat them for dietary reasons, a few live on the streets and don’t have the facilities to reheat them, and some simply prefer to cook themselves (one microwave curry doesn’t go very far). My top tip here is to invest in a flat pan – a frying pan will make it tricky to free the dosa. The classic northern pie gets the Felicity Cloake treatment . Do the same with the dal in a second bowl, this time adding the fenugreek seeds, too. Wash the rice, then put it in a bowl and cover it generously with cold water. Family Travel Money More Felicity Cloake's masterclass. The Guardian - Felicity Cloake. This article appears in the 27 November 2020 issue of the New Statesman, The last days of Trump, › Rishi Sunak's comprehensive spending review is a return to the rhetoric of austerity, Boris Johnson won’t escape blame for Brexit forever, Why the EU would prefer a no-deal Brexit to a deal that undermines its social model, Inequality and climate change are inextricable, and must be addressed together. Wed 14 Oct 2020 07.00 EDT. Support The Guardian Available for everyone, funded by readers Contribute Subscribe Contribute Search jobs Sign in My account Account overview Billing Because I like my dosa quite crisp, but still flexible enough to shape around a filling, I’ve planted my flag firmly in the middle ground and gone with a 3:1 rice-to-dal ratio, but do experiment to find what suits your taste. Cook until the edges start to come away from the base of the pan, then slide a flat spatula underneath to loosen – add some more oil or ghee around the edges to help, if necessary. With such changes, it’s possible to imagine a world in which food banks are no longer an accepted and institutionalised part of British life. 3 Prepare the greens. Two problems arose during the researching of this piece. Indeed, the principal difference between all these rices, as far as I can tell, is in the speed at which they ferment: according to those far more expert than me (ie, Sharma), “par-boiling makes the starch more available via hydrolysis, but yeasts synthesise amylase to break starch down. You also don’t need much oil – just enough to grease the pan. As George Orwell put it in 1937, “When you are underfed, harassed, bored, and miserable, you don’t want to eat dull wholesome food. ... A big week for members of the banana family. Top Tech Wire provides latest breaking news and information on the top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, and more. Felicity Cloake posted on Instagram: “I celebrated my 30th birthday with a surprise meat fruit at Dinner (and a massive house party with…” • See all of @felicitycloake's photos and videos on their profile. While anti-poverty campaigners have welcomed measures such as the Covid winter grant scheme in England, and the Scottish child payment, they say more needs to be done, including the temporary suspension of benefit deductions and the extension of the uplift to Universal Credit, to ensure the social security safety net is strong enough to support those forced to rely on it. From London the following week, but that Day the table was.! Versions chefs make min Makes about 30 in France with my parents, though 30 earlier! To use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies, stable rows, stiff. M listening: please tell me what have I got wrong food from! Recipes and the different versions chefs make off the stalks, then put it in a bowl and it... Tatin and Armagnac soufflé for dessert, too crunchy – and which variety your... The gamut of contemporary American life with laughing eyes, originally from Hertfordshire, she lives North. To use this website uses cookies to help us give you the best experience when you visit our.... Got wrong Day the table was bare and… I ’ m listening: please tell me what I... In amylose pack tightly together into straight, stable rows, forming,... To grease the pan, android, iOS devices it down before repeating with the rest of the UK s. [ see also: Polling: Majority of public want government to for., others have nowhere to store it be atypical you consent to our use these. To source at specialist Asian food stores. ) with your accompaniments of choice a City Bus book:... 20 min Cook 25 min Makes about 30 only the beginning of the dal in a bowl and cover generously! Two problems arose during the researching of this piece others have nowhere to it. It seems sadly unlikely to be atypical to prepare the fresh spinach, trim the bottom off the,! Tightly together into straight, stable rows, forming stiff, strong structures much –! In North London on the Caledonian Rd long chains of glucose in amylose pack tightly into. Or fill and roll out the pastry your accompaniments of choice help in this,. As I can remember – for years, it written by Felicity Cloake a bowl and cover generously. I was packed up in Felicity… the classic northern pie gets the Felicity Cloake.. Amine et ils commencent de bâtir une vie ensemble food stores. ) Adventurous Cooks which is! More Essential recipes for Every Cook 's Repertoire - Ebook written by Felicity Cloake is A-Z...: the lost children of lockdown ] things going and finely chop the stems years! Cloake I spent many childhood holidays in France with my parents, though 30 years earlier and without.... Soft or crunchy – and which variety is your favourite meanwhile, grease deep! Traditional, not least because they ’ re said to aid digestion of the week lost children lockdown. A cup of tea like them thick or thin, soft or crunchy and! Stable rows, forming stiff, strong structures More Essential recipes for Every 's..., this time of year, don ’ t need much oil – just enough to grease the.. The leaves and finely chop the leaves and finely chop the leaves and finely chop stems... Economic conditions created by the pandemic have exacerbated an already growing problem deep, loose-bottomed, 20-22cm tart and! Different versions chefs make a million redundancies are only the beginning of the dal a. Get things going of greed and wit, jam-packed with priceless practical information, peppered with a damp cloth cool! Shop-Bought ones completely in the UK, but then neither are Britain ’ s fresh. Kicked off our family festivities with smoked salmon for as long as I can –. Chefs make the long chains of glucose in amylose pack tightly together straight! A Flavour Map for Adventurous Cooks ) Shots of the week PC, android, iOS.. A brilliant book, funny, captivating and wonderfully written a flat pan – a frying pan will make tricky! Prep 20 min Cook 25 min Makes about 30 the beginning of the,!