Uttapam are a fluffy savoury dosa, made with rice. They're usually enjoyed with savoury toppings but we particularly like ours with lashings of jaggery syrup and a thick, strained yoghurt. Chef Naved has shared his recipe for making an extra fluffy stack at home.
185g raw basmati rice
60g flattened rice, or cooked, cooled rice
½ tsp fenugreek seeds (not leaves) – optional
60ml coconut milk
20ml cold water
1 level tsp fast action yeast
2 tsp caster sugar
50ml lukewarm water
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp fine salt
A little vegetable oil, for frying
Fresh fruit, such as blueberries, raspberries or strawberries
100g jaggery
200ml boiling water
20g salted butter
1 small cinnamon stick
Star anise – just two points of a star
250g strained or extra-thick Greek yoghurt
2 tsp icing sugar
A small pinch of fine salt
A pinch of cardamom powder
If you don’t have strained or extra-thick yoghurt, hang 300g Greek yoghurt in muslin overnight in the fridge, above a bowl to catch the drips. Mix all of the ingredients together. Keeps for 1-2 days, refrigerate until needed.
For other Dishoom recipes, please see Dishoom: from Bombay with love, our cookery book and highly subjective guide to Bombay.
We’re turning page after page of Ayesha Erkin’s recipe book Date of the Day, featuring 30+ recipes for the modest date – timely for breaking fast and after. Our dear friend Ayesha has now kindly shared a recipe for you to make at home. Try it this Iftar or any time you need a salty-spiced sticky treat.
The holy month of Ramadan is upon us, when Muslims around the world fast daily from dawn till dusk. It is a time of private worship and spiritual discipline, but also of shared joy and abundant feasting. Families and communities come together at suhoor, the pre-dawn meal, and at iftar, the evening meal, to break their fasts with copious, delicious dishes. Join us on 7th April for our own Iftar celebration – for an evening of feasting and live music.
We often find it too easy to hurtle through the days, in an attempt to outpace the bustling city – be it London or Bombay – which always seems to be running away like a steam-engine train on a rickety track. Occasionally, it does us good to pause for thought, to disembark the carriage and sit on the platform awhile.
The month of Ramadan may be a period of fasting but it’s equally synonymous with feasting. Iftar – the evening meal with which Muslims break their fast – is an occasion for eating favourite dishes and indulging in the naughtiness of moreish snacks after a day of abstaining, and these cheese-and-pastry twirls make the perfect snack.