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.
Uttapam Batter
Serves 2, generously
Ingredients:–
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
Method
For the toppings:–
Jaggery Syrup
Ingredients:–
100g jaggery
200ml boiling water
20g salted butter
1 small cinnamon stick
Star anise – just two points of a star
Method:–
Shrikhand
Ingredients:–
250g strained or extra-thick Greek yoghurt
2 tsp icing sugar
A small pinch of fine salt
A pinch of cardamom powder
Method:–
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.
Our Old-Fashioned bottled cocktail takes its name from the Permit Room bar, found in every Dishoom and so named after the official term for all Bombay drinking establishments, in which, according to the Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949, only permit-holders may consume alcohol. Herein, liquor can be sold and imbibed, but only for the goodness of one’s health.
Though the doors of the Permit Room are closed for now, you can still enjoy our tipples in bottled form at home. Follow our lead to achieve the perfect pour, and transport yourself back to a cosy corner of the bar.
IT HAS BEEN an annual December habit of mine, these past ten years since we embarked upon this restaurant business, to sit alone, with myself, and reflect on the year gone by. I am grateful to be here in the Permit Room in our restaurant in Shoreditch scribbling and writing, the oddly enjoyable taste of splintering wood from my chewed up pencil smoothed by my decently strong drink.
These are the last few days, the dregs of 2019. It’s my habit to sit here in the Permit Room at this time. I am the be-stubbled and dishevelled regular, cherishing his precious drink at the end of the bar. Weary, I sit here pondering the year, attempting to figure out what it was trying to teach me. What wisdom can I glean from it?
I love to truly understand and appreciate the origins of a dish, and learn how communities have adapted a recipe over time to make that dish unique to them.