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Recipe: Dosa-Like And Delicious – Bottle Gourd Doddaka

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I would describe a doddaka as being a kind of cross between a dosa and a roti, and some version of it exists in numerous cultures in India, including in Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and even Gujarat (my mother-in-law used to make that version). As with both dosas and rotis, numerous variations in preparation exist. I experienced a lovely bottle gourd doddaka a few months ago, and even though I’ve been travelling a lot this year and haven’t spent as much time cooking, I keep thinking about it. So I decided the other day to try out the recipe myself. It came out well, and as always, I wanted to share the deliciousness with you too.

I encountered this bottle gourd doddaka while we were zipping around in the lead-up to my son’s wedding a couple of months ago. We had not wanted to invite people digitally, and felt that the effort of the time-honoured Indian custom – of personally visiting people and inviting them – was well worth it. On one such visit, we went to meet a Kannadiga friend of ours. Our friend’s elderly mother was present at their home. It turned out that she is a reader of this blog, and we spent time chit-chatting about food and photography.

It had been a long and exhausting day, and we had arrived at their home at almost 7.30pm, which is beyond my dinner time, and at some point during the visit we were offered a meal. Our friend’s mother made us some hot, crispy bottle gourd doddaka – and from then on, the conversation stopped being about my cooking and became about hers. It tasted marvellous, and I thought it was quite interesting from a culinary perspective too. I enjoyed it thoroughly. When I think of that evening, I remember feeling like I was at home. That was truly a comfort food experience in every way.

Whenever I go somewhere and try out a new dish, I am curious – to the point of being painful, according to my children – about how to prepare it. I will immediately want to find out what the cook did, why they did it, and how they did it. Usually, I will then try to add my own twist as well. This is not always necessary. With this traditional Kannada doddaka for example, I thought the original recipe – as shared by our friend’s mother – was just perfect, and I didn’t feel the need to change it at all.

Isn’t it beautiful how you sometimes meet a person in passing and then strike up a conversation with them that just stays with you in some way? To me, the fact that I have a recipe from that evening, and will probably always think of that family and their home when I make it, really means a lot.

Bottle Gourd Doddaka

(Yield: 8 pieces)

1 cup rawa

½ cup coconut grated

¾ cup thick curd

1 cup water

½ cup grated bottle gourd (substitute: cucumber)

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon green chilli + ginger paste

¼ cup chopped coriander leaves

Oil for cooking

 

In a bowl, add all the ingredients and mix well. Set aside. Adjust the water quantity as required – keep the batter thick yet of a pouring consistency.

Heat a griddle and add a few drops of oil. Now, pour a ladle full of the batter onto this. You will see that it spreads by itself. Allow the doddaka to cook on a low or medium flame, making sure it does not get burnt. Flip and allow to cook on both sides until well done. Continue to prepare more doddakas with the remaining batter.

Serve with a chutney of your choice. I have a range of these that you can explore, and I hope you’ll find a few in the archives that you like and can mix and match with various dishes. As this bottle gourd doddaka has quite a bit of flavour already, it can also be eaten plain if you prefer.

As you would have noticed in the ingredients, I have suggested cucumber as a substitute for bottle gourd. Both are water-based vegetables that grow through the year in South India, where we have no seasons other than summer, summer and more summers – and some monsoons. Thus, they are ideal for staying hydrated. Bottle gourd in particular doesn’t have much flavour by itself, and takes on the flavour of whatever you add to it (which makes it perfect for sneaking into soups for fussy kids). Nutrition and hydration together are an excellent combo, and when you add taste to it – as you do with a doddaka – it’s unbeatable.

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Recipes

Recipe: Basically Tasty – Bottle Gourd Thepla

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Being Gujarati, I think it’s only fair that I give you another detailed description of and a special blog post for theplas, even though the standard recipe for them has already made an appearance in my comprehensive post on rotis of many kinds. After all, Gujaratiness goes hand-in-hand with theplas and dhoklas, as stereotypical jokes go – in which there is a kernel of truth, for these really are essential parts of our cuisine. The thepla is particular, in fact. You may also recall a khichdi thepla shared earlier, which is a nifty way to turn what’s left of lunch into dinner. This time, I’m sharing with you a particular recipe that I happened to mentioned in that post – dudhi thepla, which adds the goodness of bottle gourd to the basic bread.

We make all kinds of flatbreads and rotis in India. Each state and each community will have distinct versions. For instance, farmers and people who labour outdoors will tend towards breads that use bajra or pearl millets, or other kinds of seasonal millets. As millets are slower to digest than wheat, this ensures that the body has energy for longer. The roti itself will usually be thicker, larger and drier. A garlic chutney is often the preferred condiment for this dish.

Within the thepla category itself there is great variation. In terms of adding vegetables and herbs, methi or fenugreek leaves are commonly used, and spinach may also be used. Those are among my favourites too, and I’ve put some methi into this recipe as well. If you thought the khichdi thepla was innovative, how about a thepla taco? It’s a fun way to dress up a staple and make it even more appealing to a variety of palates.

My children, despite their greater exposure to other cuisines, still consider as a cherished comfort food a roti or a thepla made at home. It’s the same for my husband. Whenever any of them return for a visit or after a long journey, some delicious theplas are always waiting for them, and I’ve watched time and again as their exhaustion becomes happiness quickly as they tuck in to the meal.

As I have mentioned before, the plain theplas travel very well and last long. They are a very popular work and school lunchbox item, as you may have seen if you’ve had Gujarati colleagues or classmates. My mother would carry them whenever we took trips, and many years later, I do this myself too. Do note that the bottle gourd thepla does not keep for as long as the plain ones, because of the vegetable used. However, it is much softer, and this is once again attributed to the vegetable. Bottle gourd has a very high water content, so much so that I do not add water at all when making the dough. When you are preparing it, if you feel that you’ve added a bit more flour, a few sprinklings of water will help. Otherwise, with practice, the flour, spices and grated bottle gourd will come together easily in a dough.

Whenever I entertain at home, if I’m planning an Indian menu, you can be assured that thepla is the chosen bread. It’s comforting, delicious, versatile and funnily enough, both light and filling. I’ve noticed this: when you’re eating theplas, you feel kind of full, but you seldom feel bloated or heavy afterwards. Have you observed the same too?

Bottle Gourd Thepla

(Yield: 9-10 theplas)

 

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons yoghurt

A handful of methi (fenugreek) leaves

Salt to taste

1 cup bottle gourd (to grate)

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 tablespoon ginger green chilli paste

1 tablespoon oil

2-3 tablespoons water (if required)

Clean and chop the methi leaves. Wash and set aside. Peel the bottle gourd and grate the flesh. Keep aside, but not for too long.

In a bowl, add the flour and then add all ingredients, except water. The grated bottle gourd releases water, as explained earlier. Hence, add water at the end, and only if required. Knead well and make a stiff yet smooth dough.

Now, make small balls with the dough. Dust a ball with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll it out into a circular shape.

Heat a pan, and place the rolled disc onto it. Allow to roast on one side and then flip the thepla. Allow a few seconds to roast again and then add a few drops of oil onto both sides. Allow to cook until golden.

Repeat the process for all the rolled dough balls. Collect each as it’s done in a box so that they remain soft.

Theplas go well with pickles or potato roast (i.e. aloo sabzi). I’ll be sharing the recipe for the latter in my next post, so do stay tuned!

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