Ayur-Corn Chowder with easy Chana Dosa

This recipe is one of my all time favorites. It’s an easy go-to meal for me when I want to beat the summer heat and still feel nourished. From Kate O’Donnel’s The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook (p. 170), this recipe is served warm but has a cooling effect on the body, is naturally sweet and absolutely DELICIOUS! Bonus: From start to finish, this dish takes no more than 20 minutes to prepare. Gotta love that!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ayur-Corn Chowder with easy Chana Dosa (serves 2)

Unlike its namesake, usually made with milk and flour, this chowder is sweet and light to balance the oily feeling of humid weather. Round out your meal with Easy Chana Dosa for dipping. Omit the red pepper if you are prone to a hot internal environment.

AYUR-CORN CHOWDER

2-3 ears corn

½ cup yellow squash

2 cups unsweetened rice milk

1 tsp ghee

½ tsp Summer Spice Mix*

2 tsp finely diced red bell

   pepper (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

chopped cilantro for garnish

In a steaming basket in a large covered pot, steam 2-3 ears of corn for 10 minutes. Remove ears from the heat, cool a bit, then remove the kernels by sliding a knife down the sides of the ears. You’ll get about 1 cup, depending on the size of the ears.

Use the large pot to boil the summer squash in the rice milk for 10 minutes.

Add the ghee, ½ cup of the corn , and the spice mix to the squash and rice milk in the saucepan. With an immersion handblender, process until smooth. Now, stir in remaining ½ cup corn and the diced bell pepper, if using, and heat for 10 minutes more.

Add salt an pepper to taste and serve in 2 bowls, garnishing with chopped cilantro.

EASY CHANA DOSA (makes 4-5)

Chana means “chickpea”, and this recipe calls for chickpea (or garbanzo bean) flour, a very dense gluten-free flour that results from simply grinding the whole bean. In a damp or humid season, chickpea flour is balancing for its dry quality and easy to use. These dosas pack a lot of protein, and you may find that just one dosa will do at a meal. They also pair well with Cilantro Mint Chutney at any meal, even breakfast. To keep it really simple, omit the grated zucchini- and they will cook faster.

EASY CHANA DOSA

½ tsp salt

1 cup chickpea flour

¾ cup water

1 cup grated zucchini

4-5 tbsp chopped fresh Cilantro

Ghee for cooking

In a small mixing bowl, mix the salt with the flour. Slowly blend the water into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of pancake batter. Stir in the grated zucchini.

Warm a large ceramic nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Flick a few drops of water on the pan- when it sizzles the pan is ready. Pour ⅓ cup of the dosa batter into the pan, slightly tilt the pan, and spread the batter in circles with the back of a large spoon until the dosa is thin, about 7 inches round. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of fresh cilantro evenly over the batter. When it begins to look dry on top, drizzle ½ tsp of ghee over the dosa, then check to see that the bottom is browning. Flip it a few times and cook until both sides are brown. Each dosa takes about 5 minutes to cook.

*summer spice mix

1 tbsp whole coriander seeds

1 tbsp whole cumin seeds

1 tbsp whole fennel seeds

1 tbsp turmeric powder

½ tsp cardamom powder

Dry roast the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds in a heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat for a few minutes, until you can smell them. Let them cool completely. Grind them to a uniform consistency in a spice-dedicated coffee grinder or by hand with a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in turmeric and cardamom powders until well combined.

Store in an airtight jar or shaker top container.