because of things totally in my control I made this the most complicated dinner I’ve made in the last six months – and that’s saying something after Thanksgiving which wasn’t that complicated, just took a long time.  I’m cooking from one of the first cookbooks I bought myself when I picked up my cooking ‘hobby’.  It is called Potatoes by Annie Nichols.  The worn sticker on the back proclaims I bought it at Williams Sonoma but you can pick it up for a song on Amazon.  I have cooked more than a handful of recipes from it-everything from Rosti to Champ to the best Massaman style Thai curry.  Never anything Indian though.  I’ve made one or two Indian meals in the past and let’s just say that they aren’t my forte.  I one time, having maybe eaten one Indian meal made an Indian feast for like 12 people.  It took me ALL day.  

Tonight we made dosa-which are essentially/roughly/kind of crepes and dhal aloo (lentil potatoes masala) with sambar.  The dhal aloo was from the Potato cookbook.  It was fairly easy to follow and took about 45 minutes to make. Overall, a more challenging recipe than most in the book but doable.  On the side we had pappadoms and chili chutney.  The only things here that we actually tried to make were the dosa and the dhal aloo.  Hilariously the dosa didn’t turn out and I burned the dhal aloo. I do not fault the recipe because I love this cookbook and really, it was tasty other that a kind of undercurrent of burnyness.   My stove is glass topped and irritates me endlessly.  Because of that the dosa seriously stressed me out so Z had to take over.  He did a way better job than I did and we at least ended up with two-one for each.  We stuffed them with the potatoes and dipped in a Patak chili chutney that was fiery!  The photos tell a story of a really well put together dinner.  It could have been.