Vella Dosai (Jaggery Pancake) and Austrian Pancakes in Australia!

Vella Dosai (Jaggery Pancake) and Austrian Pancakes in Australia!

Nearly two thousand kilometers, over 3 days in a mega trip to the highest point in Aussie, as well as the beaches south of Sydney! On Day 2 morning, enroute to Snowy Mountains from Cooma, we were still excitedly chatting about the herd of kangaroos, that we had encountered the previous evening, when we passed a very interesting looking signboard "Heidi's Tea House" on an old horse carriage pointing towards the wilderness.

We decided to check the place and turned around back into the narrow curvy trail that led to the top of the tiny hill - Mt Gladstone.

What greeted us was a look out where we were surrounded by the snowy mountains ranges.

Closeby we found a quaint and cozy log cabin. The neat, pretty wooden interiors, old paintings, the cuckoo clock, and the fire place transported us into a fairy tale world.

We were warmly greeted by none other than Ms Heidi herself.

Ms Heidi told us that while there were a number of dishes available, her pancakes were pretty famous, and had appeared on The Getaway Show on Channel 9. She suggested we try her fresh berry pancakes. Heidi busied herself in the kicthen, while Linda another gracious lady chatted with us, and told us all about how the tea house was set up nearly 40 years ago, when Ms Heidi, her husband and few others migrated to Australia from Germany.

The pancakes and apple strudel we had asked for were straight out of a fairy tale book too! The mouthwatering luscious hot pancakes were filled with fresh berries compote, liberally sprinkled with dusting sugar, and served with a scoop of ice cream and blob of fresh cream. Same with the delicious serving of apple strudel.

A fulfilled smile lit up Linda’s face as we ooh-ed and aah-ed the dishes, and gorged the exotic creations, relishing every bit of it. She then told us, to tell everybody back at home that we had just had "Real AUSTRIAN pancakes in Australia", and everybody would be surprised! She then inquired whether we prepared pancakes in India. My mind raced back to the long forgotten hot sweet VELLA DOSAIS topped with fresh home made butter which we had often relished in our childhood days.

Upon our return, I decided to try out the Vella Dosai, even as my daughter was proclaiming that no long forgotten Indian sweet pancake can beat the 'real pancake' we had had at Heidis. I watched, quite amused, when she later emptied the pile to a finger-licking finish!!

INGREDIENTS:
Whole wheat flour - 1 glass
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
Powdered jaggery - 3/4 glass
Cardamom powder - 1 pinch
Ghee - for cooking

optional - a pinch of ginger powder, and a pinch of salt can be added for additional flavour

METHOD:
1. Dissolve jaggery in one glass of warm water and filter.
2. Mix in the wheat flour and rice flour little by little in the cooled jaggery water.
3. Add more water little at a time as you blend the dough till it reaches a pouring dosa batter consistency.
4. Mix in the cardamom powder and optionally the ginger powder and salt.

5. Grease a tava with ghee and heat it.
6. Pour a ladle of dough and swirl it holding the handle,so that the dough spreads evenly on the tava.
7. Dribble ghee all around and cook till it is done.
8. Since the dosai contains jaggery, it will be a little sticky. Use a non-stick tava and an appropriate ladel, and carefully flip over, else the dosai can tear.
9. Cook the other side for a few seconds and remove the Vella Dosai from the tava.
10. Allow the dosai to cool a few seconds before serving. This will let the caramelized jaggery to cool and the dosai will 'set'. Its best taken warm, while the sides of the dosai are still crispy.

Relish the vella dosais by topping with a big blob of white unsalted butter.