Indian cooking demos are not something you see every Sunday at the Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market, but Chef K.N. Vinod of Indique and Indique Heights took time to brighten an otherwise dreary, rainy day by showing off a number of popular street snacks last weekend.

Here he’s mixing up a batch of bhelpuri -- a fun savory-sweet treat made of mixed puffed rice and crunchy noodles, tomatoes, chilies and onions, coated in generous amounts of his fresh tamarind and cilantro chutneys and served immediately before it gets soggy. Vinod says its the perfect afternoon snack, available in street carts all over the beaches of Mumbai.

Vinod also demonstrated a vegetable oothapam -- basically a light pancake filled with savory vegetables like onions, peppers, and cilantro.  You can fill the oothapam with anything, he says, even meats or fish.

The reason it’s not American is that the batter is made from ground rice and dal rather than wheat. Dosa batter mix is available at some Indian grocery stores, but Vinod says it’s worth making the batter from scratch for the taste. It will keep about a week in the fridge, and you can use it for oothapam and dosa (thinner, crepe-like cakes, find a few recipes here.)

Dosa Batter Recipe

from Chef K.N. Vinod

2 c. raw rice

2 c. parboiled rice

1 c. urad dal (dhuli - black gram dal polished)

1 t. fenugreek seeds

2 1/2 t. salt

Soak raw rice, parboiled rice, urad gram dal and fenugreek seeds together in water for three hours. Grid the soaked ingredients to a smooth paste in a mortar and pestle or blender. Add salt and allow batter to ferment 8-10 hours at room temperature.