Dosas are crepes or pancakes made out of fermented Rice and Urad Dal batter. It is a very popular South Indian dish. It is said that the Dosa or Dosai originated in the Tamil Culture first and some say that it originated in the Udupi town of Karnataka. Wherever the origin is, it surely is an indigenous South Indian classic. Dosa makes for a perfect, filling and tasty dish for breakfast. Traditionally dosas are served with hot Sambhar and Chutney. Many variants of chutneys could be made to serve with dosas like Mint, Coconut, Tomato and Tamarind chutneys. A Dosa is such a versatile dish that it could be tweaked and made the way you want it. You can add in a different base of flour, Dal to make the batter and the spices and condiments in the masala could be changes as per your likings too. These days you may come across many street food hawkers, Pushcarts selling ‘99 varieties of Dosas’. They come in all mixes and ingredients mostly include veggies and are flavoured with Chinese sauces, or given a Punjabi tadka or lathered with Cheese. They taste really good.
There are many kinds of dosas that could be prepared with a base other than rice + Urad dal mix. Like,
- Neer Dosa ( made with a runny rice batter, does not require much time for fermentation)
- Rava Dosa ( wafer-thin dosas made with semolina or sooji)
- Masala Dosa ( Aloo filling inside the dosa or as they say ‘Potato Palya’ )
- Mysore Masala Dosa ( stuffed with masala aloo filling and spicy red chutney inside)
- Pesarattu ( Green Gram Dosa)
- Davangere Benne Dosa ( a crisp yet soft textured dosas made out of fresh white butter- A delicacy from the Davangere city of Karnataka, generally the Potato Palya served with this Dosa is bland and the coconut chutney is spicy)
- Set dosa- soft, spongy dosas made in the set of 3 for a serving, but smaller in size.
- Ragi Dosa (soft and healthy dosa, could be mixed with regular dosa batter).
A regular basic Dosa with a dollop of butter and spicy chutney is the one that simply transports you to heaven and that’s what I did the other weekend at my home and everybody loved it. This would be my second recipe for the Best 5 south Indian breakfast recipe series. Note down my recipe for the simple Plain Dosa.
Preparation Time: 10 hours
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients:
I always follow the proportion of 3:1 for making dosa batter, 3 cups of Rice and 1 cup Urad dal
- Parboiled Rice/Ukda Chawal ( slightly thicker) – 3 Cups
- Urad Dal – 1 Cup
- Chana Dal – 1 tbsp
- Thick Poha/ Flattened Rice – 1/3 cup
- Fenugreek seeds -20-25
- Sugar – ½ cup ( Optional)
- Salt as required
- Water for soaking
- Oil
- Ghee/Clarified butter/ or any butter of your choice
Method:
- Firstly Rinse and soak the parboiled rice into enough water in one bowl.
- In another bowl rinse and soak the Urad dal, Chana Dal, Thick Poha and Methi seeds together.
- Soak above all ingredients in respective bowls for about 4 hours.
- When you take the ingredients for grinding strain all the water and keep it aside. Now add everything into the grinder or mixer and start grinding it. Keep a spatula or a spoon handy to stir the mixture in between. Add water, keeping the desired consistency in mind add a little sugar, and then keep grinding until you achieve a good fluffy texture. Also addition of water will depend on the quality of rice. Now take the batter out from the grinder into another big bowl. Add salt accordingly, and give it a good mix .keep it aside for fermenting for about 8 hours. The duration of hours for fermentation will depend on the climatic conditions of your city. The batter could be kept for fermentation for less or more hours accordingly.
- Now before you take the batter for preparing the dosa, heat a Tava/Pan or a Griddle on a medium flame. It should be hot enough for dosas to come out well but not so hot that the dosas start sticking to the pan.
- I used a Non-stick pan, now pour a ladle of batter and put it into the centre and gently spread the batter in a neat round shape until the ends are thin. Spread butter or ghee and let the dosa cook, when you see the base is getting golden you know your dosas are crisp.
- Once you feel they are nice and golden gently lift and fold the dosa with spatula.
- Serve them hot with Coconut Chutney and Potato Bhaji.
Tips:
- If you are using an Iron tava, brush it with little oil first and then spread the batter. If it gets hot you may sprinkle water to cool it. In case you are using a Non-stick tava do not spread the oil, and if the pan gets very hot take it off from the flame for a minute or so, but do not sprinkle water to cool it off, as the coating may wear off.
- Adding Chana Dal gives a nice texture and dosas become crispier.
Keep reading this space for more such delicious recipes of the series.
