Before I tell you the details of dosa recipe, you must know what it is actually. It is a typical South Indian dish; it is a form of fermented rice pancake and is served with sambhar and coconut chutney. A staple diet for inhabitants of states like Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, it is savored by people throughout India and Sri Lanka. While you can buy its instant mixes from market, the dish is worth trying at home. There are many variations of dosas viz plain, masala and rava. Just follow the step by step procedure explained below and try it when you have some spare time. Making a good dosa is a skill and needs some preparation beforehand.

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Ingredients Required for Dosa Recipe

For Batter

 

1½ cup of Idli rice (parboiled rice) and equal amount of grain rice

¾ cup of Urad dal (black gram)

2 tablespoon of Chana dal (Bengal gram)

A spoonful of methi seeds (fenugreek)

Salt to taste

For Filling

3-4 potatoes

2 medium sized onions

2-3 green chillies

Red chilli powder to taste

Salt to taste

A few mustard and cumin seeds

Coriander leaves

A spoonful of turmeric

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Step by Step Procedure

Soaking

Soak Urad dal and methi seeds in a bowl of water and keep it for about 3-4 hours. Also soak rice separately for some time. You can also keep them overnight so that they can be grinded and cooked easily.

Grinding

Crumble the rice in a wet grinder. Attenuate it till it becomes a paste. Keep the paste aside. Now repeat the grinding process for soaked chana dal as well as fenugreek. You will get a smooth batter this time. To grind well, you should add a little amount of water, but avoid adding too much as the paste, otherwise, will become too thin.

Mixing

Now mix the two batters and add some salt to it. Mix thoroughly with the help of a ladle.

Fermentation

It is crucial step to make a dosa. Optimum temperatures (86-90 degree Fahrenheit) are required for it. Keeping the mixture prepared in above steps for about 12 hours results in the formation of yeast in it and it gets fermented. The summer temperatures hasten the process while in winters, the batter has to be kept for longer hours. You can also add some retarding agents such as yeast, baking soda or curd, but this is not recommended. If the temperature is too low, you can hasten the fermentation by keeping the batter mix in an oven.

Preparing the Filling

This is to be done before starting making a dosa. Boil potatoes in pressure cooker, peel them and mash them. Heat some oil in a pan; add to it the seeds of mustard and cumin. When they start spluttering, sim the flame. Now add finely chopped onions, cut green chillies, and chana dal. Also add some coriander leaves, salt, red chilli powder and turmeric. Stir the mixture. When the onions turn golden brown, add mashed potatoes to the mixture. Continue stirring. If the mixture appears too dry, add more oil to it. You can also moisten it by splashing some water over it.

Frying

Heat a non-stick frying pan and pour some oil over it. In order to spread it smoothly over the entire griddle, use a piece of cloth. Greasing the griddle is very important as, otherwise, the batter will stick to it and it will become difficult to remove it from the surface.

Sprinkle a few drops of water over the heated pan in order to ensure that it is not overheated. Wait until water evaporates. Now, drop some batter with a ladle onto the pan and spread it evenly by rotating the ladle in a spiral motion. Make sure that you move the ladle form inward to outward direction and never the other way.

To avoid sticking of dosa, pour some oil over its edges. Cook the batter for about 3-4 minutes; without turning up, see if the underlying surface has coked or not; if it has turned reddish brown, it is time to flip the dosa.

Cook the other side for about a minute and flip it one more time.

Now, place the mashed potato masala prepared above over dosa. Flip both sides to cover this masala. You can also pour some chutney over the potato paste to make it more delicious.

Serve dosa with coconut chutney and sambhar.

Rava Dosa: The basic ingredients in a Rava Dosa are rice powder, semolina (sooji), and buttermilk. Mix rice flour with semolina and add some buttermilk to this batter. Also add the roasted cumin seeds and peppercorns. You can also add asafetida and ginger paste. Keep the batter overnight to allow its fermentation. Prepare it just like masala dosa.