DOSA, MASALA DOSA

‘Dosa’ is an all-time hit with everyone who has tasted it! Born in South India, this dish is prepared in most houses all over India. With dosa / idli batter available in stores all over, it has become a frequently prepared item at homes.

If you can grind at home, you can make dosas in plenty but if you are a working woman hard-pressed for time, your best bet is the batter from the store. If you want to make it from scratch at home, you have a couple of options.

You can grind for dosa in the mixer - ratio of raw rice: urad dal is 21/2 :1. Soak the raw rice for 5-6 hours and the dal for 2-3 hours and grind them separately in the mixer, and mix together well, adding required salt. Allow it to ferment for 4-6 hours. The dosas made with this batter will taste great when hot but will turn hard when cold, so they are best eaten hot! Also idlis can’t be made out of this batter.If your mixer is powerful enough to grind parboiled rice, soak 3 cups of rice (2 1/2 cups of parboiled rice and 1/2 cup of raw rice) for 8-10 hours and 1 cup of urad dal for 2-3 hours and grind the two separately, add salt and mix well. Allow to ferment for 4-6 hours and make dosas. A better option - though more cumbersome and time-consuming – is grinding the rice and dal separately in the wet grinder. The ratio of rice: urad dal is 4:1. (Use 3 ¼ cup of parboiled rice and ¾ cup of raw rice for the best results). The batter you get using the grinder can be used to make dosas as well as uthappa and idlis. You will also get a greater amount of batter! But be ready to spend at least an hour grinding (you can do your kitchen jobs while at it - if you are good at multitasking that is!) 

If you are based in the US or if you are busy professional with long working hours, I know you won’t have the time or inclination to use the grinder even if you have one! The most convenient option is to use the idli / dosa batter from the Indian Stores. Here is another option - my sister-in-law Padma enlightened me with this - if you can spare some time on an odd weekend – grind one cup of urad dal (soaked in water for 3 hours). Take 4 cups of rice flour (from the store) and add enough water and salt to it and make a very thick batter. Add the ground dal to this rice batter and mix well. Stick it in a warm oven for 5-6 hours if you are located in a cold place. Make dosas / uthappa with this batter. Sorry, no idlis, please!

Method

Heat a non-stick tava, add 3 drops of oil and wipe all over with a tissue.

Pour 2-3 tbsps of batter on to the tava and spread in circles moving outwards - gently, calmly and patiently till the batter is spread evenly into a circular dosa.

Add a tsp of oil all around its circumference. Keep the heat at medium flame.

After a minute, when the dosa has turned brown, flip it and add a tsp of oil / butter. (The dosas in restaurants are not flipped).

Transfer to a plate and serve hot with coconut chutney / sambar / ‘molagappodi’.

Tips

Dosas will be crisper and browner if you add a tsp of methi seeds along with the urad dal.
Dosas are tastier, crisper and healthier if made on the traditional iron tava. 
If dosas are made 3-4 days a week, you won't feel like making chutney or sambar every time. Then dosa can be had with 'molagappodi' and oil or with 'mango thokku' or the healthier side-dish of yogurt to which a little salt and crushed green chilli has been added.

MASALA DOSA

‘Masala Dosa’ is a special variant of Dosa – made as a special dish on special occasions. It can be best described as ‘stuffed dosa'. It is pretty heavy and forms a good Sunday Brunch!

  

For 8 dosas -

Ingredients

Dosa batter – ½ kg

Oil

Butter - 2-3 tsp

For the stuffing

Potatoes –700 gms

Onion – 2 medium sized – sliced fine

Green chilli – 2 – finely chopped

Ginger – ½” piece – finely chopped

Tomato (optional) – 1

Turmeric powder – ½ + 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

Chana dal – 1 tsp

Asafetida – a pinch

Curry leaves – 10

Coriander leaves – chopped fine – 1 tbsp

Oil – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method

Boil the potatoes with 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and salt.

Peel and gently mash the potatoes.

Heat oil in a kadhai, add mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal and a pinch of asafetida. When they splutter, add the sliced onion and fry on medium heat with a little salt.

Add chopped ginger and green chilli and continue to fry till onions turn light brown.

Add a little turmeric powder, and curry leaves and fry for a minute.

If you are using tomatoes, add chopped tomato pieces and fry for another 2 minutes.

Add mashed potatoes and mix well.

Add chopped coriander leaves and mix well.

Make a nice big dosa on a non-stick tava and pour a tsp of oil all around its circumference.

Flip the dosa when it browns. Lower the heat.

Flip the dosa again and put 1 ½-2 tbsp of potato stuffing and fold the dosa.

Turn it over, add ½ tsp of butter on the top and serve the hot, crisp masala dosa with sambar and chutney. 

© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.