Friday, July 30, 2010

The Perfect Dosa

Want to indulge in a savory pancake? Heres a great recipe for dosa, these are like indian style crepes. My mom used to always make these paired with spicy potatoes for me and my siblings at breakfast time. And although they tasted great- mom's cooking is the best!- they never came out like the way they are in indian restaurants.



In those restaurants they were like the perfect dosa...the edges are golden brown and crisp, whilst the inside is delectably soft.

It took me a while to perfect my dosa. The hardest part is making sure it didnt stick to the pan and making them come out thin and crispy like a paper dosa.

Once you become expert dosa maker youll see making these are time saving and effortless..



The good thing is you can make a large amount of batter to last up to a few days..




Rice and urad dal consist on the majors portions of this recipe, the channa dal is used to give a nice brown color to your dosa, and the methi seeds are there to give it a nice crunch.




What youll need:
1 1/2 cups fat, short grain rice
1 cup urad dal
5 tablespoons channa dal
1 1/2 tbsp methi seeds (fenugreek seeds)
Water
large non-stick pan




Combine first four ingredients and let it soak in water for 4-5 hours or overnight. Once soaked drain most of the water and blend everything to a smooth consistency. Pour into a bowl and mix batter gently. Add salt to taste. About 2 teaspoons. Keep the batter by the stove and cover with a kitchen towel. Let it ferment for several hours. Once it is ready you may keep it in the fridge or make some dosai. Keep heat on high and let pan become very hot. Using a small ladle (about 1/2 cup batter) pour batter in the middle of the pan and swirl gently outwards until it resembles a crepe. Drizzle a little oil around the edges of the dosa. Cook 2 minutes.

Remember---

never grease your dosa pan

and make sure your pan is very hot.
Dosa is ready when it looks beautifully golden brown on one side. It is not neccessary to cook other side, optional.



I often make these for my husband for breakfast, when hes in a hurry for work, I just take the batter out of the fridge and quickly make a couple of dosas. This recipe makes about 4 cups of batter and can last up to 3 days.

Oh by the way these are versatile as well and can be eaten with anything you like. Plain is just as perfect.

4 comments:

Sana said...

look so yummy

Mona said...

The dosas look perfect! Not oiling the pan before adding the dosa batter is a new trick I have learnt. Thanks for sharing.

Muhammad said...

looks great! just like restaurant style dosai

FOODESSA said...

Khaddy...you make an incredibly elegant looking dosa.
I've never made this myself...how interesting.
I would have to look into the ingredients since they are not that familiar to me.

Thanks for sharing and flavourful wishes,
Claudia