Dosa Batter - Making Plain and Set Dosa

          Dosa is one of the most popular dishes of south India. It is a kind of pan cake prepared from the fermented batter of rice and lentils. Being a fermented food its not only healthy with loads of probiotics but also very delicious.    
      

Serves 3 to 4
Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup ( I used the regular sona masoori rice)
• Urad dal - 1/2 cup
• Channa dal - 2 tbs
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste

Method:

• Wash the rice and dals thoroughly. Mix all the ingredients except salt and soak in water for 6 to 7 hours.

• Drain out the water and grind the mixture using minimum amount of water.

• Allow the mixture to ferment overnight. The fermented batter should look frothy, which I have tried to show in the picture below.

• Next morning add in the required amount of water to achieve dosa batter consistancy. Add in the salt and mix well. The batter should have the consistency as shown in the following picture, 

• Heat the skillet, Pour a laddle full of batter and spread immediately so that it forms a thin layered crepe.

• As the sides start turning brown, pour few drops of ghee (clarified butter) or any edible oil on the top and sides of the dosa and flip its side. Allow the other side to cook for few seconds

• Remove from the skillet and repeat the process. This makes the plain dosa which can be had with chutney, aloo masala or chutney pudi (gun powder chutney)

• The procedure is similar for making the set dosa. The only difference is instead of spreading the batter in to thin layer on the hot skillet, its gently made to spread a little bit so that it looks like a pan cake. Usually set dosas are served  with coconut chutney and vegetable saagu or kurma.

Note:

• 1 tsp of curd can be mixed with the freshly ground dosa batter to aid the fermentation.
• If the atmosphere is cool, the container of the batter can be placed inside the oven overnight, since it will be comparitively warmer inside the oven. This helps in the fermentation process.
• The batter can be preserved refrigerated for a week. Take out the batter from the refrigerator atleast half an hour before using. This ensures the desired crispyness and the golden brown colour of the dosa.

Watch video in Kannada with English subtitles:

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