Dosa Recipe - A Healthy Tasty Addition to your Breakfast Recipes

Presenting the dosa, an integral part of my home. The dosa recipe is one that I can mutter out even in my sleep as it is a part of our everyday breakfast. Hubby dear simply loves the dosa and so I always have batter at hand. Once a week we have it for dinner with of course, a different accompaniment like a chicken curry recipe, a traditional kerala egg stew recipe/egg curry or the kadala curry(black chana cooked Kerala style in a coconut gravy).

About the Dosa
The Dosa is an Indian pancake or crepe made with fermented batter and is a staple diet in South Indian homes of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The batter for the dosa is a combination of rice and lentils and thus, is highly nutritious combining carbohydrates and proteins in just the right proportion to give your day a kick start.

How to Make the Dosa Batter?
The pre-soaked rice and the lentils are ground together to make a smooth batter. Allowed to ferment for atleast 6-8 hours, this batter is then spread out on a hot griddle and cooked with ghee or vegetable oil.

The Transition of the Regular Dosa
The dosa has currently moved on from the traditional South Indian homes to achieve international status and today is a popular fast food item that is seen on the street food menu to that of fine dining restaurants. A variety of dosa recipe are seen with chefs not leaving any stones unturned to please the palette of the modern day foodie. From the traditional plain dosa, masala dosa, rava dosa, adai dosa, onion dosa to the oats dosa, ragi dosa, the paneer and the chicken or kheema dosa, the variety is truly mind blowing. The dosa has come to be a great example of what one can do with a little creativity and experimentation.

It is a great way to start a day power-packed with energy to take on the world. The plain dosa is the recipe that I am sharing here. It can be enjoyed with chutney, sambar, vada or even a delicious curry.

This is my Mom's recipe for the dosa batter. This is one that she has been using for years and I continue to blindly follow it as every time I can be sure of a crispy delicious delights that would have hubby and my doll smiling and asking for more. A quick and easy recipe of the dosa that is a fool proof method to getting the perfect dosa. However, it may require some practice to get the perfect circle (you can be sure of mastering it in a few days). This batter may be used after fermenting or even immediately after grinding to make tasty and crispy dosas.

Ingredients for the Dosa batter recipe:
Rice - 2 cups
Urad dal-1 cup
Cooked rice- 1 cup
Salt to taste
Water - as required for grinding

Method for making the dosa batter:
1-Soak rice and urad dal for 6-8 hours (the traditional way of doing it would be to soak it separately however,I soak them together and still have wonderful dosas from the batter).

2- Wash thoroughly. Grind the soaked rice, urad dal and the cooked rice to a fine paste in the mixer or your grinder with enough water. Add salt to taste (ensure that the batter is of pouring consistency for dosa).

3- Heat a griddle or a non-stick pan. Grease the pan with a little oil so that the dosa/crepe does not stick to the pan. Pour the batter and spread into a circular shape. Pour some oil over(say half a teaspoon - if you decide to forget being health conscious for a while and decide to pamper your taste buds , you can opt for ghee/butter instead). Fold and serve hot with the desired accompaniments.

Notes:
1- For an added flavour to the dosas you could mix a pinch of fenugreek powder (or soak a few methi/fenugreek seeds along with the rice and urad dal and grind) to the dosa batter before making out the yummy dosas.
2- I make dosa both with both fermented and unfermented batter. If you like making with a fermented batter then grind, mix salt and let the batter ferment for 6-8 hours.
3- I use the same batter for idlis too. I generally add very little water while grinding so that I get a thick batter perfect for making idlis. I take out a little from this thick batter and add required quantity of water to make it to a pouring consistency to make dosas. You can also use this batter to make make delicious uttapams (add the veggies and cheese if you desire and you have another yummy breakfast ready, will add the recipe in the coming days). 
4- A filling can be added to the dosa to make it a masala dosa, paneer/chicken dosa or anything else of your choice. You may decide to make the dosa/crepes thin or slightly thick as desired. This is a base batter and does allow for a lot of creativity. 

This is a tried and tested recipe that guarantees tasty crispy pancakes that promise to melt in your mouth.

Making a beginning

Ten years into marital bliss is definitely qualification enough to be able to churn out "something nice" (minus the occasional disasters which I guess even the accepted great chefs too have).

Initial days of marriage I must admit have been very trying on the culinary front. With me having almost no knowledge of the culinary kingdom I was left to trying recipes with whatever little knowledge I gathered from some of the cookery classes on television and a passing glimpse of Mom at work in the kitchen. Hubby dear was really very patient as there were days when I could not eat what I cooked, he would smilingly have it with a sly remark of "your own creations so please do eat:)". I had to impress him and being the one to accept nothing but the best, I surely had to come out with flying colors.

The Beginning

Next time home, I decided to watch closely as to what happens in the kitchen (during school and college days, studies were priority and then television, friends and generally doing nothing took centre stage, so visits to the kitchen to try a recipe were few and far).

Writing down mom's cooking recipes that were made regularly at home and with tips from mom-in-law on his favourite dishes from her repertoire, I made a foray into the world of colourful and powerful ingredients which could simply be a delight or disaster just by the way one incorporated them in the dishes. They all seemed alien at the outset (distinguishing one dal/spice from the other was a challenge) however, patience and a lot of work in my space - the kitchen - got me to befriend each one of them, so much so that they now begin to talk the moment I enter:)

Our Bundle of Joy - the Fussy Eater

With the arrival of our little bundle of joy however, things took a turn. She was the little fussy eater (as most kids are) and most of my time then was spent trying to find ways of getting her to eat all the veggies(the paediatrician would always so easily suggest including more green leafy vegetables in the diet - easier said than done with a tiny tot who had a mind of her own) and me the new Mom was at her best trying to get baby dearest to eat well.

All the long hours trying to whip up something that would appeal to her tiny tastebuds have proved extremely rewarding. She now loves trying out new dishes, ingredients and loves sharing my experiences. In fact, she is my first food taster now.

With me having proved my skills in the culinary art to quite an extent, hubby and daughter now want to have "something nice" every day. The two of them have got me cooking quite a bit and yes, probably it is their criticism, comments and appreciation that has helped me polish my skills and make an effort to get better each day.

The Food Blog - An Idea to Move Closer to Cooking and Food

I have been inspired by the innumerable food blogs that have such attractive and delicious recipes being written about each day. One fine day from reading these, I decided to be a part of the food blogging world and start one of my own. It is such a pleasure blog hopping and checking out the wonderful recipes created my marvellous home chefs.

Cookingupsomethingnice, my food blog is all about sharing the creations in my kitchen, my world. From a mere survival requirement, cooking has come to be an integral part of my life adding a whole new dimension and has become a passion. In the past few years I have tried my best to add a new angle and meaning to my time in the kitchen.

A small beginning, it has given me the opportunity to combine my writing with culinary skills and I have been enjoying the writing assignments that help me get closer to food and delve deeper into a world that does not cease to surprise.