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.