Adai Dosa

           

One of my all-time favourite food is dosa, dosa in any form, plain or masala, regular or rava. For many years in UK going out for a dosa was a rare treat. As more Indian places to eat opened there were a few which served some of the basic dosas. You could be the readymade mix in which you added water to make the batter and make at home which was too time consuming as I found out once. I was so tried after making so many dosas which disappeared faster than I could make. These were just masala dosa where I am not sure I got the potato filling right either. If this was such a chore where the batter is more or less ready-made, I could not even contemplate doing it from scratch.

Now that I do not work, I have been trying out recipes and making them from scratch. Yes, my blog has many of these and in the last couple of years I have tried new stuff but not updated my blog. The other day I needed to do one for Rice Peas and my spark to blog got reignited. I have a number of friends who are expert in making dosas of all kinds and the most basic one is made with rice and urad dal (black gram lentil without the husk). The proportion of rice to the dal is 1: ½. Take one cup of rice and half cup urad dal in a bowl. Add a few fenugreek seeds and soak all over night. Then grind the rice and dal mix without adding water to a fine paste. Remove to a bowl and add water to make a batter. The consistency should be such that you are able to pour and spread with a spoon. Add some salt according to taste and set aside for a few hours to ferment. I generally grind and prepare the batter in the morning if I wish to make dosas for dinner.

Having learnt to do this and finding it was not too onerous as doing things a bit at a time suits my working style now, I thought I would like to try something new. Hence the venture into the unknown with adai dosa.

Ingredients

• Half cup Tuvar dal (pigeon peas lentils)
• Half cup Moong dal (green bean lentils without the husk)
• Half cup Urad dal (black bean lentils without the husk)
• Half cup Masoor dal (red lentils)
• Half cup Chana dal (Bengal gram lentils)
• 1 cup of Rice
• 2 teaspoons Fenugreek seeds
• 1 table spoon of chopped coriander leaves (optional as I have friends who do not like it)
• ½ teaspoon chilli powder (optional as one of my friends puts it)
• Salt to taste
• Oil to cook and I use it sparingly so about a table spoon is enough.

Method

• Put all the lentils, rice and fenugreek in a bowl and wash with cold water to remove any dust or extra starch. Drain the water and then fill the bowl with fresh water till it covers the contents plus another centimetre.  Cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight.
• In the morning drain and leave the water to one side. Grind the soaked dals, rice and fenugreek seeds mixture in a food processor. The batter should feel smooth to touch.
• Remove the batter in a bowl and add that left over water a little at a time to get the batter to single cream consistency so you can use a ladle to pour in the pan and also use the back of the ladle to spread it in the pan.
• Cover the bowl and leave to the side in a warm space so that the batter can ferment. As stated earlier I leave the batter for 4 hours at least.
• When you are ready to cook add salt and coriander leaves.
• Stir the batter to check the consistency. If the batter feels thicker you can add a little more water to loosen it.
• Get the oil out in a small bowl and a spoon.
• Heat the frying pan on your hob. Usually cast iron flat pan is used for making dosa and I do not have one. For one thing I cannot lift it as its too heavy for my wrists. Instead I use a good quality non-stick frying pan and it works just as well.
• Once the pan is hot put a few drops of oil and rotate the pan to let the oil cover the surface. Since the pan is non-stick this is enough.
• Take a ladle full of batter and put it in the middle of the pan. Using the back of the ladle and circular movement from the centre outwards spread the batter into a nice circle. Its ok if it is not all evenly spread. The thinner bits give the dosa its crispy bits.
• Put a few drops of oil on top and cover the frying pan with a lid so the steam created helps the cooking.
• When you see the edges getting crisp coming off the pan you can turn the dosa over. Often people find cooking one side is enough however since I am a novice at this, I prefer to turn it over and make sure it is cooked all the way through.
• Once cooked flip it back and fold it over and serve.

Serving tips

I sometimes make the potato filling and or sambhar (thick lentil soup is the best way I can explain to people who are not familiar with Indian foods) or coconut chutney or all of them. You can also have it with savoury pickles like gongura or ginger pickle or tomato chutney.

Left over batter can be put in the fridge and saved for another day. It can be kept for 2-4 days. Just make sure you leave it out of the fridge for a few hours to bring it back to room temperature and get the fermentation going again.