Dosa

I am a Mangalorean and dosas or as we call it polay (pronounced poh-lay, heavy L sound) were regularly prepared, specially for breakfast, while I was growing up. It went down very well with curries or plain tea and were so easy to make. And yet I never ever tried to make them, till I moved to Cebu. D, my son, is a fussy eater. When I say fussy, I mean, he doesn't eat any vegetables except potatoes. In my quest to get him to try new types of food I discovered dosas at my friend Sudha's house, where D not only ate them so well but asked for more. You can imagine the joy and awe that these humble dosas invoked!

That is when I started making dosas with an enthusiasm that is bordering psychotic. This episode happened in mid-December 2014 and since then, I have dosa batter in my fridge on any given day. For many days, D ate nothing but dosas for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and just like that he has decided to give dosas a break.

However, my husband and I have gotten used to eating dosas for breakfast. They are quick to make and an healthy option and go so well with chutney or sambhar or potato vegetable. The best part is you can make any quantities you want and store the extra batter in the refrigerator for future use. You can use the batter up to five days.

This is the simplest thing to cook besides rice and yet it took me so long to start making them. But better late than never I guess.

Recipe credit: Sudha J

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 3 measures
2. Urad daal - 1 measure
3. Methi seeds (fenugreek) - 10-15 seeds
4. Salt - to taste
5. Oil - for pan frying
6. Onion - half piece

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice and fenugreek seeds together in a bowl with enough water to cover the rice.
2. In another bowl, wash the urad daal, till the water appears clear. Soak both the rice and daal for 2 - 3 hours.
3. Grind the rice and urad daal separately in a blender to a smooth fine paste using little water. The consistency should be thick and creamy, like the pancake batter.
4. Empty the batter into a vessel, where the batter occupies half of the vessel, leaving room for it to rise. It will increase in quantity by at least half so use a large enough vessel. 
5. Do not add salt at this stage.
6. Leave it over-night or at least eight to nine hours to ferment.
7. When the wait time is over. Add salt and mix the batter well.
8. Put a fork half way through the half of the peeled onion, pour a little oil into a little bowl and dip the onion lightly into the oil and then use it to grease the pan.  
9. Heat a flat pan, grease it as suggested above and then ladle the batter onto the pan, just like a pancake. You may use the bottom of the spoon to flatten it out a bit more. Cook on medium flame till the edges start to loosen and leave the pan.
10. You may add oil on the top of the dosa and turn it over so it cooks on the other side too. This should take about 30 to 40 seconds.
11. Once done, serve it hot with your choice of chutney and sambhar.

Notes:

• Since soaked rice breaks easily, add water sparingly, or you will end up with a runny batter.
• If you are making a larger quantity to be used over a couple of days, do not add salt to the whole batter. Remove the quantity of batter in a separate bowl that will be used and add salt only to that batch. Keep the remaining batter in the refrigerator and use as mentioned above.
• Fenugreek seeds are optional. My mum doesn't use them in her recipes.