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Finally a Dosa recipe. Dosas are the flat bread equivalent side with South Indian meals and also a great snack with different types of crepes, with fillings, styles and so on.
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I make Dosa and Idli every few weeks. The traditional dosa used urad dal and rice and cooks up to a golden white crepe. My Dosas usually have a couple of lentils and beans. They dont look super white and are not very thin crepes. And I like them that way, not too crisp, full of lentils/beans and all the different proteins and nutrition from each of the lentils and much more filling. You can adapt this recipe to use only urad dal and rice for the traditional version. Find the traditional recipe and Step by Step pictures in my book.
Here is a Video from a very happy chef to help with the steps. It shows the consistency of the basic batter, how to shape the crepe, and different varieties of dosa.
To read more about how the fermentation works, see this Batter explained article on India Curry.
I did not have a powerful wet grinder to do justice to the batter for years, and used my regular blender. That worked fine when you blended the daal and rice separately but the batter was usually a bit more grainy. Some multi lentil Idli and Dosa versions posted earlier.
Now since I got the Blendtec, its a breeze to blend the batter.
Usually skinless white Urad daal (black gram), medium grain rice (sona masuri) and parboiled rice are used to get the best Dosas.
I use either whole with skin daal or split with skin black gram, hence the slight darker tone to the dosas in the pictures. For Variations, add ginger and green or red chili to the batter when you blend, add greens and a tomato, add a 1/4 cup more of soaked beans and lentils like black eyed peas, mung beans, pink, green, yellow lentils.
Dosa - Lentil and rice savory Crepes. Vegan Glutenfree
Dosas are the flat bread equivalent side with South Indian meals and also a great snack with different types of crepes, with fillings, styles and so on.
Ingredients
- 1 cup medium or long grain rice, I use basmati
- 1/4 cup brown rice
- ½ cup whole urad dal, black gram, skinned or whole. the whole unskinned one will give a slightly darker appearance to the crepe or split urad dal
- ½ teaspoon methi seeds, fenugreek seeds
- 2 Tablespoons toor daal, Pigeon pea or chana daal(bengal gram) - optional
- 1/4 cup thick Poha, Rice flakes- for crisp crepes, optional
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Batter:
- Rinse the rice well and soak overnight in a large bowl.
- Rinse the urad daal(black gram) and other dals if using and soak along with the fenugreek seeds(methi), overnight. Urad dal and fenugreek attract wild yeast for the fermentation.
- Drain the soaking liquid of the daal/lentils and reserve the soaking liquid.
- If using Poha(rice flakes), wash and add them to the soaking rice to soak for a few minutes.
- Grind the daal and fenugreek seeds in your blender/wet grinder using some of the soaking liquid into a smooth fluffy paste.
- Drain the rice, reserve the soaking liquid. Grind the rice with a little of the soaking water. The rice will make a gritty batter.
- If you can, use your hands to to mix the daal and rice batters together in one large bowl. Or use a large spoon. Add salt, and mix in.
- You can use this batter directly to make the crepes(adjust water content if the batter is too thick). The crepes will have a less fermented flavor.
- Let it ferment for another 6-8 hours in a warm place(85-90 deg F), covered with a towel or lightly with a lid. You can leave it in the oven with the light on to help with the warmth.
- The fermented batter should be frothy, and almost double in volume.
- Note: If you do not have urad dal or fenugreek, you can make the batter with any other lentils and add 1/2 tsp active yeast after blending. Let it sit for 3 to 4 hours to ferment and then use.
Making Crepes
- Heat a 10+ inch nonstick skillet on high heat. Once hot, sprinkle a few drops of water on the skillet. The water should sizzle and evaporate within 2 seconds .
- Cut a small wedge from an onion or a potato. Stick a fork into the onion. Add a drop of oil to the hot pan, and spread the oil around, using the onion. you can also use a thick paper towel to spread the oil.
- Pour a ladle full ( a 1/4 cup) of batter onto the hot skillet. Swirl the ladle in concentric circles, to spread out the batter.
- Drizzle a few drops of oil on the edges.
- Cook the crepe over medium-high heat till the bottom side of the dosa becomes lightly brown and starts to come away at the edges.
- You can flip and cook the other side for a few minutes for crispier crepe.
- Serve hot with coconut chutney, Sambhar(pigeon pea and veggies stew), Potato and onion subzi! or fill them up with anything you like and make it your own fusion filled crepe
Notes
Nutritional values are based on one serving
Nutrition
Calories: 314kcal, Carbohydrates: 63g, Protein: 12g, Sodium: 441mg, Potassium: 157mg, Fiber: 8g, Vitamin C: 1.1mg, Calcium: 36mg, Iron: 3mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this recipe? Rate and comment below!
These Dosa’s are heading to Ricki’s wellness weekend., Ellas’ potluck, Amee’s Fit abd Fab Friday, Allergy Friendly lunchbox., Hearth Soul blog hop, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Glutenfree WEdnesdays.
Apart from the amazing work VSPCA does for animals, they also provide care and food to the poorest people around. Their program Vegan Meals for the Poor, A wholesome and nutritious vegan meal is hygienically packed in palm leaves and taken by autorickshaw to the poorest of the poor in their respective places. Most of these people are also disabled, homeless, which requires someone to go to them.
Every one of them has a trusted association with a street dog. They give the first morsel of food to the dog. The people and the dogs, traumatized, abandoned and lonely, find support in each other, to live through the daily hardships. The beauty of compassion and companionship between all species.
Our VSPCA fundraiser Auction is now also on Facebook!
You can bid for the items on the Facebook Album here or anonymously on the Fundraiser page. Feel free to share any pictures, album or posts from the blog and facebook! Thank you for the continued support and love! Have a great weekend all.
These look so amazing – can I move in with you?
What an amazing program your fundraiser is supporting – sendin powerful thoughts that you will surpass your fundraising goal!
Thank you Heather! I dont have a goal.. but any good amount will help them for sure! I dont think you will like the cloudy Seattle.. We should all move to Cal!
you are becoming a vegan GF connoisseur! love these crepes you’ve made!
Mmmm dosa.. this recipe seems very straightforward and I will have to try it – stuffed with curried potatoes 🙂
Thanks vic!. do let me know when you do!
I absolutely love dosas and can’t wait to try this at home!
Thanks vicky! do let me know when you do:)
I’ve been meaning to make dosas for ages but I always get intimidated… They just seem so difficult, especially since I’m terrible at making crepes. You make them look like a breeze though- You’re a pro! Thanks for the inspiration, I really need to conquer my fear and just give it a shot.
I know you should 🙂 you can make fat crepes.. they will still taste divine:)
lovely dosa. from the pics i can make out the beautiful texture of the dosa…. hmmmm yummmy dosa.
hardly perfect dassana:) Its too cold to ferment well. tastes yumm though any which way:)
your dosa look delicious, richa!
Thanks Caitlin! you’ve gotta make this for dayv too 😉
you can come cook for me anytime, Richa! I love all of these Indian dishes you make.
“mmmm comment” right back at ya 😉
Thanks Char! mmm indeed:)
sorry for misspelling dosa, blame it on my pc.
Your dose, though you have mentioned that you do not own a powerful blender, still has turned out very well. Good luck on your fundraiser.
Thanks Srimathi! i do have a good blender now, this one is right out of the blendtec!
Richa, can you please share what Blendtec model you use? How has it held up to consistent use of producing fine batter?
I have been told by a lot of south-Indian friends that blenders cannot grind rice very well.
I use the classic Blendtec blender with wildside jar. It is a high powered blender and works well for rice batters. Both Blendtec and Vitamix work well. They do ned help with moving the batter initially depending on the rice, how long it has been soaked etc. the batter comes out as fine as you want. Blend for more cycles for finer batter.
https://www.amazon.com/Blendtec-TB-621-25-WildSide-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00TKRQWS8/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1470259084&sr=1-3&keywords=blendtec
Richa are you based off India or America. If India you can get in touch with me. I have been representing Blendtec here since 2004. Nice article.