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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.
where would I find urad dal, toor daal, and Poha?
In an indian store or online on amazon or other places. If you have an indian store nearby, then also keep pre-made dosa batter.
Great blog! How long can I keep the batter in the fridge for?
about a week to 10 days.
Very healthy dosa…
third times is a charm! I purchased all the ingredients at and Indian grocery and will probably be set up for years now! LOL! I used rice flour instead of whole rice too. I needed almost 18 hours for it finally to start fermenting and puffing up. It took some heat…on my counter it was doing nothing (I am in Portland, maybe 50=60-‘s currently). I used the proofing setting on my oven to get it going. The batter ended up being like a pancake batter..but subtly fluffy with all those fermented gas bubbles lurking within. i did not grease my cast iron this time, just drizzled around the edges. I learned to not spread the batter all the way to edges and to wait patiently until they released. Anyways, so excited, yum!
yay! super awesome Tessa. that is some hard work indeed. i hope you keep making a load of varieties of dosas and love them:)) if oyu want them to ferment quickly, add just a pinch of yeast:).