indian dosa

I’ve loved dosa since I had them for breakfast in the Indian quarter of Singapore several years ago. Soft and crispy at the same time – and incredibly tasty.

The traditional recipe has soaked and ground rice and urad dhal and a period of fermentation. This is all very well if you are not impatient, but not so good if you want to eat them NOW!

This recipe is a tweak of a Jamie Oliver and some other recipes for quick dosa that use a variety of flours and baking powder instead. I used these flours because I had them in the cupboard. You could easily make them gluten free by leaving the wheat flour out.

I’m going to let the batter I’ve made ferment overnight and try it again tomorrow to see if it tastes better, but they taste pretty good right now.

It is traditional to eat these with a spiced potato filling, but today I used some leftover dhal and some sauteed greens from the garden. To be honest you could put anything savoury into them.

indian dosa

 

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prep time

35 mins

cook time

5 mins

total time

40 mins

 

recipe type: quick meals

cuisine: indian

serves: 4

ingredients

• ¼ cup besan (chickpea) flour
• ¼ cup mung bean flour
• ¼ cup wheat flour
• ¼ cup rice flour
• ¾ to 1 cups water
• 1 pinch salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• seasonings of various sorts (see notes)

instructions

1. Mix the flours, salt and baking powder together, add the water and mix to a thin batter. You might need a bit more or less water. It needs to be like crepe batter so you can get it to spread in the pan. If you can wait, let it sit for 30 mins.
2. Heat a large frying pan and add a small amount of oil. Mix the batter again and pour some into the pan and swivel the pan around to spread the batter as quickly as possible before it sets. If it doesn't spread out very well, it probably means you need to add some more water to the batter.
3. Let it cook until the top dries out slightly and has some bubbles. Flip and cook the other side. They don't take long. The first side should be golden brown and the second will just have some golden brown spots on it.
4. Fill, roll and eat.

notes

Dosa usually have seasonings in the batter such as finely chopped green chillies, black mustard seeds, grated ginger and chopped coriander. They taste great this way. Add as much or as little as you like. I love mine with ginger and chilli.

One other thing, traditional dosa batter is much thicker and spread with the back of a spoon around the pan. This instant variety is thinner and poured.

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