Dosai

Dosai is one of the most famous south Indian dish and a staple of most south Indian households.
After a very long time, this weekend I prepared the batter for "Dosai".
I usually just use the Mixer to grind, as the quantity of the batter is not a lot. But if you have a grinder, try and use it as it adds the fluffiness and good consistency. The batter will rise more when you use a grinder. Keep the batter out for few hours and let it rise before refrigerating.
This batter should last for at least 2-3 meals and can be kept in the fridge for 4-5 days.

Ingredients

Ponni Boiled/Par-boiled rice (Puzhungal arisi) - 3 cups
Regular raw rice - 1/2 cup
Whole Urad Dhall (muzhu ulutham paruppu) - 1 cup
Salt (Uppu)- 1 teaspoon (add to taste)
Vegetable/Canola Oil (ennai) - add as required

Optional Ingredient
Fenugreek seeds (venthayam) - 1/4 teaspoon

Fully soak the rice and the urad dhall in separate containers in enough water.
Soak for at least 4-5 hours.

Drain any water remaining, and rinse the rice and dhall and clean off any dirt.
Grind the rice in a mixie/Mixer (or grinder) adding little water as desired till a fine consistency is attained. When you dip your index finger lightly in the batter and rub against the thumb, you should not feel anything coarse in the batter.
Similarly grind the urad dhall till a fine consistency is reached.

Add the optional fenugreek seeds while grinding one of the batters.
Adding fenugreek seeds will make darker brown "Dosai".

Mix both ground batters and add necessary salt. Note : the batter should not be watery.

Set aside the batter to rise for 2-3 hours. If it doesn't rise that much, that's fine, don't worry about it.

When you are ready to make the "dosai"s, preheat a flat non stick griddle. Keep the heat at medium. Take required amount of batter in a separate container. Dilute the batter a little bit using water as desired. For example for about 5 cups of the batter, you can add 1/2 - 3/4 cup of water. But make sure it's not very thin, as it will be tough to spread the batter. Add salt as desired after diluting.

Pour the batter and spread it out in the shape of a circle. Drizzle little vegetable/canola oil over the Dosa. When the ends of the "dosai" start to slightly lift up, flip the "Dosai" and cook the other side also. Typically it takes about 1-2 minutes for a dosai to cook. You can leave it on for few more seconds on each side to get a crispy "Dosai".



We enjoyed the "Dosai"s with "Onion/Tomato chutney", "Paruppu/Thengai(toor dhall/coconut) thogayal" and "Garlic Idli/Dosai podi" for one of our meals and "Masala Dosai" (with potato masala) for another meal. I am thinking of using the same batter for making "Uthappam" tomorrow.



Serve with Chutney or sambhar or Idli/Dosai podi.

Serving size: 20-25 medium size dosas