Dosas are a real favourite around our house. This is a recipe I learned when I visited the award winning Prashad restaurant in Bradford.
It's amazing watching the professionals there do it. They all turn out so perfect.
Home cooks may find making dosas a bit difficult and time consuming. This batter batter recipe takes ages to make.
You need to blend the rice and dhal for about 5 minutes per batch so that the resulting batter is creamy smooth.
The batter then needs to ferment for a good 24 hours. Have I scared you off making my dosa batter recipe yet?
Believe me, the homemade dosas are worth it!
Tips for using this dosa batter recipe...
One thing I did wrong the first time I made dosas at home was overheat my pan.
The pan should be hot but not flaming hot. You'll know if your pan is too hot as the batter will lump up and you will be left with a real mess.
When a drop of water evaporates immediately when hitting the pan, it is the right heat.
If this happens, lower the heat and start again. Good luck with this one. With a little practice, you will master dosa making. I promise.
Recipe
Dosa Recipe
Ingredients
- 300g broken rice
- 75g urad dhal lentils
- 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 1 teaspoon Maldon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
- ½ onion
Instructions
- Combine the rice, lentils and fenugreek seeds in a large bowl and rinse three times with water.
- Pour enough warm water into the bowl to cover and soak for 12 hours or overnight.
- When ready to make your batter, drain the water.
- Place half of the rice mixture into a food processor with about 100ml of water and blend for at least five minutes until very smooth.
- You do not want to rush this. It is an essential part of making the batter.
- Repeat with the rest of the rice mixture adding another 100ml of water.
- Combine the two batters and add the salt and sugar. Whisk thoroughly.
- Now place the batter in a air-tight container and leave in the fridge to ferment for 24 hours.
- When ready to cook, place a non-stick - or normal frying pan over low heat.
- The pan is ready when a drop of water sizzles away almost immediately.
- Rub your half onion over the pan. This adds flavour and also ensures the dosas don't stick. Do this before you make each dosa.
- Using a ladle, pour about 150ml of batter into the centre of the pan.
- Then working very quickly and working from the centre, take the bottom of your ladle and move the batter in circular motions outward so that it is flat and not thick.
- Turn the heat up a little. The sides of the dosa will begin to brown and move away from the pan after a few minutes.
- When this happens, trickle about ½ tablespoon of the oil around the edges of the dosa.
- When the dosa is browned on the under side, flip it and brown the other side for about a minute.
- Flip over again and the fold into the shape as above.
- Repeat until all of the batter is used.