Paper Masala Dosa

These savory, nutritious fermented crepes are a popular breakfast, brunch or evening snack item in south of India. Nowadays, dosas are popular all over India. I have adapted this recipe from Rina' Blog. Thank you Rina for sharing this recipe.

The recipe usually calls for some regular rice and parboiled rice, but I had neither and had this hankering for a beautiful, golden, thin, crispy-edged dosa. So after scouring the web I came across this recipe that called for rice powder. Being a little skeptical, I asked both my mom and my mother-in-law, both denied ever making it with rice powder.

Since it was already Friday and I was really craving for this dish, I went ahead and blindly put my faith in Rina's recipe and I was not disappointed. This dosa, fermented well and rose quite a bit to make wonderful golden crispy dosas. If you do not like paper thin dosas, then you can make it a little thick. However enjoy them while they are still warm....... cold dosas are not at all appetizing.

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour / maida
3/4 cup split black gram / urad dal
1/4 cup split bengal gram dal / channa dal
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds / methi seeds
1/4 tsp soda bi-carbonate / baking soda
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
salt, use kosher salt, to taste
oil, for cooking the dosas ( about 1/4 cup approximately )

Method

•  So if you want to have these Dosas on a Saturday morning, you should start its preparation on Friday morning.
• So on Friday morning wash the dals and fenugreek seeds and soak them all separately ( should soak for at least 4-6 hours ) .
• Later that same day, using some of the soaking water, grind these dals, to a fine paste,separately. I usually grind the urad dal first and then both the channa dal and fenugreek next.
• Turn out the ground dals in a big stainless steel bowl, next goes in the rice flour and all-purpose flour. Use some of the left-over soaking water to make this into a pancake batter consistency. Add the sugar, salt and baking soda and mix it well into the batter. Cover the bowl ( it does not need an airtight seal ) and set in a dry warm place for it to ferment overnight.
• Next day mix the batter and add more salt and water if necessary. For a paper thin dosa, let the batter be a little on the thinner side, but not too watery.
• Heat your seasoned cast iron pan or non-stick pan. I used both the non-stick pan and a Bialetti Aeternum Saute Pan, 12-Inch pan. I found that the latter produced this deep golden dosas, while the regular non-stick made a pale colored dosa.
• Then add a little oil and swirl it round the pan. Do not add too much oil as it will make it very difficult to spread the dosa batter on the saucepan. So after adding the oil, pour a full ladle or two of batter in the center of the pan and spread it outwards by moving the bottom of the ladle in concentric circles spreading the batter. I usually let the center be a little thicker than the sides. Unfortunately, I did not get any detailed snapshots of this procedure, but if you want to see how it is done, head on to Veggie Belly's blog, she has not only given a detailed account of the dos and don'ts of a perfect dosa but also some snapshots on how to ladle the dosa batter in the pan.
• Drizzle about a teaspoonful of oil over the dosa. Make sure the heat is medium high. Soon you will see that the edges getting brown. Loosen the dosa and flip it over ( if the dosas are thick ) or else just put a serving of potato sabji on it and fold the dosa over it. Remove it from the pan and serve while still warm with some coconut chutney.
• Before you pour in the next dosa, wipe your saucepan down with a wet paper towel ( do this only if you are using a non-stick pan ).No need to add any oil to the pan now. Repeat the steps above till you use up all the batter.
• Serve all your dosas warm, with some potato sabji and coconut chutney.