Simple Dosa and Dosa batter. This dosa recipe article shows you how to make dosa batter in a blender grinder at home with lots of suggestions and tips.
With the help of these tips, you can easily make crispy, chewy and tasty sada dosa that you will love.
What is Dosa and how is it made
Dosa, also known as dosai (in Tamil), is a famous South Indian breakfast or snack both in and outside India. Dosa are basically rice and lentil pancakes made with rice paste and ground and fermented lentils.
For 4 to 5 hours, lentils and rice are soaked. Then they are ground separately to obtain a fine consistency. Lentil paste and rice paste are mixed with salt. The dough is then left to ferment overnight or for 8 to 9 hours.
After the dough has fermented, the dough is poured onto a seasoned cast iron skillet or pan (tawa) and spread out like a pancake and baked until crisp and golden.
Lentils used to make Dosa
The lentils used to make the dosa are shelled and split Black Gram. In Hindi, these are also known as Urad Dal. Other English names for urad dal are Black Matpe Bean, Mungo Bean, and Vigna Mungo (botanical name).
Urad dal is available as a whole or in two. To make dosa, you can use either whole shelled urad dal or shelled and split urad dal. These two types of urad dal have an off-white color. The black pods on them have been removed.
Type of rice used to make Dosa
The rice used to make the dosa can be short or medium grain white rice or parboiled idli rice.
A basic dosa recipe will only contain rice, urad dal, and salt. The dosa making proportions vary and by changing the proportions you can change the texture from a soft and thick dosa to a crispy or thin dosa.
Adding a few more ingredients like flattened rice (parched rice or poha) different types of lentils also change the texture. The color also varies from an opaque white to a pale gold or reddish or golden.
Many readers ask me what is idli rice and parboiled rice. So I will mention it.
– parboiled rice is partially cooked rice in its husk. Later, they are dried and ground. Parboiled rice is used to make steamed rice, salted rice porridge (which we call kanji), and snacks too.
– Idli rice is a type of parboiled rice and is used to make idlis or dosa. However, note that to make dosa you can also only use raw rice. Personally, I prefer sona masuri or parmal rice.
– ordinary rice is polished white rice with the husk, bran and germ removed.
So, there are many dosa varieties that can be made with various textures ranging from crisp and soft to fluffy and light. These different textures are due to the proportion of rice, urad dal and other ingredients used in the dosa batter recipe.
About this Regular Dosa Recipe
The ordinary dosa is also called Sada dosa. The word “sada” means plain or simple. Really, because this humble Sada dosa is served without the potato stuffing (potato masala). So you savor the dosa with just the coconut chutney and the sambar.
The Sada Dosa recipe that I share here is what I usually do. The dosa dough recipe uses a ratio of 3: 0.75 for rice and lentils respectively. Besides the rice, I also add flattened rice (poha) for sweetness and fenugreek seeds (to help with fermentation).
So, this dosa recipe makes for a crispy and sweet dosa. This is how we prefer dosa at home.
I used a mixture of idli rice and regular rice. But you can also just use idli rice. You can also use only regular rice. Sona masuri and parmal rice also work well.
The dosa dough proportions I mentioned will finish all the dough in one day for a family of 3 to 4. In the summer I usually make this proportion less as the dough tends to get sour quickly. In winter, I double the proportions.
I also ground the lentils and rice together as my blender can accommodate this amount without grinding them separately. But if you increase the proportions, grind the lentils and rice separately.
This is a proven foolproof dosa recipe and you can easily scale the recipe. If you are doubling or tripling this dosa recipe, in a separate bowl, soak the urad dal + methi seeds. Grind urad dal and methi seeds separately. Grind the rice separately. Then mix the two pastas in a large bowl or saucepan.
This dosa paste is a 2 in 1 paste because it can be used to make Idli, Uttapam and paniyaram. The best part about this dosa paste is that you can make the dosa thin, crisp and thick. As you wish. I do both. With the same paste, you can make a variety of dosa.
Tips for fermenting Dosa batter
- Temperature: Take into account the temperature of the city you live in, as temperature is one of the important factors for good fermentation.
- Urad Dal: Make sure the urad dal you are using is fresh and within its expiration date.
- Salt: Use non-iodized salt. I use rock salt. You can even use pink salt.
- Rice: You can prepare this dosa recipe only with a parboiled rice (idli rice) recipe or with a combination of idli rice and regular rice.
- Tips for cooler climates:
Keep the bowl of dough in a warm place, such as near a heater or in a warm place in your kitchen.
You can also preheat your oven at low temperature (80 to 90 degrees Celsius) for about 10 minutes. Then turn off the oven and keep the batter bowl inside – I use this method when it’s really cold outside.Otherwise, if your oven has lights, keep the lights on and place the dough inside.
Adding a little sugar helps ferment the dough – I sometimes use this method during the winters here.
Avoid adding salt to the dough as the salt delays the fermentation process. Sometimes I add salt and sugar together. In the idli paste, I always use rock salt.
Keep the dough longer, like 14-24 hours.
Remember that even if you don’t see the dough doubled or tripled, you should see tiny bubbles in the dough. You should also get the slight sour fermented aroma typical of the dough.
Adding ¼ to ½ teaspoon of instant yeast (dissolved in 2 to 3 teaspoons of water) 30 to 45 minutes before doing the dosa also helps. But perform this method when the batter has not fermented well. The downside to this method is that you have to use all of the batter at once. If you refrigerate, the dough becomes too leavened.
During cold seasons, you can also add ¼ to ½ baking soda and then ferment the batter.
Make Dosa dough in a wet grinder or mixer-grinder
In my opinion, both gadgets work well. For large doughs, a tabletop wet grinder (stone grinder) does a fabulous job. A mixer or mixer grinder is good for small to medium amounts of dough. I used both a wet grinder and a mixer-grinder.
For large amounts of pasta I use a wet grinder, but lately I have been using a mixer grinder because the one I have is too big and lifting and washing it is a big task. So I use my Preethi mixer-grinder (Blue Leaf Platinum MG 139,750 watts) and it gives me good results every time. The dough does not get hot or lukewarm.
If you plan to grind the dough in a wet mill, double or triple the proportions of the ingredients in the recipe. For a wet grinder you will need to add a little more water while grinding. The urad dal dough gets really chewy and light like whipped cream in a wet stone mill.
So, for ½ cup of urad dal, add 1.5 cups of water. Add 2.5 cups of water for 2 cups of rice. When grinding urad dal, add water in parts so that it becomes very fluffy and increases in volume.
Once you have grounded the urad dal, you do not need to remove it. Just let the dough stay in the wet mill. Add the rice and continue to grind.
How to season a casserole or tawa to prepare any variety of dosa
Another point to consider is the use of a tawa or a seasoned casserole. If you are using a cast iron tawa, it should be well seasoned. By seasoning I mean the casserole is often used to make dosa. If you roast on a tawa and use the same tawa, the dosa may stick.
To season a saucepan, heat the tawa or pan. Coat the pan with oil all over. Turn off the pan and set aside 2 to 3 days. Before making the dosa, heat the pan. Remove the residual oil with a tissue paper. Spread oil all over. Heat for a few seconds, then remove the oil again. Spread some oil on it and use the pan to make dosa. The dosa will stick if the pan is not seasoned. Cast iron pans are the best for making dosa. You can even do it in a nonstick skillet, but try making it in a cast iron pot once and you’ll notice the difference.
You can serve this dosa with coconut chutney, potato masala and sambar.
Also Read: Idli Recipe | How To Make Idli Dough
How to Make Plain Dosa (Sada Dosa)
To make it easier to understand, I have divided this dosai recipe article into 3 main parts:
- Step 1 – Preparation for making dosa paste
- Step 2 – Preparation of the dosa dough in a mixie
- Step 3 – Preparing the sada dosa from the dosa dough
Step 1 – Preparation for making dosa paste
1. In a bowl, take ½ cup of idli rice or parboiled rice with ½ cup of regular rice. Instead of adding regular rice, you can also prepare the dosa with a total of 1 cup of idli rice.
2. In the same bowl, add ¼ cup of urad dal and ? teaspoon of methi seeds.
3. Rinse the rice, lentils and methi seeds together several times and set them aside.
4. In another bowl, take 2 tablespoons of poha (flattened rice).
5. Rinse the poha once or twice in water, then add it to the bowl containing the rinsed rice + lentils + methi seeds.
6. Add 1.5 cups of water and mix. Cover with a lid and for 5 to 6 hours, soak everything.
Making Sada Dosa paste
7. Drain all the water and add the soaked ingredients to a damp jar.
8. Add ? to ¾ cup of water and grind until you get a fine grainy consistency of rice in the dough. A smooth consistency of the dough is also very good. If the blender heats up, stop and wait a few minutes. When the blender cools down, grind again. Depending on the capacity of the pot, you can grind everything once or twice. I crushed in two batches and added a total of ¾ cup of water.
9. Now take the dough into a large bowl or saucepan. In case the dosa dough becomes thin, add a few tablespoons of rice flour to thicken it. Mix the rice flour into the dough very well.
10. Add ½ teaspoon of rock salt. Mix very well. Instead of rock salt, you can use Himalayan pink salt or non-iodized salt or sea salt crystals. Cover and let ferment for 8 to 9 hours or more. Fermentation time will vary depending on temperature conditions. In winters, the fermentation time can be up to 14 to 24 hours.
11. The sada dosa paste after 11 o’clock. Proper fermentation will double or triple the volume of the dough with a slight sour aroma.
12. Now stir the dough lightly before you start doing dosa. In the batter, you will also see tiny air pockets.
Making Sada Dosa from Dosa Batter
1. Heat a cast iron skillet. When the pan gets hot, spread ¼ to ½ teaspoon of oil all over the pan. Keep the flame on a low to low-medium flame, so that you can easily roll out the dough. If the bottom of the pan is very thick, keep the flame on medium. For a low fat option, simply make the dosa without oil.
2. Now take a ladle full of dosa paste. Pour the dough and gently roll out the dough starting from the center and going outwards.
3. Here is a neat round dosa.
4. Cook the dosa over low to medium heat. Adjust the flame according to the size and thickness of the pan. You can also cover the dosa with a lid and let it cook from the base.
5. When you see the cooked dough on top, sprinkle ¼ to ½ teaspoon of oil around the edges and in the center.
6. Spread the oil on the dosa with the spoon.
7. Cook until the base is golden brown and crispy. The base will leave the pan when cooked.
8. Fold the sada dosa.
9. Serve the Sada Dosa hot with the coconut chutney, potato masala and sambar. This crispy dosa is best served hot.
