Dosa Recipe, How to make Dosa Batter

Ingredients

• ½ cup urad dal (or whole skinned black gram)
• ¾ to 1 cup cold filtered water (to blend dal)
• 1½ cups rice (regular raw rice or basmati rice, Refer notes)
• ½ cup cold filtered water (to blend rice, may need 2 tbsps more)
• 2 tablespoon chana dal (bengal gram)
• ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) (optional)
• 2 tablespoon poha (flattened rice)
• ½ teaspoon rock salt (or non iodized salt or crystal salt)
• ½ cup whole urad dal (skinned whole black gram)
• ¾ to 1 cup cold filtered water (to blend dal)
• 1½ cup rice (regular raw rice or basmati rice, refer notes) )
• ½ cup cold filtered water (to blend rice, may need 2 tbsps more)
• ½ teaspoon methi seeds (fenugreek seeds) (makes dosas golden)
• 2 tablespoons poha (flattened rice, or substitute ¼ teaspoon methi seeds)
• ½ teaspoon rock salt (or non iodized salt or crystal salt)

Instructions

1. Rinse together urad dal, chana dal and methi seeds thrice and soak in enough water for 4 to 6 hours.
2. Rinse rice thrice and soak in enough water for 4 to 6 hours. (If you have a high speed blender you may rinse and soak them together, read faqs)
3. How to Make Dosa Batter
4. Rinse and soak poha in ¼ cup water for 30 mins, before blending the batter.
5. Drain the water from the dal & transfer to a blender jar along with soaked poha and water. Grind to a smooth & bubbly batter. It should be of thick pouring consistency. Transfer this to a large pot (enough to hold the fermented batter).
6. Drain the water completely from rice & add it to the jar. Pour water and blend to a smooth or slightly coarse batter. It will be of thick pouring consistency.
7. Pour this to the batter bowl and mix well. (Check video to see the final consistency)
8. Fermenting Dosa Batter
9. Cover the bowl loosely and ferment it in a warm place until the batter rises and turns light & bubbly. It may take anywhere from 6 to 18 hours depending on the temperature.
10. If you live in a warm region, you can leave the batter bowl on the counter overnight.
11. To ferment in colder regions, preheat the oven at the lowest setting (120 F/ 50 C) for 7 mins, no longer. Turn off the oven and keep the dosa batter inside with the oven light ON. Alternately, place the batter bowl in your instant pot steel insert, press yogurt settings with a timer set to 8 hours (12 to 14 hours during colder days). Use an external lid and not the IP lid.
12. Optional Fermentation test: Well fermented dosa batter rises & increases in volume. It looks airy, with plenty of tiny bubbles. To test, drop half a spoon of this into a bowl of water. Well fermented batter floats. If it has not reached this stage, ferment longer.
13. Stir the dosa batter once. Transfer the required portion to a small bowl and add salt as required. Refrigerate the rest for up to 1 to 2 weeks.
14. The fermented batter usually becomes thick, pour little water to thin down & bring it to spreadable consistency. (Check video or photos in the post)
15. How to Make Dosa
16. Heat a dosa griddle/ tawa on a medium heat. When it is slightly hot, add a few drops of oil and spread it with a kitchen paper or a half cut onion (pierced with a fork/ butter knife on the rounded side to hold).This prevents the dosas from sticking to the pan.
17. To check if the pan is hot enough, sprinkle a few drops of water over the pan. If it is ready, it should sizzle.
18. Reduce the heat to low, stir the batter with a ladle and take a ladle (¼ cup) of dosa batter & pour in the center of the hot griddle/ tawa.
19. Immediately begin to spread it evenly with the base of the ladle - starting from the center, in an outward circular motion in a clockwise direction. (Check photos or video in the post)
20. Increase the heat to medium high or high and drizzle oil/ghee/ butter across the edges.
21. Cook until the base turns golden & crisp. Run a thin wooden turner/spatula across the base of the dosa, starting from the edges to the center.
22. Optional - If you want you may cook on the other side - turn it to the other side and cook for a minute. Turn again and cook the base for 30 seconds to crisp it.
23. Fold the dosa and remove from pan. Before making the next dosa, reduce the heat to low. You can also rub the cut onion and then pour the batter.
24. Serve dosa with coconut chutney, potato masala & tiffin sambar.