Last night we watched the movie “The best exotic Marigold hotel”. What an amazing movie! The funniest feel good flick I have seen for a long time . The stars were superb and there were some fantastic unforgettable lines, me and S roared with laughter throughout . If I was asked to name the best actor I would be unable to do so, I have forgotten about them being actors and saw them only as the characters they were portraying . The scenery was fantastic and one could almost feel the bustle ,heat and color of India in a true sense.
I got so involved in the movie, that I forgot to put anything up for cooking at all. And when the movie got finished, it was about 8 PM. No time remaining to get anything started from scratch.
Stuck between the choices of doing a quick scrambled eggs or ordering a pizza, I realised that this could be the moment to show off my planning and frugal meals skills to S. I always keep some Idli/dosa batter in the fridge for last minute hunger pangs. So I quickly whipped up doas and served with coriander green chutney and leftover daal paalak from last night. It saved my day to be honest although S brushed my brilliance off saying that was my plan altogether. So I got him to do all the dishes, and sat down to download the second part of the movie. Who-hoo!
Some more quick dinner recipes– Tomato beans rice | Saffron broccoli rice | South Indian curd rice
Anyway, so I was saying that I keep dosa batter ready in the fridge most days. It is a total lifesaver for me. Somehow my appetite just awakens when I get home after work. I am like a zombie looking for blood in the evenings. Eww, bad picture. Ignore that.
So I have to have something at that time or I start binging on crap. I have no control or willpower whatsoever when it comes to hunger. Which is why its important for me to keep something ready in the fridge all the time. A small dosa or a fried egg is what I have to curb these nonsensical 6 PM hunger pangs.
Dosa batter comes to my rescue at those times. but since the typical and usual Dosa batter has more rice than lentils, I keep experimenting with the batters to get more lentils and less rice in it. This makes them high in protein and low on carbs.
Adding chana daal to the dosa batter is a cool idea since chana dal keeps the dosas crispy so you dont miss rice texture wise. I have added some brown rice to the batter to help with the fermentation process and also to add more crisp and fiber. Methi seeds are also added to aid the fermentation process. This makes it even more diabetic friendly. If you want a softer dosa, try this Poha (aval) dosa which is also known as set dosa or sponge dosa or Attukula dosa in local language
These dosas carry a lot of flavour of their own so can be served simply with chutneys like – tangy tomato chutney, ridge guard peels chutney, peanut cilantro chutney, coconut chutney etc.
Other accompaniments are – Plain alu sabzi | Beetroot sambhar | South Indian rasam
Lets browse through the recipe quickly
What you need?
- ½ cup Urad Dal (split black gram)
- ½ cup Chana Dal (split bengal gram)
- ¼ cup brown rice
- ½ tsp Fenugreek seeds (methi dana)
- ½ tsp salt
How to make?
Wash and soak Urad Dal and Chana Dal together along with methi seeds. Soak brown rice separately for 4-5 hours.
Drain the water and grind the rice into dals into a super fine fluffy batter adding as little water as needed. Transfer to a mixing bowl. In the same jar, grind the rice into a coarse batter using just enough water as required. Mix the two batters together with salt and set aside for fermentation preferably overnight.
Note- this batter will not ferment to double its size since the proportion of rice and urad dal is not as usual. You would know its fermented, when you see the splits at the top and the batter has risen a bit. Do not keep it for more than 14-15 hours though or it would start to go bad.
Once you are satisfied with the fermentation, add water to adjust the batter consistency. The batter should be of pouring consistency.
On a hot tawa/griddle, drop a ladleful and spread the batter around in a circular shape quickly into a thin layer. Spray a little bit of oil if needed. (I don’t use any oil as I use a non-stick pan)
After the dosa browns enough on one side and starts to peel off from sides on its own, flip it onto the other side and let it cook for another 30 seconds or so and take the dosa off the pan. Continue until required number of dosas are done.
The leftover batter can be refrigerated for upto 5 days for further use.
Notes:
You may use normal idli rice or parboiled rice instead of brown rice.
This is a vegan recipe, but if you like you may add some buttermilk to the batter while grinding. This would add to the taste and texture of the dosas.
Some more South Indian recipes you might like-
Restaurant style Coconut chutney
Chettinad Pakora Kozhambu (curry)
We loved that movie too Nupur.. !!
And your dosa is calling me.. Yes the addition of chana dal does that crispy trick( I love it) . Guess it’s an adaptation from Karnataka… Back home, none of the adults add them .