This recipe will help you get some thin and crisp paper dosa. It’s quite amazing. The only variation on it I added was to follow the directions that came with my Futura tava about water. They recommend draining the rice/dal mix before grinding and then adding about 2 1/2 cups of water as the grind proceeds. After fermentation, I added another scant 3/4 cup.
Futura also says to raise the heat from medium to medium-high while the first dosa is cooking, but you should do this to every dosa. Be advised that the tava needs to be hot without being too hot. If the tava is too hot, the batter will tear as you try to spread it, and if it is too cold the dosa won’t get crisp.
Hotel and street cooks sprinkle the tava with water and turn the heat down between dosas, and also sprinkle and spread the dosa with oil/ghee after the batter has been spread before turning the heat way up. On an electric cooker, the reaction time is much slower than it is on a gas cooker, so it’s often necessary to flip the dosa to speed up the cooking time.
If you want a restaurant-size paper dosa, get a $200 gas-fired Blackstone griddle from Walmart or Amazon. This thing has a 28 inch front-to-back cooking area and will enable you to wow your friends.
Mane Adige: Paper Plain Dosa, modified.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Urad Dal
- 3- 4 cups rice (a combination of three cups idli rice and one cup parboiled matta rice is good)
- 1/4 cup Chana Dal (optional)
- 2-3 tbsp Methi Seeds
- 2-3 tbsp Poha, thick
- 1 tsp Ghee/Butter/Oil for each dosa
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder (optional)
Method
- Follow idli recipe for instructions on batter.
- Place a non stick griddle on medium heat. Test heat with a quarter cup of water, which should bounce before you wipe it off. Once hot, pour a ladle full of batter at the center. With the back of the ladle, spread the batter thinly, starting from the center and working outwards, in a fast circular motion. About 12 -15 revolutions should do it, but the batter must be spread thin to be crisp.Note: Spread the batter as soon as you pour it on the griddle – the batter will start getting cooked otherwise and stick to the ladle, if you wait too long. If it tears, go in the reverse direction to fix the tear.
- Pour few drops of ghee/oil all over the dosa and also at the edges, spreading with a spatula. Let cook on medium high heat until the thin parts turns dark brown.
- If making masala dosa, put a glob of potato curry in the center and fold the dosa over it from two sides.
- Remove from griddle and serve immediately with coconut chutney, sambar, kurma, saagu or any other side dish of your choice.
Equipment:
Futura 33 cm non-stick tava; may substitute any large frypan or griddle, but the bigger the tava/griddle, the bigger the dosa. See Blackstone note for over-achieving.
UltraGrind+ idli grinder; may substitute high-power grinder/blender of Indian origin, an American blender won’t really cut it. The batter needs to be smooth.
Blackstone 1605 28 Inch Outdoor Propane Gas Griddle or similar (for two foot dosa.)
Prep Time:
About 15-20 mins for grinding and 8 hours for fermentation. Add 2-3 mins for cooking each dosa.
Yield: about 10-12 dosas