If you were to ask me what is the one food that I could eat every day and never grow tired of, the answer, without a doubt, would be the dosa. A dosa looks similar to a crepe and is made primarily from a fermented batter that includes rice, fenugreek and urad dal. Eating dosas, whether it is the rava dosa or the masala dosa, brings me great joy.
There is nothing like waking up early in the morning from my slumber to the ambrosial aroma of dosas, coconut chutney and sambar. Growing up, my pāṭṭi (the Tamil word for grandmother) would always be up by six in the morning preparing an Indian dish for breakfast. She has introduced me to various types of Indian foods throughout my life: idli, chapati, and puri. Nothing beats my all-time favorite food, which is her dosas. Each South Indian family has their own version of making dosas, and I am so glad to be able to share my grandmother’s version here.
Here are the steps to making my pāṭṭi’s simple yet delicious dosa:
Ingredients:
2 cups of raw rice
1/2 a teaspoon of fenugreek
1 cup of urad dal
Some oil
Salt to taste
1. Wash two cups of raw rice and place it in a large bowl alongside half a teaspoon of fenugreek and one cup of urad dal. Place a covering on top and let these three ingredients soak in water together over the course of four to six hours.
2. Once the ingredients have soaked, drain them and place them in a grinder jar or a blender. Take three cups of the water previously used to soak the ingredients and add it into the grinder jar as well. Reserve the remaining water for later use.
3. Blend the ingredients until you get a fine and smooth consistency of the batter. Pour this smooth mixture into a pot and add in one cup of the water previously used to soak the ingredients. Then, drop in half a tablespoon of salt and whisk the mixture for about four to five minutes. Place a lid over the pot and allow the batter to ferment overnight.
4. The next morning, warm up a non-stick pan on low heat. Take a ladle of batter and pour it onto the pan. Use the bottom of the ladle to spread the batter outwardly in a circle. Sprinkle a few drops of oil all across the dosa and cover the pan with a lid. Allow the dosa to cook for about a minute on one side, then remove the lid to flip the dosa. Let it cook for about a minute also on the other side. Repeat this process with the rest of the batter.
And there you have it! A basic version of the dosa is ready to be devoured. The dosa is a versatile food that can be eaten with a variety of combinations, the common ways including pairing dosas with tomato chutney, spiced potatoes, korma, and any curry of your choice. I enjoy my dosas interspersed with my my pāṭṭi’s chicken curry, sambar, and green coconut chutney. The soft piece of dosa paired with the richness of the sambar and the enticing flavors of the coconut chutney paired alongside a hot cup of coffee all make for a phenomenal way to start the day.
