Sunday, January 27, 2008

Dosas at Home

I think about dosas a lot. I love nearly every Indian dish I've ever tasted but I've actually dreamed about dosas which says something either about dosas or about me. I've been reading about them for weeks, gearing myself up to try making them at home. Most recipes have you soak rice and lentils, grind them together, and ferment them over a few days. Not necessarily difficult but planning is required. Planning isn't one of my strengths, sorry to say. I'd pretty well convinced myself that my homemade dosas wouldn't be worth eating anyway.

I was looking up a recipe on Bureka Boy's blog today, a yeasted roll with exotic flavors to serve with coffee (and I'll write about those soon, I promise) when I came across an old recipe of his for No Wait Dosas--just the kick I needed to finally try making my own.

No long-soaked lentils here--these are replaced by wheat flour. And rice flour takes the place of the soaked rice, making these a snap to whip up in the blender. I omitted BB's mustard seeds as I wanted those to flavor the filling. Grated coconut added a lovely nuttiness to the batter.

These don't have the lovely sourdough tang of a classic dosa, and mine didn't have quite the crunchy/chewy texture of the professional varieties I've tasted. But nonetheless, they were very tasty. I made an approximation of potato fillings I've eaten before, bright yellow with turmeric and speckled with green cilantro and black mustard seeds. The crepes take a bit of skill on the griddle, but you'll get the hang of them quickly enough. These came together in under an hour and that's with a pot of chana dal to serve alongside. Bureka Boy's recipe for quick dosa batter is here and my potato filling is here. I hope when you give these a try you'll get hooked, too.

4 comments:

burekaboy — said...

wow, didn't know you made these! mine actually came out slightly crisp using this recipe — could have been i had a thinner batter or used higher heat. i really think adding the peppercorns and mustard seeds in this type faux-dosa makes a difference flavour-wise as does adding the coconut.

hardly traditional but still good considering the method and ingredients ;) well, i thought so, LOL.

i'll post my way of making dosas (the real kind) over the next little while [though there are plenty of blogs out there {indian ones} talking about and showing how to do it]. after much trial, and i mean MUCH, i figured it out more or less. a lot of it comes down to using the right ingredients such as whole urad dal and not the split kind and the correct rice.

btw, your dosas look great! you can get that fermented taste using this recipe by substituting some yogurt for part of the liquid. if you ever decide to try it again, that may help improve the taste.

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm, these look delicious! I could go for some right now.

And I must say, a little more complex than your average burrito or kid-quesadilla. You've come a long way in a day or two :-). I'll give these a try soon and let you know how they turn out.

Catherine

Elizabeth said...

Oh. My mouth is watering. I think I'll include these in this week's menu!

Elizabeth said...

Oh, man. That. Was. Delicious! We ate our dosas with masala potatoes, yogurt, mango, and rice (that last one mainly for Hibi, since the dosas aren't vegan). What a scrumptious dinner! I just wish there were more potatoes. Next time I'll double the recipe.