Recipe for Dosa Chila

Dosa is as popular in South Indian cuisine as Idlis! Crisp and thin pancakes made of a rice and urad dal batter, dosas are even more exciting than idlis. In fact, while idlis are considered to be an easy, comfortable steamed food, dosas are often considered a more indulgent alternative! While dosas were traditionally made using iron griddles, nowadays non-stick tavas have made the job much easier. You can roast your dosas using oil, ghee or sometimes butter too! Enjoy them hot and crisp, with chutney and sambhar. Here I am making a dish using dosa batter that can be combined with chutney or vegetable curry for dinner.

How to prepare dosa batter?

1. Combine the urad dal and fenugreek seeds in a deep bowl, soak it in enough water for 4 hours.
2. Combine the rice, parboiled rice and thick rice flakes in a deep bowl , soak it in enough water for 4 hours.
3. Drain the urad dal and fenugreek seeds and blend in a mixer to a smooth paste using approx. 1 cup of water. Transfer the mixture into a deep bowl and keep aside.
4. Drain the rice, parboiled rice and thick rice flakes blend in a mixer to a smooth paste using approx. 1 cup of water. Transfer the mixture into the same bowl, add the salt and mix well.
5. Cover and ferment in a warm place for 12 hours.

Tips to make perfect crispy dosa.

1. The batter should be fermented properly.If you are living in a cold county, keep the batter in a warm place or inside a oven.
2. Over fermented batter will make the dosai sour.
3. The batter while making should not be thick like a idli batter. If it is thick you add water to make it little thin. Do not make it too thin, it will make the dosa stick to the pan itself.
4. While making dosas, the pan tend to heat up and will make the dosa slightly cooked while pouring the batter itself. this will not make the dosa spread too. To avoid this, just sprinkle some water on the pan, if it is over heated, and wipe the pan with a clean tissue or cloth and start pouring the batter.
5. If using iron pan, grease it with oil evenly and start making dosa. A friend of my mom used to scrub the iron pan with raw onion and make the dosa.
6. Always keep a separate pan for dosai and roti. Never make dosai in the pan which we make chapathi.
7. Keep the dosa batter outside the refrigerator before 10 minutes  and then start making dosai.
8. If making dosa batter for 3-4 days, store it in a separate containers. Take out the portion which you want to use. This will not make the entire batter sour.
9. You can add ghee or butter to dosa  instead of oil, while making it.
10. If you keep it covered with a lid while making the dosa, it will come out so easily while fliping.
11. Adding sesame oil while making dosa makes it little good for health.

Ingredients used:

1: Dosa Batter

2: One finely chopped small size onion.

3: Chopped Tomatoes

4: Chopped green chili

5: Coriander leaves

6: Grated Carrot

7: Turmeric powder

8: Salt

9: Red chilli powder

10: Chaat masala

Preparation:

Step 1:

Take out Dosa batter in a container as shown in picture below

Step 2:

Add Turmeric powder, red chilli powder and chaat masala in it.

Step 3:

Add chopped onions, Coriander leaves, Chopped tomatoes, chopped green chilli and grated carrot in it.

Step 4:

Mix the ingredients properly in the dosa batter as shown in picture below

Step 5

Heat the non stick tava

Step 6

Place the batter over the tava in circular motion

Step 7

Add oil to the tava.

Step 8

Now flip the other side when the first side is properly cooked

Step 9

Let both the sides turn golden brown then turn the stove off

Step 10

Your Dosa chila is ready to be served

Best suited with Coriander chutney or coconut chutney but you can also have it with normal vegetable curry for your dinner.