Plain Dosa Batter

Welcome to “The World of Dosas”! Call it “Crispy Crepe” in its thinner, crispier version or a “Plain Pancake” in its softer, thicker avatar, these rice and lentil based dosas made from fermented batter are here to stay!

Dosa is one of the commonest dishes in Homes and Darshinis (chain of restaurants) of South India. Thanks to its ingredients, Dosa is rich in carbohydrates, poor in saturated fats and sugar, free of gluten, filled with protein, fermenting process further augmenting the Vitamin B and C content.

This heavenly staple dish, indigenous to South India, has its origins linked to Udupi town of Karnataka, India. The earliest mention of dosa can also be found in the 6^th century Tamil literature.

Dish type: South Indian Breakfast/Supper Dish

Preparation time: 5 min

Soaking time:  5 hours

Grinding time: 45 min

Fermenting time: 12 hrs

Yield: 2 kgs (approx..)

Ingredients

Rice                             1000 gms

Black gram dhal          250 gms

Methi seeds                20 gms

Poha (Avalakki)           100 gms (thick variety)

Salt                              50 gms

Directions

Soak rice and methi seeds together for 5 hours. Soak poha separately for 5 hours

Soak black gram dhal for 3 hours (after 2 hours of soaking rice, methi and poha)

Pour about ½ litre water into the wet grinder and switch on the grinder.

Now start putting rice, urad dhal and poha one after another into the grinder.

Keep adding very little quantities of water and stir the batter at intervals.

The batter keeps sticking to the sides of the grinder. Keep clearing the sides off the batter by pushing the batter towards the centre.

Let the grinding continue till the texture of batter becomes smooth.

Now transfer it to a vessel big enough to hold all the batter in less than half its height. This is to prevent the batter that rises up on fermenting from spilling out of the vessel.

Now add salt and mix the batter thoroughly. Close the vessel with a lid and let it stand for about 12 hours.

Plain Dosa Batter is now ready.

Tete – a – Tete:

Procedure for preparing batter remains the same even when done with “mixie”, a popular short n sweet name for Indian mixer grinders!

You can use this batter to make a variety of dosas like steam dosa, masala dosa, vegetable dosa, etc.

Poha or Avalakki is known by many other names like “beaten rice, “pressed rice”, “flattened rice and “flaked rice”

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Breakfast recipes

Buttermilk Dosa
Ragi Malt Powder
Akki Thari Upma (Broken Rice Upma)
Chocoats Ragi Malt Porridge
Rava Pongal
Cucumber Dosa (Mangaluru Southekaayi Dosa)
Mung bean Dosa
Millet Idli Batter
Plain Dosa Batter

MUNG BEAN (GREEN GRAM) DOSA

Come breakfast time….do you feel taut with tension? Bring it to nought…with sweet n soft, gentle n green marble like mung. A few grams of this marble is all you need. Rest assured, your stress will be…arrre…arrested already! Punch yourself with a pack of proteins, watch your nourished skin glowing! Dispel the toxins, shed those calories, fill yourself with folate (Star Vit of Mung) it’s never too late….all of these without wilting your wallet.

Those grams of green…want to eat them raw or cooked, sprouted or unsprouted, dash them on desserts or sip on soup? Take your pick. While choices are endless, Mangala’s Potluck offers you a recipe where Green Gram or Mung Bean is used raw but soaked (wanna sprout…go ahead) and then ground to a batter with other ingredients listed right below  to make a delicious dish called Dosa!. A super healthy wholesome recipe without pinching your purse. Ask for more…did you?

Dish type: South Indian Breakfast 

Soaking time: 5 hours

Grinding time: 15 min

Fermenting time: not required

Yield: 1 litre (approx.)

Ingredients

Mung bean                  250 gms (sprouted mung beans are also fine)

Rice                             1 fistful

Coriander seeds          1 tsp

Cumin seeds                ½ tsp

Green chilly                 1 or 2 nos.

White chilly                 4 nos. (grown in North Karnataka)

Ginger                         1” piece

Salt                              1 tsp approx.

Coriander leaves         1 cup

Directions

Soak rice and green gram in water together for 5 hours.

Grind both along with all other ingredients (except salt and coriander leaves) in grinder or mixie.

Keep adding little quantities of water and stir the batter at intervals. Lesser water is better to get smoother batter.

The batter keeps sticking to the sides of the grinder/mixie. Keep clearing the sides off the batter by pushing the batter towards the centre.

Let the grinding continue till the texture of batter becomes smooth.

Transfer it to a vessel. This batter will be quite thick since only small quantities of water will be used for grinding. Add required quantity of water to get the correct consistency of batter.

Now add salt and thoroughly washed and chopped fresh coriander leaves. Mix well.

Mung Bean Dosa Batter is now ready.

To prepare dosa, heat a non stick pan/tava. Sprinkle little water on the tava and let it evaporate. Now pour a ladleful of batter on the tava in a circular pattern starting outwards and filling it towards inside of the circle. Pour ½ a tsp of oil or ghee all around the batter and on top. Cover with a lid for a minute or so. Remove the lid. When the batter looks cooked and the edges are turning crisp and brown, flip upside down to cook the other side. Let it cook for a few seconds. Now transfer it to a plate.

Mung bean dosa is ready. Preferred side dish: Coconut chutney

Tete - a - Tete

Fine chopped onions, dil, grated carrot may also be added to the batter for added nutrition and taste.

Having High Blood Pressure? Try this simple remedy: Boil water in a bowl first thing in the morning. Put 2 to 3 tbsps of mung bean in it. Switch off the flame. Let it stand till it is cool enough to drink. Drain the water and drink it. Repeat this 2 or 3 times a day by adding boiling water to the same mung beans. In the evening, consume the broth and the beans.

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog 

Spicy Mango Drink

Gently spicy, subtly sweet, trickily tangy, clear soup consistency and a divine drink! You just can’t miss making this uber cool recipe that saves you, every time you are going through trying times, say when guests appear from nowhere taking you by shock n surprise, putting your culinary skills to test! Assured…you can rest, for, what better way to greet them than with this health drink!

Excellent source of Vitamin C and also in Vitamin B, raw mango, in dried powdered form (also known as Amchur), is helpful for treating scurvy. Raw Mango Soup is an ideal summer drink to combat negative effects of excessive heat. It prevents excessive loss of sodium chloride and iron that happens due to sweating. It is also known to cure blood disorders, increase body resistance etc. Eating raw mango with salt prevents dehydration.

Dish Type:  South Indian Soup Variety

Time taken:  15 min approx.

Serves:  2

Ingredients

For boiling:

Raw mango grated     3 tbsps

Salt to taste                1 tsp approx.

Jaggery                      2 tbsps

Turmeric pwd            A pinch

Water                        200 ml approx.

For grinding:

Pepper corns              6 nos.

Cumin seeds               ½ tsp

Coriander seeds         1 tsp               

For seasoning:

Oil                              1 tsp

Mustard seeds            ½  tsp

Red chillies                2 nos.

Curry leaves               3 or 4 nos.

Asafoetida                  A pinch

For garnishing:

Coriander leaves        1 tsp

Directions:

Wash raw mango thoroughly in water. Peel the skin. Grate and transfer to a vessel. Add salt, jaggery, turmeric powder and 100 ml. water to this and boil them together for about 5 min. till mango gets cooked properly. Let it cool. Store the boiled water that is settled on top to a vessel for later use.

Dry fry pepper corns, cumin seeds and coriander seeds in a small skillet. Let it cool. Powder it in a mixie. To this add boiled and cooked raw mango. Grind them so as to blend the spices and mango. Transfer this ground mixture to the stored boiled water. Add more water (say 100 ml.) if required depending on the desired consistency. Boil once again for 3 to 4 min. Switch off the flame. Now is the time for seasoning.

Heat oil in the same skillet. Add mustard seeds. When it crackles, add red chillies and curry leaves. Switch off the flame and immediately add asafoetida.

Garnish with fresh, thoroughly washed and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Spicy Mango Drink is now ready. Serve it hot or warm or cool. Any which way is fine. 

Akki Thari Upma (Broken Rice Uppittu)

Arise, awake, up…up…up Ma! Make your mark by cooking this….

Dish with a difference! This uppittish dish is just like you Ma. Wow…for its feel of fresh green charm and old world charisma. And like you, this dish too plays pranks Ma. Starts with seasoning saying it is Upma and ends up steaming out like an Idli…hee hee. Made out of Akki Thari….so don’t you worry. 

“Bapa” my father held an unbeatable record amngst our kith n kin of having nothing but “Uppittu” or “Upma” for breakfast all through his 4+ decades of service. A slight deviation from this rule, if at all permitted, during his lighter, brighter moods was “Avalakki”, so much so that, my mom would mumly experiment endlessly with Uppittus of several kinds.

 My joy knew no bounds in 1977 or so, when I, the handpicked one amongst v4 sibs, accompanied my father, an avid movie buff, to watch my first ever Hindi film “Amar Akbar Anthony”at Kapali Theatre. I barely understood the story, yet I enjoyed the movie. For the first time ever, if I remember right, I was the privileged one to be taken to a restaurant, when then, watching movie and going to a restaurant or two (“Vidyarthi Bhavan” or “Dwarka Hotel”) was almost always a “Housefull Family” event. When I shared about this “Away Alone with Bapa” with the rest of my family, they asked me wide eyed “What did Bapa buy for you?” The proud me declared “Khara Bhaath” only to be bullied by my brothers back home “Ayyo dinaaglu thinno uppittu, ashtenaa?!!”. My overjoy toppled with a tear or two. How tasteless I was about taste and how ignorant I was about cooking! That timeless, endless JOY however remains evergreen!

One of those Uppittu experiments by Amma done under the able guidance of my Bapa was “Akki Thari Upma”. Read down for Recipe.

Dish Type:  South Indian Rice Variety

Cooking time: 30  to 40 min

Serves:  8 to 10 persons

Ingredients

Oil                                   50 ml

Mustard seeds                 ½ tsp

Cumin seeds                    ½ tsp

Pepper corns                   ½ tsp (coarsely crushed)

Green chilli                      4 nos. (slit)

Curry leaves                    1 sprig

Ginger                             ½” pc (grated)

Turmeric pwd                 A pinch

Broken Rice                    500 gms

Salt to taste                     1 tsp approx.

Cooked avarekaalu         (optional)

For garnishing:

Raw coconut                  ½ coconut (grated)

Coriander leaves            1 cup (fresh and fine chopped) 

Directions:

Wash green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves and ginger. Drain out the water. Chop, grate or split them as mentioned above (under “Ingredients”). Keep them aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds. When it crackles, add cumin seeds and crushed pepper corns. When they splutter, add slit green chillies, grated ginger and coarsely chopped curry leaves, salt  and turmeric powder. Now add broken rice and fry them together for 6 to 8 min. Add grated coconut. (If using cooked avarekaalu, add them at this stage along with the water used for cooking.)  If not add 500 ml of boiled water.  Mix well. Adjust the quantity of water and salt at this stage. If more water is required, then add more boiling water as required. Add fine chopped fresh coriander leaves. Mix well. Switch off the flame.

Shape them into balls with your hands made damp for making each ball. Arrange them on a greased plate and steam them in pressure cooker like idlis for about 10 min.

Switch off the flame. Let it cool a bit.

Akki Thari Upma is now ready. Serve this with a dash of ghee.

Choice of side dish: Urad Dal Chutney, Coconut chutney, Green Chillies Gojju, Hasi Majjige Huli.

Tete a Tete:

To make broken rice, wash rice thoroughly with water.Drain out the water completely. Dry the washed rice in shade by spreading it on a thin clean cloth. It takes 4 to 6 hours or more depending on the weather. Grind the dried rice coarsely to rava consistency. Or.

Soak the washed rice in curd (quantity just enough to cover the rice) for 15 to 20 min. and then grind.

Rice Rawa need not be roasted like Upma Rava. If Idli Rawa is used, upma becomes a bit sticky.

A handful of Tur dal can also be powdered and added along with broken rice.

Recipe Contributor: My sis Shyla H Rao on behalf of our dear mother Late Smt. Indira J Rao (Kaveri) 

 

Also view: Cucumber Dosa Gulipaavate
Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog 

RAVA PONGAL

You will fall in love with its goldielooks. Gorgeously simple to look n cook and easy to digest. Here is a traditional South Indian breakfast dish prepared especially during harvest season. Popular as prasadam in temples and a favourite during festive occasions. Green gram dal is a ‘must use’ ingredient for this dish. While it is normally cooked with rice, here is its cousin Rava that takes its place to regale you with a relishing recipe.

Dish Type: South Indian Breakfast Recipe

Time taken: 45 min

Serves: 6 persons approx.

Ingredients

Semolina                     200 gms (medium variety rava)

For cooking in pressure cooker

Moong Dal                  50 gms

Water                          ¼ litre

Turmeric                     A pinch

Ginger                         1” piece grated or finely chopped

Jeera or cumin seeds  2 tsps

Pepper corns crushed 2 tsps

Green chilly (slit)        1 no.

Curry leaves                2 sprigs

Ghee                            1 tbsp

Salt to taste                 1/2 tsp

For seasoning

Ghee                                        1 cup (say 40 to 50 gms)

Jeera or cumin seeds              1 tsp

Pepper corns                           1 tsp

Cashew nuts                            12 nos.

Green Chillies                         8 nos.

Curry leaves                            1 sprig

Ginger grated                         1 tsp

For garnishing

Dry coconut grated                 100 gms

Fresh coriander leaves           1 tbsp

Directions

Wash ginger, green chillies and curry leaves. Drain the water. Grate or fine chop ginger. Crush pepper corns.

Cook moong dhal in a pressure cooker along with ingredients listed above for cooking. Dhal should be well cooked but not mushy.

While dhal is getting cooked:

Dry roast rava in a pan on low flame till you get a nice aroma. Switch off the burner and let rava cool.

While rava is getting cooled:

Finely chop washed and drained fresh coriander leaves and keep aside.

Cut cashew nuts into pieces and keep aside.

Grate dry coconut and keep aside.

Keep water for boiling. Now prepare the seasoning.

Heat ghee in a kadai and prepare seasoning. Put jeera, pepper corns, cashewnut pieces, slit green chillies and curry leaves (in that order at few seconds intervals). Saute them for a few seconds. To this seasoning, add the roasted rava slowly and roast it further along with the seasoning. Add ½ tsp salt and mix thoroughly. Now add cooked moong dal and then boiled water slowly to prevent rava from forming lumps. Mix them thoroughly, cover with a lid and let it cook for 5 to 10 min. At the end garnish with grated dry coconut, finely chopped coriander leaves and fried cashewnuts.

Rava Pongal is now ready. Serve it hot with gojju or coconut chutney or sambar.

Tete – a - Tete

Rava is a South Indian term for Sooji or Semolina. A variety of savouries and sweets can be prepared using Rava. Rava is low in fat. The carbohydrate content in Rava is a rich source of fuel for our tissues. Protein content in Rava nourishes our muscles and skin. Folate content in Rava supports the production of red blood cells. A serving of Rava contains approximately 5 -5.5 gms of protein and 105 - 110 micrograms of folate.

Based on the texture and type of wheat, varieties of Rava are available including Superfine Rava (also known as Chiroti Rava), Medium Rava, Bansi Rava or Lapsi Rava etc.

Rava that is made from Durum Wheat is yellowish in colour whereas those made from softer type of wheat are off white in colour. Durum is the hardest of all wheat types. Harder the wheat, higher is its protein and gluten content. 

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog 

Curd Dosa

Batter type: Curd Dosa

PC: Smt. Saraswathi

Preparation time: 5 min

Soaking time:  5 hrs

Fermenting time: 12 hrs

Grinding time: 45 min

Yield: 2.5 litres (approx.)

Ingredients

Rice                            750 gms

Black gram dhal          200 gms

Methi seeds                20 gms

Poha (Avalakki)         250 gms (thick variety)

Curds                         1 litre

Salt to taste                 50 gms approx.

Directions

Soak all ingredients except salt, in water for 2 hours. Drain out the water and then soak in curds for 3 hours.

Now the grinding…

Pour about ½ litre water into the wet grinder and switch on the grinder.

Now pour the soaked ingredients into the grinder.

Keep adding very little quantities of water, stirring the batter at intervals.

The batter keeps sticking to the sides of the grinder. Keep clearing the sides off the batter by pushing it towards the centre.

Continue grinding till the texture of batter becomes smooth.

Now transfer it to a vessel big enough to hold all the batter in less than half its height. This is to prevent the batter that rises up on fermenting from spilling out of the vessel. As an extra precaution, keep a basin (bigger than the size of the vessel which contains the batter) underneath the vessel so that any batter that spills out of the vessel collects in the basin. This batter can be transferred back to the vessel.

The above step is especially important for “Curd Dosa Batter” preparation.

Now mix the batter thoroughly. Close the vessel with a lid and let it stand for about 12 hours. Add salt just before you are ready to use the batter. Mix the batter well and let it stand till the salt dissolves.

Curd Dosa Batter is ready.

Tete - a - Tete:

This batter can be used to prepare dosas that are either thick or thin. For making thicker version of dosa, batter once poured on to the hot tava need not be spread all over, whereas for making thinner variety, on pouring the batter on the hot tava, it has to be spread all around in circular motion. By doing so, paper thin dosas can be made.
Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog 

Cucumber Dosa (using Mangaluru Southekaayi)

Feeling thirsty or hungry….oh both is it?…so sorry, don’t get angry! Why not have this….yeah it’s not a broth….but something that you can almost swallow down that shallow pipe called oh…eeh…yess got it…oesophagus!” Ha…now I see you smiling. For, with this dish, you can “grind” your water and eat it too! While the water is grinding, let me share my poem in praise of “Mangalore Southekaayi” – click  Hu hoo, Cu Coo, Cucumber

Read down for Recipe - Cucumber Dosa

Dish type: South Indian Breakfast Dish

Soaking time:  5 to 6 hours

Grinding time: 10 to 15 min

Yield: 10 nos. approx.

Ingredients   (for preparing batter)               

Rice                             250 gms

Methi seeds                1 tsp

Raw grated coconut    ¼  fresh coconut

Cucumber                   250 gms (measure after chopping it fine)

Salt                              1 tsp approx.

Directions

Soak rice and methi seeds together for about 5 to 6 hours with just enough water required to soak. Drain the water after soaking time is over. Save this water in case more water is needed for batter later.

Wash Cucumber (Mangaluru variety), peel the skin and chop cucumber fine. Grate raw coconut.

Grind the soaked n drained rice and methi seeds along with fine chopped cucumber, raw grated coconut and salt in grinder or mixie. Stir the batter at intervals.

The batter keeps sticking to the sides of the grinder/mixie. Keep clearing the sides off the batter by pushing the batter towards the centre.

Let the grinding continue till the texture of batter becomes smooth with a flowing, buttermilk like consistency. To test the consistency, dip a spoon in the batter. If the spoon has a thick coating of the batter, then more water has to be added. If required, use the drained water that you saved earlier. Transfer it to a vessel.

Cucumber Dosa Batter is now ready. This batter doesn’t need fermenting and can be used immediately.

To prepare dosa….

Heat a greased tawa (preferably iron) on high flame. Sprinkle few drops of water on the hot tawa. It should sizzle. Now reduce the flame to low.

Mix the batter thoroughly with a ladle. Do this for every dosa. Pour a ladleful of batter on the tawa in circular fashion starting from the outer sides of tawa towards the centre.  Actually, the batter flows by itself towards the centre. Fill big holes if any with the batter. Let tiny holes remain. No need to add oil, unlike many other types of dosas.

Cover it with a lid. Turn the flame to medium and cook the dosa for a few seconds. Cucumber Dosa cooks quite fast and doesn’t turn brown. So, make sure dosa is not overcooked expecting it to turn brown. When the top layer appears no longer raw and looks cooked, lift the sides by sliding a flat spatula from beneath. No need to flip the dosa to cook the other side. Fold the dosa into half and again into half to form a triangle. Place it on a platter of size bigger than the size of the dosa you prepared. Wipe the tawa clean, before making the next dosa.

When you continue to prepare more Cucumber Dosas, place them away from each other, since they tend to stick to each other when hot. Once cool, they can be placed one above the other in a covered bowl and served warm later. A fully cooked Cucumber Dosa will have a rich white colour.  

Serve it steaming hot or cool, with coconut chutney, peanut chutney, ginger chutney, sambar, pickle, onion tomato curry or jaggery-coconut mix.

Tete-a-Tete

Cucumber dosa batter can be refrigerated. Before using, thaw it to room temperature. Also you will see a layer of water on top and the batter settled below. Discard this layer of water and add fresh water (it should be at room temperature). Mix thoroughly and if required, do add a pinch of salt.

Ideally, Cucumber Dosa boasts of a rich white complexion.

Cucumber is known as “Southekaayi” in Kannada, “Dosakaayi” in Telugu, “Vellari” in Tamil, “Kheera” in Hindi

Recipe Courtesy: Smt. Mankali, a septuagenarian lady from Idagunji Taluk and an expert cook.

Other Recipes contributed by Smt. Mankali:
Beetroot Gojju (Sauce)
Brahmi leaves Yogurt Sauce (Ondelaga Thambuli)
Banana Fritters / Yeridevu
Spicy Yogurt with Coleus (Doddapatre Thambuli)


Also view:
Akki Thari Upma (Broken Rice Upma)
Black Grapes Gojju
Heralekaayi Gojju (Citron Lime Sauce)
Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog