Dosa, a staple South Indian breakfast made from the fermented rice and urad dal batter. Making dosa batter and dosa at home is super easy and the dosa tastes best when it's homemade !
Till today, where ever i'm, at least once in two week, I would make idli and dosa batter at home. Having dosa batter in the refrigerator would actually ease the answer to the question "What's for breakfast or dinner"? :-)
Even though I have already shared my go-to-recipe for idli and dosa batter, here in today's recipe, I'm sharing the recipe for making perfect crispy dosa. Every time I share my dosa platter on IG, I get few requests for sharing the recipe for making crispy dosa.
Honestly, most of the time, i use the same batter for idli and dosa, but when i want uncompromised delicious dosa, then i would make this batter for dosa. It's one of the amma's foolproof recipes and I have been using it for years without any change in recipe.
Compared to my idli batter recipe, there is a slight variation in the ingredients for this dosa recipe and that's key to make a perfect restaurant style golden crispy dosa.This dosa batter can also be used for making any type of masala dosa. This dosa holds the shape well hence it's so easy to fill with the stuffing without tearing apart the dosa :-)
Rice
For this dosa recipe, I have used the combination of idli rice and raw rice. Idli rice is a parboiled rice and it's pale in color, it gives softness to the dosa. On the other hand, raw rice(pacharisi) is pure white in color and it's mainly used in south India for making idiyappam and kozhukattai. Here in this recipe, raw rice gives crispness to the dosa. Adding a small quantity of raw rice is enough to achieve the crispy dosa. Additionally, it makes the batter so easy to spread thinly compared to the idli batter.
Urad dal
Urad dal, an another key ingredient for dosa recipes. I have used whole skinless urad dal for today's recipe. But you can also use the split variety of urad dal too. Both work really well and don't make any difference in the output.
Fenugreek seed
Fenugreek seeds in the recipe serve a couple of purposes. First it helps to ferment the batter quickly. Second, it gives a wonderful flavor to the dosa. Finally it gives that golden brown color to the dosa.
Back in the days, Amma added fenugreek seeds only to this dosa batter recipe, never to the idli batter recipe. So I fondly associate the fenugreek flavor to this dosa recipe.
Dosa Pan
Highly recommend to use the iron pan for making dosa. The texture and the color of the dosa are better when it's made in an iron dosa pan. But, if you're a beginner, I would recommend using the non stick pan for making dosa without any hassle.
Cooking Oil
Let's be honest here, for delicious dosa, you should be a little generous with oil. I personally like sesame oil for making dosa because of its flavor. The aroma from the dosa making on an iron pan with drizzle of sesame oil is purely divine.
But it's really up to you ! Use whatever the cooking oil you have. Any flavorless oil/peanut oil/ coconut oil all works for making dosa.
Fermentation
Compared to the idli batter, this batter ferments quickly. However, here are a few tips to ferment the batter well. - Make sure to mix the salt with the batter using your hand. It's believed that the warmness in the hand helps to ferment the batter quickly and this one tip that we have been following in our family for generations.
- Keep it in a warm place undisturbed for 6-8 hrs. During winter days, usually I keep it in the oven with the lights on or keep near the heater vent .
- Don't skip the fenugreek seeds, as said earlier, in addition to the flavor, it helps to ferment easily.
- Make sure to mix the salt with the batter using your hand. It's believed that the warmness in the hand helps to ferment the batter quickly and this one tip that we have been following in our family for generations.
- Keep it in a warm place undisturbed for 6-8 hrs. During winter days, usually I keep it in the oven with the lights on or keep near the heater vent .
- Don't skip the fenugreek seeds, as said earlier, in addition to the flavor, it helps to ferment easily.
Dosa or Dosai
The name "Dosa" comes from the Tamil word "Dosai(தோசை) pronounced as "dow-sei" and still we Tamil people use the word "Dosai for this dish. But people outside Tamilnadu usually refer to it as "Dosa". In conclusion, both dosa and dosai refer the same dish but the original name is "Dosai"
Dosa Recipe and Dosa Batter
Preparation Time : 8 hrs | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 6
Recipe Category: Dosa | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Recipe Category: Dosa | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Idli Rice - 2 & 1/2 cups
Raw Rice - 1/2 cup
Urad dal - 3/4 cup
Fenugreek seed - 2 tsp
Water - as needed (to grind)
Salt - 2 & 1/2 tsp
Procedure
In a bowl, add idli rice, raw rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. Wash it thrice or until the water runs clear and then soak it with water for overnight.
Next day, drain the soaked water & put a batch of soaked rice and urad dal in a blender/mixie/wet grinder along with fresh water and grind into smooth batter.
Pour into a vessel and add the salt. Mix it well with your hand. Cover it with lid and let it ferment for 6-8 hrs.
Once the batter is well fermented, take the needed batter in a separate bowl and add water if needed and make a free flowing batter.
Heat the dosa pan and pour a ladle of batter and spread it in a concentric circle. Drizzle some oil on and over the edges of the dosa. 
Once it starts to brown on the bottom, flip to the other side and cook it for a min.
Tasty & crispy dosa is ready ! Serve it with sambar and/or chutney
Notes:
- Instead of oil, you can use butter or ghee also while making dosa
- Don't add more raw rice than the mentioned, it will affect the softness of the dosa.
- You can use either mixie or wet grinder for making this batter
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