Dosa

A very popular Indian Dish, is a South Indian original. Similar to a crepe, it is served with a variety of fillings that will offer you the most authentic and tantalizing flavors of South India. from an anytime snack of crisp paper thin wafers to a filling meal with wholesome stuffing, and served with chutneys and a dollop of butter, the dosa has made a place in the heart of connoisseurs of food in spite of the current pizza, French fries and burger fast food culture. The Dosa is also known by different names like Dosai, Thosai, Dhosa across india but dosa widely. .

So How is a Dosa Made?

Regular dosa batter is made from lentils (mainly urad dal) and rice blended with water and left to ferment overnight. The batter is ground very finely making it easier to spread. The batter is then ladled in small amounts onto a hot greased skillet, where it is spread out into a thin circle and fried with oil or ghee until golden brown. The dosa may then be folded or rolled and served,

Basic Dosa Recipe.

Ingredients:(Makes approx. 20 Dosas)
3 cups rice
1 cup skinless split urad daal (skinless black gram)
3/4 tsp fenugreek(methi) seeds
Salt to taste
Vegetable/sunflower cooking oil or Ghee (Clarified butter)

Preparation:
- Wash the rice and urad daal well. Add the fenugreek seeds to the mix and fill enough water in the rice-daal bowl to cover them about 2" deep.
- Soak overnight.
The next morning, drain all the water from the rice and urad daal. Now put some in a food processor and grind - adding very little water if necessary - to a smooth yet slightly grainy paste.
-When all the rice-daal mix is ground, put it into a large mixing bowl and add enough water to make a batter(the batter should not fill the bowl as it will rise). The consistency of the batter should be such that it thickly coats a spoon dipped in it.
-Now add salt to taste and keep the Dosa batter aside, covered, for a couple of hours (at least 4-5). The batter will rise. when it reaches the top of your bowl it's ready to use. You can also refrigerate the batter to make dosas the next day.Sada Dosa: A basic Dosa shell with no filling.

Masala Dosa: A regular dosa stuffed with spiced potatoes and onion.
Ghee Dosa: A Dosa fried in 'Ghee', a clarified butter.
Rava Dosa: A dosa made with rava or semolina, which doesn't need fermentation and is usually considered a fast snack/tiffin.
Paper Dosa: A long and very thin delicate dosa which can be spread over 2 feet.
Mysore/Banglore Dosa: A dosa lined with a red or green chutney on the inside surface.
Green Dosa: A dosa stuffed with fresh vegetables and mint chutney.
Onion Dosa: Chopped and sautéd onions are spread on the dosa.
Cheese Dosa: A dosa stuffed with cheese.
Egg Dosa: A dosa spread with an omelette.
Set Dosa: A popular type of dosa in Karnataka, which is cooked only on one side and is served in a set of two, hence the name.
Muttai Dosai: eggs are added to the regular batter; the word muttai in Tamil means "egg".
Neer Dosa: A dosa prepared from rice unique to some Karnataka districts.
Pesarattu: A dosa prepared from moong dal; Andhra special. The variations include a) making from soaked whole moongseeds (along with green cover), which gives a greenish tint to the Dosa, and, b) making with yellow coloured moong dal (green cover removed and dal is refined), which gives a fine golden yellow tint to the dosa when roasted. Both these forms are famous in Andhra Pradesh, and are typically served with chutney made from Ginger and Tamarind.