Dosa with Tomato Chutney

Dosa is a south Indian delicacy and simplicity in itself; a crepe made primarily by soaking rice and whole urad dal (=white lentils or Bengal gram)and grinding them and letting the batter ferment.

Almost every household in southern India would have a batch of this batter. It serves as a quick meal, anytime of the day. For the longest time, growing up, I used to think making the dosa batter was the most complicated thing ever, requiring a degree in food sciences! But no! I have come to find out it is very easy and not one bit cumbersome. The same batter doubles up as Idli, but that is another post!

I alternate between using English and Tamil (a language spoken in the southern state of Tamilnadu, India). I have provided English equivalents to my best knowledge.

Ingredients for Dosa

- 3 cups Rice (raw rice/paccha arisi or sona masoori)

- 1 cup Whole Urad dal (white lentils or Bengal gram)

- 2 tsp Vendhayam (fenugreek seeds in English, methi in hindi)

- Salt for the batter

- About 6-9 cups water for soaking

1. Soak the rice and vendhayam in about 6 cups water and soak the urad dal in about 3 cups water separately for about 8-12 hours or overnight.
2. Now grind the rice and urad dal separately and combine them in a large bowl. The consistency of the batter should be thick, not soupy. You can always dilute it as needed later on. Add some water to facilitate grinding.
3. Now this batter needs to ferment for about 5-8 hrs when the batter doubles in volume.
4. The urad dal and fenugreek seeds help fix or introduce the yeast from the air into the batter. The chlorine in the tap water kills the yeast. Try soaking in bottled water. Also do not salt the batter until after the fermentation process as iodine in salt might kill the yeast. The ideal fermenting temperature is 86F-90F.During summer, perfect fermentation is achieved. However, during winter months, preheat your oven o 375F for about 5 min, switch it off and place the batter in the oven overnight. Make sure to leave the oven light ON. This heat facilitates fermentation.Once fermented, you can see bubbles (carbon dioxide) rise in your batter. Now salt the batter.
5. Now, heat a non-stick flat pan or a cast iron pan to medium-high. Oil the surface of the pan (dip a paper towel in oil, squeeze out the excess and rub the oil on the surface of the pan). Ladle the batter onto the pan making crepes. Le tit cook for about a minute or 2 until it browns, flip and let the other side cook. Voils, dosa!

Tomato Chutney

This is one of the most common accompaniments to Dosa. My mom used to make this almost every day of the week. This goes well with dosa, idli or even rotis.

Ingredients

- 4 plump tomatoes- diced

- 1 onion- diced

- 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste (or a tsp each of grated finger and minced garlic)

- 2 Green chilies, sliced into small pieces

- 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp urad dal- for tempering

- 1 tbsp oil

- Salt to taste, about 1-2 tsp

- 1 bunch cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

1. Heat oil in a saucepan. Once hot, add the lentils for tempering ingredients. When the mustard start to splutter, add the ginger-garlic paste, green chili and onion. Fry for about 3 min, stirring constantly.
2. Add salt now. Add the tomatoes and let it cook for about 5-8 min in medium heat. Add a tbsp of water if the chutney gets dry.
3. Serve with dosa, as shown in the picture.