1cupRegular ricesona masoori or gujarat sattar or basmati rice
1 ½cupsWaterfor soaking dal
2 ½cupsWaterfor soaking rice
¾cupWaterfor grinding dal
1 ¾cupWaterfor grinding rice
Salt to taste
Oilto make dosa
Instructions
Soaking the dal-rice:
Take urad dal and fenugreek seeds in a bowl. Rinse them with cold water or wash them under running cold water. But do not overwash them. We are not looking for clear water, cloudy water is fine too.
Take both rice (parboiled rice and regular rice) in another bowl. Rinse or wash them similarly. Again do not over wash them.
Soak dal/methi and both rice seperatly in water for at least 5-6 hours.
I have used 1 ½ cup of water for soaking dal and methi seeds. And used 2 ½ cups of water for soaking rice.
After the soaking time, the size of dal and rice would increase.
Grinding the dal-rice:
I have done this in mixer grinder. You can do the same using wet grinder.
Start with urad dal. Drain the water from the dal and reserve the water, we will use this water while grinding.
Take dal into the grinder jar. Start by adding ½ cup of water.
Grind into the fine paste. As needed you can add little more water, but do not add too much. So total I used ¾ cup of water for grinding dal.
The batter should be light, fluffy and smooth. Remove urad dal batter into a large bowl.
Next drain the water from the rice and again reserve the water and use that for grinding.
Take rice into the grinder jar. If your jar is small then you can do this in batches. Start with ¾ to 1 cup of water and grind.
Grind them by adding little water as needed. I used total 1 ¾ cups of water.
The batter will be little grainy and that is fine. If you get smooth batter and it is fine too. Sometimes grinder may get heated up, if so wait for some time, let it cool down and start grinding again.
Pour this rice batter into the same bowl with urad dal batter.
Mix it very well using spatula.
Fermenting the batter:
Cover the bowl with plate (do NOT use tight fitting lid) and let it ferment without disturbing for about 10-14 hours.
If needed you can let it ferment for more hours, upto 24 hours. This time may vary depending of the weather and temperature. Check the tips section below to ferment in cold weather.
After the fermentation time, the batter will increase in volume by 2-3 times. You will also notice the sour fermented smell from the batter.
Making plain dosa recipe:
Now add salt to the batter. Lightly, gently mix it.
Take required amount of batter in separate bowl and add little water to make thick yet runny consistency of batter.
Heat the cast iron tawa on medium heat. Make sure that your tawa or pan in pre-seasoned well. Or use the nonstick pan.
for making dosa the temperature of tawa should not be too hot or too low.
Now pour the ladleful or two of batter in the center of the tawa.
Now using the ladle start spread the batter into circular motion.
Now drizzle the oil on and around the dosa.
Let it it cook for 1-2 minutes on medium low heat or till you notice the bottom is nice golden brown. Adjust the gas heat accordingly and maintain the temperature of tawa.