Dosa Recipe, How to make Dosa Batter
Updated: June 26, 2024, By Swasthi
Dosa Recipe from scratch, including how to make Crispy Dosa Batter at home. My video and step by step photos will help you master the technique of making perfect dosas. No matter you are a novice or a skillful cook, these tips & tricks will guide you make the BEST South Indian Dosas of different kinds – crispy, soft, restaurant style, home style and healthy high-protein types.
Dosa also known as Dosai, is a classic popular South Indian crepe made with fermented lentil and rice batter. Restaurants often serve them as a meal with coconut chutney and sambar. But they taste equally good with any other spicy chutney or vegetable kurma.
About Dosa Recipe
The traditional process to make dosa starts by soaking rice and lentils, which are later ground to a batter and fermented overnight in a warm place. After a good fermentation, the batter increases in volume, becomes light with plenty of small air pockets and develops a slight tangy flavor.
The batter is spread like a crepe on a hot griddle/pan known as tawa or dose kallu. It is cooked with a little oil, ghee or butter until crisp. The joy of eating hot crispy dosas with your favorite Coconut Chutney, Potato Masala or Tiffin Sambar is unparalleled. At home we also love these with Aloo Chana kurma.
Dosa recipes vary across households and regions of South India. They can be made with varying proportions of rice and lentils, which decide the texture and flavor of your dosai. I share 4 recipes in this post which I use often for my family meals. If you ask me why 4 recipes and not one?
South Indians need different kind of dosas for every mood and season. Crispy, when you crave a restaurant meal. Soft, when you want something comforting, 2-in-1 batter when you are unable to decide between idli-dosa. High-protein type when you want to increase your protein intake. I can’t say one is better than the other because all these serve the purpose.
I am often asked about the equipment and tools you need, Ingredients and substitutes, Can I soak the rice and lentils together, and whether to add salt before or after fermentation. So I have answered all of them here.
Equipment & tools required
Blender or a wet grinder? To grind the lentils and rice, you need a blender, mixer/grinder or a wet grinder. To make smaller batches like this recipe, a blender works well (ex: a NutriBullet). You don’t necessarily need a high speed blender (like a Vitamix or Blendtec) or an Indian mixer/grinder with a steel jar.
A blender with at least 750 watts will be capable of doing the job if you soak the ingredients well, for longer. It is great to have a wet grinder/stone grinder if you eat idli dosa very often. A wet grinder is capable of grinding large amounts of rice and lentils that can serve a family of 4, for a few weeks.
Griddle/ tawa: If you are a beginner you may start learning to make dosa on a non-stick griddle. In India traditionally a cast iron tawa (ex: like a lodge 10.5”griddle) is used to make dosas. This kind of tawa has low edges like a griddle which makes spreading easier. A pan with high edges won’t let you spread the batter well.
Ingredients & Substitutes
Basically you need only 2 ingredients – lentils and rice to make basic dosas. Using other ingredients improve their texture and flavor.
- Lentils – Traditionally classic dosas are made with skinned urad dal (split white dal or whole gotta). They are skinned from black lentils, also known as matpe beans or vigna mungo. You can make dosa with just urad dal (like my recipe 2, 3 & 4 below) but restaurants have introduced us to chana dal, which help improve the flavor and color of these crepes. These lentils are known as Bengal gram. These can be replaced with toor dal – split pigeon peas but we love the flavor chana dal imparts.
- Rice – Though you can use any kind of non-sticky rice, short grain raw rice like sona masuri and ponni give the best results. A good substitute is basmati rice (not sella) or a combination of raw rice & idli rice/ short parboiled rice works. Using 100% parboiled rice or idli rice has not yielded me consistent result.
- Methi seeds -These are known as fenugreek seeds and are used in smaller amounts to help with fermentation. You can substitute the seeds with ground fenugreek. If you live in warmer climate, you can make dosa without methi.
- Poha – It is known as flattened rice & helps to make your dosas light, without being dense. This gives similar results as that of cooked rice. But cooked rice can make your batter go bad (stale) during warmer days.
- Cold Filtered water – Use filtered/de-chlorinated water. Chlorinated water can inhibit the growth of natural yeast required for fermentation. Your batter may not ferment at all if you use tap water. We use cold water because we don’t want the batter to heat up.
When to add salt? (Top FAQ)
The most debated topic in South Indian Cuisine is “when to add salt to idli dosa batter?” Every South Indian home has a different answer to this, based on their experience. So experimenting is essential to know what works for you.
Adding salt before fermentation:
Pro – It is ideal to add sea salt/ Indian rock salt (or non-iodized salt) before fermentation during winters as these natural unrefined salts helps with the fermentation process. However you should avoid using table salt and iodized salt as they inhibit the growth of yeast required for fermentation.
If you use an equipment (instant pot/oven/) to ferment your batter, adding salt early before fermentation is not required.
Con – By adding salt to the entire batter, you lose the chance to store it longer. Salted batter often turns too sour within a week while unsalted batter keeps good for 2 to 3 weeks.
Can I soak dal & rice together?
This is the next most FAQ. Traditionally they are always soaked separately because the lentils are supposed to be ground to a fluffy and smooth texture while the rice is ground to a slightly coarse texture. It is believed the fluffy texture of the dal helps make dosas lighter and the coarse texture of rice gives the required crispiness to the dosa.
Secondly, blending time for dal and rice is different. Dal finishes faster while rice takes longer. By grinding these 2 together you may need to blend longer. This is an extra load to your blender, which can eventually break down or heat up the batter. I have heard this from many people.
However I know people soaking and grinding them together, so you may do the same if you want. It should taste the same.
For more dosa recipes, you can also check
Instant Wheat flour dosas
Brown Rice Dosa
Set dose
Pesarattu
Cheese dosa
Oats dosa
Ragi dose
Jowar dosas
Recipe 1 – Crispy Dosa Recipe
This recipe yields one of the best tasting brown & crispy dosa. This batter can be used to make masala dosa, crispy plain dose, uttapam, masala paniyaram and sweet paniyaram. I follow this recipe the most for my regular breakfast. The masala dosai shown in the first pic is made using this recipe.
Typically most proportions yield red to brown color dosa only when made on cast iron tawa, but this recipe yields brown crispy dosas even when made on non-stick.
Photo Guide
How to make Dosa Batter (Stepwise Photos)
Soak Lentils & Rice
Recipe 1
If you want to soak all the ingredients together, you may do that but first read my faq section to know the difference.
1. Add ½ cup urad dal (skinned black whole lentils), 2 tablespoon chana dal (bengal gram) and ½ teaspoon methi seeds to a large bowl/pot. Add 1½ cups raw rice to another bowl.
2. Rinse dal thoroughly a few times and soak in lots of filtered water for 4 hours. During cold weather they can be soaked up to 6 hours or even overnight.
3. Rinse rice too a few times until the water runs clear. Soak in enough filtered water for 4 hours. Same here as well, during cold weather they can be soaked up to 6 hours or even overnight.
4. 30 mins before blending the batter, rinse and soak 2 tablespoons poha (beaten rice) with ¼ cup filtered water for 30 mins.
Make Dosa Batter
5. Add soaked poha to the grinder jar or container first. Drain the water completely from dal and pour ¾ cup cold filtered water. (If you want to add salt read my faq section below to decide.)
6. Blend until smooth, frothy and bubbly. If needed add more water. I add another 2 to 4 tablespoons water. But do not make it thin or runny. It must be a thick batter yet of pouring consistency. (Check video for consistency)
7. Transfer the batter to a a large bowl. Drain rice completely and add to the blender jar. Pour ½ cup water. I use another 2 tbsps more.
8. Blend to a slightly coarse batter.(not as coarse as semolina/suji)
9. Add the rice batter to the urad dal batter. Mix both of them well. The warmth in the hand is said to help in fermentation if want you may use your hand but I don’t. The prepared batter must be of pouring consistency yet thick and not runny.
If it is too thick you may pour some water at this stage and mix. Thick batter won’t ferment well. If it is slightly runny, it is still fine. (check video for consistency)
When I make 2x & 3x recipe, I use 2 glass or ceramic/steel bowls to ferment and refrigerate the dosa batter. I divide and distribute the batter to 2 bowls. Undisturbed batter stays good in refrigerator for longer without going sour.
How to ferment Dosa Batter
10. Cover and ferment it in a warm place until the batter rises and turns bubbly. If you live in a warm region, you can leave it on the counter overnight. It may take anywhere from 5 to 16 hours depending on the temperature.
To ferment in colder regions, preheat the oven at the lowest heat settings (120 F or 50 C) for 5 to 7 mins (no longer). Turn off the oven and keep the dosa batter inside with the oven light ON. Or Alternately, place the batter bowl in your instant pot steel insert, press yogurt settings with a timer set to 8 hours (12 to 14 hours during colder days). Use an external lid and not the IP lid.
11. When I made this, I had to ferment for 16 hours in a closed kitchen cabinet. When properly fermented, the batter rises and turns light, fluffy with lots of pores & bubbles. The batter was half of the bowl before fermentation. It rose a little over ¾.
Fermentation test: To check, drop half a spoon of this batter into a bowl of water. Well fermented batter floats.
12. This is a closeup shot of how the batter looks after fermentation.
13. Do not over ferment the dosa batter as it turns sour and the batter is not so good to spread on the griddle. This is a picture of over fermented batter just for your reference.
Make Dosa
14. Once your dosa batter is well fermented, stir it gently and take a required portion to a small bowl. Keep the rest of the batter in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks. The batter will be thick after fermentation. Add salt and pour little water, to bring it to a pourable and spreading consistency. (only to the portion you are going to use now). (check video for consistency).
16. Heat a dosa griddle/ tawa on a medium heat. When it is slightly hot, add a few drops of oil and spread it with a kitchen paper or a half cut onion (pierced with a fork/ butter knife on the rounded side to hold).This prevents the dosas from sticking to the pan. It is important not to leave excess oil on the griddle, so wipe down if required.
17. To check if the pan is hot enough, sprinkle a few drops of water over the pan. If it is ready, it should sizzle. Reduce the heat to low or medium, stir the batter with a ladle and take a ladle (¼ cup) of dosa batter & pour in the center of the hot griddle/ tawa.
18. Immediately begin to spread it evenly with the base of the ladle – starting from the center, in an outward circular motion in a clockwise direction. (Check photos or video in the post)
Troubleshooting tip: If you are unable to spread the batter because it got stuck to the pan, it means either the pan is too hot or the batter is too thick. Reduce the flame and cool down the pan slightly. If that doesn’t work then pour little more water to your batter to bring to right consistency. Also too much oil on the empty pan won’t let you spread the batter well.
19. This is how your dosa should look.
20. Increase the heat to medium high or high and drizzle 1 tsp oil/ghee/ butter across the edges & on the dosa. The edges of the dosa will begin to leave/ come off the pan when done.
22. Cook until the base turns golden & crisp. Run a thin wooden turner/spatula across the base of the dosa, starting from the edges to the center. Optional – If you want you may cook on the other side – turn it to the other side and cook for a minute. Turn again and cook the base for 30 seconds to crisp it.
22. Since I made the masala dosa, I used this potato masala for filling. Plain dosa is most commonly served with coconut chutney. Fold the dosa and remove to a serving plate. Before making the next dosa, reduce the heat to low. You can also rub the cut onion and then pour the batter. Make sure there is no excess oil on the pan.
Serve the dosa right away when it is hot. They begin to soften as they cool down.
Photo Guide
Recipe 2 – Soft idli & Crispy Dosa (2-in-1 batter)
These ratios yield good crispy as well as soft dosas and can be used to make soft idlis as well. Just mixing the batter matters. A runny batter yields soft dosas. Making with moderately thick batter, but of spreadable consistency yield crispy dosas.
This can also be used to make masala dosa, paniyaram, uttapam and also soft idli. The only difference from the first recipe is the color. These do not turn as red or brown like the other one but will be golden. If you like to make your idli and dosa batter in one go in the same blender or wet grinder, then this may be for you.
Ingredients
½ cup whole skinned urad dal
1½ cups raw rice for blender – 2 cups for wet grinder
½ tsp methi seeds (fenugreek seeds)
2 tbsp poha (flattened rice) (substitute ¼ tsp methi seeds)
salt as needed (if you add before fermentation, use non-iodized salt like sea salt or Indian rock salt)
Recipe 3 – Sada dosa recipe
These ratios yield good crispy as well as soft dosas but the color won’t be brown. A runny batter yields soft dosas and a moderately thick batter makes crispy dosas.
This batter can also be used for idli, if urad dal is from the new harvest and the rice from old harvest. Aged dal or dal from old harvest won’t make good idli and vice versa new rice makes sticky idli. So aged rice & new dal is preferred if you are making idli with this batter.
This can also be used to make idli, paniyaram, uttapam. This dosa batter recipe needs just 3 ingredients
Ingredients
½ cup whole urad dhal
1½ cup rice
salt as needed (if you add before fermentation, use non-iodized salt)
Recipe 4 – High Protein Dosa Recipe
Healthy, high protein and high calcium dosa. These are made in most Telugu speaking homes. Great food for all, including folks recovering from illness, kids and babies above 9 months and even for under nourished.
I make this sometimes when the hubby asks for it since he loves the flavor. These have a unique flavor & taste of urad dal. If you like it, you may not look for any other recipe.
They must be served right out of the pan as they turn lightly crisp, not as crisp as the other recipes I have shared in this post.
I highly recommend this, if you have babies & kids at home (especially underweight kids). Also good for those looking for high calcium foods and even for breastfeeding mothers.
Ingredients
Half cup whole urad dal
1 cup rice
Related Recipes
Recipe Card
Dosa Recipe, How to make Dosa Batter
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
Recipe 1 – Ingredients for crispy dosa
- ½ cup urad dal (or whole skinned black gram)
- ¾ to 1 cup cold filtered water (to blend dal)
- 1½ cups rice (regular raw rice or basmati rice, Refer notes)
- ½ cup cold filtered water (to blend rice, may need 2 tbsps more)
- 2 tablespoon chana dal (bengal gram)
- ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) (optional)
- 2 tablespoon poha (flattened rice)
- ½ teaspoon rock salt (or non iodized salt or crystal salt)
Recipe 2 – Idli & dosa batter (2-in-1)
- ½ cup whole urad dal (skinned whole black gram)
- ¾ to 1 cup cold filtered water (to blend dal)
- 1½ cup rice (regular raw rice or basmati rice, refer notes)
- ½ cup cold filtered water (to blend rice, may need 2 tbsps more)
- ½ teaspoon methi seeds (fenugreek seeds) (makes dosas golden)
- 2 tablespoons poha (flattened rice, or substitute ¼ teaspoon methi seeds)
- ½ teaspoon rock salt (or non iodized salt or crystal salt)
Instructions
- Rinse together urad dal, chana dal and methi seeds thrice and soak in enough water for 4 to 6 hours.
- Rinse rice thrice and soak in enough water for 4 to 6 hours. (If you have a high speed blender you may rinse and soak them together, read faqs)
How to Make Dosa Batter
- Rinse and soak poha in ¼ cup water for 30 mins, before blending the batter.
- Drain the water from the dal & transfer to a blender jar along with soaked poha and water. Grind to a smooth & bubbly batter. It should be of thick pouring consistency. Transfer this to a large pot (enough to hold the fermented batter).
- Drain the water completely from rice & add it to the jar. Pour water and blend to a smooth or slightly coarse batter. It will be of thick pouring consistency.
- Pour this to the batter bowl and mix well. (Check video to see the final consistency)
Fermenting Dosa Batter
- Cover the bowl loosely and ferment it in a warm place until the batter rises and turns light & bubbly. It may take anywhere from 6 to 18 hours depending on the temperature.
- If you live in a warm region, you can leave the batter bowl on the counter overnight.
- To ferment in colder regions, preheat the oven at the lowest setting (120 F/ 50 C) for 7 mins, no longer. Turn off the oven and keep the dosa batter inside with the oven light ON. Alternately, place the batter bowl in your instant pot steel insert, press yogurt settings with a timer set to 8 hours (12 to 14 hours during colder days). Use an external lid and not the IP lid.
- Optional Fermentation test: Well fermented dosa batter rises & increases in volume. It looks airy, with plenty of tiny bubbles. To test, drop half a spoon of this into a bowl of water. Well fermented batter floats. If it has not reached this stage, ferment longer.
- Stir the dosa batter once. Transfer the required portion to a small bowl and add salt as required. Refrigerate the rest for up to 1 to 2 weeks.
- The fermented batter usually becomes thick, pour little water to thin down & bring it to spreadable consistency. (Check video or photos in the post)
How to Make Dosa
- Heat a dosa griddle/ tawa on a medium heat. When it is slightly hot, add a few drops of oil and spread it with a kitchen paper or a half cut onion (pierced with a fork/ butter knife on the rounded side to hold).This prevents the dosas from sticking to the pan.
- To check if the pan is hot enough, sprinkle a few drops of water over the pan. If it is ready, it should sizzle.
- Reduce the heat to low, stir the batter with a ladle and take a ladle (¼ cup) of dosa batter & pour in the center of the hot griddle/ tawa.
- Immediately begin to spread it evenly with the base of the ladle – starting from the center, in an outward circular motion in a clockwise direction. (Check photos or video in the post)
- Increase the heat to medium high or high and drizzle oil/ghee/ butter across the edges.
- Cook until the base turns golden & crisp. Run a thin wooden turner/spatula across the base of the dosa, starting from the edges to the center.
- Optional – If you want you may cook on the other side – turn it to the other side and cook for a minute. Turn again and cook the base for 30 seconds to crisp it.
- Fold the dosa and remove from pan. Before making the next dosa, reduce the heat to low. You can also rub the cut onion and then pour the batter.
- Serve dosa with coconut chutney, potato masala & tiffin sambar.
Notes
- It is essential to use cold water while blending else the batter can heat up.
- Blend dal to a smooth & fluffy consistency and the rice to slightly coarse texture, this makes the best crispy dosas.
- The amount of water mentioned in the recipe is for whole skinned urad dal & raw rice with 4 hours of soaking. If you soak them longer or use another kind of rice or urad dal, you may need more or less water.
- Type of Rice: The taste & texture of the dosa depends on the kind of rice used. Here are my latest updates: You can use basmati rice or any short grain regular raw rice like sona masuri or ponni.You can also use 1 cup regular raw rice and ½ cup parboiled rice or idly rice.You can also use ¾ cup raw rice and ¾ cup parboiled rice or idly rice.Experiment with the above proportions and find what works for you the best in terms of taste and texture.
- I have shared troubleshooting tips along with the step-by-step photo instructions. If you are a beginner, you may follow that.
- To make the batter in wet grinder, Soak the methi seeds separately. First add the soaked methi seeds to the wet grinder container. Begin to grind sprinkling water little by little. After sometime it will become fluffy, thick and frothy. Then add the urad dal and poha blend until fluffy. Followed by rice. If your wet grinder does a very good job, then you can also add dal, rice and poha together.
Video
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
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About Swasthi
Iโm Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthiโs Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Great recipe, easy to follow and tasted great.
My mom uses the last recipe ๐
Hi Swasthi, I love your recipes, but I need your help please.
I followed the idly-dosa-batter recipe, soak them both separately for 4.5 h (powerful blender), then wet-grind them separately with filtered water. Then mix the batters (no salt) – until then it all seemed well.
Our house is around 23-26 C. I used your crispy dosa recipe before and used your oven method, but with switching the oven off after 7 min it didn’t ferment even when left over night, so last time I put the oven back on at 50 degrees and the same batter did ferment perfectly in half a day.
Now this time I put the batter in the oven and left it at 50 degrees from the start over night, but I was surprised to see zero fermentation the next morning. Do you know what I did wrong? Too hot? Dal too old? Salt?
Many thanks!
Hi Sabrina,
Thank you. 50 C could be too high (may kill the natural yeast developed during soaking). Try soaking longer and preheat the oven to 50 C. Put the batter in and reduce to 40 to 45 C. Let the oven run for 3 hours and then let it ferment undisturbed for 8 to 12 hours.
How cold it is in your home that you have to ferment for 16 hours? Iโm heartbroken – I made the batter last night and itโs hour 7 with no rising. I didnโt add salt early, because itโs about 70 degrees here in NYC so I figured that would be warm enough? I also left it on my stove, and the pilot light has some warmth. Iโm also thinking the water is too chlorinated?? I followed instructions to a T and am now depressed ๐
Hi Ss,
Don’t worry it will still be fine. Move the batter to a oven with the pilot ON and temp setting to the lowest like I mentioned in the post. It should be ready in about 5 to 6 hrs. Our indoor temperature is around 77 to 80 F (25 to 27 C) all round the year and I live on a high floor so it takes me about 16 hrs. I have been using oven with great results. Hope this helps
Perfect presentation.
Help! Are you supposed to use the soaking liquid as well when you blend or drain completely and disregard the soaking liquid for both lentils and rice?
Hey Rebecca,
sorry I am too late. If you live in a cold country, you may use some of the lentil soaking liquid to speed up the fermentation. Using that during summers or on warmer days can make your batter too sour.
My first time making dosa batter & it worked like a charm! I live in cold country and the oven tips really helped to ferment the batter. Thank you!
Thanks Kavitha
Hello Swasti,
Thanks for the detailed recipe. I tried your recipe but had to skip/replace few ingredients as they were not available handy.
I have soaked Urad Dal in one container and Jasmine rice, methi, chana Dal in another.
I unfortunately soaked it for more than 10hrs. And also fermented it for 24 hrs as I live in Germany. The batter did ferment.
However I have following problems with my dosa:
1. Dosa rises from the outside edge once it gets cooked. So it becomes very dry(just like if you leave dosa outside, it turns crispy, that’s the texture). I use non stick pan.
2. No brown color at all ๐
3. Set dosa( slightly thicker dosa ) gets pores but they remain uncooked and sticky inside.
Can you please help me with this situation?
Hello,
Here are my findings:
1. To me it looks like it is the kind of rice that made them dry. I have never got them right with jasmine rice.
2. Also it could be the flame (not enough heat) or the non-stick coated pan. Though I have had success with non-stick always, I hear from people that non-stick pan did not make good dosas
3. No brown color – it can again be the rice, not enough heat, cold batter or overfermentation.
4. Set dosa – sticky inside is due to the rice – usually parboiled rice or only idli rice gives me sticky set dosas.
I would suggest to troubleshoot step by step
1. Try using raw rice only – if sona masuri is not available, use basmati rice (not sella)
2. I would increase the heat and wait until the pan is really hot.
3. Bring the batter close to room temperature.
4. Add little Indian brand rice flour to your current batch of batter to fix. May or may not work. Bu it works for me. Stir the same amount of rice flour (as urad dal) with little water to make a medium thick slurry and mix with the batter.
Hope these help.
Thanks a lot for your detailed analysis. I will try again with basmati rice.
You motivated me to try again! ๐ cheers
Yes you should not give up while learning Idli and dosa. Repeated trials will give some solution and you will know what works for you
i love ur detailed explanation…may i request u to post recipe for “”mulbagal dosa” ..just now had it on the highway frm blore ti chennai..tasted amazing but cudnt find a proper recipe. TIA.
Hi Sarada,
Thank you. I have never eaten that! If I ever get to know how to make that I will share it.
If my dosa batter did not ferment overnight, should I restart from scratch? or can I put it into the Instapot to salvage it? My home was 72F, but I know now that’s too cold.
Yes you can move it to instant pot (Pot-in-pot) with an external lid. If you have a yogurt or bread proving option in your oven you can use that. Or simply set your oven to 110 F and let the batter ferment.
Hi Swasthi I bought split urad dahl but when I got it home I realised it wasn’t skinned, will this make a difference? Love your recipes by the way!
Hi Tracey,
Thank you! You can use it no problem. There won’t be any noticeable difference in dosa but for idli they won’t make the softest idlis
Hi,thank you so much for your recipes,helped me a lot to learn cooking during the lockdown. Just a quick question for recipe 2 (idli and dosa), can I use idli rava instead of rice? And is it necessary to use poha or methi seeds will do. Thanks in advance
Hi Faisal,
No I wouldn’t suggest idli rava in place of rice. Yes you can leave out poha but that imparts better color and softness to the idli dosa without making them hard. I know some restaurants use idli rava for dosa but not this way. One way is to cook it with 1:1 water, cool down and mix with the batter. The other way is to soak it and mix with the batter. But it is always used in combination with raw rice and also the texture of dosa is different, uniquely crisp. Hope this helps.
Is urad daal necessary? Any alternative?
You can use any dal. You can check these
mixed dal dosa
moong dal dosa
Adai
Some of these may have urad dal, substitute with another dal of your choice.
Thankyou for your prompt reply, if my batter has more rice than daal will that make it too sticky? Because I messed up this recipe and have not used the half cup daal and instead of rice have use rice flour…pls help
Saima, actually no! It shouldn’t make it sticky but they will come out hard if there is a lot or rice. Are you sure you used raw rice flour? Because store bought rice flour a lot of times is also made with parboiled rice. If you tell me how much rice flour and dal you used, I can help you fix that
Initially I used 2 tablespoons of channa daal, 3 tbsps of rice and 1.5 cup of rice flour. I think it was raw rice flour but I am not sure ?.
If you add less rice, you can fix the batter by adding more rice flour. But if you use too little dal, then you can’t fix. There is too much rice flour in the ratio you used. May be you can try mixing some besan.
Thank you
Thank you for the amazing instructions.
Thank you for the great information!
I have success w/ my dosas but does not last long stored in the refrigerator.
Maybe I am fermenting for too long, or add the salt before the rise?
I also was wondering if it is important to blend separately or can it be blended all together?
Hi Victor,
Yes, cut down the fermentation time and add salt only to the required portion at the time of making the dosa. Also storing in smaller containers just enough for a day helps. Once the batter in a larger container is disturbed (by stirring or scooping out a little etc), I feel it turns sour faster. You can blend them together if you want. But we do it separately because we want the dal batter to become fluffy and the rice batter slightly coarse. Fluffy dal batter makes the dosas light and coarse rice batter makes them extra crispy without making the dosas hard. Hope this helps
Thank you very much for the detailed information. I have a very quick, simple question, as Iโm still a fair novice making fermented dosas. Every recipe I read says to โpour a ladleful of batter onto a hot tawaโ, but how much, exactly, is a ladleful? Is it 1/4 cup? Is it 75 ml? I just want to be precise and give my dosas the best chance to be crispy and thin. Thank you for your help and advise.
Hi, My ladles measures 1/4 cup. For a standard pan, it would be sufficient. To make very large dosas using larger pan like in my brown rice dosa post, I use 1.5 ladles to make 1 dosa. Hope this helps
Its seem theoretical knowledge where to get the practical knowledge as I am interested in making batter for idly n dosa for both restaurants n homes please advose
Hi Mohammed,
Unless you try out in large quantities you won’t know and understand the whole process.
Absolutely delicious, I am English and have been trying to perfect dosa for many years, I made the batter in a kitchen Ninja smoothie maker and for the first time mixed it by hand, I have never seen it ferment so well. I made them and they are crispy and so more-ish. After watching the “Flying Dosa” guy on youtube I will be making them with the mashed filling later ( I have cheated and pre prepped this) and only cooking them on one side and then rolling them to serve with coconut chutney. I am very proud to be living in the UK but able to prepare authentic dosa, considering I haven’t any Indian heritage. Thankyou ๐
Thank you Bunty for sharing your experience. Happy to know you could make the perfect dosas.
Thanks for the great detailed explanation of every step – the photos, the video! So good!! I’ve eaten them the last 3 meals in a row – about to make more!!
That makes me happy Steve. Thank you
I have a quick question that I thought would be easy to answer, but I havenโt had luck with Google. How much batter should I use per dosa? I need a new flat-bottomed dosa ladle because my old one mysteriously disappeared, but Iโve seen so many different sizes. Is it 1/4 cup? 4 ounces? 8 ounces? I am so confused. I know it depends on the size of your tawa, but mine is the standard size. Can you
Hi Ann,
My ladles measures 1/4 cup. For a standard pan, it would be sufficient. To make very large dosas using larger pan like in this brown rice dosa post, I use 1.5 ladles to make 1 dosa. Hope this helps
We own a mobile restaurant serving Asian foods and recently introduced dosa on our menu. We serve the dosas with podi and tomato chutney. They are gone by noon and we get to reach home early. Thanks to you for the recipes and they have helped us. I plan to order a new highspeed blender soon because preparing the batter is easier. We plan to introduce chana masala soon with rice. We are using your recipe again. You really do a great service to the society. Stay blessed…..
That’s great to know Paula. So glad to know the recipe helped you. Thank you so much for the wishes and wishing you good luck.
Do you have a link to the tawa you are using? Looks good and I want to purchase that.
Lora, No I buy in a store locally. You may look for tefal titanium excellence. Lodge cast iron griddle also works well.