Set dosa (Sponge dosa)
By Swasthi on August 9, 2022, Comments, Jump to Recipe
Set dosa recipe – learn how to make set dosa with step by step photos. Dosa is a South Indian thin lentil crepe popular across the globe. There are so many kinds of dosas that are made regularly in most South Indian homes. To know more check this restaurant style masala dosa recipe and this collection of crispy dosa recipes too. Set dosa is a popular breakfast served in most fast food or tiffin centers in Bangalore and other parts of Karnataka.
A set of soft and thick spongy dosas are served together with coconut chutney and sagu. This is a basic set dosa recipe that can even be used to make dosas without oil on a nonstick tawa.
These turn out to be soft, mouth melting and spongy with a delicate texture. These are different from the poha dosa called as atukala dosa in telugu.
To make good set dosa, proper fermentation of the batter is very important otherwise they don’t yield porous and spongy dosa. Urad dal, rice, fenugreek seeds and poha are the ingredients that are used to make the batter.
Fermentation time varies or depends on the climatic conditions or season. Due to the cold weather, this time i had to ferment it for 18 hours to raise the batter well, but the batter did not turn sour.
Set dosa can be served to babies over 10 months, make sure you do not use sour batter if making for baby.
Preparation for set dosa
1. Wash and soak rice and urad dal with fenugreek seeds separately for about 5 hours. Wash poha or aval just before grinding.
2. Add soaked urad dal, fenugreek seeds, salt and washed aval to the blender jar.
3. Pour 1 cup of water and blend till smooth and bubbly. If needed add more water. i added 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water. Transfer it to a large bowl.
4. Add rice to the blender jar with 1/4 to 1/2 cup water and blend to smooth.
5. Transfer this to the bowl containing urad dal batter. Mix everything well until combined. The batter should not be very thin or very thick else it may not ferment well.
6. Cover and set aside in a warm place till it ferments and raises well. Usually it takes around 8 to 12 hours depending on the temperature.
7. After fermentation, it almost doubled.
How to make set dosa
8. Heat a tawa, Gently stir the batter for combining everything well. Test by sprinkling little water if the tawa is hot. A hot tawa sizzles, when water is sprinkled.Pour one ladle of batter on the tawa and gently dab it to spread slightly, do not spread like the regular dosa. The size of these dosas will be small. The flame of the stove should not be very high otherwise they turn brown at the bottom without cooking.If the tawa is not hot enough, you may not get a good spongy dosa. Sprinkle oil around the edges, you can skip it as well if you are on a oil free diet.
9. Set dosa is not cooked on the inner side, the batter is very airy that cooking it from the bottom, cooks on the inner side as well. However I prefer to cover and cook for a little while and then without the lid, i cook further to make them crispy from the outer side.This is optional. If you are particular about cooking it on the other side, you can flip it and cook on the other side as well.
10. To finish off i like to sprinkle idli podi or pappu podi or flax seed podi. This is optional.
11. Serve set dosa hot with your favorite chutney. We had it with beetroot chutney.
For more Dosa varieties,
Neer dosa
Oats dosa
Cheese dosa
Wheat dosa
Egg dosa
Recipe card
Set dosa (sponge dosa)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 2 cups raw rice or parboiled rice (like idli rice or masoori or any rice)
- 1 cup poha medium attukulu or avalakki
- ½ cup urad dal or skinned black gram
- 1 ½ teaspoons fenugreek seeds or menthulu or methi
- salt as needed non iodised
- oil or butter as needed
Instructions
- Soaking : To make set dosa recipe, firstly add rice to a large bowl and wash very well a few times. Then soak in ample amount of water for about 5 hours. Add urad dal and fenugreek seeds to another bowl and rinse them a few times. Then soak in ample amount of water for about 5 hours. Wash poha just before grinding the batter.
- Making batter: Drain the water from from both the bowls. Add urad dal, salt, fenugreek seeds and poha to a blender jar along with 1 cup water. Blend them till bubbly. If needed add more water to grind the batter smooth & frothy. Do not add too much water, batter should not be very runny.
- Transfer the batter to a large batter bowl. Add rice to the jar along with 1/4 cup water. Grind to a smooth batter. Pour this to the urad dal batter. Mix everything well till well combined.
- Fermenting : Set aside in a warm place for 8 to 12 hours for the batter to ferment and rise well.
How to make set dosa
- Add few drops of oil to a tawa. Using a tissue or cut onion spread the oil very well. Heat the tawa. Mix the batter gently.
- Pour one ladle full of batter and dab it gently to spread the batter do not spread like a normal dosa. Add oil across the edges.
- Cover and cook for a while until it is cooked inside. You can flip and cook it for a minute on the inner side as well.
- To get a crispy set dosa, lower the flame and cook for a while. Sprinkle idli podi if you have it or serve hot with chutney. Repeat making more set dosa on the tawa.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
I’m 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 Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills.
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Does this work on a non stick ?the consistency of batter is to be medium or thick?
Yes it works on non-stick and cast iron both. The consistency has to be thick, less thicker than idli batter more thicker than regular dosa batter. If it is too runny, you won’t be able to flip it because it won’t cook well to a firm base.
Hi swathi, anything to substitute aval? Thank you
Hi Swasthi, my set dosa is not that soft. Plz tell me how I can make it soft ?
Hi Vaishali
This recipe will give you soft set dosa. Let the batter rise well as shown in the pictures.
Hi swasthi
How to feed dosa for 7 month old baby. How a baby can eat dosa’s and all dear?
Hi Soundarya,
Dip it in dal cooked water or vegetable stock. Boil vegetables like carrots, potatoes, pumpkin, beans in water. Filter it & use. You can also dip idli and feed. 7 months is too early for a baby to eat dosa. But you can give idli now. You can serve dosa once your baby turns 10 months. Cook them with very less oil or ghee.
Thanks a lot dr
Hi Swathi…the poha did not grind well…will it be problem ?
Yes Shamine,
You have to grind them well. Otherwise the dosas may not turn spongy.
Thank you so much for your advise Swasthi.
Welcome Lakshmi. Hope you could fix it.
Dear Swasthi,
I had kept the batter for more than 24 hours on the kitchen stove area but it did not rise/ferment.
I put it in the fridge as I could smell the sourness.
How do I get rid of this sourness now ?
Thank you so much in advance for your advice.
Lakshmi
Hi Lakshmi,
You should keep it in a kitchen cabinet or in a warm place for the batter to rise and ferment well. If the batter is too thick then it will not rise at all but turns sour. Now the sour flavor cannot be fixed unless you add some rice flour to it. Just mix together some rice flour with water and stir it in the fermented batter. But the taste will be different and may not come out fluffy like set dosa.
Can this same batter be used for idli also?
Divya,
Not sure if it works. I haven’t tried
Hey Swasthi,
I had tested set dosa during my trip to Bangalore almost ten years back while was working. But here in Mumbai very less people are known to it. But it turned out so yummy that my husband and kids just loved it. What can be made with leftover better as I read that it is not advisable to serve to kids once it taste sour ? Can I try Idli or dosa adding Ragi flour ?
Thank you so much.
Hey Monika
I am very sorry for not replying. I am on a holiday to India so unable to reply to comments. Thanks for trying. With the left over batter you can add some rice flour and make bonda. Yes you can also add ragi four and rice flour in equal quantites and make dosa. Not sure if idli will come out well. Hope this helps
It was really tastyyyy.. yammyyyyyyyyyy
is it necessary to use only Dosa rice, I do have idli rice can I use that ?
Yes deepika you can use it.
Idli and dosa rice are same
Thanks for your quick reply.. I tried to make it and let it ferment for hours outside on the kitchen top.. but it dint double in size…only a little bit.. 🙁 I was scared of keeping it outside for any longer as it was already 15 hours or more… can i still use it for my toddlers. ? I am reading through all the recipes for my 15 months old twins, one doesnt eat well so thinking of trying this for her…
Hi Deepika
Yes you can still give it to her. The reason for not rising could be the temperature. When the temperatures are down it takes about 18 hours even if i keep it in a warm shelf.
excellent recipe! came out well . One request – please
have a recipe index for faster access and a quick look/scan because,
going through page after page is time consuming and a real pain – thanku
once again .
Hope you do the needful.
Hi Maria
Thanks for trying. Yes I will surely do it. Thanks for the suggestion
Hi,
I don’t have idly or ponni rice. I have only done masoori. Can I try with it? If so what is the ratio?
Thank u.
Hi Sai,
Currently I am using masoori. Both white and brown work well. Follow the same ratios
Hi Swathi ,
What to do for fermentation in cold countries ? Can I add some Yeast to it ? If so , what is the quantity ?
Regards/Rekha
Hi Rekha
You can try adding non-iodised salt while grinding. It may take little longer to ferment but it works. You can also try using the water in which dal has been soaked for grinding. If none of these work, then you try using yeast. I have not tried with in anytime
Hi Swasti,
Followed ur recipe for set dosa yesterday. It was so spongy n soft. And was yummy with tomato chatani. Thank u so much for this recipe
Welcome Prachi
Glad to know they came out good. Thanks for sharing the outcome
Hello Swasti,
Can I use idly rava instead of Rice in this recipe ? Please reply
Hi Prachi
Don’t think idly rava works in this recipe. You can try with a small quantity.
Ok thanks. And do u have app for ur site?
welcome. No we dont have an app
Who besides South Indians and such have a WET GRAIN GRINDER?
Useful recipes only for Indians, not for others, alas. Will still keep looking for folks with alternative notions on how to grind grains wet but so far, nobody in the Indian food world seems to realize that people outside of their country might be reading for these recipes.
Hi Chris
To make these dosa, one don’t need to have a wet grinder. Any powerful blender will be able to blend the grains to batter. YOu can go ahead and try the recipe in small quantity. (halve the recipe) Hope this helps
Chris, don’t get so upset. You can make this batter using any powerful blender – like Vitamix. It works with regular American blenders too but you have to grind in small quantities and it comes out great. You should just ask any Indian friend from work or even strangers at an Indian store and they will be delighted to help you. Hope you get to make these dosas and enjoy them! 👍🏾
wow! the picture makes my mouth water! how did you manage to click awesome pics like these?
Thanks Savitha
Hi swasthi
This dosa was perfect.
Thanks a ton dear.
welcome Mrinal
Tnxxx itz help good to prepare
Hi swasthi,
My baby is 1 year 1 month old.Can u please share me tips for stopping breastfeeding at night.
Hi swathi, can i use sonamasoori rice which i use to make normal dosa.
Yes Jhansi
You can use