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Ingredients
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Quantity
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Rice
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3 cups
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Urad dal (polished)
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1 cup
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Salt
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2 tsp
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This is a pancake-like South Indian dish.
Method
(Grinding):
Soak the rice and the dal separately for about 5 hours. Grind the
rice with sufficient water until it is a smooth paste. (I use my osterizer and
run it in 3 batches, the amount of water used to grind is somewhat crucial,
using too much will make the result too watery, while using too little will
make it hard to grind and too thick. I usually put in the rice and add water
until it just reaches the brim of the rice, this will seem like too much, but
it will work out fine once the rice is ground. I then run the osterizer on MIX
until the rice is broken and then run it on liquidize until the rice starts to
become a paste. If required, add just a little more water, perhaps a few
tablespoons. Touch the paste between your fingers to feel the texture. It
should be smooth).
Now grind the dal in two batches. (The amount of water here is not
as tricky. Traditionally this would be ground in a stone grinder by hand. The
dal needs to be ground while slowly adding more water from the top of the
osterizer. When ground, the dal has the tendency to fluff up, this tendency
must be encouraged by adding only a little water at a time while stirring and
continuing to grind. The dal should double in quantity after grinding, while
the quantity of rice would have remained unchanged.)
Now mix both the pastes with the salt in a dish that is at least a
third bigger in size, allowing space for the dough to rise. Leave for about 8
hours in a dark warm place.
Method
(Cooking):
The next morning, if you have done all this, the dough is ready to
be transformed into dosas. Use a heavy cast-iron griddle (a flat non-stick pan
will do, but sadly lacks the taste that comes from the iron pan). Heat the pan
until a few drops of water dropped on the pan sizzles away. Take a deep ladle
full of dough and drop the dough in the middle of the pan, then with a deftness
that comes with practice, quickly swirl the dough away from the middle until it
is spread evenly in a circle around the pan. You must do this quickly because
once the dough cooks, you cannot spread it and the result will be lumpy. Take a
teaspoon full of oil and spread it around the edge of the dosai. Wait a minute
or so, until you see the edges browning and insert a flat ladle that has sharp
edges under and all around the dosai, until it is released completely (Be
warned that, using a well-scrubbed pan won't let you release the dosai easily. To
prevent this, you might want to rub a little oil onto the surface of the pan
before spreading the dough.)
After releasing the dosai, flip it around on the other side and
put another teaspoon of oil around the edges. Wait a minute or two until it is
cooked and remove from the pan. Before making the next one, use a small piece
of paper kitchen towel and rub any excess oil off the pan.
Remarks:
This whole procedure sounds tedious, but its not too hard after
you've done it a few times. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for a week
or more. If the dough starts to get sour, cut small pieces of some green chillies
and onion and add to the dough before cooking it. This can be done even
otherwise, for a different flavor and variety.
To eat, break a piece of the dosa and dip it into the dosa-
molaga-podi or the sambar and pop it into your mouth.
