Masala Dosa

About Masala Dosa

Ready to serve Masala Dosa

Dosa is the quintessential South Indian dish. Seldom is there a South India restaurant where this dish is not available or a South Indian home where this is among the most awaited breakfast/tiffin. There are a varieties of dosas available in the hotels. The most popular being the Masala Dosa, Rava Dosa etc.

In my young days when at college masala dosa was avai lable for a mere Re 1 per dosa. Whenever i went to movies with my friends i visited Kamth hotel in Bangalore where in i ordered for Masala dosa which really tasted great. But these days many other restaurants are there to cater to the needs of all of us.

We prepare a variety of dosas at home. Masala dosa being the favorite of all of my family members. Though preparation seems to be very easy but it is actually laborious, since for masala dosa we need to have not only Alu bhaji and green chutney but also the masala (garlic red chutney)which gives the name Masala dosa for the dish. Even though the dosa batter is ground the previous night , the two chutneys are prepared in the morning itself. Preparing it previous night will not be tasty as well as fresh. But alu bhaji can be prepared over night also. Masala dosa is easy to prepare.

What you need to have:

Split Black gram Dal – 1/3 cup

Raw rice – 1 and 1/2 cups

Par boiled rice – (Katsambar rice in Kannada) 1/2 cup

Fenugreek seeds – 2 teaspoons

Water to soak and grind – 3 and 1/2 cups

Raw cooking oil – 1 table spoon

Sugar 2 – Teaspoons

Ingredients of Masala Dosa

What you do with what you have:

1. Wash and soak black gram dal, Raw rice, par boiled rice, fenugreek seeds together in a bowl of  3 and 1/2 cups  of water for about 5-6 hours .

2. Grind them in the wet grinder/mixer to a fine consistency adding water in steps, add required quantity of salt to the batter.

3. Let it ferment for about 10-12 hours . (the more the better in winter)

4. On fermentation the dough will have come up as shown in the image below.

Fermented Dosa batter

5. Add cooking oil (other than coconut oil and ghee), sugar and stir well.

6. Keep dosa griddle on flame. Rub in a little oil to it with the tissue paper, and sprinkle water on to it.

7. Pour 1 table spoon dosa batter on the griddle and spread dosa with the base of the spoon to round shape and spread to required consistency adjusting the flame as required.

8. Make sure the dosa turns a little brown at the bottom so that its crispy.

9. Spread garlic red chutney with a spoon through out dosa in a cyclical way.

10. Place Alu bhaji in the middle and fold dosa and serve hot with green chutney.

Masala Dosa with Alu Bhaji & super chutney

Note:

1. Every time you put up the next dosa make sure that you rub the griddle with the tissue paper or coconut coir. The reason being that if there are traces of oil there, you will not be able to spread dosa thin, and the batter gets struck to the base of the spoon hence dosa may turn out thick.

2. Always add raw oil only to the batter.

3. If left over deep fried oil is used then it may not suit the dough since it will have lost all qualities , as it has been used once for frying.

4. Always grind the batter to a thick consistency. On fermentation and also when oil and sugar is added in the morning the consistency of the batter will be fine. Do not add extra water in the morning.

Red garlic chutney(Wet)

Red garlic chutney is especially prepared for masala dosa only. This is really the ‘Masala’ in the Masala Dosa. Ironically more and more hotels these days don’t use them and serve Masala Dosa with Bhaji and Green Chutney.

The Masala is similar to other wet chutneys that we generally prepare. The difference though is that all ingredients of garlic chutney is raw. In all other chutneys green chilly is always fried in oil to avoid the raw smell. But in this particular chutney if any thing is fried/roasted the taste is lost. So all ingredients are raw and that makes the chutney taste really oasam.

What you need to have:

1. Grated Coconut – 2 teaspoons

2. Roasted split Bengal-gram Dal(Putani) – 100 grams

3. Garlic cloves – 10-15

4. Tamarind – 1/2 “piece

5. Chilly powder as per taste

6. Salt as per taste

Ingredients of red garlic chutney

What you do with what you have:

All the ingredients are to be ground in the mixer adding sufficient quantity of water to a medium coarse consistency so that it will be easy to apply it to the Masala Dosa. Let it be thick in consistency.

Ready to serve Garlic chutney

Potato Bhaji

Potato is supposed to be the king of vegetables, as Mango is the king of fruits. We can prepare so many recipes with potato – curry, Alu Tikkies, potato chips, Alu paratas and potato bhaji. In this section, I will describe the bhaji. For Potato bhaji, the ratio of potato to onion is 1:2, the reason being that potato on cooking remains the same in quantity , where as onions reduce in quantity as they lose water.

What you need to have:

1. Potatoes medium 4

2. Onions big 8

3. Coriander leaves a handful

4. Grated coconut 1 tablespoon

Cooked potatoes, onion & turmeric

Seasoning ingredients for Bhaji

Seasoning:

1. Cooking oil – 1 tablespoon

2. Mustard – 1 teaspoon

3. Split Black gram Dal – 1 teaspoon

4. Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

5. Curry leaves a few

6. Green chillies – 6

7. Turmeric powder 1 teaspoon

What you do with what you have:

1. Wash and peal potatoes. Cook it as usual in the cooker for about 15 minutes.

2. Cut onions , Green chillies lengthwise and keep it aside. Also cut boiled potatoes into cubes.

3. Grate coconut and cut coriander leaves.

4. Place a wide based bowl on the flame with cooking oil and mustard in it. On sputtering add Black gram dal to it. When it is fried add green chillies, curry leaves, turmeric powder and onions to it.

5. Add salt to the dish to fry onions.When onions turn a little transparent and change colour add cooked potatoes to it and stir well. Always fry onions on medium flame only. If burnt it will turn the dish bitter.

Ready to serve Potato bhaji

6. Add grated coconut and coriander leaves.

7. Stir well and place the required quantity of Bhaji in the centre of dosa and fold it.

Green chutney(wet)

Green chutney is like any other wet chutneys prepared by using only curry leaves, coriander leaves, Ginger, Green chillies, and fresh grated coconut, tamarind etc. We do-not use red chillies for this chutney , since it will not only change the colour but also the taste of the same.

What you need to have:

1.Fresh grated coconut 100 grams

2.Green chillies 3-4

3.Curry leaves (fresh) a few

4.Coriander leaves a handful

5.Tamarind a small piece of 1/2″

6.Ginger a piece of 1″

7.Salt to taste

Ingredients of Green chutney

What you do with what you have:

1. Grate coconut and keep it aside.

2. Wash and cut green chillies.

3. Wash and clean Curry leaves and coriander leaves.

4. Add required quantity of salt and tamarind to it.

5. Grind all the ingredients in the wet grinder/mixer to a medium consistency adding required quantity of water .

6. Transfer it to a different bowl and serve the ready chutney with Masala Dosa in a small serving bowl.

For sambar you can refer to the sambar for idly recipe posted earlier.

Ready to serve Green Chutney

Time taken :1 hour

servings :15-20 Dosas