The Indian Food Court

In the usual course we prepare so many varieties of dosas. But onion dosa is typically something I haven’t planned to make – over the years it has become a norm to prepare this from left over Idli batter only. That is, we prepare Idlis in the morning and with the left over batter, prepare Uthappam in the evening. It actually tastes yummy, but still I thought its a good idea to have an exact recipe of Uthappam and I was waiting for an opportunity and i could collect the recipe from a cook in a restaurant.

I had been on a tour to Tirupathi a couple of months back. On the way back we happened to visit a restaurant for tiffin in the evening where I had Uthappam. I could not resist asking the recipe and cook shared it without any hesitation. I came home and tried it out to find that it turned out great. So here goes.

What you need to have:

- Blackgram Dal – 100 grams/1/3cup

- Bengalgram Dal – 50 grams/1/6cup

- Par boiled rice – 100 grams/1/3cup

- Raw rice – 200 grams/1cup

- Fenugreek seeds – 1 teaspoon

- Onions chopped as per taste

- Chopped corriander leaves as required

Ingredients of Oothappa/Onion Dos

Finely chopped onion & corriander leaves

What you do with what you have:

1. Soak Blackgram Dal, Bengalgram Dal, Raw rice, Par boiled rice, Fenugreek seeds in water for about 4 hours.

2. Cut Onions & Coriander leaves very finely and sprinkle a little salt to it and keep it aside as shown in the image above

3. Grind it in Grinder/Mixer adding water in steps to a fine consistency like you grind for any dosa batter.

4. Add salt and allow it to ferment overnight.The fermented batter is shown in the image below.

Fermented Onion dosa batter

4. Place Dosa griddle on the flame. Add a little oil and spread it with either coconut coir or tissue paper.

5. Sprinkle a little water on the griddle and pour one laddle batter and spread it to medium thickness. Top it with chopped onion coriander mixture immediately and press a little with your palm dipped in a little water , so that it sticks to dosa.

6. When top of dosa is cooked turn it and cook the other side also adding a little oil. Dosa looks as shown in the image below.

Onion dosa with Gren chutney

Enjoy with Green chutney. (See this section for Green chutney)

What to remember:

1. The ground batter should be thick but finely grounded. Please do not add water at all. On fermentation it will be right.

2. Add salt at night before overnight fermentation. Adding salt helps to ferment fast.

How long it takes: 45 minutes(other than fermenting time)

Number of Servings: 20 dosas