Varieties of Dosa – Plain Dosa Recipe, Mysore Masala Dosa Recipe and Rava Dosa Recipes

As Paratha is the heart of North India, Dosa is the heart of south India.  Dosa is one of the very famous south Indian dishes listed in the world’s 50 most delicious food that you might don’t know.

India is a solid foodie country. You can find a lot of varieties in food as you travel in the different regions of the country. If you divide India into North and South region then you can easily figure out the taste of food. North Indian dishes are more spicy and delicious in its own way, where as South Indian dishes are less spicy, less oily comparatively and easy going too because south Indian recipes are less time consuming .

If we go in detail about south Indian breakfast, the dishes included are dosa, idli, puddu, varities of rice. One of the most famous South Indian dish is Dosa. Dosa is a rice pancake made out of the fermented batter. There are different varieties of dosas as per the taste and the use of different lentils along with the rice, rice being the major portion of south Indian food. Different types of dosas are made depending on the regions you go to. Most famous ones are the Plain dosa, mysore masala dosa and rava dosa

This article is mainly focusing on the different varieties of dosa and what makes them so different from other dishes. If you wish to know about other dishes of south Indian breakfast, you can go through South Indian breakfast

Plain Dosa Recipe

Plain dosa is a thin crepe made out of fermented batter of rice and urad dal. The same batter can be used to make many other verities like idli, puddu. In India you can find around 100 varieties of dosa, mostly made from the same batter of plain dosa.  But let’s focus on the dosa for now. If we take the texture wise, dosa can be classified as  soft dosa, crispy dosa or the fat flat dosa. Companions of any kind of dosa are chutney and sambar.

The ingredients mentioned below makes for the perfect crispy dosa recipe.

Ingredients: 

1. ½ cup urad dal( black gram or black lentil)
2. 1 ½ cup rice( you can use the normal rice or parboiled rice)
3. ¼ or 1/3 teaspoon methi seeds( fenugreek seeds)
4. Salt( normal or the rock salt)

Directions:

Dosa batter

• Few things have to be kept in mind before making a dosa batter.
• Wash urad dal, rice, methi seeds in a different bowl and soak them in water for 4 hours. Later remove the soaked water and grind them separately in the wet grinder or mixer. While grinding the mixture add water as required. Do not add more water or the fermentation may take a while. Once the grinding is complete, mix all the ingredients together and add a little amount of water and keep the batter overnight. You can keep the batter from 4 to 16 hours as per the weather. If the weather is hot fermentation takes less time and vice versa.
• While mixing the two ingredients – In hot weather fermentation takes less time and hence you can add salt directly to the fermented batter just before making the dosa. And in a cold weather fermentation takes more time to process and sometimes a bit of strong smell too. Hence it is advisable to add salt to the better just after the grind and later keep the batter for fermentation. Adding salt in the beginning makes the fermentation process faster and also avoids the strong smell.
• In India we keep the batter overnight for the perfect fermentation. Later add water as per the crispiness you are looking for. If you like crisp dosa then add sufficient amount of water but do not make batter runny. Make sure batter is a bit thick. If you like soft dosa then make batter a bit runny but make sure it doesn’t go too much thin.
• If you are looking for a perfect dosa then the only thing matters is the consistency of batter. You can take small amounts of batter and try with different consistency if you are a beginner.
• Once you keep a batter overnight it is good to go.

Preparing Dosa

• Take batter, add water according to the consistency you are looking for, add salt.
• Heat the pan (dosa pan works the best).Grease the pan with water first- Take a wet cloth and rub on the pan every time before making each dosa.
• Once the pan is hot, take a batter of full ladle and circulate it in the circular form on the pan to make a round crepe.
• Above the round crepe, add slight oil and red chutney and wait till the bottom layer gets the brown colour and the batter goes crispy.
• You do not need to flip the crepe, as dosa is prepared on one side of the batter only. So one side of crepe looks golden brown and the other looks white.

This is the basic dosa recipe which can be prepared anytime and anywhere in a very short duration.

Mysore Masala Dosa Recipe

Mysore Masala Dosa is famous from the historical land of Mysore in Karnataka state. When you make a plain dosa and add stuffing(mainly potato curry) it is considered as mysore masala dosa. You can make it as spicy as per your taste buds and keep it to normal taste if required too. Mostly the spice lovers makes this dosa, but if you plan this recipe in the morning then you can just lower the amount of red chutney and control the spice levels. This dosa is consumed along with chutney and sambar.

Ingredients:  

Potato curry masala:    

• 400 grams potato( boil,peel and cut into square cubes)
• 1 medium piece onion(chopped)
• ½ tablespoon ginger chopped( 1 inch)
• 2 tablespoon oil
• ½ tsp mustard
• ½ tsp cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 pinch hing
• 1 tsp chana dal
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 5-6 leaves of curry leaves
• 1-2 green chillies(chopped)
• Salt as per taste
• 2 tbspn coriander(chopped for garnishing)

Red chutney

• Dry red chillies(15-16)
• Garlic cloves (10)
• Ginger(2pieces small)
• ½ tbspn cumin seeds
• 2 tbspn Roasted gram
• Salt as per taste
• 1-2 tbspn lime juice
• 5- 6 tbspn water

Directions:

Potato Curry Recipe

• Boil the potatoes either in a pressure cooker or pot. Make sure the potatoes are done until fork tender and not much mushy.If you are boiling in a pressure cooker then 3 whistels are good to go. Once boiled, peel them and chop in small square inches.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves and hing.
• Once they start splattering in the pan add urad dal and chana dal.
• As the dal turns golden brown add chillies, ginger, onion and wait till they turn golden brown too.
• Now add sliced potatos . At the same time add turmeric and salt.
• Mash the stuffing slightly and add 2-3 tablespoon water and make it a moist smooth stuffing.
• Heat for 5-6 minutes and later garnish with coriander leaves.
• Potato stuffinis ready to use once cooled for a while.

Red chutney Recipe

You can use this chutney as a spread in other dishes too and this chutney can be kept for minimum one week in freeze.

• Soak red chillies in water for 30 minutes
• Once soaked add all the ingredients and grind them well.
• Chutney is good to go.

Directions for making Mysore Masala Dosa

• Make a plain dosa as described above .
• While the batter is spread on the pan, add ½ tablespoon of butter and spread a red chutney and potato curry as per the spiciness you are looking for.
• Keep heat in between low and high flame. Once the crepe looks golden brown on the bottom, roll the crepe and mysore masala dosa is ready.

If you want your kids to show more of an interest in this dish then you can add some cheese along with the potato curry and red chutney. And call it as cheese dosa- easiest way to bribe kids.