Restaurant Style Paper Dosa

The township that I was brought up in, had an Indian Coffee House(ICH) near by our school. Whether it may be birthday of a friend, a farewell party or old friends getting together, the ICH was never spared. It remains the same, is what I got to hear from my juniors. It had been a favorite place to hang out in that little township. I guess most of my visits there was accompanied with an order for masala dosa.

Even though we used to make dosas at home, we always had the tendency of ordering for dosas while in a restaurant. Mainly because their dosas being crispy and thin and the very thought makes your mouth watery.

My husband had always been requesting me to make thin and crispy dosa(restaurant style) at home. And however thin I make, it does not turn out to be crispy. Later, when I came across this recipe, I realized that its not just rice and urad dal that goes into it, but other ingredients that determine its crispiness. So here it goes, the recipe for a crispy dosa. Now we no longer order dosa while we are at a restaurant :).

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of white rice
2. 1 cup of parboiled / ponni rice
3. 1 cup of urad dal
4. 2 tbsp of chana dal
5. 1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds
6. Salt to taste
7. Water
8. Oil

Method 

• Wash the ingredients 1-5 separately. Soak them in water, overnight.
• Drain out excess water from them. 
• In a grinder, grind the urad dal, fenugreek seeds and chana dal , having added water as required, to form a batter. Remove it into a bowl.
• Grind the white rice and ponni rice, having added water as required to form a batter. Pour it into the bowl.
• Add salt as per taste and mix thoroughly so that both the batter gets incorporated well.
• Store it in a warm place and leave it to ferment.
• Once fermented, give the batter a gentle mix.
• Heat the skillet. Drizzle few drops of oil and wipe it off with a paper towel.
• Pour a ladle full of batter in the middle of the skillet and spread the batter outward in a circular motion with a flat bottom steel bowl.
• Once the dosa looks cooked and starts getting golden brown, drizzle few drops of oil over it. Remove it on to the serving plate 
• For Masala dosa, place the potato masala in the center and roll it.
• Serve hot with sambhar and coconut chutney.

Tips

1. Chana dal brings about crispiness to the dosa and hence you shouldn't avoid using it.
2. You could avoid ponni rice, if its not available.
3. For the fermentation to happen during cold months, you could place it in the oven with its lights on/ preheat the oven slightly and turn it off and then place the bowl with the batter in it.

Recipe Courtesy : Show me the curry