Dosa

The batter is rice and black gram at three or four to one, ground fine and fermented overnight.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 300 g rice, parboiled or raw
• 100 g whole white urad dal, black gram
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 2 teaspoons salt
• water, to grind and to thin
• oil, for the griddle

Method

1. THE BATTER IS RICE AND BLACK GRAM AT THREE OR FOUR TO ONE, GROUND FINE AND FERMENTED OVERNIGHT. Its article gives every part of that: rice and white gram soaked at least four to five hours, ground FINELY to a batter, some cooks adding soaked fenugreek while grinding, the proportion of rice to lentils generally 3:1 or 4:1, salt added, and the batter then left to ferment overnight before being let down with water. Those numbers are what make this a dosa rather than the steamed cake in this family: at 3:1 with a fine grind the batter spreads thin enough to crisp at the edges.
2. THE FENUGREEK IS SMALL AND IT IS NOT OPTIONAL IN PRACTICE. A teaspoon, soaked with the lentils. It helps the ferment along, browns well, and gives the faint bitterness that makes a dosa taste of something other than rice.
3. IT IS GROUND IN TWO GOES EVEN THOUGH IT FERMENTS TOGETHER. The lentils first, with as little water as will move them, until the paste is light and holds a peak; then the rice. Lentils ground with rice never aerate, and the air whipped into urad is part of what makes the batter rise.
4. THE SALT GOES IN BEFORE THE FERMENT. Its article puts it there. It slows the culture a little and keeps it from going sour too fast overnight.
5. EIGHT TO TWELVE HOURS SOMEWHERE WARM, AND IT MUST RISE. The batter should swell by half and smell sour and yeasty. If it has not moved, it is too cold -- an oven with only the light on will do it.
6. IT IS THINNED ONLY AFTER FERMENTING, NEVER BEFORE. Its article is specific about the order. A thin batter ferments poorly and then cannot be adjusted back.
7. THE GRIDDLE IS HOT, THEN WIPED, THEN COOLED SLIGHTLY. Heat the tava, splash water on it to check it hisses, wipe it with a half onion dipped in oil, and let it drop for ten seconds before pouring. On a griddle at full heat the batter sets before you can spread it.
8. IT IS POURED IN THE MIDDLE AND SPREAD OUTWARDS IN A SPIRAL. One ladle, then the back of the ladle moved in widening circles without lifting. Oil around the edge, and it is cooked on one side only -- a dosa is never turned.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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