• #1
• Comment by jon

nice!

• #2
• Comment by Vikram

Hi FX,
first of all, congratulations on a very impressive site. I frequently visit but this is my first comment. You see, I had to comment on this particular recipe since it's one of favorite foods! The fact that Rick, who's not Indian or more importantly, not South Indian, makes Dosas is very impressive. I've some comments :
Dosas are indeed from South India but it's a generic name for pancakes. There are variations such as Appam from Kerala, rice dosa, semolina dosa, ragi (finger millet) dosa, wheat dosa, etc. Dosas are mostly made in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, with variations in both states and in neighbouring states.

Dosas can be as big or as small as you like and as thick as you like or paper-thin. Dosas in Karnataka tend to be thicker while those in Tamil Nadu tend to the opposite. Dosas in North India tend be thin too but otherwise resemble dosas from Karnataka since most of the dosa cooks in restaurants tend to come from Karnataka. Typically, dosas are about the size of a dinner plate. The enormous ones you see in restaurants are just for show!

There are notable differences in both taste and texture of dosas in Karnataka and those of Tamil Nadu - those in Karnatake tend to be fluffier (noticeable even when quite thin) than those from TN. The difference in taste is something I'm not able to describe unfortunately but I think it has to do with the addition of Fenugreek seeds in the Karnataka version.
Rick's recipe appears to be the one from Tamil Nadu. He doesn't use fenugreek seeds and the batter seems not to be as bubbly as the one from Karnataka. Also, basmati rice is a no-no for dosa for two reasons : lack of starch content and overly strong flavour (it's not grown in South India so it's not used in dosa batter). A short grain rice is better suited. Traditionally, a stone mill is used to grind the batter since it gives the smoothest batter, but a mixer/blender is ok too. As to spreading the batter, "spiral" is better term than "circular". The way we do it is to pour the batter in the centre of a seasoned but not oiled gridle and use the back of the ladle (something like a soup ladle but with a fairly flat bottom) to spread it in a spiral motion taking care not to do multiple passes to avoid flattening the air bubbles. Once the batter is spread, pour a teaspoon or so of vegetable oil or ghee. It's the oil from the previous dosa that's used to lubricate the gridle for the subsequent one as pouring batter on a oiled gridle won't let it stick properly to the gridle.
Once the dosa is done, any accompaniment to your taste works!

I apologise for the lengthy explanations and comments but I felt it was necessary.

Bon apétit!

By the way, for those interested, an electrically powered stone mill to make batter is available in many Indian shops that sell kitchen appliances.

• #3
• Comment by molin

Hi

I am Indian and really love your site, especially for those extra special photographs. I feel ashamed of myself being an Indian and not made a masala dosa so far just because I am so damn crazy about spending less time in the kitchen.
But just liked the way Rick did it.
Keep this going.

• #4
• Comment by taz

Hi FX, just wondering for the fermentation do you have to add anything to the mixture, like yeast or starter?

• #5
• Comment by Nate

Oh. My. Garsh!  Thank you for posting an excellent series. Thanks to Rick for taking us through each step, FXCuisine-style!

Thanks also to Vikram for that very informative post.  I have a question though: if basmati is a no-no, can I use any old short-grain rice like the CalRose I can get here in San Jose?  Or does it have to be a short-grain rice from India?

• #6
• Comment by Rick

First, I want to say, publicly, thanks to Francois not only for including this article, but for all the work he does to make this place such a joy to visit, read and salivate over. His pictures are fantastic, his writing style entertaining and witty and his recipes sublime. He inspires me.

Thanks for all the comments so far, and a special thanks goes to Vikram for his great post with more information about Dosas. I have never eaten a Dosa cooked by an Indian, as most restaurants in my part of the world cook north Indian cuisine. I ran across the recipe in a cookbook my mother bought for me while she was visiting Calcutta, back in the 1980's. For many years I wanted to cook Indian food, but had no access to the spices needed to properly prepare the recipes. It has been my good luck that many Indians have immigrated to my town and there are now several places to buy spices and supplies.
So, thanks Vikram, for the hint about using fenugreek, and about using a spiral motion to spread the batter. The tip about using a rice other than Basmati is one I will pay attention to.
I do know that using ghee to cook the dosas are the traditional way to cook them, but for the last year I have been on a quest to lose weight, so I look for lower calorie ways to cook my food. I use a bit of ghee, but mostly use a non-stick spray. I know some may think it is blasphemy to use lower fat methods to cook but I have lost (so far!) 65 pounds using my methods, while still enjoying delicious curries, dosas, chutneys and chapatis almost every day.
To Taz, who asked about fermenting. I don't know what does it, but the recipes I've used call for just rice and dal. Perhaps adding the fenugreek seeds as Vikram suggested would make it rise even more. I do know that the warmer the batter is kept while rising, the better it rises.

Best Regards,
Rick...

• #7
• Comment by Vikram

Hi,

here are some more information and clarifications that I got from my personal expert on Dosas - my mother.

Rice : The best rice to use is a short grain parboiled rice but a normal short grain rice will do too.

My mother's recipe : 2 cups of rice, 1/2 cup of urad dal (lentils), 1 to 2 teaspoons of fenugreek seeds. My mother also adds pressed rice (flakes) called Poha or Avalakki, substituting about a half cup of rice. This makes the batter fluffier. Soak all the ingredients for 4 - 6 hours and grind. Add salt and let sit overnight. After the batter has risen, mix thoroughly but do not beat it, to dissolve the salt.

Typically, the first dosa on a lightly oiled gridle will be sacrificial dosa as the oil pooled on the gridle will prevent the batter from adhering to the gridle and therefore cook evenly. The next dosa should not need any pre-oiling of the gridle.

Rick,
my experience cooking dosas tells me that on a well seasoned gridle, only the bare minimum of oil is needed to retain the "non-stick" seasoning of the gridle. Usually about a half teaspoon. But the flavour and aroma that ghee, butter or even sesame oil bring to the party is extraordinary. So I usually use a bit.

The fermentation is due only to the lentils (urad dal). I'm not sure of the mechanism of fermentation but I do know that lentils contain a lot of protein. So I presume some enzyme in the lentils starts the process. A dish called urad dal vada, a savoury doughnut, is composed of only a fermented urad dal batter with some spices. The high protein content ensures that they don't disintegrate when fried.

Nate,
I'm not familiar with the types of rice available in the US. But I think you could try using any type that meets the requirements. If you aren't sure, you could experiment with small quantities of different types to find the one that gives the fluffiest results.

I hope this answeres some of the questions. Happy cooking!

• #8
• Comment by Shu

Great pics and write-up, Rick!

Indian mamaks (coffeeshops) in Malaysia serve dosas all the time. (Here its called thosai)They make a runnier batter and spread it thinner than yours, resulting in a very crisp pancake when eaten fresh, but not as nice when bought as takeaways.
Masala dosas are my favorite! I've never seen them served folded over like yours; here they're either rolled in a sort of flattened tube or folded into a triangle. They're even better when the potato filling has some chunks in!

Another great and simple dosa is called thosai bawang here. Basically, onion slices and some green chilli mixed into the thosai batter before frying.

• #11
• Comment by lotsofcravings

we knw it as masala thosai in malaysia...my fav breakfast item!

• #12
• Comment by Shu

The way I see them make it is they have a small wooden or steel bowl where they would ladle a portion of the batter onto the pan, and quickly use the bottom of the same bowl to spread it in an outward moving circular motion. The result is an even round pancake with beautiful concentric lines in it. Looks easy but I think it takes a lot of practice!

• #13
• Comment by Farmer de Ville

I saw that great photo of Mt. Hood at the top of this posting and thought "Wow, that picture was taken less than an hour from my home.  FX is blogging about my backyard..."

Great post and it goes to show that in the most unlikely of places, you can find creative and unique individuals who are living life outside of what you might otherwise assume to be a fairly rigid box.

Keep up the good work...

Farmer
www.farmerdeville.com  

• #15
• Comment by Rick

I read Shu's post about Thosai Bawang with great interest. I decided to  try it. I added chopped onions, chopped jalapenos and chopped tomatoes to some dosa batter and fried them in ghee. Put them on the plate with some Mango Chutney. Delicious! Thanks Shu, for the good idea!

Cheers,
Rick...

• #16
• Comment by Helena

Woo! Lots of info both in this post and the responses. Thanks! :)

Never mind the fermenting, cooking rice without a rice cooker is the part that looks the hardest to me.

Rick sounds like a cook who plans ahead. I'd imagine running out of ghee or some other ingredient right in the middle of the river isn't going to be like running out of ingredients on land.

Regarding Indian pancakes, dosa (or dosai as it was first introduced to me) is one of those really interesting words. It is spelled slightly different in the different Indic languages. I was about half way into the post before I realized dosa and dosai are the same thing, and both were spelled correctly.

Also, for some reason when I think of large Indian pancakes, the first thing that comes to mind is actually another type of crêpe that is called paratha.

More specificaally, I like the variation that is round, thin multi-layered version that is made much much larger than this and folded into itself repeatedly to keep the dough size manageable.

As for masala, I think of masala as a type of sauce. First thing that springs to mind is the butter chicken masala. Mmmmm!

Oh the wonders of free association. Now I need to go find myself a snack. Preferably something Indian.

• #17
• Comment by Shu

Roti Paratha (or pratha in Singapore; canai in Malaysia) is very popular as breakfast and supper items. Very greasy though. There are so many variants of the basic paratha. With onions (bawang), palm oil margarine (planta), folded really thick with planta and sugar (bom), egg (telur), non-folded with sugar (tissue), with canned sardines, cheese, and even milo and bananas just to name a few.
I've been to mamaks with 30 over types of paratha on the menu!

If we're talking about large thin Indian crepes, check out this thing called Apam... Huge!

• #18
• Comment by Rick

Helena is so right about recipe planning on a towboat. I usually take with me: blender, food processor, a chef's knife, tortilla press, and a spice grinder. Also, a large assortment of spices for Indian and Mexican cooking. Six or eight different types of dried chilies....the list goes on. The company is very generous with out food allowance. We can get just about anything we need to cook tasty treats. But, when one runs low on something, it is not a matter of wandering up to the market to replace it!

Rick...

• #19
• Comment by Suzuki

I'm a die-hard dosa fan and I immediately tried out Rick's recipe. The result? Fabulous, crepe-thin dosas - Also made them soft and silky. I've tried all kinds of dosa batter combos and this is one of the best. Great, Rick!

• #20
• Comment by Cynthia

Excellent post! Can't wait to see what else you bring to us from Rick's kitchen.

• #22
• Comment by Gina in Redondo Beach

I can't believe how simple this looks. I love the large freshly-made masala dosas a local place makes. They serve them gratis with your meal. I hesitated to try to make them (what with fermentation and all) but now that I have the pictorial step-by-step, by golly, I think I can, I think I can! Thanks FX and thanks Rick. And ditto finding adventurous and knowledgeable and interesting folks on the web. It's soul-satisfying.

• #23
• Comment by Walter Aprile

I tried making the dosa, they came out tasty but quite different from the picture :-) at any rate I can observe that:

- the 10 minute blending time is really not an exaggeration: if the rice is not ground fine enough this will translate into a thicker pancake. Not bad, but very far from paper thin

- the potatoes, these bastard tubers, as usual do a fine job of absorbing and nullifying spices. I would advise going heavy on the garlic, ginger and the chile so that the filling doesn't end up as a stodgy mass

- a warm cable modem or router is the perfect place to rest a metal bowl with the fermenting mass. Insulating the top of the bowl with a tea towel or similar also helps.

• #25
• Comment by parshu.narayanan

Lovely photo essay, the most unusual setting for a nice, homey authentic dosa. It is part of my native cuisine: I'm a Tamil Indian. Light and nutritious breakfast or snack ( called "tiffin" in Indian English). The mixing with the dal actually lowers the otherwise ruinously high glycemic index of polished rice, and adds protein, and the bit of fenugreek helps kick-start fermentation. Modern Indian homes often use brown rice and non-stick pans. Sesame oil is a must for the right taste. Thanks again FX.

• #26
• Comment by parshu.narayanan

Largest dosa I had was a "family dosa" five feet long, near Mahbalipuram beach in Tamil Nadu.( Along with 4 others :-))

• #28
• Comment by Sushil

I like the way you make that dosa....if you have time the please come to my home and make me one coz I dont know how to make them.

• #29
• Comment by Abhijeet and Sonal

Thanks for the recepie of "Masala Dosa Potato Filling" . We enjoyed it with Roti and Rice :)

• #30
• Comment by Geoff Ball

When I was in the Canadian Navy, many different older sailors shared stories of food cooked in the Engine Room, especially spiced potatoes.

However this tradition stopped when they retired "old steamers" in the 90's.  

• #32
• Comment by moomin

Hi Rick & FX,
What a great site!I couldn't believe that Rick ,who has never eaten in south Indian restaurant could flip around such a wonderful Dosa.Thanx FX for reaching this amazing story to us.I love cooking but now i am more inspired!I am so envious of Rick of his exotic cooking location-engine room!
I know i am 7 months late to comment on this article but can't help posting it.I would also like to add one more tip from my experience.
Now a days i use Brown Basmati Rice to make dosas.It tastes delicious,looks same as regular dosa as a properly roasted Dosa looks little golden brown.No one can make out the differance & it helps to overcome the guilt feeling of eating lot of carbs (asuming the health benefits of brown rice)!Only when you grind the rice & dal, the batter,the batter looks brown!So what?only the end result that is delicious dosa matters.Sorry Vikram,i read your earlier post so let me tell you in advance, i haven't tried making Dosa with parboiled brown rice(i don't even know if it exists!) Though here in dallas we have various kinds of rice available due to huge south Indian population.

• #34
• Comment by ozu que vichyssoise

I put here my Spanish translation:
Rick me escribió «Trabajo como un piloto de remolcadores en el Columbia y el río Snake sistemas, en el Noroeste Pacífico de los EE.UU... Operamos desde Astoria, Oregon, cerca de la desembocadura del río Columbia, a Lewiston, Idaho, camino hasta el río Snake. Trabajamos dos semanas en una, dos semanas según lo previsto y al mismo tiempo en el barco que trabajo 6 horas, seis horas de descanso. Es un calendario muy exigente y bastante exigente trabajo, navegar a través de arrastres estrechos, cambiando los canales, a través de esclusa de navegación y puentes. En mi tiempo libre, además descansar mucho, me gusta cocinar. Tengo una gran afición por la comida india y siempre tengo un poco de masa de dosas listo para funcionar, así como diversas salsas picantes, dos de mis favoritos es un chutney de mango y chutney de berenjena. Yo inicialmente tuve dificultades para conseguir que mi masa para dosas subiera, pero encontré que cuando lo puse en la sala de máquinas, donde hay alrededor de 90 grados en el invierno, y muy por encima de 100 en el verano, la masa se prepara muy bien. Por lo general las como de aperitivos, con chutneys de mango, de berenjena o chutneys de cebolla. A veces hago Masala Dosa, envolviendo el dosa en torno a una mezcla de patatas picantes. »
Hoy nos muestra cómo él hace sus dosas de la sala de máquinas. Las Dosas son gigantes y delgadas tortitas como el papel de el sur de la India. Están hechas de una mezcla de arroz fermentado y lentejas. Yo paso por ser un cocinero valiente, pero nunca me atrevido a hacer frente a este receta india tan difícil. Pero Rick la hace todos los días en su barco - vamos a ver cómo:

La masa básica de Dosas se hace con 2 partes de arroz Basmati por 1 parte de urad dal.
Remojar el arroz y las dal de cuatro a seis horas. Escurra y lave bien.
Poner el arroz en la licuadora con un poco de líquido y mezclarlo durante 10 min. más o menos. Usted quiere que se integre con facilidad, pero no que sea demasiado fina. Cuando termine, hacer lo mismo con las lentejas.

Junte el arroz y las dal en un bol y dejar fermentar durante la noche. La parte difícil para nosotros en los climas fríos es que requiere calor para que después se expanda correctamente. Usted puede ponerlo en un horno en la posición más baja durante la noche, o hacer como yo, y ponerlo en la sala de máquinas!

Yo inicialmente tuvo dificultades para conseguir que mi masa de dosas subiera, pero encontré que cuando lo puse en la sala de máquinas, donde hay alrededor de 90 grados en el invierno, y muy por encima de 100 en el verano, la masa se cocina bien. Esos son los motores diesel EMD, clasificación según el grado a 1500 caballos de fuerza.

Masala Dosa para el relleno de la Dosa

3 papatas grandes
2 cebollas grandes
1 cucharadas de semillas de mostaza
1 cucharadas de semillas de cilantro
1 cucharadita de cúrcuma
1 cucharada de pasta de jengibre
1 cucharada de pasta de ajo
6 chiles
1 puñado de hojas de curry
Ghee
Garam Masala
Cilantro para adornar

Cortar la cebolla y hacer puré las patatas
Quite las semillas y corte los chiles.

Caliente el ghee en la sartén. Añada las semillas de mostaza y de cilantro al ghee caliente, fría durante 30 segundos. Añada el jengibre y la pasta de ajo y fríalo durante 30 segundos Agregue la cebolla en rodajas, se fríen hasta que estén transparentes
Agregue los chiles picados, fríalos un poco

Añada el puré de patatas.

Añada las hojas de curry. Cocine y revuelva hasta que esté bien mezclado todo.

El relleno está listo.

El barco de Rick viene equipado con una plancha gigante de hotel - Me gustaría tener esto en casa! La idea de cocinar dosas aquí, el más grande de los panqueques en la tierra, deben salir con facilidad ...
Calentar la plancha. Añada una cucharadita más o menos de ghee sobre la plancha y espolvorear garam masala sobre la plancha caliente.
Extender la mezcla lo más fina posible. Un dispositivo especial de madera y una masa liquida le ayudará a conseguir dosas aún más delgadas - si se cuentan con suficientes grandes placas para atenderlos.
Rick explica que el truco está en echar media taza o menos en la plancha, y con la parte plana de la cuchara extender la masa en un patrón circular, lo más fina posible.

Rick ayuda a cocinarse la crêpe por ambos lados, cubriendola con una tapa de la olla.

Extienda el relleno en una mitad de la dosa.

Doble la Dosa sobre el relleno y continúe cocinando hasta que se doren por ambos lados, adornar con yogurt y cilantro y servir!
Sofisticada, comida casera auténtica en medio de la noche y en medio del río Snake. ¿No es la vida esto?
Otro día mostraré más sobre la vida cotidiana en el barco y lo que come la tripulación cuando Rick no está cocinando.

• #35
• Comment by Sylvia

Great recipe. I am looking forward to trying it.
Thank you

• #36
• Comment by dmmaseoseoseo

Found this blog on StumbleUpon, and I just wanted to say that I appreciated the info!

• Comment by fx, 1

Glad you liked it

• #38
• Comment by Rians

Anyone tried a morsye mylari dosay? It's a very soft vareity (I believe they add extra "avalakki/poha") and it melts in the mouth. I haven't seen this vareity served anywhere else in India (or outside for that matter).