Masala Dosa
Masala Dosa is a dish that has grown to be quite the staple in the Bhakta house. It isn’t a dish that I grew up with to be honest. My mom found a recipe through the CookingShooking channel and it really flipped our script! The potato and onion masala is her own creation and its really diverse with a lot of textural aspects from the cashews and toasted urad dal.
We have bumped up this recipe a gazillion times from trying to make our own “gunpowder” which is a spice blend to sprinkle in the dosa. We have made Szechuan dosa with a chili chutney, spring roll dosas with a cabbage slaw mixture, and even a cheese dosa! Those recipes will all come in due time but for now we are sticking with the classic: Masala Dosa.
The reason a lot of people might be nervous to try this dish is because it is fermented overnight. Fermentation isn’t too difficult, it might be, at most, a little unpredictable. A good 12-18 hour fermentation will provide a slightly tangy taste to the dosa and it will give it that classic bubbly consistency.
Dosa Batter
To prepare the batter, rinse until the water runs clear, you want to wash away all of the excess starch. This will take a couple washes. Soak in about 6 cups of water. Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and cover.
Cover and let it sit for 4-6 hours. Drain the mixture but reserve almost 2 cups of the soaking liquid. Blend with 1 cup of the soaking liquid. Stream in additional liquid if you need to, but be careful because you don’t want to get it too soupy. It should be the consistency of pancake batter. Pour out the batter into a bowl and mix in 1 tsp of salt. cover and let it sit overnight for 12-18 hours. Preferably in a warm place like your oven turned off with the light on.
Masala
For the Masala portion, roast the urad dal and halved cashews until lightly toasted. Add in all of the remaining ingredients and cook down until potatoes are soft and you can break it in half or mash easily with the edge of a spoon.
In order to make the dosas, mix in 2 tsp of Eno or fruit salt and mix into the batter thoroughly. Splatter some water (roughly 1 Tbsp.) in a hot pan on medium-high heat. Take a paper towel and wipe the surface of the pan. Take roughly 1/2 cup of dosa batter, and place in a large nonstick frying pan, starting from the center gently circle outwards to the edges.
Masala Dosa
Ingredients
Dosa Batter
- 2 cups long grain rice
- 1/3 cup chana dal
- 1/2 urad dal
- 1 tsp methi seeds
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp Eno
Masala
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 tbsp urad dal
- 1/3 cup raw cashews halved
- 10 curry leaves
- 2 onions diced
- 4 medium russet potatoes peeled, boiled and mashed
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp green chili paste
- 1 tsp avej
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1.5 tsp salt
Instructions
- To prepare the batter, rinse pulses until the water runs clear, you want to wash away all of the excess starch. This will take a couple washes. Soak in about 6 cups of water. Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and cover.
- Cover and let it sit for 4-6 hours. Drain the mixture but reserve almost 2 cups of the soaking liquid. Blend with 1 cup of the soaking liquid.
- Pour out the batter into a bowl and mix in 1 tsp of salt. cover and let it sit overnight for 12-18 hours. Preferably in a warm place like your oven turned off with the light on.
- For the Masala portion, roast the urad dal and halved cashews until lightly toasted. Add in all of the remaining ingredients and cook down until potatoes are soft and you can break it in half or mash easily with the edge of a spoon.
- In order to make the dosas, mix in 2 tsp of Eno or fruit salt and mix into the batter thoroughly. Splatter some water (roughly 1 Tbsp.) in a hot pan on medium-high heat. Take a paper towel and wipe the surface of the pan. Take roughly 1/2 cup of dosa batter, and place in a large nonstick frying pan, starting from the center gently circle outwards to the edges.
