Name: Masala Dosa (Fermented Rice Crepe with Potato)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 300 g white rice; 100 g urad dal; 1 tsp fenugreek seeds; 400 ml water; 1.5 tsp salt; 500 g potatoes; 2 pcs onions; 2 tbsp neutral oil; 1 tsp mustard seeds; 1 tbsp chana dal; 12 leaves curry leaves; 2 pcs green chillies; 1 tbsp ginger; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp salt; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 1 handful coriander leaves; 4 tbsp ghee; 0.5 pc onion; 100 g coconut flesh; 1 pc green chilli; 1 tsp ginger; 0.5 tsp salt; 60 ml water

Ingredients

4servings

Batter (the day before)
white rice · ordinary short or medium grain; idli rice or parboiled rice is better still300 g
urad dal · skinned black gram. Without it there is neither fermentation nor crispness100 g
fenugreek seeds · soaked with the rice; it starts the fermentation and gives the colour1 tsp
water · added gradually while grinding; the batter should be a touch thinner than pancake batter400 ml
salt · stirred in after fermentation, not before1.5 tsp
Potato masala
potatoes · boiled and coarsely crushed500 g
onions · thinly sliced2 pcs
neutral oil2 tbsp
mustard seeds · add the rest once they start popping1 tsp
chana dal · optional; it gives something to bite1 tbsp
curry leaves · leave them out rather than substituting; nothing else smells like this12 leaves
green chillies · slit lengthways2 pcs
ginger · minced1 tbsp
ground turmeric0.5 tsp
salt1 tsp
lemon juice · off the heat1 tbsp
coriander leaves1 handful
For cooking
ghee · butter works, but ghee takes the higher heat4 tbsp
onion · to wipe the pan: dip the cut face in oil0.5 pc
Coconut chutney (to serve)
coconut flesh · frozen grated coconut is fine100 g
green chilli1 pc
ginger1 tsp
salt0.5 tsp
water · adjusted as you blend60 ml

Steps

Soak the rice with the fenugreek in one bowl and the urad dal in another, 5-6 hours each. The reason they are separate is in the next step.
Grind the urad dal first, adding water a little at a time, until it is white and risen — a drop of it should float rather than sink in a glass of water. The mucilage in urad dal traps air at this stage, and that trapped air is where the fermentation starts. Ground together with the rice, the structure never forms.
⏲ 10 min
Grind the rice, but not completely smooth. A slight semolina-like grit under your fingers is what gives the cooked dosa its crisp surface.
⏲ 10 min
Combine both in a large bowl and fold them together with your hand, lifting rather than stirring; beating with a spatula knocks out the air you just built into the dal. Fill the bowl only two thirds — it needs room to rise.
⏲ 5 min
Cover and leave at 28-32C for 8-12 hours. It is ready when it has risen by half, the surface is bubbled, and it smells sour like yoghurt. In a cold kitchen, use the oven light or stand the bowl over warm water. Nothing later makes up for stopping short here.
Stir the salt into the fermented batter. It should ribbon off the ladle in an unbroken stream; loosen with a little water if not. Salted from the start, fermentation slows noticeably in a cool room.
⏲ 2 min
Make the masala. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds; once they pop, add the chana dal, curry leaves, chilli and ginger and fry a minute.
⏲ 3 min
Add the onions and cook 5-6 minutes until translucent, then the turmeric for 30 seconds. There is no need to brown them — this filling goes for aroma rather than sweetness.
⏲ 7 min
Crush the boiled potatoes coarsely by hand into the pan, add the salt and 3 tbsp water, and stir 3 minutes. Off the heat, add the lemon juice and coriander. Keep the lumps.
⏲ 4 min
Blend all the chutney ingredients to about the consistency of yoghurt.
⏲ 3 min
Heat a cast-iron or dosa pan until a flicked drop of water skitters and dances. Wipe the whole surface with the cut face of the half onion dipped in oil. Then drop the heat briefly, or pass a damp cloth over the pan, to cool it slightly.
⏲ 5 min
Pour a ladleful into the centre and use the base of the ladle to spread it thin in a spiral from the centre outwards, within 2-3 seconds. On a pan that is too hot the batter sets where it lands and no spiral is possible — which is why you cooled it.
⏲ 1 min
Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee round the edge and over the surface, and cook 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Do not flip it. It is done when brown spots show underneath and the edges lift on their own.
⏲ 3 min
Spoon the masala over one half and fold, or roll it whole. Serve immediately with sambar and coconut chutney — stacked, they steam each other soft within three minutes.
⏲ 2 min

Tips & Variations

Variations

Rava dosa. No fermentation: semolina, rice flour and yoghurt mixed and cooked at

once. Instead of spreading it you pour it in a scatter, which gives a lacy, holed crepe. A different dish from the fermented one, but the answer when you want dosa tonight.

Mysore masala dosa. A red chutney of garlic and dried chilli is smeared over the

surface as it cooks, with the potato on top of that. The right call if you like heat.

Onion uttapam. Pour the same batter thick, scatter onion, tomato and chilli over

it and cook both sides. It is the best use for leftover batter, or for batter that has fermented past pleasantly sour.

Paper roast is the same batter spread extremely thin and cooked until fully dry,

stood on the plate as a cone taller than the plate is wide. No filling.

The potato masala travels: it is the same spice sequence as

aloo gobi, and it is good rolled into naan.

Dal stands in for sambar. South India would serve sambar, but a pot of

simmered lentils occupies the same place at the table.

Tips

The fermentation is the recipe. Over 8-12 hours lactobacilli produce acid, and that

acid loosens the structure of the rice starch so water leaves fast on the pan — which is the crispness. Under-fermented batter tastes floury and stays leathery however thin you spread it (fermentation basics).

Grind the urad dal separately, and first. Its mucilage holds air as a foam, and the

fermenting organisms grow inside that air. Ground with the rice, the gritty rice particles keep bursting the foam. This one is physics rather than tradition.