How to make masala dosa at home: a fermented rice and urad dal batter, a turmeric potato filling with curry leaves, and the trick to a thin, crisp crêpe.
A good masala dosa is a crisp, lacy crêpe of fermented rice and lentils, wrapped around a soft yellow potato filling. It is one of South India’s great breakfasts and, these days, one of its most famous exports.
It takes planning more than skill: the batter needs 13–17 hours to soak and ferment. After that, each dosa takes about two minutes.
Why the batter ferments
Fermentation gives dosa its gentle sourness, its lightness and its golden colour. Lactic acid bacteria and wild yeasts on the rice and dal feed on their natural sugars and produce gas, so the batter rises and turns airy. Fenugreek seeds help the batter ferment and brown.
Tips for a thin, crisp dosa
- The first one is a test. If the batter sticks, the pan is too cold or not seasoned enough. If it sets before you can spread it, the pan is too hot; sprinkle it with water and wipe.
- Thin the batter only as you cook. Keep the main batch thick and loosen a little at a time.
- Spread quickly and lightly. Press too hard and you will scrape tracks in the batter.
Leftover batter
Fermented batter keeps for three or four days in the fridge and gets more sour each day. Thicker batter makes uttapam, a soft, pancake-like round topped with onion and chilli.
Serve with
Coconut chutney and a bowl of sambar. Our menu has more than a dozen dosas, from plain and ghee to Mysore masala, podi karam and the 70mm.
Recipe
Masala dosa from scratch
Ingredients
Batter (start a day ahead)
- 2 cups (400 g) idli rice or parboiled rice
- ½ cup (100 g) whole skinned urad dal
- ½ tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
- 1 tsp salt
- Water for soaking and grinding
Potato masala
- 1½ lb (700 g) potatoes, boiled, peeled and roughly crushed
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds and 1 tsp chana dal
- 15 curry leaves
- 2 green chillies, slit
- 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup water
- Chopped coriander and a squeeze of lemon
To cook
- Oil for the pan (or ghee, if you don't need it vegan)
Method
- Soak. Rinse the rice and soak it for 5 hours. Separately rinse the urad dal and fenugreek and soak them for 5 hours.
- Grind. Grind the urad dal and fenugreek with a little cold water until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a wet grinder or strong blender. Grind the rice to a slightly gritty paste. Combine in a large bowl with the salt; the batter should coat a spoon thickly.
- Ferment. Cover loosely and leave somewhere warm for 8–12 hours, until the batter has risen and smells pleasantly sour. In an Arizona summer this can take as little as 6 hours; in winter, an oven with only the light on helps.
- Make the masala. Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and chana dal, and let the seeds pop. Add the curry leaves, chillies and ginger, then the onions; cook until soft but not brown. Stir in the turmeric, salt, water and potatoes and cook for 3 minutes until thick. Finish with coriander and lemon.
- Spread. Stir the batter and thin it with water until it pours like heavy cream. Heat a cast-iron or non-stick pan over medium-high heat, wipe it with a little oil, then pour a ladle of batter into the centre and spread it outwards in a spiral with the back of the ladle.
- Crisp and fill. Drizzle oil around the edge and cook until the underside is golden and the edges lift, about 2 minutes. Spoon potato masala down the middle, fold, and serve at once.
Home-style recipe from the Biryani Pot Indian Bar & Grill Journal. It is not our restaurant's own recipe; for that, visit us.