Dosa/ Rice pancake/eggless crepe

A plain, crispy ghee dosa is one of the easiest & one of the most nutritious dishes that you can make at home. It just requires some planning. Naturally, if you are a vegan, you can omit the ghee and just use some oil for moisture. Here's what you need to do to make the batter-

Ingredients for batter
1 glass Rice (for flavour use Basmati/Aambe Mohar/ Sona Masuri)
1/2 glass Urad Daal  (split and dehusked black gram. Pick the one without the black shell) - available at an Indian/ Asian store
8 Fenugreek/methi seeds - available at the Indian store (this helps with fermentation)
Salt
Water for soaking and then grinding (if required)


Method to make batter

Wash the rice a couple of times and then soak it in water. Make sure that the water is at least an inch above the rice level.

Wash the urad daal and then soak it in water. Add the methi seeds and allow them to soak with the daal.

You have to soak the daal and rice separately.

After 8 hours, grind the urad daal well. Pour it in a big glass bowl.

Grind the rice well. Add this batter to the urad daal batter. Mix gently. Cover it with a dish/cover without sealing it completely and allow it to ferment overnight. If you live in a cold place, keep the bowl in a warm place.

The next morning, check the batter. It should have a faint sour smell and some bubbles on the surface. Add some water if it's too thick. The consistency should be like a sauce. Not too thin, not too thick.

Mix the batter with a wooden spoon and then add some salt to it. I add close to a tablespoon.
With this batter you can make dosas (recipe below) or uthapas ( link here)
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How to make dosa


Heat a non stick pan, coat it with some ghee or oil (if vegan) and allow it to heat up.

Once it's hot, reduce the flame/ heat.

With a ladle, pour half a ladle of batter in the centre of the pan and spread it with the rounded bottom of the ladle. Do not press it in the batter, just gently move it in circles so that the batter spreads. Don't worry if you don't get a perfect round. It comes with practice and by the time you take out 5 dosas, you will be more confident.

The batter will start setting almost immediately. Now, add a drop or two of ghee/ drop of oil (if vegan) on top and allow it to spread and get absorbed.

After 5 minutes, using a spatula, gently flip the dosa to the other side.

Let it cook for another 7 to 8 minutes. When it's nice and crispy, take it out and serve.

Tastes great with a coconut chutney/sambar/tomato ketchup/coriander-mint chutney/garlic-coconut chutney. Let me know if you need recipes for chutney so I can write them down.
Please refrigerate any leftover batter and use within 3 days.
Thank you and  enjoy!