Sada Dosa
A properly made crisp South Indian dosa is wonderfully delicious, and fairly simple to make at home. The only drawback is that the batter must be fermented overnight for the correct texture and taste. There is no shortcut to the fermenting process, so you have to start doing things in advance if you want to make a home made batter. However, once the batter is ready, it can be refrigerated and kept for 2-3 days.
What you'll need :
Rice - 2 cup Udad dal - 1 cup Chana dal (bengal gram) - 1/4 cup Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp Cooked rice or beaten rice(poha)- 1/2 cup Salt as per taste
How to :
Soak rice, dal and fenugreek seeds together for atleast 3 hours after washing it thoroughly. Grind the mixture along with cooked or beaten rice (if using beaten rice, soak it for 2-3 minutes just before you grind. Squeeze out the water and add to the mixture) to a very fine consistency. Allow the batter to ferment overnight. During summers it is enough to let the batter rest for 5-6 hours in the night to allow fermentation to take place. During winters, I usually make the batter early morning and keep it on a window sill where there is direct sunlight for the whole day. The key to fermentation is warmth and fermentation during winters may be hard. Keep it close to the cooking stove, or in the oven with the light on or the traditional way, under direct sunlight :) When you are ready to make the dosa, mix the batter well and add salt as per taste
Take a flat nonstick (or a flat iron) dosa pan and heat it on a medium flame. Put a laddle full of batter on the pan and spread it. Add oil on the edges of the dosa. Cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook until the base becomes crisp and brown. Flip the dosa, add a few drops of oil on the edges and let it cook for 10 seconds. Serve immediately.
PS : You will never get a brown, caramel base unless you add beaten rice (poha) . It also makes the top fluffy with a bit of sweet taste. But do not add too much, as the fermentation process becomes faster and you may not be able to use the batter the subsequent days.