Onion Uthappa
Tarla Dalal describes rightly when she says that Uthappa should be called as Indian pizza. With so many varieties of toppings, it tops every menu in hotels that serve south Indian food. The vegetables for topping and the lentils for dosa with a side of sambar and chutney makes a complete meal in itself and is a super healthy food.
What you’ll need :
1 cup udad dal
2 cups dosa rice
Onions (for onion uttapam), carrots,finely chopped bell pepper (for vegetable uttapam) or some potato bhaji (for masala uttapam)
2-3 green chillies
Coriander leaves (optional)
A pinch of cooking soda
Salt as per taste.
How to :
Soak udad dal and rice together in water for at least 3 hours. If you want to do Uthappa the next morning, its better to soak the previous morning. It’s okay to soak the lentils for 7-8 hours.
Grind the mixture to a very fine consistency using about 1 cup water. Allow the batter to ferment overnight. During summers it’s 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 & a pinch of soda.
Chop the onions lengthwise or into squares (as you desire). Finely chop the coriander leaves, green chillies and mix together.
Take a flat nonstick (or a flat iron) dosa pan and heat it on a medium flame. Put a ladle full of batter on the pan and spread it. Immediately spread the chopped onions on the dosa and press lightly into the batter with the spatula. Add oil on the edges and top of the dosa. Cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook until the base becomes crisp. Flip the dosa, add a few drops of oil on the edges, press the dosa slightly with spatula. That way veggies don’t come out of the dosa and they are cooked evenly. Cook the dosa on slow flame and serve immediately.
