Dosa shell:
1 1/2 cups rice
1/2 cup urad dal
salt to taste
Oil
Masala Filling:
2 large potatoes
1 medium onion (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon yellow split peas
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1-2 green chili
1 tablespoon oil
salt to taste
Preparation:
Dosa shell
Separately soak rice and urad dal at least 6 hour or overnight in water.
Grind to paste.
Mix together, add salt with water to make batter.
Leave in room temperature overnight.
Mix onion and chilies to the thin batter.
Heat pan or griddle with little ghee or oil.
Spread the mix on pan in circular motion to make thin Dosa.
Cook on both the sides, if desired.
Masala Filling (Spicy Filling):
Heat oil. Add mustard seed, peas, onions and spice.
Fry for about 5 minutes on medium heat or/until onions are turned into golden brown
Add potatoes and mix and cook some more Serve
Add filling inside Dosa and roll. Serve hot with Chutney.
Variations of Dosa
Though dosa typically refers to the version made with rice and lentils, many other versions of dosa exist and are popular in varying degrees. This is sometimes specific to a region in India. Other types of dosa include:
- Egg dosa - a dosa spread with an omelette.
- Chilli dosa - chilli powder is spread on the dosa.
- Open dosa - chutney powder is spread on the dosa while cooking. Before serving spiced & mashed potato is placed on top.
- Onion dosa - chopped and sautéd onions are spread on the dosa.
- Ghee (thuppa/neyyi) dosa - ghee is used instead of oil while frying the dosa.
- Butter dosa - butter is used instead of oil while frying dosa and a small amount on top of it while serving.
- Roast - the dosa is spread thinly and fried until crisp.
- Kerala Dosa - a different kind of traditional dosa, that is small, thick, soft and spongy.More like a pancake and somewhat similar to appam, with the difference that it is flat and that dal is used in the batter.
- Family roast - a long dosa which can be spread over 2 or 3 feet.
- Paper dosa - a long and very thin delicate dosa which can be spread over 2 feet.
- Green dosa - a dosa stuffed with fresh vegetables and mint chutney.
- Chow-chow dosa - a dosa stuffed with (Indian flavored) Chinese noodles.
- Cheese dosa - a dosa stuffed with cheese.
- Masala dosa - a dosa stuffed with spiced potatoes (famous in South India).
- Methi dosa - a dosa flavoured with fenugreek.
Rava dosa.
- Rava dosa - made with rava or semolina, which doesn't need fermentation and is usually considered a fast snack/tiffin.
- Wheat dosa - made with wheat flour, and served with coconut chutney, mysore masala dosa
- Vella dosa - a sweet dosa made of jaggery with ghee/neyyi.
- Ragi Dosa - made of ragi or millet flour, usually considered "a poor man's fare".
- Muttai dosa - eggs are added to the regular batter; the word muttai in Tamil means "egg".
- Oothappam - Thick round dosa in Tamilnadu.
- Set dose - a popular type of dosa in Karnataka, which is cooked only on one side and is served in a set of two to three, hence the name.
- Benne dose - similar to masala or set dosa but smaller in size. Served with liberal helpings of butter sprinkled on it. Said to have originated in the Davanagere district of the state of Karnataka
- Cabbage dosa - a dosa made out of cabbage. Paste is prepared with rice, red chillies, Asfotedia and Turmeric. Once the batter is ready, cabbage cut into small pieces is added to the paste and left for about 30 mins. Once this is done, the batter is poured and the dosa is made crisp.
- Neer dosa - a dosa prepared from rice unique to Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts.
- 70 MM Dosa - similar to Masala Dosa, but it is bigger in size, about 60 cm in diameter.
- American chopsuey dosa - Dosa served with a filling of fried noodles and tomato ketchup.
- Uppu puli Dosa - It is dosa made by adding Uppu (salt) and Puli (Tamrind) with dosa batter. It is an variety of dosa which are part of Udupi cuisine.
Masala dosa
Masala dosa showing potato masala filling
The ubiquitous Indian dish, masala dosa has its origins in Udupi, Karnataka.A masala dosa is made by stuffing a dosa with a lightly cooked filling of potatoes, fried onions and spices. It wraps the dosa around an onion and potato curry or sabji.
Before it was invented, plain dosa was served with potato curry (
batata bhaji) without onions in a separate cup. During a shortage of potatoes, method was created where potato was mashed and sauteed with onions together with other spices. This was then placed inside the dosa instead of a separate cup. This was done to hide the onions which are not eaten by orthodox Hindus and Jains. People enjoyed this new dosa. It came to be known as "
Masala Dosa", from the sautéeing of spices (masala) during the preparation of the
bhaji.
Due to the huge popularity of masala dosa, many variants exist for differing tastes. The following are some of the variants:
· Mysore masala dosa: Masala dosa with chutney spread inside along with bhaji.
· Vegetable masala dosa: Instead of potatoes, peas and other vegetables are mashed to make bhaji.
· Rava masala dosa: Rava (semolina), especially the Bombay Rava, is used to instead of rice.
· Chinese Masala dosa: Noodles and other Chinese ingredients like schezwan sauce are added.
· Paneer Chilli Dosa: The dosa is stuffed with sauteed cottage cheese (paneer) and capsicum (Bell pepper).
· Palak Masala Dosa: The dosa is coated with a thin layer of puréed spinach, and filled with the traditional potato/onion mixture.
· Masala dosa with one or two fried eggs served on top of it (a possible variation of the egg hopper).
One variant of the masala dosa, the Mysore masala dosa, is served with both coconut and onion chutneys. In Bangalore, the masala dosa is usually served with a red chutney applied to its inside surface. This peculiarity lends itself to a unique taste. The red chutney usually has generous amounts of garlic (traditionally garlic is not used in masala dosa especially in the Brahmin community), and adds a nice flavor to the dosa when it is fried with ghee. In recent times this has become popular in other parts of Karnataka.
Davanagere benne masala dosa is another variant of the masala dosa from Karnataka. It is named after Davanagere in Karnataka. It is prepared by adding liberal doses of butter (
benne) and also a potato filling (palya) that is unique. It is devoid mostly of any extra ingredients and is just mashed potato. The
Rava dosa or
Rave dosay is another variant which is made from semolina.
Ragi dosa and
Ade or
Aday dosa are other variants that are native to Karnataka.
Dosa is made in every part of South India and the Dosas prepared in North India are generally of the Karnataka type.
