Dosa Recipe (South Indian Pancakes)

Delightfully crispy on the outside and chewy in the center, nothing beats a dosa for the best of South Indian street food!  Made from rice and lentils, dosas are naturally gluten free and vegan and pair deliciously with both savory and sweet fillings.  I’m super excited to share this thoroughly traditional dosa recipe with you because they are absolutely deeelicious!

What is a Dosa? 

A dosa is a crepe or thin pancake made from a fermented batter consisting of lentils and rice.  It originated in South India where it has been enjoyed for many centuries.  It has since become popular all over the Indian subcontinent and its popularity has been picking up in many other parts of the world where it can be found sold from carts as a street food as well as in Indian restaurants.

Made from lentils and rice, dosas are naturally gluten free and vegan.

Dosas have a fabulous texture.  Straight off the griddle they’re delightfully crispy on the outside and and spongy-chewy in the center.  Their flavor is completely unlike crepes, blini or lefse.  The first time we tried them our daughter excitedly remarked that the crispy edges tasted like the French fries.  Skeptical, I took a bite and was surprised that she was actually right!  I don’t know how it’s possible given the ingredients, but they strangely do taste like the very best fries.

Dosas are slightly crispy with a savory-tangy flavor and are delicious enjoyed with a variety of chutneys and curries.  While traditionally served with savory sides and fillings, dosas are also served with sweet fillings.

How to Make Dosa

The process of making dosas involves soaking and grinding rice and lentils in water (commonly fenugreek is also added for flavor) and letting the mixture ferment for up to 24 hours. Fermenting the batter improves the flavor, the texture, creates those characteristic holes in the dosa, and also increases the vitamin C and B content.  The batter needs a day to ferment but then are very quick to make and keep for several days.  After the initial batter is fermented, more water is added to get it to the right consistency.  The batter is then poured onto a hot griddle (traditionally a tawa or tava) and spread out using a circular motion, cooked until lightly browned, then flipped over and cooked on the other side.

Dosas are served either folded or rolled up.

How to Serve Dosa

Dosas are traditionally served hot with chutney, with sambar, or stuffed with a variety of vegetarian fillings.  Though it is traditionally a vegetarian dish, you can fill your dosa with your choice fo meats, poultry or seafood.  Most recently I had a ton of greens in my garden that needed to be harvested and I sauteed those along with some chicken to make a curry and used that as a filling in my dosas.  My family devoured them and asked for seconds.

Dosas are usually served with savory sides and fillings but can also be served with sweet ones.

Here are a few additional popular ways to serve dosa:

• Plain Dosa: Dosas are usually folded into a triangular or cylindrical shape and served as is.  They are commonly enjoyed dipped in chutney.
• Masala Dosa: This is a spicy potato mixture that is one of the most popular fillings for dosas.  The potato filling is spread on one side of the dosa and fold it over to enclose the filling and it is then served with sambar, chutney, or other condiments.
• Ghee Roast Dosa: Ghee roast dosa is a crispy and flavorful variation where the dosa is cooked in ghee to enhance its taste.
• Onion Dosa: Onion dosa is made by sprinkling finely chopped onions on the dosa batter as it cooks. In this way the onions caramelize and add a sweet and savory flavor to the dosa.
• Paneer Dosa: This variation features a filling made with a traditional Indian cheese known as paneer. The paneer is seasoned and then spread on the dosas before folding them and serving them with sambar, chutney, and other condiments.

Dosas can be paired with a variety of chutneys like tomato, mint, coriander chutney, mango chutney, as well as pickled vegetables.  Dosas are typically enjoyed as a breakfast or light meal, but they can also be served as an appetizer or snack.

Experiment with different fillings, condiments, and accompaniments to find your preferred way of serving dosas. The versatility of dosas allows for endless variations and combinations to suit individual tastes.

Dosa Recipe

Let’s get started!

Wash and rinse the rice and daal. Place the rinsed rice, daal and fenugreek seeds in a large bowl and cover several inches with non-chlorinated water. Cover and soak overnight.

Drain but do not discard the soaking water.

Place the drained rice, daal and fenugreek in a high speed blender. Add 1 cup of the reserved soaking water. Blend until smooth with a little graininess remaining.

Pour the mixture into a large non-reactive bowl (eg, glass, stainless steel), very loosely cover with plastic wrap and place the bowl in a warm place for 24 hours, until the batter is puffier and a little bubbly when stirred. (Optional: You can stir in a teaspoon of sugar to help aid in fermenting.)

Stir in the salt along with enough water to create the consistency of thin pancake batter.

You can test the readiness of the batter as follows: Fill a glass with water and drop a little batter into – if it floats it’s ready.

Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat (traditionally a tawa or tava is used. I use and love my professional crepe maker for these dosas and so many other things.  As much as I love making crepes and a large variety of griddle flatbreads I finally splurged for a professional crepe maker.  It isn’t cheap but I’m glad I made the investment because this Waring Commercial Crepe Maker is fabulous.  It weighs 45 pounds and has a cast iron top.  The cast iron top was extremely important to me because all the other crepe makers I looked at had non-stick coating (i.e. some kind of Teflon coating) and I wanted the real deal:  Cast iron that I had to season myself.  Seasoning it was a cinch and it’s been perfectly non-stick after that first seasoning job.  I LOVE the huge work surface, it cooks like a dream, and I cook everything on it that requires a griddle.  Do you have to go for a professional model?  No.  You can find many far cheaper crepe makers online that will do that job.  I used this crepe maker for a couple of years before upgrading to my current one and it did a great job.)

Flick some water onto the hot surface and if the beads of water sizzle and evaporate the cooking surface is ready.

Melt a little ghee on the cooking surface or spray with a little cooking oil. Pour a ladle-full of batter onto the cooking surface.

Immediately use the round bottom of the ladle to move in a spiral patter from the center of the batter outward to form a crepe.

You will see the characteristic holes form in the dosa.

Wait a few seconds and then very lightly drizzle a little olive oil over the crepe. 

Once the bottom is lightly browned flip the dosa over and continue to cook until lightly browned.

Transfer to a plate in a warm oven and repeat with the remaining dosa batter.

Serve by itself with sambar, chutney or condiments of your choice or add any fillings of your choice (see above “How to Serve Dosa” for ideas).

Enjoy!

Interested in more fermented flatbreads?  Try our Ethiopian Injera!

For more delicious Indian recipes be sure to try our:

• Chicken Tikka Masala
• Egg Curry
• Butter Chicken
• Tandoor Chicken
• Eggplant Curry
• Chicken Xacuti
• Chickpea Curry
• Balti Chicken
• Saag Gosht
• Masoor Dal
• Indian Broccoli with Paneer
• Mango Chutney
• Mango Lassi

Originally published on The Daring Gourmet December 3, 2021