Breakfast, the first and most important meal of the day is to be eaten like a King. This is being said by most of the dietician and nutritionists. Dosa also called as pancakes or crepes is made from rice and black lentils (Urad dal). Dosa, is typical dish in South Indian cuisine traditionally served for breakfast. Dosa is rich in carbohydrates and protein. It is served with chutneys and sambar to make a complete balanced meal.
Dosa can also be called as Dosai, dhosha, dosay, dhosai, tosai, thosai or dvashi.
The ingredients required to prepare the Dosa batter are:
Rice – 1 cup
Urad Dal – ½ cup
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Channa Dal – 1 tsp (this is used to enhance the color of dosa)
Preparing the dosa batter is quite simple. Characteristically the rice, fenugreek and black lentil (urad dal) is soaked for 3 hours and then ground to a fine batter. This batter is left to ferment overnight. The rice could be uncooked or parboiled.
The batter is than ladled in small amounts onto a hot greased tava or tawa (griddle) and spread out into a circle and fried for a very short time with oil or ghee until golden brown. Alternatively it may be flipped to cook on the other side and then served. This would be a plain dosa.
Now a days dosa are eaten at any time as it a light food and nutritious too. Dosas can also be stuffed with vegetables, meats and sauce to create a quickly well balanced meal. Dosas are typically served with wet chutney (often coconut chutney), milagai podi ( a special dry chutney powder prepared with dry red chillies, dal and other spices) or sambar. This varied according to regional and personal preferences.
In few of the non-vegetarian households, dosa is served with chicken or mutton curry.
The most popularly known tiffin in every restaurant is the Masala Dosa. Initially Masala Dosa originated from the Udupi region of Karnataka. Masala Dosa is prepared by stuffing of a lightly cooked filling of potatoes, onions and spices or sabji (subji)
Dosas can be prepared in a wide variations like the:
Rava dosa – made with rava or semolina. This batter doesn’t require fermentation and is usually considered a fast snack/ tiffin.
Set dosa – a popular type of dosa. Where just the one side of the dosa is cooked and is served in a set of two. Hence the name.
Onion dosa : finely chopped and sautéed onions are spread on the dosa and served.
Uttapam : Is a thick pancake where most of the ingredients like the mixed vegetables spread or tomatoes, onions-chilli mix or choice of coconut spread are cooked right into the batter. Uttapam can also be called an Indian pizza or pancake often with sambar or chutney.
Kerala dosa – is very similar to set dosa cooked on one side and looks smaller than other dosas. It is soft and spongy like pancake.
Neer dosa - A dosa prepared only with rice. It is not fermented as in other dosa variations. This dosa originated in coastal Karnataka area mostly in Udupi & Mangalore areas. It can be served with coconut chutney or fish and chicken curry.
Egg dosa - a dosa spread with an omelette.
Open dosa - chutney powder is spread on the dosa while cooking. Before serving spiced & mashed potato is placed on top.
Roast Dosa - the dosa is spread thinly and fried until crisp.
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.
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 mans fare". This is a very healthy dosa.
Cabbage dosa - a dosa made out of cabbage. Paste is prepared with rice, red chillies, Asafoetida 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.
70 MM Dosa - Similar to Masala Dosa, but it is bigger in size, about 60 cm in diameter.
Paneer Chilli Dosa: The dosa is stuffed with sauteed cottage cheese (paneer) and capsicum (Bell pepper).
Davanagere Benne dose - similar to masala dosa but smaller in size. Served with liberal helpings of butter sprinkled on it. This is the famous dish of place Davanagere in Karnataka hence the name.
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.
Similar other dosas/ foods:
Pesarattu - a crepe made with batter from soaked whole moong dal (Green gram or Green beans) has a greenish hue, while yellow coloured Pesarattu made from dehusked moong dal, gives a fine golden yellow tint to it when roasted. Both these forms are famous in Andhra Pradesh, and are typically served with chutney made from ginger and tamarind. Pesarattu is unique to Andhra cuisine. This can be served either plain or stuffed with a spread of onion. Pesarattu stuffed with Upma popularly known as Upma pesarattu is favourite in coastal Andhra region especially East Godavari and West Godavari districts.
Adai - a dosa-like dish prepared from a combination of dals namely Urad, Channa & Moong dal. A very healthy and nutritious dish.
Appam or Aappam or oothaappam — a pancake prepared from a combination of patted rice (Avalakki), rice & yogurt. The primary differences between an appam/aappam and a dosa are that an aappam is thicker (up to 5 times as thick as a dosa), can (optionally) contain curd, dough differs in ratio of Rice and urud dhal and is more well-ground than dosa batter, the centre is thicker and the outer rim is very thin (whereas a dosa is more or less uniformly thick).
