The Art of Making Dosa :P

Upon the requests from my friends, especially from my graduating buddies, I am posting this recipe for Dosa. Thanks to my mother for the inspiration and recipe.

Disclaimer:

This algorithm will run only on a blender with a minimum processing power of 450 Watts. This recipe is released under GPL(General Public License). Hence the author of this post cannot be held responsible for any resulting burnt/crappy dosas!

It's one of the simplest food that one can make producing highest returns. An hour of work could get you going for a week!!! Of course, I override the assumption that you won't get fed up with it during the course of time. I would like to give two sets of ingredients. Based on the availability of items and your interest for food, you can tailor it between any of these two +/-inf . However the procedure remains the same for both.

Ingredients -inf: Ideal for those whom you have already impressed and feeling sorry for it(say your spouse)

Long grain rice - 4 Cup
Urad Dhal - 1 Cup
Meethi Seeds - 1 Table spoon
Salt - 2 Table spoon

Ingredients +inf: Ideal for those whom you want to impress and feel sorry later(say your boy/girl friend)

Long grain rice - 2 Cup
Idli Rice - 2 Cup
Urad Dhal - 1 Cup
Meethi Seeds - 1 Table spoon
Salt - 2 Table spoon 

The above quantities will yield around 25 dosas with a diameter of 15.098 cm with an error tolerance of 100% ;)

Note: It's is very important that you don't buy microwavable long grain rice. Idli rice is a special variant of boiled rice. You can get it from Indian stores. In case if you are unable to find it then you can buy the ordinary boiled rice from Indian stores. Else just stick with first set of ingredients. Don't try the parboiled rice available in US.

Procedure: 

Soak the urad dhal with meethi seeds for an hour. Also soak the rice mixture separately for an hour. Use the water with room temperature for soaking. Start blending the urad dhal first. Also add all the salt to the first run. Empty the mixture in to a big container as it gets done. Then start blending the rice and add it to the same container. Upon completion mix these very very ... very(I can't say enough :P) well. Set the container aside for fermentation. If it's summer then it takes about 8 hrs and in winter it takes just about a season :P

In winter you place the container(container should not be plastic) in the oven and set the temperature to 200 F for 15 mins. Then switch the oven off(else you will get one big idli) and leave the container inside for 6 - 8 hrs. In case if the level of the dough has not increased in level and does not have some froth above, then the dough is yet to be fermented. So you can  put it back in the oven again repeating the temperature settings. But  keep checking the dough every 1-2 hrs time interval for fermentation. The dough might have bad odor after fermentation. Don't throw it away. That's how it should be. After fermentation remove the dough from the oven and mix the dough well. Add water as per the required rolling consistency.

Find a ladle with almost a hemispherical shaped scoop. Set a round frying pan on medium heat. On warming the pan take the required amount of dough using the ladle and drop it at the center of the pan. Then start spreading the dough by rolling the ladle over it. You can then spread one or two tea spoons of ghee(clarified butter)/oil as per your taste. Then wait until it becomes medium brown. Then you can remove it and serve.
 

A general tip for blending: Add the quantities in small amounts and add water as required. You have to blend until you see a smooth texture. The quantity of water is critical, as if it's more then it won't ferment well and if it's less then it can burn the blender. You can definitely take this as my hypothesis, because at some point of time I was too good at burning blenders ;)

Tips for foodies: While rolling the dough on the pan, roll the ladle only in one direction. Don't change in the direction in between. Generally most people roll the ladle flat on the pan. But to get a thin paper roast, roll the ladle with 35 - 50 degrees inclination depending on the required thickness . Also remember to turn the dosa around when it gets done and cook for some more time to get it roasted.

Hope to hear your experiences :) Good Luck!!!

Being my third post, I felt that I should say something about the blog. In this blog you will see posts about cooking, technologies, driving, travels, animation, programming, ... anything, anything that you can call as life on this planet(including myself :D), as and when I experience it. Some of them you might already be aware of and few of them you may be unaware of. In a nutshell, this blog is like a assorted sweet box and of course a gift box :). Definitely everyone will like at least some part of it. But based on your existing sugar levels your experiences can be totally different; it can be anywhere between a good starter to the very thing that can point the way beyond to you!

A small bad poem before I end this post :)

From Dosa To Yoga!

A mix from intuition
Spread round with precision

Turned around for the perfect taste

But I failed to turn inward for the life's taste

Cooking up life using lot of assumptions

Did I burn its taste with resulting afflictions

Following the recipes by intellectuals

Have I spoiled all the human potentials

Until he fermented me to turn spiritual

Whatever I did was just a ritual

Now even the simple act of making dosa

Bakes me towards the ultimate state of yoga!