India - Telangana - Hyderabad - Restaurant - Masala Dosa - 1

Dosa is a fermented crepe or pancake made from rice batter and black lentils. This staple dish is widely popular in all southern Indian states Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, as well as being popular in other countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore.

 

Dosa, a common breakfast dish and street food, is rich in carbohydrates, and contains no sugar or saturated fats. As its constituent ingredients are rice and Urad Dal (Vigna mungo), it is gluten-free and becomes a complete protein. The fermentation process increases the vitamin B and vitamin C content. There are also instant mix products for making dosai, with somewhat lower nutritional benefits.

 

PREPARATION

A mixture of rice and urad dal or ulundu that has been soaked in water is ground finely to form a batter. The proportion of rice to lentils is basically 4:1 or 5:1. The batter is allowed to sit overnight and ferment (adding a pinch of yeast helps). After the overnight fermentation, save some of the batter (in the refrigerator) as a starter culture for the next batch (since it is a sourdough culture, and acid, it should keep about a week). Sometimes a few fenugreek seeds are added to the rice-urad mixture. The rice can be uncooked or parboiled. The mixture of urad dal (black lentils) and rice can be replaced with highly refined wheat flour to make a maida dosai, or semolina for a rava dosai.

 

A thin layer of the batter is then ladled onto a hot tava (griddle) greased with oil or ghee (clarified butter). It is spread out evenly with the base of a ladle or bowl to form a pancake. A dosai is served hot, either folded in half or rolled like a wrap. It is also served usually with aloo curry, chutney, or sambar.

 

SERVING

Dosa can be stuffed with fillings of vegetables and sauces to make a quick meal. They are typically served with a vegetarian side dish which varies according to regional and personal preferences. Common side items are:

 

- Sambar

- Wet chutney: examples include coconut chutney (a semisolid paste made up of coconut, dal (lentils), green chilli and mint or coriander)

- Dry chutney: a powder of spices and desiccated coconut

- Indian pickles

 

VARIATIONS

Though dosa typically refers to the version made with rice and lentils, many other versions exist, often specific to an Indian region. Some variations include egg dosa, which is spread with an omelette, and cheese dosa, which is stuffed with cheese.

 

MASALA DOSA

A masala dose is a south Indian delicacy made by stuffing a dose with a lightly cooked filling of potatoes, fried onions and spices. The dose is wrapped around an onion and potato curry or masala.

 

It is listed as number 49 on World's 50 most delicious foods compiled by CNN Go in 2011.

 

 

- Mysore masala dose (Kannada: ಮೈಸೂರು ಮಸಾಲೆ ದೋಸೆ ): masala dose with coconut and onion chutneys spread inside along with the potato stuffing

 

- Vegetable masala dose: instead of potatoes, peas and other vegetables are mashed to make the stuffing

 

- Rava masala dosa: rava (semolina), especially the Bombay rava, is used instead of rice

 

- Chinese masala dosa: noodles and other Chinese ingredients like schezwan sauce are added

 

- Paneer chilli dosa: stuffed with sautéed cottage cheese (paneer) and capsicum

 

- Keerai Masala dosa: coated with a thin layer of puréed spinach, and filled with the traditional potato/onion mixture

 

- Egg Masala dosa: one or two fried eggs served on top

 

- Davanagere benne masala dose (Kannada: ದಾವಣಗೆರೆ ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ ಮಸಾಲೆ ದೋಸೆ ): named after Davanagere in Karnataka, this is prepared by adding liberal doses of butter and also a potato filling.

 

- Set Masala dose: or simply set masale contains two smaller masala dose. Sometimes one of them is filled with vegetable korma/kurma and the other one with the usual potato-onion mix.

 

WIKIPEDIA

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