Dosa Recipe with Dosa Batter

Dosas are thin savory crepes made of fermented rice & lentils. Make traditional South Indian plain dosa with this beginner friendly recipe.

5 from 1 vote

Recipe Info

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Resting Time 10

Total Time 10 50

Servings Dosas

Category Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Calories: 73kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g

Take rice in a vessel and wash it 4-5 times till the water runs clear. You can use idli rice or a 1:1 mix of parboiled and any short-grained raw rice for dosa recipe.
2 Cups Idli Rice
Then keep the rice to soak for 4-6 hours. You can also soak it overnight.
Take urad dal and wash it well too. I am using urad gota here as used in a traditional dosa recipe, but you can also use split urad dal.
1/2 Cup Urad Gota (Blackgram Lentils)
Keep the lentils to soak along with the fenugreek seeds (methi dana) for 2-3 hours. The fenugreek seeds help with the fermentation.
1 Tablespoon Fenugreek Seeds (Methi Dana)
Wash the poha and soak it for 10-15 mins. If using thicker variety of poha, the soaking time will be slightly longer. Adding poha is optional, but it helps improve the texture of the dosa and makes it more fluffy.
1/2 Cup Poha (Flattened Rice)

Grind the soaked rice and poha together in batches adding ice-cold water gradually to prevent the grinder from overheating. Try to keep the batter as thick as you can and add only as much water as necessary. I added around 1 cup water. Rice should be ground slightly coarse to make a crispy dosa. You can see detailed tips for grinding in the sections above the recipe.
Grind urad dal and methi seeds together. I used around 1/2 cup water. These should be ground to a smooth fluffy paste. Add it to the ground rice.

After grinding, add the rock salt and mix the rice and urad dal batter evenly with your hands. Then cover it with a plate and keep it in a warm place to ferment. Use a vessel big enough so that there is space left for the batter to rise.
2 Teaspoon Rock Salt (Kala Namak)
Ferment 8-10 hours if warm, otherwise 10-12 hours. The batter should be airy, light and raised in volume after fermentation. You can see tips for fermenting dosa batter in cold weather in the section above the recipe.
Mix the dosa batter gently. Then refrigerate it till you need to use.

When you are ready to make dosas, take a small portion of the batter to use and let it come to room temperature for 30-40 minutes. Add a little bit of water to make a batter of a thick flowing consistency.
Then heat a cast iron or non stick pan and brush a thin layer of oil on it. Keep the heat medium-low initially when spreading, otherwise the batter will clump together. Then scoop a ladle full of batter in the center of the pan and spread it over the pan in a spiral pattern with the help of a ladle.
Then increase the heat to medium-high. Control the heat as needed depending on the thickness of your pan. As the dosa starts to cook slightly add some ghee or oil around the edges.
Cook till the dosa becomes crispy and golden brown around the edges. It will start to separate from the pan when it is cooked.
Then flip the dosa with the help of a spatula and cook the other side for 30-60 seconds. Then take it off the pan. Make all the dosas this way.
Your crispy, golden brown dosa is ready! Serve it hot with coconut chutney, tomato chutney, or a bowl of sambar for a delicious South Indian meal. For variations, try making masala dosa or pairing with paneer bhurji.