Masala Dosa Recipe Restaurant Style Food

MASALA DOSA

Steps:

• First take all the ingredients in bowls. Take rice and flattened rice in separate bowls. Take the urad dal, chana dal and fenugreek seeds in one bowl.
• Rinse the urad dal, chana dal and fenugreek seeds a couple of times. Then soak them in 1 cup water for 4 to 5 hours.
• Rinse the rice a couple of times and keep aside.
• Rinse flattened rice once or twice and then add to the rice.
• Pour 2 cups water. Stir and soak both rice and flattened rice together for 4 to 5 hours.
• Before grinding, strain the water from the soaked lentils and keep it for grinding urad dal.
• Add the lentils in the grinder jar. Also add ½ cup of the soaked and strained water to the dal. You can even use fresh water while grinding.
• Grind the urad dal, chana dal and fenugreek seeds till you get a batter which is light and fluffy. The urad dal has to be ground really well, so that the batter ferments well.
• Remove the batter in a bowl or pan with a spatula.
• Strain the rice well. Then in the same grinder, add the soaked rice and 1 cup fresh water. You can grind rice in one batch or in two to three batches. This will depend on the size of the grinder jar. To make the batter, I added 1 cup water. You can even add ¾ cup water while grinding. Addition of water will depend on the quality of rice.
• Grind the rice till you get a fine grainy consistency in it. The rice batter should have a fine rava (cream of wheat) like consistency. You can even grind to a smooth batter.
• Now pour the batter in the same pan or bowl containing the urad dal batter.
• Add ½ teaspoon edible rock salt or add as per taste. You can also use sea salt or pink salt.
• Mix the salt very well with the batter. Also mix both the batters very well. Cover and keep aside to ferment for 8 to 9 hours. You can keep batter to ferment for less or more time and this will depend on the temperature conditions in your city.
• First rinse and then boil 4 medium sized potatoes in 2 cups water for 5 to 6 whistles in a pressure cooker. You can also boil potatoes in a pan or in an Instant pot. The potatoes have to be completely cooked and fork tender.
• When the potaoes are cooking, soak the chana dal in hot water for 30 minutes. Then drain the chana dal and keep aside.
• When the pressure settles down on its own in the cooker, remove the lid. Drain the water from the potatoes and let them become warm. Then peel and chop them.
• Also slice the onions thinly and chop the green chilies, ginger and coriander leaves.
• Heat oil or ghee in a frying pan or a skillet. Fry cashews and keep aside. This step of frying cashews is optional.
• Lower the flame and add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Then add the chana dal.
• Saute the chana dal for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame or till they turn light golden or golden. Now add the sliced onions, curry leaves, green chilies and ginger.
• Saute the onions stirring often till they soften and turn translucent.
• Add the turmeric powder and asafoetida (hing). Mix very well.
• Add water. Mix well and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes or till the mixture thickens a bit.
• Next add the boiled chopped potatoes and mix very well. You can also mash the potatoes if you like while cooking them.
• Season with salt according to taste. Also add ¼ teaspoon sugar for a slight sweet taste.
• Simmer on a low flame for 3 to 4 minutes stirring occasionally. The water will reduce and the consistency will thicken.
• Switch off the flame and then add chopped coriander leaves. Also add the fried cashews now and mix well. The potato filling should be moist and easily spreadable on the dosa. Make sure there is no water in the potato filling. It should not be of a curry or gravy consistency.
• Stir and keep the potato filling aside.
• Lightly stir the batter, before you begin to make dosa. You will also see tiny air pockets in the batter and it would have increased in volume.
• Heat a cast iron pan or a flat non-stick pan. The pan should be medium hot. Smear some oil if using an iron pan or griddle. Don't smear oil on a non stick pan, as then you won't be able to spread the batter.
• Keep the flame to a low, while spreading batter.
• Spread the batter in a circular way on the pan.
• On a medium flame, cook the dosa.
• Sprinkle some oil on top and edges.
• Cover with a lid and let it cook. You can spread the oil which was sprinkled earlier on the dosa with a spoon. Cook till its base becomes golden and crisp.
• When you see the base has become golden and the edges separate from the pan, place a portion of the potato filling on the dosa. You can spread it a bit if you want.
• Now fold the dosa and serve.
• Serve crisp restaurant style masala dosa hot with coconut chutney and sambar.
• Alternatively, simply make the dosa and serve the potato filling separately in a bowl.
• You can also choose to serve masala dosa with onion chutney, tomato chutney or peanut chutney.
• The batter stays good for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. You can opt to freeze the batter for a few weeks too. Store any leftover potato filling in the refrigerator for a day only.

MASALA DOSA

Steps:

• Chutney: In a fry pan, dry roast peanuts to a golden brown. Grind peanuts, chilies, tamarind paste and salt to a smooth paste using 1/4 cup of water. The amount of water depends upon how thick/thin you want your chutney.
• Transfer to a bowl. Heat oil until sizzling. Add mustard seeds and hing and fry until seeds start popping. Pour over the Chutney.
• Filling: Boil the cubed potatoes until fork tender, drain and set aside. Heat the oil over medium high heat and add the mustard and cumin seeds. They will begin to pop and shoot all over your kitchen within a few seconds so have the chopped onion ready to go.
• Once the mustard starts to pop, add the onion and green chili, sauteing for a couple minutes. Add the ground cumin and coriander and mix, gently stir in the cubed potatoes as you don't want to turn them to mashed potatoes.
• Add the turmeric, garam masala, chopped cilantro and mix well. Add a little water (up to 1/4 cup) to thin the mixture and salt to taste. Keep warm.
• Dosa: Place the urad dal and basmati in two separate bowls and cover with several inches of water. Cover and allow the bowls to sit out at room temperature at least overnight and up to one day.
• In the morning, drain and rinse the rice and dal and add to your food processor. Grind the two together into a paste, add the onion and chili and salt (about 1/4 teaspoon) and continue to grind. Start adding water to the mixture, until you get a smooth creamy and slightly thin batter (just a tad thinner than your typical pancake batter). Continue to mix this in the processor until you can rub it between your fingers and the grit remaining should be a little finer than cream of wheat.
• Heat a large flat, oiled griddle over medium high heat, or your largest flat bottom non stick pan. Pour 1/2-3/4 cup of batter into the center of the griddle and working quickly with a large spoon or heat safe silicon spatula, swirl the batter outwards into a very thin flat pancake. The thinner the better. Don't be too concerned about holes or getting it perfectly round, just focus on spreading it thin.
• Cook the dosa until the underside is golden brown and the top is no longer glossy. This will only take a few minutes and do not flip the dosa. If your dosa seems a little thick, too chewy or not quite crispy enough, blend the batter again and add a little more water.
• Remove the dosa from the pan and fill with several tablespoons of the following potato filling and a little squeeze of sriracha. Roll up and serve immediately with the peanut chutney.