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Dosa
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The Dosa or Dosai is a South Indian delicacy made from rice and black lentils.
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| | | Dosa in different South Indian languages (Alphabetically) |
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| Kannada: | Dosay ????
Dwashi ?????? | | Malayalam: | Dosha ??? | | Tamil: | Thosai ???? | | Telugu: | Dosa ???? | | Tulu: | Dose ???? | |
The Dosa or Dosai is a South Indian delicacy made from rice and black lentils. Dosai is a typical South Indian food, eaten for breakfast or dinner, and is rich in carbohydrates and protein.
Preparation
Regular Dosai batter is made from rice and split, skinned urad bean (black lentil) blended with water and left to ferment overnight. A modified form of the same batter can be used to make idlis.
Characteristically the rice is very finely ground, more so than in idli batter. Furthermore, the rice to lentil ratio varies in both. The rice can be uncooked and/or parboiled. The urad bean and rice can be replaced with highly refined wheat flour to make a maida dosay or semolina for a rave dosay.
The batter is then ladled in small amounts onto a hot greased tava, where it is spread out into a thin circle and fried with oil or ghee until golden brown. This is the case in a very short time. The dosay may then be folded in half and served or rolled as in a wrap, but in both cases it is cooked on a single side. Alternatively, it may be flipped to cook on the other side and then served.
In Tamilnadu, it is commonly referred as Dosai. Dosa is a more North Indian variant of Dosai.
Serving methods
Though sometimes considered a breakfast dish, dosais are also eaten at other times of day. Those with wheat allergies or gluten intolerance will find the dosai a nice addition to their diets. They can be stuffed with vegetables, meats and sauces to create a quickly prepared meal.
Dosais are typically served with a side dish which varies according to regional and personal preferences. More common side items include:
Masala dosai
, Tamil Nadu]]
The ubiquitous Indian dish masala dosai has its origins in Udupi. A masala dosai is made by stuffing a dosai with a lightly cooked filling of potatoes, fried onions and spices. It wraps the dosai around a onion and potato curry or sabji.
Dosai is supposed to have had its roots in the Temple Streets of Udupi, Karnataka.
Before it was invented, plain Dosai was served with potato curry (batata bhaji) without onions in a separate cup. During a shortage of potatoes, method was created where potato was mashed and sauteed with onions together with other spices. This was then placed inside the dosai instead of a separate cup. This was done to hide the onions which are not eaten by orthodox Hindus and Jains. People enjoyed this new dosai. It came to be known as "Masala Dosai", from the sautéeing of spices (masala) during the preparation of the bhaji.
Variants of Masala Dosai: Due to the huge popularity of masala dosai, many variants exist for differing tastes. The following are some of the variants.
- Mysore masala dosai : Masala dosai with chutney spread inside along with bhaji .
- Vegetable masala dosai : Instead of potatoes, peas and other vegetables are mashed to make bhaji.
- Rava dosai : Rava (semolina ) is used to instead of rice.
- Chinese Masala dosai : In this noodles and other Chinese ingredients are added .
One variant of the masala dosai, the Mysore masala dosai, is served with both coconut and onion chutneys. In Bangalore, the masala dosai is usually served with a red chutney applied to its inside surface. This peculiarity lends itself to a unique taste and is something that is not found elsewhere. The red chutney usually has generous amounts of garlic (traditionally garlic is not used in masala dosai especially in the Brahmin community), and adds a nice flavor to the dosa when it is fried with ghee. In recent times this has become popular in other parts of Karnataka. Davanagere benne masala dosai is another variant of the masala dosay from Karnataka. It is named after Davanagere in Karnataka. It is prepared by adding liberal doses of butter (benne) and also a potato filling (palya) that is unique. It is devoid mostly of any extra ingredients and is just mashed potato. The Rava dosai or Rava dosa is another variant which is made from semolina. Ragi dosai and Ade or Aday dosa are other variants that are native to Karnataka.
Dosai is made in every part of South India and the Dosais prepared in North India are generally of the Karnataka type.
Dosai variations
with thick coconut chutney]]
Though dosai typically refers to the version made with rice and lentils, many other versions of dosai exist and are popular in varying degrees. This is sometimes specific to a region in India. Other types of dosa include:
- Egg dosai - a dosai spread with an omelette.
- Chilli dosai - chilli powder is spread on the dosai.
- Onion dosai - chopped and sautéd onions are spread on the dosai.
- Ghee (thuppa/neyyi) dosai - ghee is used instead of oil while frying the dosai.
- Butter dosai - butter is used instead of oil while frying dosai and a small amount on top of it while serving.
- Roast - the dosai is spread thinly and fried until crisp.
- Family roast - a long dosai which can be spread over 2 or 3 feet.
- Paper dosai - a long and very thin delicate dosai which can be spread over 2 feet.
- Green dosai - a dosai stuffed with fresh vegetables and mint chutney.
- Chow-chow dosai - a dosai stuffed with (Indian flavored) Chinese noodles.
- Cheese dosai - a dosai stuffed with cheese.
- Masala dosai - a dosai stuffed with spiced potatoes (famous in South India)
served at a restaurant in Guntur.]]
- Rava dosai - made with rava or semolina, which doesn't need fermentation and is usually considered a fast snack/tiffin.
- Wheat dosai - made with wheat flour, and served with coconut chutney,mysore masala dosa
- Vella dosa - a sweet dosai made of jaggery with ghee/neyyi.
- Ragi dosa - made of ragi or millet flour, usually considered "a poor man's fare".
- Muttai dosai - eggs are added to the regular batter; the word muttai in Tamil means "egg".
- Set dose - a popular type of dosa in Karnataka, which is cooked only on one side and is served in a set of two, hence the name.
- Benne dose - similar to masala or set dosa but smaller in size. Served with liberal helpings of butter sprinkled on it. Said to have originated in the Davanagere district of the state of Karnataka
- Cabbage dosa - a dosa made out of cabbage. Paste is prepared with rice, red chillies, Asfotedia 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.
- Neer dosa - a dosa prepared from rice unique to Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts.
- Pesarattu - a dosa prepared from moong dal; Andhra special. The variations include a) making from soaked whole moong seeds (along with green cover), which gives a greenish tint to the Dosa, and, b) making with yellow coloured moong dal (green cover removed and dal is refined), which gives a fine golden yellow tint to the dosa when roasted. Both these forms are famous in Andhra Pradesh, and are typically served with chutney made from Ginger and Tamarind.
- Adai - a dosa prepared from a combination of dals namely Urad, Channa & Moong dal.
- Appam - a dosa prepared from a combination of patted rice (Avalakki), rice & yogurt.
- 70 MM Dosa - Similar to Masala Dosa, but it is bigger in size, about 60 cm in diameter.
Instant dosai:
Packs of readymade "instant" dosa batter are available all over India. These are typically available in 500g and 1 kg denominations, and are ready to be spread onto a hot plate (in some cases requiring addition of salt or water first). Typically, instant dosa batter can also be used to make idlis (see Idli).
Spelling:
There are various ways of transliterating dosai: dhosa, dosay, dosa, dhosai, tosai, thosai (used in Malaysia and Singapore).
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