Crispy Plain Dosa is a thin crepe popular in South Indian breakfasts, prepared using rice and urad dal as the main ingredients. Serve crispy dosas with chutney and/or sambar for any meal.
Check out our list of popular indian breakfast recipes, best chutney recipes, and one dosa batter with 7 different recipes.
Sada Dosa
The Crispy Plain Dosa, also known as Sada Dosa, is a popular dish in many South Indian restaurants. The only difference between the sada dosa and masala dosa is that one has a filling of bhaji and chutney, while the other one is served crispy and plain.
This dosa has a crispy texture with a beautiful, golden-brown finish. Indian dosas are typically vegan and gluten-free. Dosa is one such Indian recipe that is served for breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack, or dinner. If you have dosa batter in the refrigerator, you can cook dosas whenever you're hungry or have a craving for South Indian food. Discover how I've used one dosa batter to create seven different recipes.
Ingredients
The key ingredients for dosa are rice and urad dal.
Rice: dosa rice or idli rice both will work for this recipe.
Urad dal provides texture and aids in fermentation. Check out this post to learn more about Indian dal.
Fenugreek seeds contribute to the golden color and aid in fermentation.
Toor dal, or Chana dal, makes your dosa extra crispy just like the one you get in restaurants. You can use any one dal or combine the two.
Semolina: This is optional and added just before cooking the dosas. Just see the difference in the crispiness.
Check out the recipe card for the full list of ingredients.
Homemade Dosa Batter
- Wash the rice and fenugreek seeds nicely and soak them in enough water for 4 to 5 hours.
- Similarly, wash and soak the urad dal and toor dal together in enough water for 4 to 5 hours.
- In a blender or a mixie jar, drain the water and add the dal, along with around ½ to ¾ cup of water. Grind it to a smooth batter. Add this to a large bowl.
- Drain all the water from the rice and add it to a blender with an additional ½ to ¾ cup of water. Blend until you have a smooth batter.
- Transfer this to the same bowl. Mix well.
- Cover and let it ferment in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight.
- After the batter is fermented, add salt and mix well. Check the consistency; if it is too thick, add water until it reaches a pourable consistency.
- At this point, you can add sooji or semolina to the batter and mix it. This is optional, but it will give you a crispier dosa.
How to cook dosa?
- Heat the tava (nonstick or cast iron pan) on medium flame. Grease with oil if using a cast-iron pan only. Ensure that there is no excess oil left and that it is completely absorbed. Otherwise, you cannot spread the batter smoothly. Use a clean kitchen towel to wipe away excess oil from the pan gently.
- Once the tava is hot, pour the laddle full of batter at the center of the tava and, using the back of the laddle, spread it in a circular motion from the center towards the edge to the desired thickness.
- Drizzle oil around the edges. If you want a crispier dosa, then just cook on one side until it's golden brown, fold, and remove. If you want a nice golden color on both sides of the dosa, then flip and cook them for another 30 seconds on the other side.
- Repeat the process for the remaining batter. Before spreading the next dosa, you may grease the pan with oil or ghee and remove excess oil using a clean kitchen towel.
- Serve with chutney and sambar, and enjoy.
Tips
- This dosa will be tastier and crispy when cooked on a cast-iron griddle or tava.
- Store any leftover batter in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
- If you are not a vegan, you can even cook the dosa using butter. Adding butter to dosa enhances the taste, and this is popularly served as benne dosa or benne kali in the Mangalore and Udupi regions.
- If you are staying in a colder region and have a problem fermenting dosa batter, then read this post to learn more about the Perfect dosa batter recipe.
- Do not spread the batter when the pan is very hot. This will clump, and you will not be able to spread the batter.
Dosa side dishes
Serve dosa with chutney, sambar, dal, or any South Indian or North Indian gravy. Dosa is a recipe that pairs well with almost anything.
- Chutney: 5 different chutneys, onion chutney without coconut, hing chutney etc.
- Dal and sambar.
- All side dishes that are served with North Indian naan can be served with South Indian dosas.
- You can also serve dosa with butter, ghee and sugar, ghee and chutney powder, etc.
More Dosa Recipes
Recipe card
Crispy Plain Dosa | Sada Dosa with Homemade Batter
Equipment
- 1 Dosa tawa
Ingredients
- 2 cups Raw rice dosa rice
- ½ Fenugreek seeds Methi seeds
- ½ cup Urad dal White lentils or Split black gram
- 2 tablespoon Toor dal or chana dal
- ¼ cup Semolina or Sooji optional
- ¾ to 1 teaspoon Salt
- Vegetable oil to cook dosas
Instructions
Homemade Dosa Batter
- Wash the rice and fenugreek seeds nicely and soak them in enough water for 4 to 5 hours.2 cups Raw rice, ½ Fenugreek seeds
- Similarly, wash and soak the urad dal and toor dal together in enough water for 4 to 5 hours.½ cup Urad dal, 2 tablespoon Toor dal or chana dal
- In a blender or a mixie jar, drain the water and add the dal, along with around ½ to ¾ cup of water. Grind it to a smooth batter. Add this to a large bowl.
- Drain all the water from the rice and add it to a blender with an additional ½ to ¾ cup of water. Blend until you have a smooth batter.
- Transfer this to the same bowl. Mix well.
- Cover and let it ferment in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight.
- After the batter is fermented, add salt and mix well. Check the consistency; if it is too thick, add water until it reaches a pourable consistency.¾ to 1 teaspoon Salt
- At this point, you can add sooji or semolina to the batter and mix it. This is optional but will give you a crispier dosa.¼ cup Semolina or Sooji
How to cook dosa?
- Heat the tava (nonstick or cast iron pan) on medium flame. Grease with oil if using a cast iron pan only. Ensure that there is no excess oil left and that it is completely absorbed. Otherwise, you cannot spread the batter smoothly. Use a clean kitchen towel to wipe away excess oil from the pan gently.
- Once the tava is hot, pour the laddle full of batter at the center of the tava and, using the back of the laddle, spread it in a circular motion from the center towards the edge to the desired thickness.
- Drizzle oil around the edges. If you want a crispier dosa, then just cook on one side until it's golden brown, fold, and remove. If you want a nice golden color on both sides of the dosa, then flip and cook them for another 30 seconds on the other side.Vegetable oil
- Repeat the process for the remaining batter. Before spreading the next dosa, you may grease the pan with oil or ghee and remove excess oil using a clean kitchen towel.
- Serve with chutney and sambar, and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- This dosa will be tastier and crispy when cooked on a cast-iron griddle or tava.
- Store any leftover batter in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
- If you are not a vegan, you can even cook the dosa using butter. Adding butter to dosa enhances the taste, and this is popularly served as benne dosa or benne kali in the Mangalore and Udupi regions.
- If you are staying in a colder region and have a problem fermenting dosa batter, then read this post to learn more about the Perfect dosa batter recipe.
- Do not spread the batter when the pan is very hot. This will clump, and you will not be able to spread the batter.
Nutrition
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Note: We originally posted this crispy plain dosa recipe in January 2016. It has now been modified in June 2025 with Expert Chef Tips, FAQs, Storage Instructions, etc.
beena
Yummy and crispy dosa
Kushi
Thank you Beena 🙂