Indian Dosa | Mom's 2 Ingredient Dosa Batter Recipe

Indian dosa recipe served with traditional coconut chutney. How to make crispy dosa batter?

5 from 10 votes

Indian Dosa | Mom's 2 Ingredient Dosa Batter Recipe

Indian Dosa: How to make a simple and easy dosa batter using only two ingredients - rice and urad dal. This batter can cook plain crispy dosa, masala dosa, soft dosa, uttapam, appe (paniyaram), or rolls. Dosa is traditionally served with chutney and sambar.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Resting Time12

Total Time12 35

Course: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: South Indian

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: Dosas

Calories: 96kcal

Author: Kushi

Equipment

Dosa tawa
Large pot or container

Ingredients

1 cup Urad dal 200 grams
2 ½ cups Dosa rice 520 grams

Other ingredients

Water for grinding
Salt to taste
Coconut oil or vegetable oil for cooking dosas.

Instructions

How to make dosa batter?

Soak the dal and rice: Add urad dal in one bowl, wash it nicely in water a couple of times, and drain. Now soak it with fresh water and leave it for 4 to 6 hours.
1 cup Urad dal
Similarly, in another bowl, add rice. Wash it nicely a couple of times and drain. Add fresh water and soak for 4 to 6 hours.
2 ½ cups Dosa rice
Grind the dal: Drain the water from the dal. Add the drained dal to the wet grinder or mixie jar with ½ cup water and grind to a thick, smooth paste. Add water in increments and grind. Transfer the ground urad dal to a large vessel or conatiner.
Water
Grind the rice: Drain the water from the rice. Add rice with ½ cup of water to a wet grinder or mixie jar and blend it until it is smooth. Add water in increments as needed.
Transfer this ground rice to the ground urad dal and mix.

Pro Tips while grinding

The amount of water you need for grinding in a wet grinder and mixie is different. The urad dal will become fluffy and airy in a wet grinder. In mixie, grind it till it becomes smooth.
Ensure your batter does not warm while grinding both urad dal and rice. If your mixer or grinder gets heated up, turn it off, rest for a few minutes, and use ice-cold water for grinding. This will prevent dosas from becoming hard.

Dosa batter fermentation

If you want to ferment only a batch of batter, transfer it to one bowl and refrigerate the rest in another bowl. I generally do this, preventing the batter from turning sour quickly and having a longer shelf life.
Cover the vessel with a lid and let it ferment in a warm place. Dosa batter needs a minimum of 6 hours to ferment and may take up to 12 hours based on weather conditions.
For warm weather conditions, Keep the batter on your kitchen counter overnight. The batter will ferment within 8 hours.
For cold weather conditions, Mix the batter with your hands so that the microbes help in fermentation. You can preheat the oven for 10 minutes and switch it off. Turn on the lights of the oven and keep the batter.
Instant pot fermentation of dosa batter: ferment the batter using the yogurt mode. Increase the time to 8 or 10 hours, and make sure you cover it with a glass lid and not with the Instant Pot lid, as this may lock if the batter ferments and overflows.
The fermented batter will increase in volume, foamy or bubbly on top.

Dosa Batter

The fermented batter is generally going to be thick. Add salt and a little water based on the consistency of the fermented batter and mix.
Salt
Undisturbed batter, once fermented, can be stored for 5 to 6 days.

How to make dosa?

Grease a cast iron skillet or use a non-stick pan. Ensure no excess oil is left and it is absorbed completely.
Coconut oil
Heat dosa tawa on medium flame.
Once hot, pour a ladle full of batter at the center and spread it in a circular motion. If you are not able to spread quickly, it means your batter is too thick. You may add a little extra water to the batter and mix.
Drizzle oil or ghee around the edges. In 2 to 3 minutes, the edges will start to come off, and the bottom of the dosa will start turning golden brown.
Remove the dosa from the pan or flip and cook for another 1 minute if you like. Flipping is optional for this dosa.
Before spreading the next dosa, you may grease the pan with oil or ghee and remove excess oil using a clean kitchen towel.
Keep any leftover batter in the refrigerator.
You can learn how to make appe (paniyaram), plain crispy dosa, soft dosa, uttapam, masala dosa using the same batter here. (all in one dosa batter recipe).

Notes

Use good quality dosa rice or idli rice and urad dal for best results.
Proper fermenatation is very improtant. The time it takes to ferment may vary from 8 to 12 hours based on the climatic conditions. During summer in India, 6 hours is sufficient for dosa fermentation.
The batter should be of pouring consistency. If it is too thick, adjust by adding a little water.
To avoid the dosa from sticking to the pan or laddle, make sure the batter is not over-fermented and the pan is not oily. If there is too much oil in a pan, wipe it off with tissue to avoid the batter from clumping when spreading.
If you are making masala dosa, make sure you add the bhaji or potato filling only once the dosa turns golden in color, just before folding.
I add salt to the batter only after fermentation.

Nutrition