I have always been a bigger fan of dosai's(savory crepes) than idlis (steamed rice cakes). Even when I was younger and my mother gave me a choice between the two, I would happily choose dosai over idli. So it should not come as any surprise that there are far more dosai varieties on this site than there are idli varieties.
Even though I am such an avid fan of dosais, these days, I rarely make the traditional rice and lentil ground batter, because it is so much more time consuming. Instead I find myself coming up with more and more types of instant dosais that are quick and just as satisfying.
Last week I tried a variation of dosai with oats, only unlike the previous time, I used traditional ingredients of rice and black gram lentil, but in flour form. This dosai turned out very soft and could be made very crisp too, if you like it that way. Because it contained rice flour and black gram lentil flour it also had resemblance in taste to the traditional dosai. If you like traditional dosai, then this quick version might interest you:-)
Click here for a printable view of this recipe
Ingredients and Method to make Instant Oat Dosai
2 cups rolled oats (ground into fine powder)
1/2 cup split black gram lentil flour (udad flour/ ulatham maavu)
1 cup rice flour (chawal ka atta/ arisi maavu)
salt to taste (namak/ uppu)
water as needed
Seasoning
2 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera/ jeeragam)
3 Thai or Indian variety green chilies cut very fine (or according to taste) (hari mirch)
1 stalk of curry leaves broken into small pieces (karipatha/ karvapillai) (optional but recommended)
a little sesame oil (til ka tel/ nella ennai) to shallow fry the dosa
Mix together the first four ingredients in a large bowl/ container and mix well. Add water slowly, mixing it in to form a batter that is free flowing but not too runny. If in doubt, err on the side of getting a thicker batter when adding water, that can be corrected easily. Keep the mixed batter aside.
In a small pan, heat oil, add cumin seeds, when the seeds splutter add green chilies.Stir for a few seconds, then add curry leaves,let it splutter for a few seconds. then pour the entire seasonings on the batter and mix well.
Heat a non stick flat pan/ griddle/ iron tawa, pour a little batter in the center and quickly spread it into a thin circle.Add a few drops of sesame oil around the dosai, and let it cook on medium heat until the lower side begins to brown evenly. Flip over and cook until the side that was facing the top cooks and gets a few brown spots on it.
Remove from heat and serve hot with chutney or sambar of choice or with molaga podi/ spiced powder
Refrigerate the unused portion of batter and use within a week.
Yield will depend on size and thickness of each dosai.
If you are looking for instant dosa versions, here are a few more
Even though I am such an avid fan of dosais, these days, I rarely make the traditional rice and lentil ground batter, because it is so much more time consuming. Instead I find myself coming up with more and more types of instant dosais that are quick and just as satisfying.
Last week I tried a variation of dosai with oats, only unlike the previous time, I used traditional ingredients of rice and black gram lentil, but in flour form. This dosai turned out very soft and could be made very crisp too, if you like it that way. Because it contained rice flour and black gram lentil flour it also had resemblance in taste to the traditional dosai. If you like traditional dosai, then this quick version might interest you:-)
Click here for a printable view of this recipe
Ingredients and Method to make Instant Oat Dosai
2 cups rolled oats (ground into fine powder)
1/2 cup split black gram lentil flour (udad flour/ ulatham maavu)
1 cup rice flour (chawal ka atta/ arisi maavu)
salt to taste (namak/ uppu)
water as needed
Seasoning
2 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera/ jeeragam)
3 Thai or Indian variety green chilies cut very fine (or according to taste) (hari mirch)
1 stalk of curry leaves broken into small pieces (karipatha/ karvapillai) (optional but recommended)
a little sesame oil (til ka tel/ nella ennai) to shallow fry the dosa
Mix together the first four ingredients in a large bowl/ container and mix well. Add water slowly, mixing it in to form a batter that is free flowing but not too runny. If in doubt, err on the side of getting a thicker batter when adding water, that can be corrected easily. Keep the mixed batter aside.
Heat a non stick flat pan/ griddle/ iron tawa, pour a little batter in the center and quickly spread it into a thin circle.Add a few drops of sesame oil around the dosai, and let it cook on medium heat until the lower side begins to brown evenly. Flip over and cook until the side that was facing the top cooks and gets a few brown spots on it.
Refrigerate the unused portion of batter and use within a week.
Yield will depend on size and thickness of each dosai.
If you are looking for instant dosa versions, here are a few more
 Instant Multigrain Dosa ~ Savory multigrain crepes |  Instant Ragi Oats Dosai ~ Nachani dosa ~ Savory Finger millet and oats crepe |  Instant Buckwheat dosai ~ Kuttu atta dosa ~ Buckwheat flour crepes |
