My Mom makes different varieties of dosas, idlis, upmas, etc for breakfast and she does that everyday even to this day. Masala dosa and Poori bhaaji were two breakfast dishes that would be prepared typically on Sunday mornings. There is a fair bit of work involved in preparing these dishes and that probably explains why they were made on Sunday. I remember Mom making these on week days on special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries, other than that, it used to be a Sunday morning special. Given my love for potatoes, these have always counted among my favorite breakfast items. Masala dosa is normally prepared with soaked uncooked white rice (sona masoori or parboiled) and udad daal (black lentils), blended together and fermented. However for this recipe, I have used uncooked brown rice instead of white rice and the end result is pretty good! It also helps that it doesn’t make you feel very guilty when you are eating more than required as its brown rice when compared to white rice! Incidentally, this is Rajesh’s favorite too.
Ingredients
- Brown Rice - 2 cups
- Udad daal/urad daal/split black gram with skins removed - 1/2 cup
- Methi seeds (fenugreek seeds) - 1/4 tsp
- Phovu/poha/beaten rice - 2 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- For the Potato Bhaaji/Filling:-
- Potatoes - 4, large, peeled and cubed
- Onions - 2, large, peeled and cubed
- Oil - 2 tbsp
- Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
- Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
- Curry leaves - 1 sprig
- Green chillies - 4, slit
- Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
- Water - 1/2 cup
- Salt to taste
- Cilantro - 2 tbsp, finely chopped, for garnish
- Coconut and Cilantro Chutney:-
- Grated coconut - 1 cup
- Green chillies - 5
- Roasted Bengal gram/kadale pappu/dalia/hoorukadle - 2 tbsp
- Cilantro - 1 bunch
- Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Water - 1/2 cup
- Oil - very little
Instructions
Wash and soak brown rice and udad daal together for at least 5-6 hours. Also add the methi seeds when soaking the rice and daal.
Blend this to a fine paste. Soak phovu/beaten rice for just a few minutes before blending and blend all the ingredients till smooth. Add salt to taste and set aside to ferment for at least 8 hours or overnight preferably.
Next morning, the batter would have risen if it has fermented well. Mix thoroughly.
Heat a round griddle and lightly oil it. Take a ladleful of the batter and spread as thinly as you can in a circular motion. Spray some cooking oil on top and allow it to cook. Once it has turned light brown and crispy, put about 2-3 tbsp of the potato bhaaji/filling on the dosa. Fold the dosa into half and serve with coconut and cilantro chutney. It can also be served with sambhar as is how its done in restaurants in India.
Potato Bhaaji/filling:
Preboil the cubed potatoes in water till 3/4 done. Throw the water away and set aside the 3/4th cooked potatoes. This is done so as to stop the cooking process.
Heat oil in a large pan. Season with mustard seeds. When they splutter, add in the cumin seeds. When cumin seeds crackle, put in the curry leaves and slit green chillies. Fry for a minute till fragrant.
Add the cubed onions and fry till translucent. Also add the turmeric powder and fry till you can no longer smell the rawness of the powder. This should take just a couple minutes.
Put in half a cup of water and salt to taste. Allow it to come to a boil.
When the water starts boiling, add the 3/4th cooked potatoes and mix well.
Cook till done and garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
Serve hot inside the dosa or serve it on the side.
Coconut and Cilantro Chutney:-
Heat very little oil and add the green chillies and fry till the chillies are slightly warm.
Blend the chillies alongwith the rest of the chutney ingredients till smooth. You can use little water to assist in the grinding/blending process.
Don't make the chutney too watery.
Note:
- Instead of oil, you can use butter or ghee (clarified butter) while cooking the dosa.
- If you want it very crispy, you can keep it for a longer period of time or you can also flip the dosa over the let it cook for a few seconds more.
Masala Dosa with coconut cilantro chutney
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