Finally a Dosa recipe. Dosas are the flat bread equivalent side with South Indian meals and also a great snack with different types of crepes, with fillings, styles and so on.
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I make Dosa and Idli every few weeks. The traditional dosa used urad dal and rice and cooks up to a golden white crepe. My Dosas usually have a couple of lentils and beans. They dont look super white and are not very thin crepes. And I like them that way, not too crisp, full of lentils/beans and all the different proteins and nutrition from each of the lentils and much more filling. You can adapt this recipe to use only urad dal and rice for the traditional version. Find the traditional recipe and Step by Step pictures in my book.
Here is a Video from a very happy chef to help with the steps. It shows the consistency of the basic batter, how to shape the crepe, and different varieties of dosa.
To read more about how the fermentation works, see this Batter explained article on India Curry.
I did not have a powerful wet grinder to do justice to the batter for years, and used my regular blender. That worked fine when you blended the daal and rice separately but the batter was usually a bit more grainy. Some multi lentil Idli and Dosa versions posted earlier.
Now since I got the Blendtec, its a breeze to blend the batter.
Usually skinless white Urad daal (black gram), medium grain rice (sona masuri) and parboiled rice are used to get the best Dosas.
I use either whole with skin daal or split with skin black gram, hence the slight darker tone to the dosas in the pictures. For Variations, add ginger and green or red chili to the batter when you blend, add greens and a tomato, add a 1/4 cup more of soaked beans and lentils like black eyed peas, mung beans, pink, green, yellow lentils.
Recipe Card
Dosa - Lentil and rice savory Crepes. Vegan Glutenfree
Dosas are the flat bread equivalent side with South Indian meals and also a great snack with different types of crepes, with fillings, styles and so on.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 314kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup (185 g) medium or long grain rice I use basmati
- 1/4 cup (47.5 g) brown rice
- ½ cup (100 g) whole urad dal black gram, skinned or whole. the whole unskinned one will give a slightly darker appearance to the crepe or split urad dal
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) methi seeds fenugreek seeds
- 2 Tablespoons toor daal Pigeon pea or chana daal(bengal gram) - optional
- 1/4 cup (59.15 g) thick Poha Rice flakes- for crisp crepes, optional
- 3/4 teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) salt
Instructions
Batter:
- Rinse the rice well and soak overnight in a large bowl.
- Rinse the urad daal(black gram) and other dals if using and soak along with the fenugreek seeds(methi), overnight. Urad dal and fenugreek attract wild yeast for the fermentation.
- Drain the soaking liquid of the daal/lentils and reserve the soaking liquid.
- If using Poha(rice flakes), wash and add them to the soaking rice to soak for a few minutes.
- Grind the daal and fenugreek seeds in your blender/wet grinder using some of the soaking liquid into a smooth fluffy paste.
- Drain the rice, reserve the soaking liquid. Grind the rice with a little of the soaking water. The rice will make a gritty batter.
- If you can, use your hands to to mix the daal and rice batters together in one large bowl. Or use a large spoon. Add salt, and mix in.
- You can use this batter directly to make the crepes(adjust water content if the batter is too thick). The crepes will have a less fermented flavor.
- Let it ferment for another 6-8 hours in a warm place(85-90 deg F), covered with a towel or lightly with a lid. You can leave it in the oven with the light on to help with the warmth.
- The fermented batter should be frothy, and almost double in volume.
- Note: If you do not have urad dal or fenugreek, you can make the batter with any other lentils and add 1/2 tsp active yeast after blending. Let it sit for 3 to 4 hours to ferment and then use.
Making Crepes
- Heat a 10+ inch nonstick skillet on high heat. Once hot, sprinkle a few drops of water on the skillet. The water should sizzle and evaporate within 2 seconds .
- Cut a small wedge from an onion or a potato. Stick a fork into the onion. Add a drop of oil to the hot pan, and spread the oil around, using the onion. you can also use a thick paper towel to spread the oil.
- Pour a ladle full ( a 1/4 cup) of batter onto the hot skillet. Swirl the ladle in concentric circles, to spread out the batter.
- Drizzle a few drops of oil on the edges.
- Cook the crepe over medium-high heat till the bottom side of the dosa becomes lightly brown and starts to come away at the edges.
- You can flip and cook the other side for a few minutes for crispier crepe.
- Serve hot with coconut chutney, Sambhar(pigeon pea and veggies stew), Potato and onion subzi! or fill them up with anything you like and make it your own fusion filled crepe
Notes
Nutritional values are based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Dosa - Lentil and rice savory Crepes. Vegan Glutenfree
Amount Per Serving
Calories 314
% Daily Value*
Sodium 441mg19%
Potassium 157mg4%
Carbohydrates 63g21%
Fiber 8g33%
Protein 12g24%
Vitamin C 1.1mg1%
Calcium 36mg4%
Iron 3mg17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
These Dosa’s are heading to Ricki’s wellness weekend., Ellas’ potluck, Amee’s Fit abd Fab Friday, Allergy Friendly lunchbox., Hearth Soul blog hop, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Glutenfree WEdnesdays.
Apart from the amazing work VSPCA does for animals, they also provide care and food to the poorest people around. Their program Vegan Meals for the Poor, A wholesome and nutritious vegan meal is hygienically packed in palm leaves and taken by autorickshaw to the poorest of the poor in their respective places. Most of these people are also disabled, homeless, which requires someone to go to them.
Every one of them has a trusted association with a street dog. They give the first morsel of food to the dog. The people and the dogs, traumatized, abandoned and lonely, find support in each other, to live through the daily hardships. The beauty of compassion and companionship between all species.
Our VSPCA fundraiser Auction is now also on Facebook!
You can bid for the items on the Facebook Album here or anonymously on the Fundraiser page. Feel free to share any pictures, album or posts from the blog and facebook! Thank you for the continued support and love! Have a great weekend all.
Shelby
This was tasty but really didn’t resemble the taste and texture of dosa I’ve had from the restaurant 🤷
Felt labor intensive and overall, I was disappointed
Richa
Dosas are an intricate dish to master and yes labor intensive. Took me many tried and many years 🙂 . It would be hard to troubleshoot what exactly was different. Most restaurants use just white rice and a mix of white and white parboiled rice. They also use more rice, have huge machine grinders for the perfect texture and add a ton of oil. You can switch the brown basmati witb white and try. Here is a post by one of the bloggers I know for the authentic basic dosa witb lots of tips. https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/dosa-recipe-dosa-batter/
Michelle
There is nothing boring about vegan food. Love this recipe! It is absolutely delicious! I made the crepes with the brown and white rice, black gram and salt. I didn’t use any of the optional ingredients. I served it over a cauliflower, green pea and potato curry, so good. I plan on making your sourdough bread recipe tomorrow. Thank you so much.
Vegan Richa Support
Exactly – especially with the black gram
MrsA
I was gifted a bag labeled “lentil flour” – it appears fine ground. If I try to use it to make dosas or crepes, what do you suggest fora recipe?
Zachary
If I don’t have whole fenugreek seeds will ground fenugreek work as a replacement?
Richa
Yes.
Debra Ledsham
Do you leave the soaking rice/urad dal uncovered while they are soaking ? Seems you would to get the yeast…..
Love all your recipes! Thanks
Richa
the fermentation happens because of the yeast. Urad dal attracts wild yeast and the mixture ferments
Karen
Hello Richa~! I have a couple of questions for you. Do the rice and urad dal soak overnight in the refrigerator or on the countertop? Also, I have a question about why we use the soaking water for the grinding. My nutritionist friend went on about how it contains all of the phytates in the soaking water, which we don’t want in excess. Can you explain the reason for using the soaking water? For the fermentation process?
Thank you!!! 🙂
Richa
on the countertop. you can use the soaking water or use fresh water. It works either ways. Generally, the soaking water is used as the urad dal starts fermenting after a few hours of soaking, so the bacteria are already there in the water. But the dal itself is also fermenting so the batter will ferment either ways.
I discard the soaking water for all the whole beans and lentils, but not necessarily for split lentils.
Javier Rh
Hi Richa,
I really love Dosa!
I was wondering wether I can make the butter out of whole rice and red lentils. Can you you give some pointers? If it is possible to make the butter like this, I can use the butter and make idly.
Thank you for sharing with us your knowledge and expirience.
Richa
You need urad dal (black matpe beams or black gram ) to make the batter as those beans help it to ferment. If you use lentils and rice, you can add a 1 tsp yeast to the battter and let it ferment and use. For idli, make a thicker batter with less water
Leah
Thank you for all the tasty recipes! You’ve become my go-to for creative, healthy and delicious recipes. I’ve finally decided to invest in a high power blender. Does your blentec do dry flours (ie garbanzo flour) also? I want a blender that will do recipes like this one, along with vegan cheeses and dry flours. Any advice? Thanks again
Richa
Hi Leah,
Thanks! Yes, Blendtec can make flour as well. I sometimes make my own flour with wheat or spelt berries. I think vitamix would work too (the other high powered blender). Just be sure to let the motor cool between cycles when making flours as the flours will need a couple of cycles to get the right consistency.
jasminebrownies
where would I find urad dal, toor daal, and Poha?
Richa
In an indian store or online on amazon or other places. If you have an indian store nearby, then also keep pre-made dosa batter.
Anonymous
Great blog! How long can I keep the batter in the fridge for?
Richa
about a week to 10 days.
Rumana Ambrin
Very healthy dosa…
Tessa Domestic Diva
third times is a charm! I purchased all the ingredients at and Indian grocery and will probably be set up for years now! LOL! I used rice flour instead of whole rice too. I needed almost 18 hours for it finally to start fermenting and puffing up. It took some heat…on my counter it was doing nothing (I am in Portland, maybe 50=60-‘s currently). I used the proofing setting on my oven to get it going. The batter ended up being like a pancake batter..but subtly fluffy with all those fermented gas bubbles lurking within. i did not grease my cast iron this time, just drizzled around the edges. I learned to not spread the batter all the way to edges and to wait patiently until they released. Anyways, so excited, yum!
Richa
yay! super awesome Tessa. that is some hard work indeed. i hope you keep making a load of varieties of dosas and love them:)) if oyu want them to ferment quickly, add just a pinch of yeast:).
Richa
i have a dosa pan which is thick bottom non stick. however old pans that mom had were cast iron and were not non stick and the crepes always came out well on them too. some tips here to work with cast iron https://www.cilantroonline.com/2012/05/dosai-seriestips-for-perfect-crispy.html
Its either the tyoe of lentils making the batter that thick or it needs to be blended more. you can feel the rice grain if you pick some batter between your fingers. it keeps keeping smaller and less gritty after the second blend or the third if needed. yes, lower th heat if it is not giving you time to spread.
Let me know how it works out:)
Tessa Domestic Diva
how about what kind of pan you use…I don;t own non-stick anymore, just cast iron and stainless steel. The batter finally fermented, but I needed to add even more water to get it to spread out thin before the heat solidified it while it was thick. I have almost no time to spread it out! SO much better…but still not quite there. I still have more to play with, so I will try lowering the heat too…
Richa
i have a dosa pan which is thick bottom non stick. however old pans that mom had were cast iron and were not non stick and the crepes always came out well on them too. some tips here to work with cast iron https://www.cilantroonline.com/2012/05/dosai-seriestips-for-perfect-crispy.html
Its either the tyoe of lentils making the batter that thick or it needs to be blended more. you can feel the rice grain if you pick some batter between your fingers. it keeps keeping smaller and less gritty after the second blend or the third if needed. yes, lower th heat if it is not giving you time to spread.
Let me know how it works out:)
Tessa Domestic Diva
Ok Richa, I did not throw the batter out, I am letting it set to ferment some more…and will try the yeast. Since I have a massive amount of batter, I will divide into to two or three batches and experiment with different solutions! Where do you usually get your benas? I have lots of Indian groceries…so no problem getting these, just prefer organic….thanks for your help in trouble shooting.
Richa
I get them at the indian store and some special ones online(iherb) or from whole foods. . Most indian stores dont carry organic beans though.
Hope the batter turns out well. i made a sweet potato instant batter today with rice and split peas soaked for half an hour. added some yeast to the batter and another 15 minutes later i have bubbly soft crepes.
Tessa Domestic Diva
Help! I watched the video you linked for to check for the consistency of the batter I am looking for. I used rice flour and green or brown lentils….it is what they had at the store. I had to t add more water to ge the consistency…and I fermented in a warm oven for most of the day. The batter is not reading out without gaping holes and staying very thick, so instead of a a crispy thin dosa, I have a thick, gummy crepes. There is very little rang that I associate,with dosas too. Do the lentils make the difference? What am I doing wrong?
Richa
Hi Tessa, yes the lentils do make a difference. The black gram helps the fermentation and hence the tang. Without it the batter will take ages to ferment. you can add a little active yeast to the batter and let it sit for a a few hours or overnight before using it.
Add a bit more rice flour and water to help get crisp crepes. the more lentils inthe batter, the spongier and thicker the crepes will be.
You can also make thick pancakes like the uttapam https://www.veganricha.com/2012/06/uttapam-lentil-and-rice-pancake-with.html
if the batter doesnt give you thin crepes. Uttapams are soft spongy pancakes and not gummy if the batter is well fermented.
Let me know how it goes. you can email me with more questions. richahingle at gmail.
Anonymous
Hi,
I’m thinking of getting a blendtec blender and hope to make idli batter using that. Can you let me know how long blending for the batter takes? Thanks.
Richa
It depends on the rice and the quantity of the batter and such. I usually blend 2 complete cycles( 45 seconds each) on 2-3 speed setting, then test the batter to see if i need it more smooth and hence another cycle. usually 2 cycles are enough.
legenies
what speed/setting was your blendtec set to?
Richa
Hi Legenies, Start at 1 for 10-15 seconds then go up to 3 or 4 for the cycle. Mix up the batter after the cycle and then go though another cycle at 1 for a smooth batter. do let me know when you try it.:)
Lexie
THANK YOU for this post. I have tried dosa 3 times but can’t nail the cooking part. I shall try again … you’ve inspired me. xoLexie
Richa
Thanks Lexie! Do let me know when you try it again. and ping me anytime for questions:)
Elsa
Lovely recipe! I’ve never had this before and I’m not sure I’ve even heard of it. But I have a Vitamix, so I can definitely try it out. Thanks so much for sharing with Hearth and Soul!
Genevieve
I love dosa with a spicy sambar and fresh coconut chutney…now I’m craving them after seeing yours, even though I’m still full from dinner! I always wished I could make my own because they’re hard to find around where I live, but the process always seemed too difficult and time consuming. So I’m impressed that you make them so often and how you can adapt them so easily with different kinds of lentils and rice!
Richa
If you have a good blender.. you are good to go! I am sure you have the lentils, rice and fenugreek seeds:)
Tessa Domestic Diva
pinned, one of my very favortie indian foods!
Richa
Thanks Tessa!
Tessa Domestic Diva
I will be featuring you recipe this week, fyi!
Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes
These look so amazing – can I move in with you?
What an amazing program your fundraiser is supporting – sendin powerful thoughts that you will surpass your fundraising goal!
Richa
Thank you Heather! I dont have a goal.. but any good amount will help them for sure! I dont think you will like the cloudy Seattle.. We should all move to Cal!
Junia
you are becoming a vegan GF connoisseur! love these crepes you’ve made!
vic@cakebook
Mmmm dosa.. this recipe seems very straightforward and I will have to try it – stuffed with curried potatoes 🙂
Richa
Thanks vic!. do let me know when you do!
Vicky
I absolutely love dosas and can’t wait to try this at home!
Richa
Thanks vicky! do let me know when you do:)
bittersweetblog
I’ve been meaning to make dosas for ages but I always get intimidated… They just seem so difficult, especially since I’m terrible at making crepes. You make them look like a breeze though- You’re a pro! Thanks for the inspiration, I really need to conquer my fear and just give it a shot.
Richa
I know you should 🙂 you can make fat crepes.. they will still taste divine:)
dassana
lovely dosa. from the pics i can make out the beautiful texture of the dosa…. hmmmm yummmy dosa.
Richa
hardly perfect dassana:) Its too cold to ferment well. tastes yumm though any which way:)
Caitlin
your dosa look delicious, richa!
Richa
Thanks Caitlin! you’ve gotta make this for dayv too 😉
Char @ www.charskitchen.ca
you can come cook for me anytime, Richa! I love all of these Indian dishes you make.
“mmmm comment” right back at ya 😉
Richa
Thanks Char! mmm indeed:)
Srimathi
sorry for misspelling dosa, blame it on my pc.
Srimathi
Your dose, though you have mentioned that you do not own a powerful blender, still has turned out very well. Good luck on your fundraiser.
Richa
Thanks Srimathi! i do have a good blender now, this one is right out of the blendtec!
Ruchi
Richa, can you please share what Blendtec model you use? How has it held up to consistent use of producing fine batter?
I have been told by a lot of south-Indian friends that blenders cannot grind rice very well.
Richa
I use the classic Blendtec blender with wildside jar. It is a high powered blender and works well for rice batters. Both Blendtec and Vitamix work well. They do ned help with moving the batter initially depending on the rice, how long it has been soaked etc. the batter comes out as fine as you want. Blend for more cycles for finer batter.
https://www.amazon.com/Blendtec-TB-621-25-WildSide-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00TKRQWS8/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1470259084&sr=1-3&keywords=blendtec
Vickram Mederata
Richa are you based off India or America. If India you can get in touch with me. I have been representing Blendtec here since 2004. Nice article.