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1 rice cooker cup- Whole wheat flour
1/4 rice cooker cup- Rice flour
1 Tbsp- Semolina (Soojia rava)
1/2 Tbsp- Chickpea flour
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp- Yogurt
2.5 rice cooker cup- Water
Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients, make sure to break up any lumps and let the batter stand for 10 minutes.
2. Place the pan on heat and smear oil. To test the heat, pour a drop of batter onto the pan, if it sizzles, the pan is hot enough to pour dosa.
3. Mix the batter thoroughly and scoop into a ladle. Pour it onto the pan.
The batter sizzles upon touching the hot pan and flows/spreads out on its own into a circle. If the batter doesn't flow quickly but sits in a lump, it means it is too thick, add more water until flowing consistency is achieved.
4. Let the dosa cook until it is done. The surface of the dosa initially looks moist/wet/translucent, but turns solid & changes colour when it is done.
5. Carefully insert a spatula/turner under the dosa from its corners, to pry it off the pan. Also check if the underside looks browned. If the dosa is too fragile/breaking up/lumping up, it needs more time to cook.
6. When one side is totally cooked/browned, turn over the other side and let it cook.Serve hot with any pacchadi or podi.
Suggestions:
Traditional cooks comfortably pour dosa onto a pan and then pour drops of oil onto its corners. My dosa gets stuck at the centre when I used this method. Hence, I invented this alternate technique of first smearing oil over the pan, and then pouring the dosa over the oil. This way, my dosa doesn't stick at the centre. You can settle on whichever method suits you best!
Variations:
1. This is a mix & match dosa. You can adjust the proportions of wheat flour/rice flour/semolina flour to taste. If the ratio of semolina flour-rice flour increased, this same recipe converts into Rava dosa recipe.
2. You can add vegetables into the batter. I added a blended tomato, onion and green chillies, and garnished with cilantro. (Make sure to adjust the water since blended vegetables add moisture to the batter). This makes the dosa more nutritious, tastier and appetizing to look at. Alternatively, you can add fine chopped tomatoes & onions instead of blending.
3. If you want to make the dosa spicy, you may add whole cumin seeds, red chilli powder, turmeric or asafoetida as per taste.
4. If the dosa seems to continually break up for no reason:
- the pan might not be hot enough.
- you might be attempting to turn over the dosa while it is still uncooked.
- you may increase the amount of chickpea flour since it is a binding agent. However, it won't be necessary as wheat flour too has a binding nature.
5. If you add less water to the batter whereby it doesn't flow as smoothly, the dosa comes out thick like an Utappam.
Culture & Health:
Dosa is a standard breakfast/snack item in Andhra cuisine. This dosa has the added advantage of being very easy to prepare, needs little prior preparation, a kind of 'instant' dosa. Wheat flour/rice flour & vegetables provide a balanced diet. It can be made with very few drops of oil for the health conscious. Moreover, the batter flows easily into a circle & doesn't need practice/technique to spread unlike the minappindi dosa.
Trivia:
Wheat flour dosa is my peddamma's recipe, she makes it plain with a tiny bit of rice flour and salt, it is awesome in its simplicity!
