Making dosa batter needs some planning and preparation like soaking rice and dals, grinding and then fermentation. When you run out of dosa batter or forget to soak them, instant dosas like rava dosa or wheat dosa come as a savior. Rava dosa is a popular South Indian breakfast item made of semolina (rava/sooji), rice flour, all-purpose flour and spices. It's an instant dosa which does no require any soaking, grinding or fermentation.
Making a crispy and laced rava dosa takes some practice and patience. Here are few important tips in getting a perfect hotel-style rava dosa:
- The consistency of the batter is one of the keys in getting laced rava dosa. The batter should be thin and flowing. If the batter is thick, you will not get the crispy laced dosa. If batter is too thin, the dosa will break.
- The tawa should be nicely hot while pouring the batter. To test if the tawa is hot enough, sprinkle some water on the tawa and it should sizzle and evaporate right away.
- The batter should be quickly poured in a circular motion starting from the outer edges, then filling the gap in the center. Do not pour batter over again or fill the small gaps or spread the batter. The batter will spread by itself and fill some of the gaps.
- Rava dosa takes longer time to cook than regular dosa. If you try to remove the dosa before its cooked, it will break. Cook in medium heat to get perfectly crispy and golden dosa.
ONION RAVA DOSA RECIPE
{ Instant dosa recipe with semolina, rice flour, all-purpose flour, onion }Makes 6-8
Ingredients:
½ cup rava / semolina
½ cup rice flour
2 tbsp all-purpose flour / maida
1 small-sized onion, finely chopped
2 green chillies, chopped
½ inch ginger, grated
Few curry leaves
¾ tsp black peppercorn
½ tsp cumin seeds / jeera
Pinch of asafoetida / perungayam / hing
Salt to taste
Sesame oil / nallennai
Method:
1. In a large bowl add rava, rice flour, maida, asafoetida, onion, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, pepper, cumin seeds, salt and mix well with a whisk.
2. Now add 2 ½ to 3 cups water and mix well with whisk to make a thin flowing batter without any lumps.
3. Heat a dosa tawa over high heat and let it become hot. Pour a ladle full of batter in a circular motion starting from the outer edges and fill the gap in the center.
4. Drizzle 1-2 tsp of oil around and over the dosa. Cook in medium heat till the dosa turns crisp and golden. Fold dosa and serve immediately.
Serving Suggestion ~ Coconut chutney, tomato chutney and sambar.
Notes and Tips
- Make dosa immediately after making the batter. There is no need to rest the batter.
- You can use a cast iron tawa or non stick pan to make dosa. No need to grease the pan before making dosa.
- Mix the batter well before making each dosa as the ingredients would have settled down.
- After making each dosa, turn up the heat and wait for the tawa to get hot before pouring the batter.
- Rava tends to soak water. So if the batter becomes thick after making few dosas, add little more water and adjust the consistency.
