The great South Indian breakfast: a shattering rice-and-lentil crepe around turmeric-gold potatoes. A true dosa is a two-day commitment — soak, grind, ferment — and we will not pretend otherwise. What we promise in return is the best breakfast a kitchen can produce, and a batter that keeps for days once made.
Ingredients
- 3 cups idli rice (or parboiled rice)
- 1 cup whole skinned urad dal
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- Salt
- For the potato masala: 700g potatoes, boiled and crumbled
- 2 tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chana dal
- 1 onion sliced, 2 green chillies, 10 curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- Ghee for the griddle
Method
- Soak the rice, and separately the dal with fenugreek, for 5-6 hours.
- Grind the dal to a light, airy cloud with cold water; grind the rice slightly grainy. Combine with salt.
- Ferment somewhere warm 8-14 hours, until risen and faintly sour. The batter should ribbon off the ladle.
- For the masala: pop mustard seeds and chana dal in oil, add curry leaves, chillies, and onion, soften, then turmeric and the crumbled potatoes with a splash of water. Keep warm.
- Heat a flat griddle to medium-high; it is right when a drop of water skates. Wipe with a cut onion dipped in ghee.
- Ladle batter in the center and spiral it thin with the back of the ladle. Drizzle ghee at the edges.
- When the underside is lace-brown and the edges lift, lay a bar of potato masala across, fold, and serve at once with coconut chutney and sambar.
Set the table to music
Dosa belongs to the first hours of the day. We set it to raga Bhairav and the morning veena — the sound of a dining room with the shutters just up.