Masala Dosa
Masala Dosa Recipe – Make perfect, aromatic and great masala dosas at home with this step by step recipe post. Masala Dosa is one of the most popular South Indian breakfast dishes served in restaurants and tiffin centres. Dosa is a crepe made using fermented rice and lentil batter. Masala Dosa is one that is crisp, aromatic, flavourful and has a potato masala or spiced seasoned potatoes stuffed in it.
These crispy crepes are quite addictive and delicious. No one wants to stop with one and this says how delicious they taste!
About Masala Dosa
Masala Dosa is a popular South Indian breakfast where a crispy crepe made of fermented rice and lentil batter is served with flavorful spiced potato curry. It is a wholesome meal in itself as it is served with potato masala, Coconut chutney and Sambar.
It is believed that Masala dosa originated in the Tuluva Mangalorean cuisine, from Karnataka (source: Wiki). Udupi restaurants made this toothsome and delectable food very popular all over India and now these are also popular in many countries.
Most South Indian households make dosas regularly and each home has their own recipe. Making a home style masala dosa is super simple as it can be made with any plain dosa batter. You don’t even need a sambar and chutney as the potato masala itself is good enough.
But making a good special restaurant style masala dosa at home needs experimenting a lot. Over the years I have experimented a lot as they are a staple in my home. I have also shared a lot of my latest tips and tricks to make those special kind of masala dosas served in South Indian restaurants.
A special restaurant style masala dosa is much more flavorful than the regular crispy dosa we make at home. So the proportions of rice, dal, methi, chana dal and poha change here.
The recipe to make the masala dosa batter is much different from one state to the other and from one restaurant to the other. Some places serve very thin dosas while some serve the crisp yet slightly thicker kind like the one in my pictures.
These kind of masala dosas are more specific to the Udupi restaurants, MTR chain & many tiffin centres in Bangalore.
Apart from rice, urad dal and chana dal, the most commonly used ingredients in restaurants are rice flour, semolina, chiroti rava and some even use all-purpose flour & sabudana. All of these contribute to the flavour and crisp texture.
So there is no one formula or recipe to make perfect masala dosas. But there are a lot of tips and tricks that will help you make them great – aromatic, golden and crisp.
How to Make Masala Dosa
Prepare and Make the Batter
1. Add half cup urad dal, 3 tablespoons chana dal and half teaspoon methi seeds to a large pot or bowl. Also measure 3 tablespoons poha and set aside. Wash and soak it just 30 mins before blending the batter.
2. Also measure 1½ cups raw rice & ½ cups idli rice (optional). You can also use only raw rice. Add them to another large bowl.
3. Wash and soak them separately for 4 to 5 hours.
4. Drain water from dal. Add dal and poha to a blender jar with 1¼ cup water and salt as needed. You can skip salt if you live in a hot place. Without adding salt, my batter doesn’t ferment. So I use while blending.
5. Blend them to a batter that is frothy and bubbly. The batter must not be very thick or very runny at this stage.
6. Transfer that to a bowl. Use glass or ceramic bowls if you live in a hot place. This prevents the batter from turning sour.
7. Blend rice with half cup water to a slightly coarse (fine semolina texture) or a smooth batter to suit your liking. If you have a small blender then blend the rice in 2 batches.
8. If needed pour another ¼ cup water.
9. Pour that as well to the bowl with dal batter.
10. Mix everything well.
11. Cover and allow to ferment in a warm place for 6 to 16 hours depending on your climate or temperature.
Ferment Masala Dosa Batter
12. Cover the batter & keep it in a warm place to ferment until the batter rises and turns slightly bubbly. If you live in a warm place, leave it on the counter overnight. It may take anywhere from 5 to 16 hours depending on the temperature.
If you live in a colder regions, preheat the oven at the lowest setting 120 F or 50 C for 10 mins. Turn off the oven and keep the batter inside. If the climate is too cold, after heating the oven, turn ON the oven light. You can also use your instant pot to ferment with the yogurt settings. Use an external lid and not the IP lid.
I ferment it for 6 to 7 hours in my oven or in the Instant pot for 6 hours. Do not over ferment the batter as we don’t want very airy batter here. This picture was shot long time ago when I would ferment for 12 hours at 24 C indoor temp.
Fermentation test: To check if the masala dosa batter is fermented well, drop half a spoon of this batter into a bowl filled with water. Well fermented batter will float & not sink.
Make Potato Masala for dosa
13. The next morning, steam or boil potatoes without making them mushy. You can steam them over a pressure cooker. Or Add peeled and diced potatoes to a bowl and pour water to partially cover them. Place it in the pressure cooker and let it whistle thrice. While the potatoes boil, soak 1 teaspoon chana dal & 1 teaspoon urad dal in little hot water for 30 minutes so they soften.
14. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil. Saute ½ tsp cumin, ¾ tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chana dal and 1 tsp urad dal. I used yellow mustard since I was running out of stock. When the dals turn golden, add hing.
15. Add grated ginger and saute until the aroma comes out.
16. Add sliced onions, slit or chopped green chilies and curry leaves.
17. Saute until the onions turn lightly golden.
18. Crumble the potatoes and add them along with turmeric and salt.
19. Add 2 tbsps of potato steamed water or fresh water. If your potatoes have turned mushy, just skip the water here.
20. Saute very well for 2 mins and add chopped coriander leaves. Set this aside. If you prefer to have a chutney as well, you can try one from this coconut chutney post. You may also like this tiffin sambar recipe.
Make the Masala Dosa
21. Bring the masala dosa batter to the right consistency by adding some water. Batter must be of a thick pouring consistency as you see in the picture. To get brown dosas you can also try adding one tsp of powdered sugar. This doesn’t work for me but restaurants do add a bit of sugar.
22. Heat your pan on a medium heat. If using cast iron pan, drizzle a few drops of oil and rub it all over with a cut onion.
When the pan is hot enough, stir the batter in the bowl and take a ladle of batter. Pour it in the center of the hot pan.
23. Immediately begin to spread the batter from the center moving your hand in clockwise direction, making circles until you reach the edges. Refer video for the method. You can thin or thick dosas with this batter. Add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp butter or oil around the edges.
24. When it turns slightly brown and well cooked. Flip it and cook on the other side. Flip it back and cook it until the masala dosa turns golden to light brown. You can even get dark brown dosas with this batter. Just put the flame medium high when it is half cooked. Place the potato masala on one half of the dosa.
25. If making mysore masala dosa, please follow the recipe card above to make red chutney. Smear the chutney as desired and then place the potato curry. Either roll it or just fold it.