First, a word on this dish
Start the evening before. That is the main thing to know about masala dosa, because the batter must soak, be ground and then ferment overnight before you can cook a single dosa, and nothing you do on the day can make up for skipping it. The potato filling is the easy half: fifteen minutes, one pan, and forgiving of whatever you have on hand.
Two skills make up the dish, then. One is turning fermented batter into a thin, crisp crepe on a hot griddle, which takes a handful of tries to feel natural. The other is a soft potato mixture, and that mixture is what turns a plain dosa (sada dosa) into a masala dosa. The word masala refers to the mustard-seed and turmeric seasoning, not to fiery heat. A good filling is mellow, which is exactly why this works as a daily breakfast and not only as a restaurant treat.
The story behind the dish
Fermented rice and lentil pancakes are an old, widely shared idea in South India, mentioned in writing for many centuries. What we now call masala dosa is a narrower thing: a crepe rolled around turmeric potato. Its strongest link is with Udupi, on the Karnataka coast, and with the Udupi-style restaurants that took it through the south and then the rest of India between the late 1800s and early 1900s. Tamil Nadu cooks have an equally long and valid dosa tradition of their own, with different views on batter ratios and thickness, which is why neither state can fairly say it invented the dosa. The potato filling, together with the familiar restaurant presentation of a large thin crepe folded into a cone or half-moon beside coconut chutney and sambar, is easier to trace to the Udupi hotels. Writers on South Indian food give those hotels credit for turning a household batter into the dish now known worldwide.
The method, in order
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Prep
Soak in two separate bowls
Rinse the rice and the dal in their own bowls until the water turns mostly clear, then cover each with plenty of water. The fenugreek goes in with the dal. Leave both for 4 to 6 hours, or overnight in a cool house. Dal softens faster than rice, so they are always ground apart.
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Prep
Grind to a fluffy batter
Drain the dal first and grind it with the poha, if using, adding water a little at a time until the batter looks pale, thick and airy. This takes longer than most people expect, around 15 to 20 minutes in a wet grinder. Grind the rice on its own to a slightly gritty paste. Combine them in a big container with the salt and stir by hand, which works in air.
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Prep
Wait for the rise
Cover loosely and keep the batter in a warm place for 8 to 12 hours, longer if the weather is cold. Look for roughly doubled volume, small bubbles throughout, and a mildly sour smell, not a sharp or boozy one. Do not hurry it with extra heat. Fermentation is what gives dosa its tang and its ability to crisp.
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Prep
Season the potato base
Warm the oil in a wide pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the chana dal, urad dal, curry leaves and dried chilli and fry for a short while, until the dals turn light gold. Put in the onion, green chillies and ginger and cook about 5 minutes, until the onion is soft and see-through.
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Cook
Bring in the turmeric and potato
Stir the turmeric in, followed by the mashed potato and the water. Mix until it forms a soft, bright yellow mass that holds together, and add a splash more water if it seems dry. Salt it, let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes so the flavours blend, then add the coriander. Cover the pan and set it aside to stay warm.
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Cook
Get the tawa to the right heat
Put the tawa over medium-high heat and wait a couple of minutes. Sprinkle on a little water as a check; if it sizzles and vanishes in an instant, the surface is ready. Smear on a thin film of oil using a folded cloth or a cut onion half, which helps release the dosa later.
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Cook
Spread in one spiral
Pour a ladle of batter in the centre of the hot surface and sweep it outward in one continuous spiral using the flat underside of the ladle. Go quickly, before the batter sets. The layer should be even and thinner than a pancake. Thickness decides whether the dosa crisps or stays soft and doughy.
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Cook
Oil the edges and leave it alone
Trickle a little oil or ghee around the rim and over the surface. Let it cook, untouched, on medium-high heat until the underside is golden and the edges lift and curl by themselves, usually 2 to 3 minutes. A dosa that is well fermented and spread properly does not need turning.
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Serve
Fill, fold, and eat
Spoon a stripe of warm potato across the centre or onto one half, then fold the dosa over or roll it up. Serve at once with coconut chutney and sambar. A dosa goes limp quickly once it sits on a plate, so do not make anyone wait.
Ingredient stand-ins
Idli rice or any short-grain parboiled rice is ideal. Do not use basmati or other long-grain aromatic rice, which ferments differently and gives a gummy batter. If your dosas turn out weak and bland, a small handful of cooked rice or poha ground in with the dal helps crispness. Instant dosa mixes can rescue a weeknight, although both texture and tang differ from the real thing. Ready-made dosa batter from South Indian grocery shops, chilled or frozen, is widely used and perfectly acceptable instead of homemade.
Making it milder or fiercer
Expect a mellow potato. Whatever warmth it has comes from the two kinds of chilli, so those are the dials to turn. Lowering the heat means dropping the dried chilli and keeping just a sliver of green, with mustard, curry leaves and turmeric doing the work. Raising it means a second green chilli, or a pinch of chilli powder stirred in alongside the turmeric. Better still, put a spicier tomato or red chilli chutney on the table and leave the potato as the gentle element.
The slip most cooks make
If the dosa tastes flat and never crisps no matter how hot the tawa gets, suspect the batter. It most likely did not ferment enough, because the kitchen was cold or you were in a hurry. Pan temperature is the next thing: when it is too cool, the batter will not spread thin or crisp, and when it is too hot, it sets before you can spread it and tears. A greasy filling comes from too much oil in the pan. A dosa that tastes bland by itself usually means only the filling was salted, and the batter was not. And if you move the dosa before the edges lift, it tears.
Storing what is left
Fridge or counter: Fermented batter lasts 3 to 4 days in the fridge and turns gradually more sour. Stir it and thin it with a splash of water before using, since it thickens when cold. It also freezes in portions for up to a month. Cooked potato filling keeps in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two days. Finished dosas do not store well and taste best made to order.
Bringing it back to life: Leftover potato revives nicely over a low flame with a little water stirred in, or in the microwave in brief rounds with a stir between each. The dosa is another story. Once cooked and cooled, it will not regain its snap, even on a hot tawa, so ladle out only what will be eaten now and keep the rest of the batter for the next meal.
Handle with care
Batter ferments safely at room temperature for the time given, because acidity builds faster than spoilage organisms can grow. After fermenting, though, move it to the fridge instead of leaving it out, especially in hot weather, when it can turn very sour and eventually unsafe. Boiled potatoes you will not use straight away should be cooled and refrigerated promptly, since cooked potato left at room temperature for a long time encourages bacterial growth. Nothing here is deep-fried, so the only oil advice is not to let the griddle oil smoke and char again and again. Wipe the surface between dosas to stop burnt residue building up.
Sources worth opening
- K.T. Achaya, "Indian Food: A Historical Companion" (Oxford University Press) — on the history of fermented rice-and-lentil batter dishes in South India.
- Colleen Taylor Sen, "Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India" (Reaktion Books) — on the Udupi hotel tradition and its role in standardising and spreading masala dosa.