Idli or Dosha? Dosha.
Dosha or Upma? Dosha.
Dosha or Vada? Dosha.
Trust me, you can list as many tempting options as you like, and I would still choose a crisp, ghee-laden, home-cooked, freshly-served Dosha over any MasterChef recipe in the world.
The reason is simple. For decades, I grew up in a household where the first meal of the day was an elaborate spread.
It would usually be different types of Idlis, Upma or Vadas, or a choice of Doshas, Uttapams, Appams, Kappa (steam-cooked tapioca sauteed with a paste of onion, salt and red chillies) or Puttu, always accompanied by at least two different chutneys, curries and a fragrant homemade podi -- not the red mulagapodi served at Udupi restaurants, but one whose recipe was perfected and customised by my grandmother and passed down to us by my mother.
These ghar ka Doshas, because of their versatility, were my favourites and till today they are my first love.
During my summer and Diwali holidays in Coimbatore and Kerala, I would watch and join my aunts grind kilos of rice and urad dal on the wet grinder. No matter how large the batch, it would all be finished within two or three days.
Unlike the Idlis and Doshas commonly served in Mumbai, what made them special at home were the hot, finger-licking curries and chutneys they were paired with.
I personally love the humble Veg Ishtu or Stew -- onions and potatoes simmered and steam cooked in coconut milk.
But when you're feeding a large family that loves to dunk (not dip) their Idlis and Doshas in the curries, a rich yet runny Sambaar with a mix of vegetables would be the most practical choice.
And on rushed mornings, the Jugaadu Kalakki Sambaar, made using a quick batter of besan, onions, tomatoes and Sambaar powder, was a lifesaver.
As for chutneys, the variety that accompanied our Idlis and Doshas could easily fill an entire cookbook.
While my busy cousins in Coimbatore now rely on ready-made Idli-Dosha batter, I still enjoy the labour of preparing my own batter and watching it ferment overnight.
If you love Doshas or Uttappam too, here are five fun and versatile ways to make the most of your batter, so you have a new menu every day. But first the recipe for a standard Dosha batter, the way I make it.
Dosha Batter
Serves: Family of 3 for 5 days
Ingredients
- 6 cups ukda or idli rice
- 2 cups urad dal or white gram
- 2 tbsp methi or fenugreek seeds
- 1 tbsp channa dal
- Water
- Salt to taste, about 4 tsp
Method
- Soak for a minimum of six hours.
Grind the rice in a mixer with a little water till well ground.
Pour into a large steel container that has a cover.
Grind the urad dal with the methi, chana dal in the mixer with just a little water till well ground.
Add the urad batter to the rice batter and add the salt.
Cover and drape with a kitchen towel and store in a warm place overnight. - By the next day the batter will have risen to nearly double.
Give it a light stir and keep aside till ready to use.
This is your basic batter.
Take portions of it to make your doshas of the day.
Day 1: Beetroot Dosha
Servings: 5-6
Ingredients
- 1 large beetroot, peeled, grated
- 2 cups ready dosha batter
- 1 onion, grated
- 1 tsp chilly powder
- 1 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
- 1 green chilly, finely chopped
- Salt to taste, about ½ tsp
- Ghee or sunflower oil to fry the doshas
Method
- In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients.
Adjust the salt.
Heat a dosha tawa or griddle or a non-stick pan over medium heat and smear with the oil/ghee.
Spread a ladleful of the batter onto the pan in a circular motion, getting it as thin as you can.
Let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes over medium heat.
Add a little more oil or ghee on top and flip and let it cook for a few minutes more.
Take off heat and serve the dosha with podi or chutney and sambar or all three.
Day 2: Spinach Dosha
Servings: 5-6
Ingredients
- 2 cups ready dosha batter
- 1 cup blanched spinach
- ½-inch piece ginger, ground
- 5-6 pods garlic
- 1 tsp jeera powder
- 1 tsp chopped fresh green dhania or coriander leaves or cilantro
Method
- Grind spinach to a puree along with the garlic, ginger, jeera.
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients.
Adjust the salt.
Heat a dosha tawa or griddle or a non-stick pan over medium heat and smear with the oil/ghee.
Spread a ladleful of the batter onto the pan in a circular motion, getting it as thin as you can.
Let it cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
Add a little more oil or ghee or butter on top and flip and let it cook for a few minutes more.
Take off heat and serve the dosha with podi or chutney and Sambaar or all three.
Day 3: Carrot Doshas
Servings: 5-6 doshas
Ingredients
- 2 cups ready dosha batter
- 1 medium carrot, grated,
- 1 onion, grated
- Handful or ¼ cup rawa or suji or semolina
- 1 tomato, ground to a paste
- 1 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
- Salt to taste, about ½ tsp
- Oil or ghee to fry the doshas
Method
- In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients.
Adjust the salt.
Heat a dosha tawa or griddle or a non-stick pan over medium heat and smear with the oil/ghee.
Spread a ladleful of the batter onto the pan in a circular motion, getting it as thin as you can.
Let it cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
Add a little more oil or ghee or butter on top and flip and let it cook for a few minutes more.
Take off heat and serve the dosha with podi or chutney and sambaar or all three.
Day 4: Moringa Doshas
Servings: 5-6 doshas
Ingredients
- 2 cups ready dosha batter
- 1 cup washed chopped morninga leaves
- 1 small onion or 5-6 small onions finely chopped
- 1-2 green chillies, finely chopped
- Few curry pattas
- ½ tsp hing or asafoetida
- Oil or ghee or butter to fry the doshas + little extra to fry the onions
Method
- In a frying pan or small kadhai over medium heat, in a little oil, fry the moringa leaves, onions, hing, chillies, curry pattas for 5-6 minutes.
Take off heat and keep aside to cool. - In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients.
Adjust the salt.
Heat a dosha tawa or griddle or a non-stick pan over medium heat and smear with the oil/ghee.
Spread a ladleful of the batter onto the pan in a circular motion, getting it as thin as you can.
Let it cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
Add a little more oil or ghee or butter on top and flip and let it cook for a few minutes more.
Take off heat and serve the dosha with podi or chutney and sambaar or all three.
Day 5: Paniyaram
Servings: Makes 12-15 paniyarams
Ingredients
- 2 cups ready dosha batter
- 1 onion, very finely chopped
- 1 tomato very finely chopped
- ½ of a green capsicum or Shimla mirch, de-seeded, de-stemmed, very finely chopped
- 3-4 French beans, very finely chopped, optional, instead of capsicum
- 4-5 tbsp grated carrots, optional instead of capsicum
- Handful green peas
- 2 green chillies, finely chopped
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- Salt to taste, about ½ tsp
- Oil or ghee to fry the paniyarams + a little extra to fry the capsicum etc vegetables
Method
- In a frying pan or a kadhai, over medium heat, fry the capsicum with the onions, chillies, tomatoes or the beans, carrots, and peas.
Take off heat and keep aside to cool. - In a large bowl, mix the batter with the fried veggies and the salt.
Smear a paniyaram pan with ghee or oil and fill the cavities with batter and cook covered over low heat for 6-7 minutes.
Then flip the paniyarams and cook for another few minutes and serve with chutney and/or podi.
Editor's Note: If you don't have time to make your own batter. Purchase pre-prepared batter and follow these recipes to get yummy vegetable-enriched doshas.
For a sambar recipe, please click here: Traditional Sambaar Like My Amma's.
For an eggplant relish recipe, please click here: Sutta Kathirikkai.
For more chutney recipes, please click here: Spice It Up! 11 Chutney Recipes.