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Simple Fermented Rice Dosa (GF & Vegan)

A rice dosa is an Indian-style fermented crepe. It is typically eaten at breakfast or as street food, stuffed with a spicy filling. Traditionally gluten-free, rice dosas have a wonderful sour flavor.

Indian fermented rice dosas are gluten free and vegan

Fermentation

Rice dosa batter naturally ferments really quickly. It usually takes less than 48 hours to turn into a bubbly batter that has doubled in size.

The addition of fenugreek is meant to spur on the fermentation. So it is frequently added to Indian fermented batters, like dosa and idli.

In case you’ve never cooked with fenugreek before, I recommend buying it pre-ground. It is an extremely hard seed, and I’ve broken several spice grinders trying to grind my own!

Indian fermented rice dosas are gluten free and vegan
Dosa batter

Dosa Fillings

Dosas are one of my favorite weeknight meals. Most of the work is done ahead of time, so all I have to do is cook a few rice dosa and serve them with whatever I happen to have in the fridge. We enjoy dosas with both traditional Indian dosa fillings and Western savory crepe fillings.

Traditional Indian Fillings

Traditionally rice dosa is served for breakfast or as street food. It’s perfect for holding a flavor-packed filling.

  • Potato masala
  • Lentil stew
  • Chutney
  • Indian spiced sauerkraut
  • Spiced cabbage and potatoes

Western Crepe Fillings

Rice dosas are very similar in flavor to a French buckwheat crepe. They both have the same rich soured flavor that comes with fermentation. Feel free to fill your dosas with cheese, eggs, hummus or other non-traditional flavors.

  • Hummus, avocado, and fresh greens
  • Tomato with mozzarella and basil
  • Scrambled eggs
  • Wilted greens and cheese
Print

Fermented Rice Dosa

Fermented Rice and Lentil Dosas are a delicious, sourdough flatbread
Print Recipe

Dosas are a traditional Indian fermented crepe. This rice dosa recipe is naturally gluten-free and vegan. The batter only takes about 24 hours to naturally ferment! It has a rich, sour flavor that is delicious hot and fresh from the pan. See the section above for filling options.

  • Author: Emillie
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 8 dosas 1x
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Fermented
  • Cuisine: Indian
  • Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 cup white short-grained rice (see notes)
  • 1/3 cup urad dal (or red lentils)
  • Filtered water (chlorine-free)
  • 1/8 tsp of ground fenugreek
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Fermenting

  1. The rice and the dal need to soak individually for 3 to 6 hours. So place each of them in separate bowls and cover with water.
  2. After soaking, drain the water from the dal, and scrape them into a blender. Use 3 tablespoons of water to rinse any remaining dal from the bowl and add them to the blender. Grind until smooth and frothy. 
  3. When the dal is fully ground, drain the rice and add it to the blender as well. Continue grinding until it comes together in a smooth batter. Feel free to add a few more tablespoons of water, if necessary to help with grinding.
  4. Scrape the ground dal and rice into a glass bowl or measuring cup for fermenting. You can use a bit more filtered water to get any remaining ground rice and dal from the bottom of the blender. The batter should be about 3 cups in total, so add more water to bring it up to that point.
  5. Stir in the fenugreek. Cover the container with a tea towel and leave it somewhere warm to ferment for at least 12 hours or up to 48 hours. The dosa batter is officially ready when it has doubled in size, but you can be flexible on this to fit your schedule. The longer it ferments the sourer it will be.

Cooking

  1. When you’re ready to cook the dosas, heat a frying pan on medium. I use a cast-iron pan, but any non-stick pan will work.
  2. Add the salt to the dosa batter and stir gently to keep the frothiness. The final batter should have a thick, pourable consistency, so add a bit more water if necessary.
  3. Brush on a thin layer of oil in your pan. Then ladle 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and spread it around with the back of a spoon to make a thin layer.
  4. The dosa is cooked when the bottom side has started to brown and the top side is dry. You can either serve it like this or flip the dosa over to lightly toast the other side. You want the dosa to be fully cooked, but still soft enough to fold and roll.
  5. Serve fresh and hot with your choice of fillings.

Notes

  • If rice isn’t your thing, try my millet and red lentil dosa recipe instead!
  • The amount of time it will take your dosa batter to double is really dependent on temperature and local strains of yeast. Unlike bread, a precise doubling of the batter isn’t required, it really only affects the flavor.
  • It can take a bit of practice to make nicely formed dosas. Just make sure that you oil your pan each time as the dosas don’t have any oil and they will seize otherwise.
  • Short-grain rice is better than long-grain because of the starchiness, however, idli rice (if you can find it) is the best rice to use.

Keywords: gluten free, vegan, pancake, filled, South Asian, breakfast, snack, sourdough, egg free, dairy free, oil free, nut free

Filed Under: Gluten Free, Main DishesTagged With: Indian, Lentil, Pancakes

Previous Post: « Mixed Vegetables and Turmeric Sauerkraut
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Comments

  1. Cathy Tings

    June 24, 2019 at 11:29 pm

    Can you use brown rice instead of white rice? That’s because white rice is not healthy. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Janet

      May 12, 2020 at 10:14 am

      In fact, brown rice is more unhealthy than white rice. We now know that rice contains a fair amount of arsenic from the pesticides that are used to grow rice. It’s quite concentrated on the outside (which brown rice retains) so when the outside is removed, there is less arsenic though still quite a bit in the white interior. Eating brown rice means you are consuming much more arsenic. On top of that, if you follow Dr Steven Gundry, you learn also that there are plenty of lectins and phytates in the germ and bran which bind to the vitamins and minerals in the food you eat so they cannot be abosorbed by your body. They are known as anti-nutrients. The same goes for whole wheat flour vs white flour. So if you really must be flour or rice, opt for the white version and get your vitamins and minerals from another source.

      Reply
  2. Cathy Ti

    June 24, 2019 at 11:31 pm

    White rice isn’t very healthy–as there’s no fiber in it, nor nutrients. With that, would brown rice work instead? Let me know.. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Emillie

      June 25, 2019 at 6:36 am

      Yes! Feel free to use brown rice instead of white rice. It just might take a bit longer to grind, but it will still ferment.

      Reply
  3. anna

    November 21, 2020 at 1:47 am

    Hey hello,
    could someone let me know how many dosas this recipe makes?
    thanks already

    Reply
    • Emillie

      November 23, 2020 at 9:11 am

      It depends on how large your dosas are, but it should make around 8 dosas. Enjoy!

      Reply
  4. Alex

    April 2, 2021 at 12:16 pm

    Hello Emillie,

    Is it possible to use white rice flour and bean flour (instead of urad dal) and fement the flour and proceed with the recipe from that point on? Do you think that would yield similar results?

    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Emillie

      April 3, 2021 at 3:20 pm

      Yes! It should work fine. The only difference from traditional dosas is that the batter will be quite smooth. Home ground dosas have more of a gritty texture which is actually quite nice. Cheers, Emillie

      Reply
  5. Laurie

    April 15, 2021 at 8:00 am

    Can these be used as tortillas?

    Reply
    • Emillie

      April 15, 2021 at 1:11 pm

      They aren’t the same texture as tortillas, but if you aren’t able to tolerate corn, then they are a good alternative! A bit crispier and more breakable than corn tortillas. But otherwise, delicious. Enjoy!

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Emillie, an island-dwelling fermentation enthusiast. Fermenting For Foodies features healthy recipes designed to feed your microbiome.
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