Dosas are a gluten-free sourdough crepe that are typically eaten at breakfast or as a street food. It has a wonderful sour flavour that is delicious hot and crisp straight from the frying pan.

Traditional dosa fillings include potato masala, lentil stew, vegetable medleys, chutney and pickles. I recommend trying my favourite apple chutney recipe. However, I think that dosas would also make a good base for non-South Asian cuisine. Dosas stuffed with cheese and tomato would make a nice gluten-free lunch.

Dosa

Dosas are a gluten-free sourdough crepe that has a wonderful sour flavour that is delicious hot and crisp straight from the frying pan.

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

Scale

Ingredients

1 cup white short grained rice
1/3 cup split urad dal (or red lentils if you can’t find urad dal)
pinch of fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp salt
Filtered water (chlorine free)

Instructions

Cover the rice with a few inches of water, and soak for 3-6 hours. In a separate container, also soak the dal and fenugreek for 3-6 hours.
After soaking, drain the dal and blend in a blender until smooth and frothy. Add filtered water as required to assist with the blending.
Drain the rice, and separately grind the rice in the blender with a little bit of added water until fairly smooth. It will be a bit grittier than the dal, which adds to the texture of the dosa.
Combine the ground dal and rice in a large glass container for fermenting.
Cover the container with a tea towel, place somewhere warm and allow it 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.
Heat a pan to medium heat (we used cast iron, but non-stick would work as well).
Add salt and water to the dosa batter, stirring gently to keep the bubbles. You need to add just enough water to make it a thick pouring consistency.
Put a little oil in your pan. Then laddle a spoonful into your pan, and spread it around to make a thin layer.
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.
Serve hot with your choice of fillings.

Notes

The amount of time it will take your dosa batter to double is really dependent on temperature and local yeast strains. Unlike bread, precise doubling of the batter isn’t required.
Leftover dosas can be toasted to refresh their crisp texture.
Like all sourdough starters, you need to make sure that your water is pure because chlorine will prevent fermentation.
The fenugreek is said to help capture the wild yeasts, but you don’t have to include it.
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.
Urad dal is better for the texture too, but I think that red lentils would make a decent replacement (though I haven’t tried it, so if anyone does try it let me know!)

Keywords: gluten free, vegan, pancake, filled

Here’s a photo of the blended lentils and rice before fermenting.