Chilli cheese dosa pancake recipe
These thin, crisp pancakes, made with a batter of lentils and rice, are among the most classic of South Indian street foods, and you can recreate them at home with this step-by-step guide.
The recipe was created by Indian-born Karan Gokani, co-founder and creative director of London-based Sri Lankan restaurant Hoppers.
"Dosas are, for me, street food at its most addictive," says Karan. "Growing up in Mumbai, you could find the traditional varieties as well as a long list of improvised dosas abundantly made to order by street-side vendors.
"Although sharing the same ancestry, the dosa in Sri Lanka is more commonly known as a thosai, and is thicker and softer than its South Indian counterpart. Its look and texture are similar to a western pancake, albeit slightly larger in circumference and a touch thinner.
"At Hoppers, we serve the crisper and thinner South Indian dosa, and our batter recipe has been developed specifically for it. That said, you can make the dosas thicker by adding a little more batter and spreading it out less thinly, if you prefer a thosai."
Please note: In addition to the ingredients listed, you will need enough oil or ghee to fry your dosas in. You'll also need to allow around 15-18 hours soaking and fermentation time when making the batter.
Ingredients
- 200 g parboiled idli rice
- 50 g raw husked black lentils
- 25 g daria dal
- 0.2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 handful of grated cheese
- 1 handful of green chillis, finely chopped
- 7.1 oz parboiled idli rice
- 1.8 oz raw husked black lentils
- 0.9 oz daria dal
- 0.2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 handful of grated cheese
- 1 handful of green chillis, finely chopped
- 7.1 oz parboiled idli rice
- 1.8 oz raw husked black lentils
- 0.9 oz daria dal
- 0.2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 handful of grated cheese
- 1 handful of green chillis, finely chopped
Details
- Cuisine: South Indian
- Recipe Type: Dosa
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 10 mins
- Serves: 12
Step-by-step
- Wash the rice and lentils thoroughly in at least 4 changes of water. Then add plenty of water and soak them together with the fenugreek seeds for 5-6 hours.
- Once soaked, drain away the water and grind everything well, adding a little water at a time. The final consistency should be that of a thick, slightly gritty cake batter. Add the salt to the batter, stir well, cover and allow to ferment in a cool, dark spot overnight, or for 10-12 hours. Depending on where you live and the temperature of your kitchen, the fermentation can take a little longer or less time than this. Once properly fermented, there should be a few tiny bubbles in the batter and it should have a sour taste and smell, a bit like soured yoghurt. Once the batter has fermented, you can store it in the fridge or freeze it until you are ready to make the dosas.
- To make the dosas, heat a non-stick pancake pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Once hot, drizzle a few drops of oil or ghee over the pan and wipe it off with clean paper towel. This reinforces the non-stick layer. Thin the batter out just a touch with a splash of water. It needs to be the thickness of a custard or standard pancake batter (if you’ve made idlis before, the batter for dosas should be slightly thinner).
- Pour a ladleful of batter onto the pan and spread it out into a thin crêpe or pancake, working as swiftly as you can using the back of a ladle or a flat-bottomed bowl. This requires a lot of practice and running your pan at the right level of heat. The trick is to move in a spiral direction with the ladle from the centre of the mound of batter to the edges. It’s best to do this in one movement, as going back over the batter will tear the dosa that has already started to cook. Allow the dosa to cook for about 30 seconds and then drizzle some ghee or oil over it, along with some grated cheese and finely chopped green chillis. Remember the dosa only cooks from one side; you won’t be flipping it over. Once you see the dosa changing colour to golden, start peeling it off the pan from one end using a flat spatula. You can roll it into a cigar shape or cone as you peel it off for an impressive restaurant-style finish. Serve immediately.
Recipe extracted from HOPPERS: The Cookbook by Karan Gokani (Quadrille, £28). Photography by Ryan Wijayaratne.
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