Plain Dosa (Thosai)

Thinking of thosai, my cravings towards my mom's thosai, create a desire for me to do it myself.  Of course, the taste wouldn't be same. Anybody who have tasted my mom's thosai will crave for next.  Just imagine my hubby would request it personally  through me each time we go back to hometown.  Almost every Sunday's Thosai will be listed as our breakfast item accompanied by favorite peanut chutney.  We love so much until tend to eat max 4 or 5 thosai's. She was so patient to prepare us (siblings) hot and crispy thosai  fresh from the stove.  When I ask her secret recipe, she just gave me a humble smile and replied nothing secret. Sure my sister, who read this will miss my mom's thosai as well. Ha ha ha.... Just one more month to go back. I still able to recall back memories, first time i ordered Thosai from a restaurant, when i was away from home for further studies.  As time flies, finally i adjusted myself.

Dosa or Thosai made from fermented batter, which consist of rice and split black lentils. Its a Indian traditional cuisine favored by Malaysians as well. From the basic recipe, it can be varied into masala dosa, ghee dosa, egg dosa, crispy tissue dosa, uttapam and so on. Here im presenting the basic plain dosa recipe. This is not my mom's original recipe since im not still major her skills of doing thosai. She would not use either, fenugreek or sago.

• Rice – 2 cups


• Split black lentils (Urad dal) – 1 cups


• Sago – 2 tbsp


• Fenugreek seeds- 2 tsp


• salt


• yeast – 1 tsp


• cooked rice – 1/4 cup

Preparation Method:

• Wash and soak rice with black lentils for 6 to 8 hours. Add sago and fenugreek seeds before 1 hours to soak.


• Ground soak lentils with cooked rice with adequate water until very smooth.


• Transfer the batter into large pot. Add yeast and salt. Mix it well.


• Cover tightly and let it ferment overnight or 7 - 8 hours.


• Fermented batter should be stirred.


• Grease your hot tawa with ghee or gingerly oil.


• Pour a ladleful of batter on to the center and swirl to spread in circular motion to get thin layer pancake.


• Let it cook and transfer to a plate. Serve with chutney, sambar, podi or curry.

Smear a tsp or desired amount of ghee on top of thosai. That's ghee thosai. I love ghee thosai. Don't care about the calories. Basic thosai can be serve with toppings such as ghee, butter, onion, or egg.

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