My mother was visiting a friend, when she was served this dosa. Her friend had learned it in a cooking class and was experimenting at home. My parents loved it and make it often, and it turns out that the friend never had the time to make the dosa again. Destiny.

The first time I ate this dosa, I went ‘wowwwww, its so crispy!’ Look at the edges of the dosa in the picture and you get an idea. If you grind the batter coarsely like I do, you get this delightful, crunchy texture.

You could make this dosa plain, or with add-ons. Traditionally, spinach is added, but I’m sure you could experiment with other things too. I often throw in a handful of other pulses as well. You can spot horse gram in the picture below.

As this dosa has so much more dal than usual, it is higher in protein. Also, because of the dal, I feel that it doesn’t pair too well with sambars or dals, and is best served with just chutney, or maybe even curds.

Time taken: 30 min (Plus time for soaking and fermenting)
Makes 10-12 dosas

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
½ cup toor dal/ pigeon peas
½ cup mung dal
½ cup urad dal or split skinned black gram
½ cup chana dal or Bengal gram

½ onion, chopped finely
1 cup palak or spinach leaves, chopped
1 tsp chopped green chilies (optional)
½ cup grated coconut

1 tsp saunf or aniseed
1 tsp jeera or cumin
2-3 dried red chilies
1 tbsp chopped garlic
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the dals and rice together for 4-6 hours. Grind into a coarse batter.

Fermentation is an optional step in this recipe, so if you have the time, let it sit for a few hours or use immediately.

Grind together the aniseed, cumin, chilies and garlic. Traditionally, this is ground on stone, and that gives a different flavor, but you can use a mortar and pestle or a mixer.

Mix the onions, chilies, spinach, coconut, and the paste into the batter.

Spread on a hot oiled tava or skillet, and flip over when the bottom surface has browned sufficiently. You can check this by raising a corner.

Serve hot with mint and coriander chutney.

This is a very special Manglorean dosa. It is my favorite among all dosas, and it is such a pity that even most South Indians have no clue what it is. Very very few restaurants serve it. In Bangalore, you can probably find neer dosas on the menu in restaurants that serve Mangalorean cusine.

The name is ‘neer’ dosa, which literally translates to water dosa. The batter is so, so thin, it is like cooking with water, hence the name. This is a recipe that can be very very hard if you don’t get the basics right, and very easy once you’re set. As I taught myself how to make it, it took me a few months to get everything right, but I pass on all my lessons here, and I’ve been told that many people have gotten it right thanks to the instructions. I hope you do too!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 cups rice
½ coconut, freshly grated
Salt, Water

Equipment:

Wet grinder/ food processor/ mixer
A flat iron skillet is the perfect skillet to make neer dosas in.
In its absence, you may use flat non-stick pans.

Method:

Soak the rice overnight in enough water. Drain.

Grind the coconut and rice along with a little water, until very smooth.

Add plenty of water to make a really thin batter.

Smear oil on a hot skillet and place it on high heat.

When it smokes, pour the batter onto the skillet. The batter should be thin enough to bubble, and holes should appear the moment it is poured on the skillet.

Reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook.

When done, fold and serve. (Since the dosa is so thin, it is not cooked on the reverse side.)

It is typically served with coconut chutney and a mixture of jaggery and grated coconut.