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.

Akki roti is typically eaten in various parts of South Karnataka. I remember enjoying them the most at a friend’s place in my early days in Bangalore. We used to go together to office, and I’d be at her place most nights, letting her mother happily indulge me in her awesome akki rotis and cucumber gojju.

Those akki rotis were different, though. There are 2 different types of akki rotis. The ingredients are the same, but while one uses a banana leaf to smear the dough on, the other, bāndlay akki roti is made in a kadhai (wok) and is smeared on a hot wok by hand. Not my favourite process. It is then covered and allowed to cook. It is not turned over (obviously. The shape doesn’t allow it) The result is very different in both cases. The former is soft, and the latter is a combination of very soft and very crispy, if you get it right.

Makes 3 akki rotis

Ingredients:

½ cup very fine rice flour (Appam flour usually works well)
½ onion, chopped
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
½ cup grated coconut
1 green chili minced
Salt to taste

Equipment:

Banana leaves or plastic sheets
Skillet (tava)

Method:

Mix all ingredients with boiling water to make the dough thick enough to hold in your hands.

Smear oil on a banana leaf and flatten some dough on it. You could either flatten the dough with your hands – in this case, wet your fingers with water periodically to prevent the dough from sticking to them. Or, you could place the dough between two well-oiled banana leaves and use a rolling pin to spread it. Take off the upper banana leaf before cooking, in this case.

Heat some oil on a tava and place the banana leaf on it, dough-side down.

Carefully peel the leaf off. If you are using a plastic sheet, make sure it doesn’t touch the tava.

Cook on a medium flame on both sides. Serve with coconut chutney or vegetable curry

This is one of my favourite snacks. The ginger and chili gives it a lovely flavour and it is also is sooo healthy. The best part is, for those who find steamed foods boring, it also gives you the option to make them a fried version. Satisfies the health-conscious as well as the,… well, the rest of them 😀

Traditionally nuchchina unde is made purely with toor dal. I found these to be quite dry. I experimented until I was satisfied. Mixing in urad dal and letting it sit, even overnight if possible, makes them much more moist and soft. Adding some mung and chana dal enhances the taste.

Drop the left overs in majige huli or sambar.

Ingredients:

1  cup toor dal
½  cup bengal gram/ chana dal
¼  cup black gram/ urad dal, split, without skin
¼  cup mung dal
3-4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
2-3 tbsp chopped dill leaves (optional)
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp chopped green chili
½ cup chopped onion (optional: This is usually skipped during festivals)
A pinch of asafetida
Salt

Equipment:

Food processor/ Wet grinder/ Mixer
Steamer

Recipe:

Soak the dals together for 2-3 hours.

Drain and grind with minimum water into a very thick consistency, almost between a dough and a batter.

(For an instant version, I grind the dals into a powder first, and then soak in just enough warm water for about half an hour. )

I’ve found that if I let it sit for about half an hour or more, the result is softer nuchchina unde, so this is an optional step if you have the time.

Mix in the leaves, asafetida, onion, grated ginger, chilies and salt.

Make into little balls and steam for 10 minutes.

Serve with a dollop of ghee and curds, or drop into majige huli.

Note: You could also flatten the balls and deep fry them for a crispier version.