Millet Dosa
Learn how to make the South-Indian crepes healthier with this easy and delicious Millet Dosa recipe! You can use any millet you like.
Ingredients
For the Millet Dosa Batter
- 1 cup Millets (I used Barnyard, you can use any Millet you like)
- 1 cup Parboiled Rice (Idli Rice)
- 1/2 cup Whole Urad Dal (Split Black Gram)
- 1 tsp Methi seeds (Fenugreek Seeds)
- Water, for soaking & grinding
- 1 Tbsp Salt (adjust to taste)
Other ingredients - to make the Dosa
- Vegetable Oil or Ghee
- Finely Chopped Veggies - optional
To Serve
- Chutney or Sambar
Instructions
The Dosa Batter
- Add the millets, rice, urad dal and methi seeds to a bowl. Wash 4-5 times until the water runs clear Soak it in a lot of water for 8 hours.
- Discard most of the water. Add grains to a powerful blender or grinder. Grind to a smooth and fluffy batter. Keep some cold water to add to the blender if the mixture is too thick to blend or it starts to heat up.
- Pour the fluffy batter into a large bowl (with a lid). Add the salt. With your clean palm, mix the salt into the batter and beat it really well for 3-4 minutes. Using your palm is important to incporporate the good bacteria into the batter.
- Cover and let it rest in a warm spot for 4-8 hours or untl the batter doubles in volume and ferments well. (*Refer Notes)
- Once it ferments, mix again with a spoon, pour into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. Use as needed.
The Millet Dosa
- Take required portion of the batter in a bowl, adjust salt and consistency with water if needed. You can also add some chopped veggies into the batter and make a vegetable dosa / uttappam. Make sure the batter isn't too cold when you pour onto the pan.
- Pour one or two ladles of the dosa batter, and spread into a thin dosa. Add some vegetable oil or ghee and let it cook on medium heat for a couple minutes. When it's ready, flip and cook for a minute (or longer if you want crispier dosa). That's it!
- Serve the hot millet dosa with your desired condiments like chutney, milagai podi, sambar etc.
Video
Notes
- I usually soak the grains around lunchtime, grind the batter at night, and let it ferment overnight so that I have fresh batter for breakfast the next morning. Be sure to plan your time, cuz you don't want to under or over-ferment the batter.
- Fermentation Tips:
- Using your hand to mix and beat the batter: This part is crucial as it incorporates good bacteria into the batter, which aids in fermentation. Just wash your hands and beat and mix well for 3-4 minutes until the batter is fluffy.
- Place batter in a large bowl: During fermentation, the batter can rise twice its volume, so placing it in a small bowl will cause your batter to overflow. Make sure the batter is only reaching half the height of your container so that it has enough space to rise.
- Use Instant Pot Yogurt Mode: If you live in a cold place, chances are that your batter will not ferment if you just leave it outside. In that case, you can add batter to an Instant Pot bowl and place it on Yogurt Mode (normal for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours). This gives consistent fermentation results.
- OR Use Oven with Lights Turned On: You can also preheat your oven, turn it OFF, and place the batter with the lid on in the turned-off oven. Switch on the oven lights and let it rest. This will take some trial and error, but you can successfully create a conducive environment for fermentation in the oven too. Just be careful NOT to keep the oven turned ON while the batter is in it.
- OR Use a Heater: Lastly, if you neither have an oven nor an Instant Pot, you can also use a portable heater to create the warm environment that the dosa batter needs. Don't place direct heat on the bowl, but place it a few feet away from the bowl. And let it go for 4-6 hours or until the batter has fermented successfully
- What happens if your batter still doesn't ferment? - Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the fermentation just doesn’t happen. Don't be disappointed though. This batter is still good to use, and you can still make dosas with it. It just won't have the quintessential sour taste of dosa, and maybe a bit harder. But it is still edible.