I guess no one really needs an introduction to dosai... In case you do.. they are crispy South Indian crepes made with a fermented batter of ground urad dal (black lentils) and rice. While plain rice dosai with a filling of potato and side of sambar is standard, there are several variations like maida (refined ywheat flour) and rava (semolina) dosai that are widely popular in South Indian households. Traditionally these crepes are consumed for breakfast. However with the increasing popularity of South Indian cuisine throughout India, people these days do not mind a lunch or dinner of dosai along with dosa masala, sambar and coconut chutney.
This month Sowmya of Nivedhanam tried a healthy variation of the traditional Dosai. Replacing rice with pearl millet she created Kambu dosai or pearl millet dosai and challenged the Northern Group of SNC team to try it out... Now I had urad dal and pearl millet flour in my pantry. I asked her if I could use bajra flour to make these crepes. She said I could and the same proportion of bajra(pearl millet) to urad dal would work even if I were to substitute the bajra with bajra flour. So that is what I did. I soaked the urad dal with fenugreek seeds for few hours, then ground it to a smooth batter and to it I added a paste of the bajra flour. As you can see the substitute worked beautifully..
Now a quick word about the accompaniments.. As I mentioned before, traditionally dosai are served with sambar and chutney. But if you are in a mood to experiment, try it with this Cucumber Kootu and some South Indian garlic powder. It is a delightful combination.. even my husband with really high standards for south Indian food was pretty impressed with the combo !
