Before You Start
You may already have the batter if you have made idli, since dosa uses nearly the same fermented mixture. What changes is what you do at the stove, and this is where many cooks stumble. A ladle of batter has to be spread into a wide, thin, even circle on a hot griddle, and it has to crisp at the edges and cook through in the same short time that the center needs to turn golden. Of all the recipes in this library, this is one of the most dependent on technique. You can have a perfect batter and still end up with a failed dosa if the pan is at the wrong temperature or if your spreading hand hesitates. When it works, the dosa is thin, crisp and faintly sour from the fermentation, and it can be eaten plain with chutney and sambar or wrapped around a filling such as the spiced potato of masala dosa.
Where This Dish Comes From
As with idli, no one can say with certainty where dosa began. Both belong to the same South Indian tradition of fermented batters, and the historical record for each is patchy and argued over. What is well documented is how central dosa has long been to the food of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where regional styles took on distinct identities. The huge, paper-thin dosa that is linked with restaurants around Chennai is not the same as the thicker, slightly more textured version eaten in parts of rural Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Udupi, on the coast of Karnataka, is credited above all with making popular the masala dosa, which is a dosa filled with spiced potato, and that style later spread across India and abroad through Udupi-style restaurants.
Step by Step
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Prep
Loosen the batter
Compared with idli batter, dosa batter has to be clearly thinner. Aim for something like a thick pancake batter, one that pours but still has some body. Stir in water a tablespoon at a time until you reach that point. How much you need depends on how long the batter has fermented and how thick it was to begin with.
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Prep
Heat the griddle and prepare its surface
Set a flat griddle or large pan over medium-high heat. When a flick of water sizzles and vanishes within a second or two, it is ready. Dip half an onion in oil and rub it over the surface, or wipe it with an oiled cloth. This seasons the pan and helps the first dosa lift off cleanly, which is usually the hardest one of the batch.
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Cook
Pour, then spread in a single sweep
Turn the heat down a little, to medium. Pour a ladleful of batter into the middle of the pan and, without pausing, use the bottom of the ladle to push it outward in a quick, continuous spiral from the center. You are drawing a thin, even circle. If you stop partway, the thickness will vary, so once you begin the motion, finish it.
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Cook
Drizzle fat and let it crisp
Trickle a little oil or ghee around the edge and across the surface. Then leave the dosa alone for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, until the edges lift and turn golden-brown and the top looks dry and set instead of wet. Do not rush to turn it. A thin, crisp dosa usually does not need flipping at all.
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Cook
Fold, fill and lift off
When the underside is deep golden and crisp, fold the dosa in half or in thirds with a flat spatula and slide it onto a plate. For masala dosa, lay the potato filling down the center before folding. Between dosa, turn the heat down slightly if the pan is running too hot, or nudge it up if the batter is not spreading or crisping quickly enough.
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Serve
Bring to the table at once
A dosa tastes best the moment it leaves the griddle, while you can still hear it crackle, because it goes soft within a few minutes. Serve it with coconut chutney and sambar.
Swaps That Work
Batter that has fermented for just a day tends to give a softer, less tangy dosa than batter that is 2 to 3 days old, and both are valid. The more fermented batter usually yields a crisper, more sour result. Some cooks blend a little cooked rice or a pinch of sugar into the batter for extra crispness, a trick that is not traditional in every household.
Turning the Heat Up or Down
A plain dosa has no spice of its own. Heat and flavor come from whatever goes with it, namely the chutneys, the sambar or a spiced filling such as the one used in masala dosa, and each of those can be adjusted separately to suit your taste.
Where Cooks Often Slip
Pan temperature decides more than anything else. If the pan is too cool, the batter will not spread thinly or crisp, and it sticks and tears. If it is too hot, the batter sets the instant it lands, before you can spread it, and you end up with a thick, uneven dosa. Hesitant spreading is the next most frequent problem, since stopping in the middle of the spiral leaves thick patches. The third is skipping the seasoning of the pan between the first few dosa, which causes early sticking. That usually clears up after two or three, as the surface builds a light coating.
Keeping and Warming Up Leftovers
To keep it: Dosa batter keeps and slowly continues to ferment in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days, getting more sour as time goes by. It thickens as it sits, so thin it with water before each use. Cooked dosa neither store nor reheat well, because their appeal comes almost entirely from being fresh and crisp.
To warm it up: If you have to, warm a cooked dosa in a dry pan over medium heat for a minute on each side. That recovers some of the crispness, but it will not equal a freshly cooked one, so dosa is best made to order and not ahead of time.
Kitchen Safety Note
As with idli batter, a properly fermented dosa batter smells pleasantly and mildly sour. Throw out any batter that smells sharply off, like alcohol or something rotten, or that shows discoloration or mold, and do not cook with it. Once the batter has fermented enough for your taste, keep it in the refrigerator between uses, and take out only the portion you need, letting it sit briefly at room temperature so it spreads more easily.