from Puffed Rice Dosa to Minty Rava Dosa

Last Updated on December 14, 2020 by Chef Mireille

It’s my second Blog Hop Wednesday

My assigned partner this month is Priya of Enveetu Kitchen.  I have gotten to know Priya and her recipes during the last few months via our mutual participation in Spicing Your Life’s monthly 7-day Blogging Marathon…stay tuned starting March 23rd, I will be posting 7 days of whole grain recipes!
If you are a time saving Vegetarian, I definitely recommend her blog, which is full of eggless baking and Microwave cooking, as well as many delicious Indian food recipes.

I decided to attempt something I have never made before – dosa.  I love dosas and enjoy them at my favorite NY South Indian restaurant, Tiffin Wallah.  What I love about this dosa recipe is that it utilizes puffed rice. I have a huge bag of leftover puffed rice I used when I made Muri, an Indian snack food made with puffed rice, fried potatoes, cucumber, chiles and spices – a recipe I used from Raghavan Iver’s Turmeric Trail Cookbook – a book I highly recommend.  I made this when I was hosting an Indian themed dinner.

Puffed rice is not a common ingredient in most other cuisines, so I haven’t had the opportunity to finish the rest of the puffed rice bag.

When I saw Priya had a recipe for Puffed Rice dosa, I thought this was a perfect recipe to try. I am challenging myself by making this my first attempt at dosa, plus I get to use up some of my leftover puffed rice.

It was a bust.  This recipe just did not work for me.  You are supposed to soak the rice for 2 hours, according to her recipe.  I got distracted with other tasks and it soaked for more like 4 hours.  I guess that made a difference.  No matter what I did, the batter stuck to the griddle.  I tried adding a little milk to thin out the batter.  The batter was pretty thick and would not spread.  I greased the griddle really well.  No matter what I did, I did not get the pretty puffed dosas she has photographed.  I gave up and will have to look for another recipe to utilize the puffed rice.  I still am going to try to make dosa.  Next time, I will try her recipe exactly and soak for only 2 hours and see if it works then.
…..until then I needed another recipe for Blog Hop Wednesday.  It was Tuesday now and I only had time to try one more recipe and it better work for me…call me a glutton for punishment…but I tried another dosa recipe.  However, this time I used a box mix I had bought a long time ago, but never tried and I used her seasonings to make Minty Dosa.  If I cannot do this Minty Dosa recipe using a box, then I will just have to accept the fact that I have a Dosa block!
The brand of Dosa mix I have is actually the same brand she used in a different post, however the quantity of water her package used is about 1/2 the quantity my package says.  I decided to follow the package instructions exactly.

Minty Dosa
1 package Gits Rava Dosai Mix

18 oz. water
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large handful of mint leaves
1 large handful of coriander/cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon of ginger paste
3 dried chiles (her recipes used 2 green chiles, but I did not have any fresh chiles, so I altered her recipe a little)
Sesame oil

Combine Dosai Mix and water and stir to combine.
Using a food processor, grind the remaining ingredients, except the onion and the oil.

Combine with dosa batter and stir to combine.  Let rest for 5 minutes.

Heat a non stick tava/griddle/skillet. (this might have been my problem with the puffed rice dosa.  I used a cast iron vessel – this time I am using non-stick, per the package instructions)
Priya’s instructions did not work for me. When using a recipe, based on your skill and experience, you have to sometimes change the methodology and I’ve NEVER made dosas before.
After a few mishaps and adjustments, this is what finally worked for me:
Heat the skillet well.  Spray with non-stick spray.  Pour 1/3 cup of batter and don’t move pan.  Sprinkle a little of the onion on top of the batter.  Just let it set.

Cook on low-medium heat until the ends crisp a little.  If the heat is too high, the dosa will start to crack and split apart.  Flip over and pour about 1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil (for flavor).  It takes about a full 5-7 minutes on each side.

Did they come out perfect and pretty like Pirya’s? HELL NO! Do I need more practice? HELL YEAH!
What I learned from this exercise was I need to master the dosa from the box, before I can even attempt to make my own.  If you are an experienced dosa maker, please use Priya’s recipe here for perfect minty dosa’s.  If you are a dosa novice like myself, try my methodology and see if it works better for you.  Don’t be discouraged if the first 3 or 4 end up in the garbage. Adjust the temperature of the pan or leave it in the pan a little longer before trying to flip.  It will eventually work!

Priya’s combination of flavors in this dosa is delicious – spicy, but cool at the same time because of the abundance of fresh herbs.  Perfect simply with some chutney or with scrambled eggs for breakfast – thanks Priya for inspiring me to learn how to make dosa!  The sesame oil really created a nice flavor and they went especially well with the coriander chutney.  I tried it with both coriander and tamarind.

Dosa is one thing I must master before I can call myself knowledgeable in South Indian cuisine.  I am humbled, but inspired!

I have to thank Tickling Palates for this wonderful exercise. I could have done a simple curry or one of the easy baked goods, but I think one of the amazing purposes of Blog Hop Wednesday is to step out of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves with somebody else’s style of cooking.

Chef Mireille