Neer Dosa are Rice Crêpes which are popular in Karnataka in India. 'Neer' literally translates to water in
Tulu. Neer Dosa are made with watered down rice batter, that explains the name. These Dosa could be served for breakfast with coconut or tomato chutney. They could be enjoyed for lunch / dinner too along with your favorite vegetable side dish or for the non-vegetarians it pairs up well with a chicken or fish dish.
I do have to warn you, these Neer Dosa / Crêpes are very addictive. You can not just have one. Once you taste these beautiful , fluffy and super white crêpes, you seem to lose count of how many you had. Just saying Don't tell me , I did not warn you.
I learnt to make these Dosa recently from one of my friend from Mangalore. Though the foodie in me always loved eating them whenever I was invited for lunch/dinner at our friends. Now the blogger in me wanted to try these dosa first hand and be able to make them and eat them whenever I desired. Since my hubby and kids love them as much as I do I was ready to make them. Of course it gives me a recipe for my blog as well.
Those of you who have attempted to make these and were not happy with the results and for those who have never attempted to make them. I would suggest try at least one more time. I was scared myself since the batter is so watery in consistency I wasn't sure whether it would work for me. But if you had an opportunity to taste this delicacy you will be so much in love with them and would love to try to make them at home.
- 2 cups Sona Masoori rice
- 3 1/2 cups water
- salt to taste
- oil
- Wash and Soak the rice in about 4-5 cups of water for 3-4 hours or overnight. Drain the water and grind rice with 1 cup of water in a grinder. Add salt and the remaining 2 1/2 cups water and mix it well. It should be a watery or say butter milk consistency.
- Now heat a Dosa tava or griddle. Keep it on medium flame. Take a paper towel dipped in oil and just wipe the hot tava with it carefully. ( This prepares your griddle for making the dosa and they do not stick onto them.)
- Now take a ladleful of the batter and pour it onto the Tava/griddle. The way I do it is I pour the batter in a circle towards the outer edge of the tava and the batter being of such watery consistency just flows towards the center. Now apply some oil around the dosa. Cover and cook for about 30 secs. Then with a spatula just go around the dosa and gently fold it in half and then another half. They look like pretty lace handkerchiefs.
- Continue making the the dosa as above. This recipe yields 25 medium size dosa. We enjoyed our dosa with coconut chutney.
Helpful Tips:
- Making Neer Dosa with Non- Stick Pan : Most of my friends who make these Dosa , use a Non-stick pan to make them. A non-stick pan not only makes it easier to make Neer dosa but takes less oil as well. On a Non-stick pan just pour a ladleful of batter and gently rotate the pan using the handle. This ensures the batter is spread in a circular manner and makes uniform dosa. Apply very little oil all around and cover and cook for 30 secs. Using a spatula turn into a semi circle and fold again into a triangle. That's it. (I don't own a non-stick - I went a little crazy I must say and tried to be too heath conscious and got rid of all the non-stick cook ware in my kitchen. Its been like 4 years now. Also the non-stick was almost worn out and I thought that was not healthy. )
- Every time you make a dosa just stir and mix the batter really well.
- Keeping the Tava/Griddle on medium heat is the key. If it gets too hot the dosa might start to stick to the tava. If that happens. Just scrape it off. Adjust the heat and using the paper tower dipped in oil, wipe the tava again. Start over again.
- When making the Dosa- the first 2-3 might not be the way you wanted- don't lose heart- it gets better. So just make the first 1-2 dosa small (Use less batter for the first couple dosa / crêpes).
- If you think the batter needs more water feel free to add a little say another 1/4 cup. If its too much water they are hard to make as well.
- It might need practice. I do make fermented dosa (rice and urad dal) and Rava dosa on a regular basis so making this did not seem hard.
