dosa stations

dosa stations are all the rage in bombay's parties. i was at my friend's daughter's first birthday party last weekend at which i hogged a couple of absolutely delectable dosas. sada cheese dosa and mysore masala dosa.

dosas. the process of preparation is fascinating. urad dal, a plain and humble lentil, is transformed into crispy pancakes. rice and urad (3 parts to 1 part) are soaked in water for about 8 hours. then they are ground into a fine paste (pancake batter consistency) and let to ferment at room temperature for about 16 hours. this doubles the batter. salt is then added to the plain batter. ladles of batter are then spooned on steaming hot tavas in a circular motion to make the dosas. a few spoons of oil are poured on the edges of the dosa to make it even crisper. sada (plain) dosas are yummy with sambhar or chutney but you can put different fillings as well.

the flatter and hotter the tava, the crisper the dosa. but too hot can burn the batter as well. the trick is getting the temperature right which only comes from practice. the spooning of the batter is also no easy task and typically this is the part that can easily go wrong when making dosas at home.

the dosa station at the birthday party inspired me to experiment with different fillings in the dosa. spicy potato. mixed vegetables. green chutney. red chutney. cheese. even chinese spiced vegetables. i'm now dying to have a dosa party at home!