Recipe: Dal Vegetable Dosa

This recipe for Dal Vegetable Dosa will be a great addition to your family dinner menu. Dosa is a South Asian favorite dish at restaurants, as street food and as a breakfast or a dinner staple in many households. Dosa is a pancake made from a rice and lentil batter. The traditional recipe calls for a rice:dal (lentil) ratio of 4:1. It’s a rice-based dish, which is simple sugar. Also, it’s a time consuming process requiring the presoaking of the ingredients for anywhere from four to eight hours depending on the weather. That’s not all, once the batter is made it requires the batter to ferment for at least four hours to as long as overnight to ferment. This sounds tedious… but here is the quick fix that can save you time and make your dish healthier by inverting the rice:dal (lentil) ratio to 1:4. Try this dal based Dosa that does not require any fermenting and enjoy the many benefits of the age-old dals (lentils).

One serving of Dal Vegetable Dosa equals 1 ounce of protein and ¼ cup vegetable. It’s also the equivalent of a serving of protein and vegetables on the USDA’s MyPlate, which provides guidance on the appropriate amounts of fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and protein each person should consume to live a healthier, more balanced life.

Dal Vegetable Dosa

Serving Size: 1 dosa

Total Servings: 10

Soaking time: 2 hours

Batter prep: 15 minutes

Cooking time per dosa: 6 minutes

Nutritional Information

Ingredients

• ¼ cup raw rice
• ¼ cup Door dal
• ¼ cup whole Urad Dal
• ¼ cup Moong Dal
• ¼ cup Channa Dal
• 3 dry red chili
• ½ tsp fennel seeds or somph
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup onion, diced
• ½ cup shredded carrot
• ½ cup shredded cabbage
• ½ cup finely chopped coriander or cilantro
• 8 curry leaves, each leaf cut into small pieces
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp olive oil per dosa
• Water, as needed

Directions for Soaking and Batter Prep

1. Soak ¼ cup raw rice in a small bowl. Take a separate bowl soak the 4 dals together [ingredients #2 – #5] for 2 hrs. Drain well.
2. Place the drained rice in a blender, add ½ cup water and grind to a fine consistency. Empty contents into a mixing bowl.
3. In the same blender, place the drained dals along with ingredients #6 – #9 and ½ cup water. Grind well. Empty into mixing bowl with the ground rice.
4. Add ingredients #10 -#15 into mixing bowl and mix together well.
5. Add more water if needed to create a thick but pouring consistency. Your dal veggie batter is now ready; you don’t need to ferment it overnight.

Cooking Method

1. Heat a non-stick fry pan on medium flame. Scoop 1/3 cup [1 standard Indian ladle] of dal batter and pour into the center of the pan.
2. With the bottom of the ladle, quickly spread the batter outwards to make a circular dosa or pancake.
3. Drizzle ½ tsp olive oil along the edges of the dosa and cover with a lid. Cook on medium heat for 3 minutes.
4. Flip the dosa, cover with lid and cook for 3 minutes. Since you are using a nonstick pan, you won’t need additional oil. The bumpy surface of the dosa/crepe will appear dark brown when done,
5. Serve with your favorite chutney/spread or eat plain as a snack with tea.

Resources:

MyPlate icons – https://www.choosemyplate.gov/myplate-graphic-resources

Nutrient info – USDA database – https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

Nutrient info – www.calorieking.com

Nutrient info – Patel Brothers – http://store.patelbros.com/

This South Asian series is brought to you by Advocate Health Care, created in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim. 

Copyright © 2019 Advocate Aurora Health, Inc. and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All rights reserved.