Red Rice Dosa

Ingredients

For red rice dosa
• 1 1/2 cup red rice
• 1/2 cup white split and skinned urad dal
• 1 tsp methi dana /fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp salt
Coconut Chutney
• 1 cup fresh grated or thawed frozen coconut
• 2 tbsp. fried split Bengal gram daal (or 1 tbsp roasted chickpea flour)
• Salt to taste
• 1 green chili
• 1/2" piece ginger
• 2 tsp oil
• few curry leaves
• 3/4 tsp rai (mustard seeds)

Instructions

1. Soak the urad dal along with fenugreek seeds and red rice separately in water for a minimum of 6 hours. (urad dal tends to increase in volume so use the container which has twice the volume of daal).
2. Meanwhile make coconut chutney, In a mixer/grinder, add grated coconut, fried split Bengal gram daal, green chili, ginger and salt. Pulse it a few times to form a coarse paste. Then adding small amounts of water pulse again to obtain a paste. Transfer this to a bowl.
3. For tempering heat oil in a small pan. Once it is heated, reduce the heat. Add curry leaves and rai. Once mustard seeds start to splutter remove pan from heat and pour it over the chutney, mix.
4. After 6 hours drain water from the daal and rice and reserve (it will be used while grinding).
5. Take rice and grind with sufficient water until it is a smooth paste. You can use a blender and depending on the size of the jar, you can ground it in one or two batches. The amount of water used to grind is somewhat crucial, using too much will make the result too watery, while using too little will make it hard to grind and too thick. So use water as needed. Touch the paste between your fingers to feel the texture, which should be slightly coarse than white rice. Transfer the rice batter in a large bowl.
6. Now grind the dal. It should be ground while slowly adding water from the top of the blender. When ground, the dal has the tendency to fluff up, this tendency must be encouraged by adding only a little water at a time while stirring and continuing to grind. The dal should double in quantity after grinding, while the quantity of rice remains unchanged.
7. Now mix the ground daal with rice batter. Add salt, mix it again.
8. Leave for about 8 hours or overnight in a dark warm place for fermentation. (During cold weather keep the batter inside the oven with oven light on).
9. During fermentation the batter volume increase. Stir the batter with a spoon. If it looks thick, add few tablespoons of water and mix well until it has attained pouring consistency.
10. Heat a heavy cast-iron griddle (a flat non-stick pan will do, but lacks the taste and texture that comes from the iron pan).
11. Sprinkle few drops of water on the surface. If water drops sizzle and evaporate within few seconds, your griddle is hot enough to cook.
12. Rub the surface of griddle with an oiled paper towel and reduce the heat. The tava should not be too hot when you spread the batter.
13. Take a deep ladle full of batter and drop in the middle of the griddle, then with a deftness that comes with practice, quickly swirl the dough away from the middle until it is spread evenly in a circle around the pan. You must do this quickly because once the batter cooks, you cannot spread it and the result will be lumpy (Don't go back over the batter to fill in holes, they're a natural part of most dosas).
14. Take a teaspoon full of oil and spread it around the edge of the dosa. Wait a minute or so, until you see the edges browning and insert a flat spatula that has sharp edges under and all around the dosa, until it is released completely.
15. After releasing the dosa, flip it around on the other side and put another teaspoon of oil around the edges. Wait a minute or two until it is cooked and remove from the griddle. Before making the next one, wipe griddle with clean wet cloth (this is to prevent dosa from sticking to the surface of griddle).
16. Repeat the process from 12-15 for remaining batter. This whole procedure sounds tedious, but it's not too hard after you've done it a few times.
17. Serve hot dosas with coconut chutney, sambar or any vegetable or meat curry.

Notes