Rava dosa (cream of wheat/farina/semolina pancakes)

When you have a craving for dosas but no regular dosa batter with which to indulge that craving, there's a quick way of getting your fix. Granted they wont taste like "proper" dosas, but pancakes can be made with any flour and still taste pretty good.

Yesterday I opted to make rava dosas (with the addition of a little rice flour and some wheat flour). The seasoning (or tempering) for the dosas is absolutely essential, because the batter is bland and unfermented.

The rava dosas you get in hotels in India are usually wonderfully crisp and thin, an effect very likely achieved with generous slatherings of ghee or oil. But since I wasnt about to drown my dosas in oil, they turned out mostly soft, but crisp in places - absolutely yummy with coconut chutney and sambar.

Oh, by the way - you can add finely chopped onions or other quick-cooking vegetables to the batter to make the dosas more nutritious.

Recipe for: Rava dosas (cream of wheat/farina/semolina pancakes)



2 cups rava
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
Salt to taste
Water as required

For tempering:

2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
8-10 curry leaves
3-4 fresh green chillies, finely minced (according to taste)
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder (optional)

Method:

1. Use only as much water as required to make a pouring batter from the flours and salt. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a small pan and add the ingredients for tempering. Cover the pan and let the mustard seeds pop.

3. Pour the tempering on the batter and stir well.

4. To make the dosas, heat a non-stick tava and spread a couple of ladlefuls of batter in a swirling motion, trying to keep the dosa as thin as possible.



5. Cook on medium heat till the top dries out and the bottom part is golden, then carefully lift with a spatula and turn it over.



Let this side cook till the dosa becomes stiff. (It will soften as it cools.)

6. Serve hot with chutney and sambar.