Wheat Dosa or as it popularly known in Chettinad Cuisine-Godhumai Dosai is a quicker and healthier than the more familiar Rice batter Dosa which requires fermentation. When you are in your mid-morning rush and need a preparation that hasten ups your breakfast ritual, then Wheat Dosa should be right up in your charts.
I know quite a lot of people on social networking sites and often we interact through messages and chats. It definitely feels good when they appreciate and understand my passion for food. Quite often in a fond way, they address me as ‘MasterChef’ in their comments, and truly speaking I get extremely embarrassed when they do that. I often tell them to rather consider me as an avid foodie who loves the life that she lives. To describe my life in a sentence, my life is nothing but food. Exploring stories, culture, traditions, passions related to food is how I would define my existence. I like to explore different foods and flavors and I get excited by ‘Indian regional Cuisine’.
I was born and brought up in India’s west coast-Ratnagiri and then Mumbai before settling in Pune. My better half is from the northern part of country, Uttar Pradesh and our food practices are full of divergences. However, what works in our favor is our receptive mind and our flexible food choices. Our food-exploration has often taken us to several new places, helped us discover new eateries and come across some less familiar dishes and recipes. We try to get a peek inside Chef’s head by talking to them about their creation. This has proved to be a useful source of recipe for us besides numerous cookbooks written in either Marathi, Hindi or English that we have in our possession. Our best source of information is still our friend circle, hailing from different parts of India.
Our blogging schedule keeps us busy for entire week and we try to find some ‘We’ time on weekends especially on Sunday mornings. On Sunday mornings, we buy our grocery, vegetables, fish and poultry and cook some new dishes to share with our viewers and readers in coming weeks. Another weekend ritual that we try to stick to every Sunday morning is having a breakfast at an Indian regional food outlet from one of the several food outlets available to us serving food from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, MP, North East and many others
Of these several food joints, I have several fond memories of a food joint named ‘Banana Leaf’, serving authentic taste of Tamil Nadu Cuisine. It closed down few months ago and the place has now been acquired by another South Indian outlet by the name ‘Madras Cafe’. The new joint has not been able to do justice to rich and tasteful legacy of the old outlet.
I was a regular at Banana leaf, due to its lovely food and the wonderful hospitality they extended to their patrons. The place was managed and run by a wonderful couple Uma and Prakash. We would frequent their place for some authentic and unadulterated version of Tamil food and undoubtedly for their perfect cup of strong filter kaapi. At times, more than food, it was our social time with Prakash and Uma that we looked forward to.
Along with their delicious Dosai and wadas we would discuss on range of topics- Politics to Prakash’s memories of his grandparent’s home back in Pondicherry. Uma was reticent of the two and Prakash would make up for her quietness.
They would write their daily menu on a chalkboard, invoking the school side café memories. One such day I found a new interesting item Wheat Dosai – nowhere available in Pune was its tagline. It intrigued us and we ordered it. The Dosai came together with red Chili chutney (Milagai Thuvayal) and coconut chutney (Thengai Thogayal) offered as Complimentary accompaniments. It had perfect appearance, soft at center and crisp at edges. It tasted delightfully wonderful and the fact that it was a healthier option added to our joy.
Uma informed us how this Dosa gets regularly prepared in Tamil households. Later, we came across its recipe in one of the iconic books on Chettinad Cuisine “The Chettinad Cookbook “– by Meyyammai Murugappan & Visalakshi Ramaswamy!
After having come across this dish, it now features into my list of regulars for Breakfast and I prepare it almost every week. Chances are when you are alone at home, you will not want to to cook elaborate meals for yourself. You still need to fill up your stomach. On such occasions, dishes like wheat dosa will save you from slogging in the kitchen.
I like to relish it with any of the several chutneys available here. Coconut Chutney and Tomato Chutney are my favorites though. Try out this healthy wheat dosa and remember to share your experiences with us in comment section below.
Serves: 3-4
- Wheat Dosa
- 1½ Cups=200gms Wheat Flour
- 1 medium sized=80 gms Onion-finely chopped
- ¼th Cup Coriander Leaves-finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Curd or ¼th Cup Buttermilk
- 5-6 Curry Leaves-chopped
- 2 Green Chilies-finely chopped
- 1 tsp Salt
- Cooking Oil
- Water
- Milagai Thuvayal:
- 4 tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1 Cup=150gms chopped Onions
- Salt
- 1 small marble sized Tamarind ball
- ¼ tsp Mustard Seeds
- ½ tsp Urad Dal
- Cooking Oil
- In a large bowl, put Wheat Flour, Salt, chopped Green Chilies, chopped curry leaves, chopped onions, chopped coriander and Curd.
- Gradually add water to the mixture to form a smooth and lump-free batter. The batter must be of thin and pouring consistency. I have used 3 Cups of Water for making this batter. Cover and let it rest for an hour.
- Meanwhile, we will make red chili chutney. In a grinder jar, put Onions, Red Chili Powder, Tamarind ball, Salt. Add some water and grind into a fine paste. Fine Chutney is ready.
- Let's prepare a flavorful tempering. We have prepared a Tadka of Mustard Seeds and Urad Dal in 1 tbsp Oil. Pour this Tadka on Chutney.
- Dosa batter has been resting for an hour now. Let's start making Dosas. Let’s stir the Dosa batter. Batter is of desired pouring consistency and no more water is required.
- I have taken a non-stick pan in this recipe. You can also use an Iron griddle. Remember to heat the tawa well and then grease the entire surface with Oil. If Tawa is not greased properly, Dosa may stick to Pan. Heat the Pan on High heat, but lower the heat to low-medium before adding Dosa batter to the pan. If you add Dosa batter on high heat, it may stick to the pan and won't spread.
- Stir the batter well before pouring on pan. Pour and spread Dosa batter on Pan. Cook underside on low-medium heat. Drizzle Oil at sides. We have cooked underside for 5-6 mins on low heat.
- Flip and cook from other side. Now, we will cook from other side. Following these cooking timings will make Dosa soft. Cooking on low heat for little longer may make the Dosa crisp. Remove after 3 mins of cooking
- Similarly, make all the Dosas. Before making other Dosa, wipe clean the Tawa and grease it again. In these measurements, we can make 8-10 Dosas. Serve hot with Chutney
Click to watch recipe video
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