Some recipes tend to delude you, irrespective of how much ever you try. One such recipe is the thin rice crepe that we all make in Malabar. Mine would always crack, always… How much ever I follow the instructions, when I finally pour the batter on my pan, it ends up with cracks. 🙁 There is nothing more irritating than that. That is when I landed up on this link and how much it has helped me improve my dosa after so many trials!
The interesting thing is that the Mangalore Neer Dosa is so similar to our neriya (thin) Ari Dosa. It can be because the only difference happens to be a border. I have heard how similar Mangalore style food is to our Kerala cooking, and that was proof enough when I tried this delicious sukka my colleague P had shared with me. Anyway, I somehow wanted to get this right, since everybody at home loves this dosa with a simple gravy or just a chutney.
I have felt that initially, I have been lazy to grind the batter till smooth. The secret behind smooth dosas is definitely a smooth batter. You need to be patient and blend till you have a mixture that has absolutely no grains, at all! The grains is what will cause it to crack. So keep blending the heck out of the mixture, till you have a really smooth batter. These dosas are so good that it doesn’t need much to go with it. You can accompany it with something as simple as sweetened coconut milk (yum!) or a red chutney to something as complicated as a chicken curry! Umma would always give this for breakfast with some chelli chammanthi, which is dried prawn and coconut chutney. Please don’t search for a recipe, I have to make it and post it some day, yet I don’t know when. 😕 Here you can see, I have served it with some “Thakkali Thokku“, InShaAllah the recipe for which will come soon… 🙂 Off to this recipe for now…
Ari Dosa ~ Malabar Thin Rice Crepes
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw rice pachari
- 3/4 cup grated coconut
- 3 cups + 1 cup water
- Salt to taste
- Oil for basting
Instructions
- Wash and soak the rice for 4 hours. Drain.
- Add the rice along with the coconut and 3 cups of water and grind till the mixture is really smooth. It should not be grainy.
- Pour into a pan. Add one cup of water and blitz the grinder to clean the jar.
- Pour the water into the batter, add salt and whisk well. The batter should be of pouring consistency.
- Heat a non-stick pan till nice and hot. Drizzle a little oil and rub it all over.
- Take a ladle of batter and pour. Spread it quickly.
- Close the lid and allow it to cook for around 5 minutes on small flame or till done. The dosa will lift up from the pan and will be non-sticky when touched. Do not allow it to brown.
- Fold in the middle, and then to the sides and allow to cool on a plate before transferring it to a hot pot.
- Repeat till the batter is done. Serve warm with a side dish of your choice.
Lovely lacy dosas, look so delicious and thin. Perfectly done. I can imagine how tasty they must have been.
Thank you so much Piyali…
Yay! finally you got it right! I love mangalore food and can never have enough of it.. neer dosa is similar to ours but in my home ari dosa – we dont have coconut. But with the batter, we make something called velaka or belka – which is heat little oil in the pan, add onion and then pour the batter thick – so may be two ladles – then add some coconut on top – cook both sides until crispy edge. I Love that! Your neer dosa looks perfect! 🙂 And thoku is my fav FAV FFFAAAVVV.. I can have thakali, karuvapillai, etc….. Waiting for see that recipe from you soon..
The one that you are talking about is the thenga pathiri. A bit thick and with generous sprinkling of coconut… I had made it once and it came out well, but it was night, and I didn’t click them… hehe… Thank you so much dear… 🙂
They look very pretty to me. Will it work with any kind of rice?
I think it would work with any non-sticky rice… Thanks a lot Angie…
It’s my family too.. I usually serve with coconut chutney red one but my favourite is chicken or mutton gravy.. lovely looking ari dosa der dear..????
Thank you so much Chitra… 🙂
So nice and lacy. Perfectly made
Thanks a lot Tum…
Is there anything that can be done if the cooked rice proprtion increased by mistake and the dosas turn out too soft?
I guess you can adjust by adding a little rice flour to even it out… Hope this helps…