Quick Rice Flour Dosa (Light and Lacy Indian Rice Flour Crepes)

The rice dosa is a gluten free treat (and casein free too if you omit the yogurt/buttermilk).

This is a basic recipe that makes very good dosas pretty quickly when you don't have time to make the freshly ground traditional dosa batter.

Rice flour, Urid flour (urid is a type of lentil), podi, pickles, etc are readily available at Indian markets. If urid flour is difficult to find, soy flour or soy milk may be used instead.

Ingredients:

1 Cups Rice flour (white or brown)
1/4 cup Urid flour
1 tsp Salt or to taste
1/4 cup Plain Yogurt or Buttermilk (Optional)
11/2 to 2 cups Water

2 or 3 Tbsp Oil for cooking

Method:

Mix the flours and salt. Add the yogurt/buttermilk if using and the water and mix thoroughly. The batter should be smooth and have the consistency of thick buttermilk. Add water as necessary.

Let sit for about 30 minutes to hydrate the flours well. The resting also eliminates any lumps.

The batter can also be left to ferment for a few hours or overnight -- if so make sure the batter container has plenty of room for the batter to rise.

Heat a non-stick skillet or a seasoned cast iron griddle.

Scrunch up a sheet of paper towel into a thick wad and dip it lightly in a little oil and wipe the skillet or griddle to coat lightly with the oil.

If a drop of water flicked on the skillet sizzles and dries up within a few seconds, it is hot enough to start cooking.

The first dosa is a tester - for checking the heat of skillet and the consistency and seasoning of the batter.

Pour only a tablespoon of the batter in the center of the griddle and drizzle with a few drops of oil all around it - along the edges.

When you see bubbles forming and breaking and the dosa looks a little dry, it is time to flip over to cook the other side.

Slide a thin spatula under the edges and loosen it. Then swiftly slide the spatula under the whole dosa and flip and cook for about a minute.

If the dosa is thick and heavy, thin the batter with a little water. Taste. Add salt if needed.

Stir the batter well each time before making new dosas since the flours tend to settle to the bottom.

Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of batter in the middle of skillet/griddle; quickly spread the batter with the back of the spoon in a circular motion to make a thin pancake about 7 or 8 inches or in accordance with the size of your pan. With practice one will be able to turn out very thin and delicious dosas.

Drizzle a few drops of oil all around the edges of the dosa.

Dosa cooks pretty quickly.

When the top looks dry, loosen the edges and the bottom with a thin spatula; quickly flip over to cook the top side. Altogether it should only take about 2 minutes at the most to cook one dosa.

Wipe the griddle with the oily paper towel wad every once in a while to prevent the dosas from sticking.

Fold the dosas in half and stack them as you continue to cook.

Serve hot with sambar, coconut chutney, podi (a dry lentil-spice chutney), potato curry, aviyal, green chili chutney, any type of hot Indian pickles, and plain Yogurt, etc.

Any leftover batter can be refrigerated for later use.