Varai ~ Nachani ~ Urad Dal Dosa.

Barnyard Millet (Varai) ~ Finger Millet (Nachani) ~ Urad Dal Dosa Served With Spicy Lemon Pickle ……… Millets are gaining a lot of popularity nowadays as they are considered to be very healthy … So this is my new variation on millets … A dosa that is both yummy and healthy …… A good breakfast option …. 

Millets are now being recognized more for their health benefits. I hear a lot about how introducing them into our daily diet improve our health and wards off various diseases. Though there is no such guarantee, I have tried adding them into preparation of my dishes. Nachani / Finger Millet / Ragi is something that is being used by Konkani Saraswats very often, so is varai / barnyard millet. Bajra and Jowar are two millets I started using after settling in Mumbai though not often. My Blog will have many more millet recipe henceforth as I am on the lookout for the other millets that may be available locally. So till then will have to do with these four millets which are easily available in Mumbai ie. Nachani, Varai, Bajra and Jowar.

Wash and soak 2 cups of Varai (Barnyard Millet) with 1 cup of Urad Dal and ½ tsp of methi seeds for about 4 hours. Drain excess water and grind all to a smooth paste with just about 1 to 1.5 cups of water. More or less depending upon the requirement. Do not make the batter too thin. Remove in a large vessel and in salt and cover with a tight lid. Leave the vessel untouched overnight to allow the batter to ferment. Next day mix the batter well. Add in 1 cup of Nachani powder (Finger Millet Powder) and mix well. Take care to see that there are no lumps. The batter should be evenly smooth. 

Heat a medium sized tava till hot, lower the heat to minimum, sprinkle some oil and rub evenly with the help of a tissue all round the tava. Take a ladle full of the batter and pour it in the center of the tava, gently run the bottom of the rounded spatula over the batter and swirl it to a round shape. Keep the dosa a little bit thick. I have added in a picture for better understanding of the thickness. Drop in a few drops of oil all round the circumference of the dosa and cook the dosa on medium heat till done. 

Once the top side of the dosa is cooked, gently lift the dosa by running a flat dosa removing spatula round the corners of the dosa and then gently lifting if off from the tava flip it over and cook for a minute on the top side too. Remove and serve with any accompaniment of your choice, like chutney, sambar, pickle or any spicy curry. Continue with the remaining batter depending on how many dosa’s you need for serving. If there is excess batter, immediately put it in a tight fitted box and store away in refrigerator till further needed. Always serve the dosa immediately upon removing from the tava. Dosas always taste best when served hot. Otherwise they turn limp and loose texture and softness too.