“Urad Dal- Maida- Rice Dosa (Polo)” for breakfast served with fresh homemade loni (butter), Coriander Coconut Chutney and Ginger Tea (Adraki Chai) … it is always a pleasure to have polo/ dosas for breakfast especially with a liberal serving of butter … this one is a well fried on both sides, yet soft textured dosa that I tried on my own mix and match of ingredients which also includes Navana rice … tastes delicious served with chutney too …Yummilicious …
** What more can I say more about dosa that is now catching up worldwide as one of the best breakfast dishes, off course after Idlies. Agreed slightly time consuming as you need to soak, grind, ferment and then prepare them to desired perfection to have them, but the joy on just one bite of it makes it all worthwhile. All you need is little bit of fore planning. Though they can be stored in fridge well, the fresh ones taste the best.
** I will not write more as I have said it all, so you can just browse and read through the same inleisure for more information. I always love experimenting with different mix and match of ingredients and this time I came up with this one, that gave me immense pleasure while relishing. I know people are hesitant to use maida/ APF these days, but in Konkani Cuisine there are a few dishes were we have always used them.
** If you are still uncomfortable using maida, then sorry this dosa/polo is not for you, as wheat flour addition as substitute does not give the same taste, though you may give it a go. Our ancestors had no issues using maida, so not sure, if all the hype created around it is true. Again, in my opinion, moderation is the key to good health, say just once or twice a month and in limits should be fine, but then the choice is yours.
** Here is my simple recipe for “Urad Dal- Maida- Rice Dosa (Polo)” … my own concoction of a batter that gives excellent dosa/ polo ….
** Ingredients :
Urad Dal (Black Gram Dal) : 1 cup
Chana Dal (Bengal Gram Dal) : one handful (mushti)
Navana Rice or Red Boiled Rice/ Ukdo Tandul : one handful (mushti)
Sabudana (Tapioca Pearls) : one handful (mushti)
Thin Poha/ Pova (Beaten Rice) : one handful (mushti)
Maida/ APF : 2 cups
Methi/ Fenugreek seeds : 1 tsp
Green Chillies/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 5-6
Ginger/ Alle’/ Adrak : one inch piece
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste.
** Wash well and soak urad dal, chana dal, navana rice and sabudana, all together in plenty of water for 4-5 hours. Drain off the water and wash well 2-3 times using fresh clean water and then drain off the water completely. Now add in the beaten rice to it and mix well, rest aside for 10 minutes for it to get softened.
** Note : I have used navana rice here which is freely available in stores. It has medicinal properties and is considered very good for health, specially for those who fall ill frequently. Do give it a try, you will never know if you don't and who knows you may get good results too. However, you can replace it with any normal or boiled rice too.
** Soaking of Methi/ Fenugreek Seeds : Soak 1 tsp of methi seeds in ¼ cup of water in a small cup for an hour or when you soak the dal itself, but separately. This is to be used while grinding the dosa batter. I do not add the methi along with the dal’s coz. When we drain off the water, the health and medicinal properties of methi seeds are also lost through it.
** Note : Almost everybody I know, even my Mom soaks the methi seeds along with the urad dal while soaking the same. So it is not necessary to follow my method of soaking separately. You may do so along with other ingredients too.
** Now add drained dals mixed with poha into a wet grinder along with methi seeds and the water in which it is soaked and grind to a fluffy batter adding little by little water and mixing it well to be ground evenly. Lastly add in the green chillies and ginger cut into small pieces and further grind for a few minutes, we just need it crushed and mixed well. Remove the batter into a vessel, add Salt (Namak/ Meeta) to taste, mix well with hand, cover with a tight lid and leave it overnight (or 8 hours) to ferment.
** Note : I always use table top wet grinder for grinding urad dal as it gives fantastic results unlike mixer grinder, though you can use successfully the same too. If using mixer grinder then here is a tip for you, grind using chilled water to avoid urad dal thinning out while grinding, you will manage to get a fluffier batter that way. Just a suggestion, if your family loves Idlies, dosas then investing in wet grinder is worthwhile too.
** At the same time wash the grinder with about 4-5 cups of water mixing well the leftovers of the batter and put it into a bowl. We call this stone washed water (ragado dullele uddaka) which is not thrown but used. Add the maida to this water and mix well with hand to an even texture so that there are no lumps and keep it aside covered overnight. This softens the maida well and gives a soft tasty textured dosas.
** Next morning or after 8 hours of fermentation the batter is ready. The maida kept separately in vessel will have settled down while the excess water will be seen clearly on top. Gently tilt the vessel and drain away all the thin excess top water carefully (we call it nittolu kadche in Konkani). After this you will get a smooth paste of soft thick maida, mix this with the fermented batter well until the mixture is evenly smooth.
** Note : The batter should be thick in texture so add water sparingly while grinding the paste or when adding the maida next morning. Check the thickness of the batter and add only if you are not able to stir the batter well, we need to get Idly batter consistency for these dosa’s are removed slightly thicker to get them perfect.
** For Preparation of Dosas : After the batter has been mixed well, its ready to be prepared into dosas. Heat an Iron tava to prepare dosas or you may use any, I always use Iron ones as they always give best result and is healthier too. Once tava is hot, lower the heat to minimum, apply oil+ghee all over tava and rub lightly with a tissue paper or cloth, so that the tava gets evenly coated with just a thin film of ghee+oil.
** Using a deep rounded ladle that holds about ½ cup of batter, pour it on center of tava and then with the rounded bottom gently spread it into a round thick dosa of say about 6-8 inches in diameter gently, do not press the ladle too much on tava or it will tear also do not go to apply it too thin. Raise the heat to medium and sprinkle some oil+ ghee all round the rim of the dosa and some on the top too and let cook on open.
** When the bottom turns slightly brown and is done and the upper surface too cooked and not wet to touch, gently flip over the dosa with the help of a flat dosa spatula. Let the dosa cook on the top side too, this dosa is cooked on both sides, when done remove with spatula and check out that both sides are done if not cook for few more minutes. Place the prepared dosa on a serving plate and go about preparing more dosas.
** Do try to get the upper and lower sides slightly crisp as shown in the picture, the dosa within however still remains soft. Remember, I have already mentioned that this is a soft textured dosa. Proceed to remove rest of required number of dosas with the batter in similar way, remembering to season the tava and rub with tissue paper each time to ensure that all the dosas come off perfectly done.
** Note : The heat when adding dosa on tava should be minimum ie. low, then it should be raised to medium and cooked throughout on medium heat, you may check and raise or lower the heat to maintain as required taking care to see that dosa is not burnt. If you find that the tava has turned out too hot and you are running short of time to wait for it to cool down, in such times, sprinkle water on the tava to bring down the temperature, be careful as the water splutters, but gives good results.
** “Urad Dal- Maida- Rice Dosa (Polo)” are done and ready to be served. Always serve dosas immediately hot from tava directly into serving plate for best taste. Dosas always tastes awesome served with any side dish/ chutney/ curry/ butter/ pickle of your choice but somehow I always love to relish it with fresh homemade butter/ loni. Butter is my weakness from childhood and I have always relished all dosas with them, try them once to know the taste, as for children they are sure to love it, butter is good for health.
** I have always written a little bit about the necessity of having a good breakfast that is homemade. Each one has their own opinion, taste and reason for sure, but I always mention it coz. I know the loss of good health by not following patterns set by our ancestors who knew the best. Off course these days we need to consume a little bit lesser as we are not hard working as them, which helped them in digesting it all. Nevertheless the habit stands true for these days too, we need to pass on good habits to coming generation.
** These days we are somehow following lifestyle blindly without really giving it a good thought. The very reason why we keep falling ill frequently unlike olden days. We do need good food with loads of fiber in them for proper digestion of food. If you are recovering from a bout of illness or are not feeling good often, then somewhere in the hustle of life you have over looked good eating habits, so include them now before its too late. After all, one can never compromise on good health for all the wealth in lifetime.
** There are many more healthy breakfast dishes like dosa, idly, khotto etc. shared in the blog. Do browse through and try them in leisure, my amma (mom) always insisted on a good, healthy breakfast to begin the day with. It is the least you can do for good health of your children and family, thereby creating good eating habits.
** Sharing a common link to “Breakfast” dishes in Blog for easy access ….
https://gayathrifoodbytes.blogspot.com/search?q=chutney
** For preparation of “Kadak Adraki Chai/ Strong Ginger Tea”, I am sure all know the recipe, but if need be you can check out on the following link ….
https://gayathrifoodbytes.blogspot.com/2018/04/kadak-adraki-chai-strong-ginger-tea.html#more
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