Kulith-Urad Dal-Ukdo Tandla Polo (Horse Gram- Black Gram Dal- White Boiled Rice Dosa).

“Kulith-Urad Dal-Ukdo Tandla Polo (Horse Gram- Black Gram Dal- White Boiled Rice Dosa)” … served with Coconut Chutney and Loni (Butter) along with Adraki Chai (Ginger Tea) … this is a traditional healthy dosa from GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine prepared over generations … this time I just made a small change to Amma’s age old recipe by replacing normal rice with white boiled rice (ukdo tandul) … soft within, crisp on outside, tastes awesome dunked in coconut chutney, pickle, chutney podi or any side dish of your choice … Yummilicious …

** Dosa’s have always been a part of our GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine to be served during breakfast and there are plenty of choices with mix and match of variety of ingredients. In my home we are foodies and frankly love all types of food and there is hardly any Indian food that we detest, I guess we both respect this God given gift as a blessing. I have often mentioned that our Konkani Cuisine has not been justified until date and I absolutely have not idea why? It’s one of the easiest to prepare, healthiest to relish and you must try it to know more. The combination of ingredients is something our ancestors passed on and I strongly feel that it is our moral responsibility to pass these traditions to coming generations.

** All said and done a dosa can be prepared thick, thin or medium textured, again you can have them soft or crisp textured, it all depends on fermented batter and of course the mix and match of ingredients. A good Dosa in my opinion is that which can be spread well on tava and when done can be removed from tava in one go without tearing. There are plenty to try from, so go ahead and enjoy them the way you prefer. I have shared this recipe before, say about 9 yrs back and I sharing it again today with a little bit of difference while the recipe remains the same. For this recipe I have used white boiled rice (ukdo tandul) instead of normal rice as I strongly felt that it is a healthier option and trust me it tastes fantastic.

** I am sharing link to previous recipe which you can check out on too and try that if it is more convenient for you. Ukda rice/ boiled rice needs more soaking time and with people having busy working schedule these days find it difficult to follow the soaking timings that differs, like in this recipe. However, if you do find the time or during holidays, you can give this recipe a try, I am sure you will like it. There are plenty of breakfast item recipes shared in the Blog which are tasty, healthy and easy to prepare, so do given them a try and enjoy a good healthy lifestyle, this is one of the best wealth we can pass on to coming generations, trust me, in the long run, your children will be thankful to you for passing on this habit.

** Here is my recipe for “Kulith- Urad Dal- Ukdo Tandla Polo (Horse Gram- Black Gram Dal- White Boiled Rice Dosa)” … my style …

** Ingredients :

Urad Dal/ Split Black gram dal : 1 cup

White Ukdo Tandul/ Boiled Rice/ Kuchalakki : 3 cups

Horse Gram/ Kulith : 1.5 cups

Methi/ Fenugreek seeds : 1 tsp

Ginger/ Adrak/ Alle' : 1 inch cut into small pieces.

Green Chilly/ Trani Mirsanga/ Hirvi Mirchi : 4-5 cut into small pieces.

Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste.

** Oil+ Ghee in 1:1 portion for removing dosa.

** Wash well and soak White Ukdo Tandul/ Boiled Rice/ Kuchalakki for about 10-12 hours. Boiled rice takes more soaking period and is a must to do so for proper digestion of the same and to get perfect dosas/ idly etc.

** Wash and soak urad dal in plenty of water for 4-5 hours. Here the difference of soaking time differs as excess soaking is not necessary. Again, sometimes excess soaked urad tends to ferment excess passing on tangy taste.

** Soaking of Methi : Soak methi seeds in ¼cup of water in a small cup for an hour or so, just before you start grinding the batter. This is to be used while grinding the dosa batter. I do not add methi along with dal’s coz. When we drain water, the health and medicinal properties of methi seeds are also lost through it. You can use lukewarm water if you have only 10-15 mins time at hand only. It will give similar result.

** Drain water from urad dal and boiled rice, once again rinse them well with water, drain excess water and keep them ready aside ready for grinding. First, add soaked and drained urad dal into the wet grinder or mixer grinder and grind to a smooth fluffy paste adding water as required only. The batter should be thick in texture, remove and add it into a vessel large enough to hold the batter on fermenting.

** Now in the same wet grinder or mixer grinder add the drained boiled rice along with methi seeds and the water it is soaked and grind to a smooth paste adding water as required. When almost done add washed and cut to small pieces the ginger and green chillies and further grind until it is crushed and well blended with the batter.

** Remove and add the ground paste to urad dal batter in vessel, along with salt to taste and mix well with hands to get an even batter. Cover and keep it in a warm place to ferment for 8-12 hours or overnight depending on the weather.

** Pick kulith/ horse gram to remove any small stones etc. if any, wash well and soak in plenty of water overnight or for 8 hours. Then drain the soaked water and rinse well with fresh water, drain excess water completely using a colander.

** Now add the kulith into a mixer grinder and grind to a smooth fluffy batter WITHOUT adding water, mixing in between to help even grinder. Remove and add this to the overnight fermented batter, mix well, check and add water only if necessary.

** Note : I soak the kulith overnight as I believe that pulses should be well soaked for proper digestion. But some people soaked it early in the morning only for 2 hours and grind to batter and then there are some who just wash and grind it too. You can even sprout kulith and use in grinding as a batter too. In any case do not grind it along with urad or rice and allow to ferment as it may over ferment the batter giving odd odor. In case you do not have time to grind it the next day then you can soak it for a few hours, grind it and store it separately in fridge and mix it with the fermented batter next day too.

** The preparation of the batter is done and complete now, so you can go ahead with the preparation of making dosa/ polo.

** Heat an iron or non stick/Teflon coated dosa tawa to smoking point (I prefer Iron tava). Lightly brush in the oil+ ghee mixture and evenly rub it over the tava with a tissue paper so that the tava is evenly and slightly greased only.

** Now decrease the heat level to minimum and with a help of rounded spatula/ tumbler add in about half a cup of prepared batter in the center of the tava and spread evenly into a thick round shaped dosa/ polo of about 6-8 inches only.

** Do not apply the dosa too thin or large shaped, keep it thicker in texture than that of masala dosa and smaller in size too. Increase the heat to medium and let cook. Sprinkle a few drops of ghee+ oil mixture on the rim of the dosa and on top too.

** Once the bottom side of dosa is cooked, loosen it with the flat dosa spatula and flip to over to cook on the top side too. When cooked and done raise the heat to cook it slightly crisp just for a minute or so, remove, flip it and place on serving plate.

** Repeat the procedure as mentioned above for preparing of each dosas to remove the required number of dosas. You can store the remaining batter immediately in a air tight container in fridge, remains good for 48 hours.

** “Kulith-Urad Dal-Ukdo Tandla Polo (Horse Gram- Black Gram Dal- White Boiled Rice Dosa)” is done and ready to be served. Always serve polo/ dosas hot from tava for best in taste along with any side dishes like chutney/ podi, butter, pickle, godda ravo (jaggery syrup) etc. I served these dosas with coconut chuntey and loni (butter) along with Ginger Tea, for breakfast and it was a heartwarming breakfast. These types of breakfast really keep your tummy filled for the long day ahead, try it.

** Note : Keep the excess/ leftover batter immediately in an airtight container in the fridge for later use if you do not want to consume it all. It remains good for 24- 48 hours depending upon the fermentation time used. Do not keep it at room temperature as it begins to ferment too much and is then not at all edible to be consumed.

** Note : The proportion of urad- boiled rice- kulith varies with the method of grinding followed. I use table top wet grinder for all my dosa grinding requirements. If you are using mixer grinder then I suggest you use chilled water while grinding for best results and it avoids heating while grinding which leads to thinning of the batter. Again, wet grinder yields larger portion of urad while mixie does not, hence you may have to add a bit less of rice, say 2 to 2.5 cups of rice and 1 cup of horse gram only for perfect dosas/ polo.

** Important Note : Horse Gram/ Kulith should always be carefully picked for small stones or inedible things in the grains how much ever the store keeper says it is clean, take my word it is not. So, never soak them on directly or add them with other pulses without checking through the same properly as there are bound to be some small stones in them and they will be unpleasant/ dangerous to eat if done so.

** Note : You can remove the dosa/ polo using either oil or ghee as per your desire or as you always do in your home. My Amma always used to prepare and keep ghee+ oil in the ratio of 1:1 in a bowl exclusively to be used in preparation of dosas only. I have no idea why she did it, but I can vouch that the dosa done so turn out good and tasty and I have simply followed that method for decades now without questioning. You may choose any method you like, however do give this method a try and judge for yourself.

** Sharing link below to my previous ricepe of “Kulith- Dal- Tandla Polo (Horse Gram- Black Gram Dal- Rice Dosa)” which is exactly the same except for addition of white boiled rice (ukde tandul/ kuchalakki) instead of normal surti kollam rice.

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