My time-tested authentic recipe teaches you how to make delicious and crispy dosas at home. I share everything from scratch - soaking the lentils, making the batter, fermenting and spreading the batter correctly to make perfect dosa every single time.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 720 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 745 minutes
  • Yield: 12 · 12 dosas
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (100 grams) urad dal ((whole or split skinned black gram))
  • 2 tablespoons (25 grams) chana dal ((Bengal gram))
  • 1½ cups (315 grams) raw rice ((sona masuri sub with ponni/ basmati rice, refer notes))
  • 2 tablespoons (15 grams) poha ((flattened rice))
  • ½ teaspoon (2.5 grams) methi seeds ((fenugreek seeds))
  • 1¼ cups (300 ml) cold filtered water ((+ ¼ cup more as needed, divided - ¾ to 1 cup + ½ cup))
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt ((non iodized salt if using before fermentation))

Method

  1. Rinse together urad dal, chana dal and methi seeds thrice, draining out the water after each rinse. Soak in 3 cups water for 5 to 6 hours.
  2. Rinse rice thrice and soak in 3 cups water for 5 to 6 hours. (If you have a high speed blender you may rinse and soak them together, read faqs)

Make Dosa Batter

  1. Rinse and soak poha in ¼ cup water for 30 mins, before blending the batter.
  2. Drain water from dal & transfer to a blender jar. Also add soaked poha and ¾ to 1 cup water (start with lesser). Grind to a smooth & bubbly batter. Transfer this to a large bowl or an instant pot steel insert.
  3. Drain water from rice & add it to the jar. Pour ½ cup water and blend to a smooth or slightly coarse batter.
  4. Transfer to the dal batter bowl and mix well. (Check video to see the final consistency). During winters you may add sea salt & mix at this stage to help with fermentation.

Fermenting Dosa Batter

  1. Cover the bowl loosely and ferment the batter in a warm place overnight, up to 12 hours until it rises, turns light & bubbly.
  2. During colder season, ferment the batter in oven at 100 F/ 40 C for 3 hours & leave it overnight there with the oven light ON. Alternately, place the bowl in the IP or the instant pot steel insert, press yogurt settings with a timer set to 8 hours (12 to 14 hours during colder days). Use an external lid and not the IP lid.
  3. Optional Fermentation test: Well fermented dosa batter rises & increases in volume. It looks airy, with plenty of tiny bubbles. To test, drop half a spoon of this into a bowl of water. Well fermented batter floats. If it has not reached this stage, ferment longer.
  4. Stir the dosa batter once. Transfer the required portion to a small bowl and add salt as required. Refrigerate the rest for up to 2 weeks.
  5. The fermented batter usually becomes thick, pour little water to thin down only needed & bring it to a spreadable consistency. (Check video or photos in the post)

How to make Dosa

  1. Heat a dosa tawa on a medium heat. When it is slightly hot, add a few drops of oil and spread it with a kitchen paper or a half cut onion (pierced with a fork/ butter knife on the rounded side to hold).This prevents the dosas from sticking to the pan.
  2. To check if the pan is hot enough, sprinkle a few drops of water over the pan. If it is ready, it should sizzle.
  3. Reduce the heat to medium, stir the batter with a ladle and take a ladle (¼ cup) of dosa batter & pour in the center of the hot tawa.
  4. Immediately begin to spread it evenly with the base of the ladle – starting from the center, in an outward circular motion in a clockwise direction. (Check photos or video in the post)
  5. Increase the heat to medium high or high and drizzle oil/ghee/ butter across the edges.
  6. Cook until the base turns golden & crisp. Run a thin wooden turner/spatula across the base of the dosa, starting from the edges to the center.
  7. Optional – If you want you may cook on the other side – turn it to the other side and cook for a minute. Turn again and cook the base for 30 seconds to crisp it.
  8. Fold the dosa and remove from pan. Before making the next dosa, reduce the heat to low. You can also rub the cut onion and then pour the batter.
  9. Serve dosa with coconut chutney, potato masala & tiffin sambar.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.