How to Make Crepes in India - Part 2

Ruchika of Ruchika Cooks
Houston, Texas

Traditional Crepe (Dosa) Recipe

This is the common breakfast in South India. This crepe is a gluten-free crepe. Instead of just adding rice, various legumes (chick peas, black eyed peas, yellow lentils) can also be added along with the rice during the soaking process to pack a protein punch.

The 3 Stages of Traditional Crepe Making:

1) Soaking the ingredients
2) Grinding
3) Fermenting the batter

Ingredients for the Crepe Batter:

• Par Boiled Rice - 2 cups
• Urad Dal (Black Lentils/Black Gram)- 3/4 cup
• Salt- 2 tsp

Method:
Wash and soak the rice in water for at least 5 hours. Wash and soak the Urad Dal in water for 3 hours.

Then, drain the water from Urad dal (black lentils) and grind it to a fine paste till it looks smooth like a cream. Do not add water while blending, just add about 3-4 tbsp of water if needed. Transfer to a tall vessel.

In the same blender, blend the rice with 1/4 cup of water till slightly coarse but mostly ground to a fine paste. Do not change the order of grinding as the lentils will be quite soft and sticky and grinding the rice after grinding lentils can actually absorb any lentils stuck to the blender.

Pour the blended rice mixture over that of the lentils, mix well with a flat ladle, add 2 tsp of salt, mix well again (without any lumps), cover with a lid and place it in a warm place like pantry or an oven. 

Let it ferment for 10-12 hours (usually over night would be sufficient).

The next morning, if the temperature is good (cold conditions will take longer to ferment), the batter was ground according to the textures mentioned, the batter would have doubled in volume. 

Usually, in India, the top batter (1/4th volume )is scooped and used to make steamed rice cakes. The rest of the batter is used to make crepes.

Ingredients to Make the Crepe:

• Batter- 1 cup
• Oil- 2 tsp
• Toppings (Mashed potato, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, mint, green onions or egg)

Steps:

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed crepe pan.
2. Pour a ladle of batter in the centre and in quick circular motion make a round shape.
3. Sprinkle some oil on top.
4. Spread some of the filling on top.
5. Once one side of the crepe is golden brown in color, flip it slowly to the other side and let it cook as well.

Serve hot as it is, or with ketchups or dips. As an example, I recently made an egg-tomato relish crepe by pouring over a beaten egg on top of the crepe and.... 

added some tomato relish with it.

As you can see, there are unlimited ways you can top your traditional dosas.

However you top your crepes, enjoy!

Note from World of Crepes: Ruchika, thank you for sharing this informative and delicious article on crepe-making in India!

For more traditional Indian food and history, we encourage you to visit Ruchika's blog at http://ruchikacooks.com. 

Return to How to Make Crepes in India - Part 1. 

Return to How to Make Crepes in 6 Steps. 

Return to World of Crepes.

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