Red gram dosai

Dosai is a common South Indian breakfast, which is rich in carbohydrates and contains no sugar or saturated fats. Since its ingredients are rice and lentils, gluten free and contains protein. The fermentation process increases the vitamin B and vitamin C content.

I hope many of you might have not seen the red gram plant (toor dal plant). So I thought of sharing some pictures here which are taken from our home garden at my native place (taken during my recent trip to India). We used to get fresh green red gram and prepare gravy for idly or dosai. If we get excess quantity then we used to process them and store it for preparing sambar or dal.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups – Idly rice
• 1 1/2 cup – Red gram / Thuvaram paruppu / Toor dhal
• 1/2 cup – Whole black gram without skin / Ulunthu
• Salt as needed

Red gram plant - துவரம் பருப்பு செடி (pictures taken from our home garden at my native place)

Preparation method:

1. Wash and soak idly rice along with red gram in a wide bowl for atleast 3 to 4 hrs. Same way wash and soak whole black gram separately in a bowl for atleast 2 hours. Set aside.
2. Grind soaked black gram in a wet grinder (I always prefer wet grinding for idly and dosai) until it is light and fluffy by adding water little by little (I use either ice water or ice cubes while grinding) and transfer it to a container.The batter should not be sticky but it should be light and fluffy. I usually grind ulunthu for about 40 mins.
3. Now add soaked rice along with red gram to the wet grinder and grind it coarsely by adding water little by little for 15 to 20 mins. Rice batter should be little watery than ulunthu batter.Then add ground ulunthu along with required salt to the ground rice and grind for another 5 minutes so that it gets mixed well.
4. Transfer ground batter to a big container or two wide container for fermentation. Container should have enough room for the batter to ferment. Consistency of batter should not be too thick or too thin. Ferment the batter for at least 4 to 6 hrs or until it ferments. Mix the fermented batter well. Now it is ready for making dosai.
5. Heat a dosai tawa, take a ladle full of flour and spread it like normal dosai. Drizzle some oil around the sides and cook both sides till golden brown. Serve hot with any spicy chutney.

Notes:

• Red gram dosai batter takes very less time to ferment than our regular dosai batter. So check in between for whether it is done or not. If you are not going to use batter immediately, then refrigerate it for later use.
• The quality of idly rice, red gram and black gram/ulunthu is very important. Never stock rice and ulunthu for long, better get it in small quantity or when needed.
• The duration for fermentation may vary depending on the climatic conditions. In winter it may need longer time and in summer it may require less time to ferment. Always try to keep it in a warm place.