On Saturday I got my new 7 cup Cuisinart and have been itching to use it to make my own Doasi batter from scratch. Scratch indeed. The process requires:
1) soaking special "boiled" rice and lentils and fenegrunk seed overnight ( i had to treck to three indian grocery stores-- ending at the Tamil owned one in town to find the special rice and ended up luging home a 25 pound bag of rice that is only used to make dosai)
2) after a good overnight soak, grind the water logged grains in the food processor
3) mix together the two soaked mixtures and let ferment for another 12 hours.
The important process is the fermentation of the batter- yes it is strange to think of fermented rice and indeed the mixture emmits a sour smell and sour taste- but as with other fermented things- these fermented grains are wonderful
My food processor did not completely grind the waterlogged grains smooth enough the first time so I gave it a double processed grinding. ( in India they have these contraptions that are composed of a big stone bowl with another big stone cone that rotates around the bowl and smashes the grain into a smooth paste---Even better-you can make this by manually rolling a stone rolling pin against a stone valley to create the batter). I succombed to modern technology and have become complacent with the less than smooth batter the cuisinart creates.
Modern or stone ground-- either way these crepes are delicious.
It took about ten trys before the pan was hot enough where I could flip the dosai without it falling apart.
Paired with a good coconut chutney ( compliments of the cuisinart) and a mixture of iddli podi ( more ground spices into a powder mixed with veggi oil--- adds a nice light spice to the meal).
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