Recently after my father was diagnosed with Diabetes, I have been looking for recipes that my mother can make for him. Swathi who blogs at Zesty South Indian Kitchen had got together few bloggers to write for World Diabetes Day. It was amazing to see so many different mouthwatering recipes at the event. This is another recipe for my mother to try for my dad. We really liked the dosai and it was no different than any other instant dosais.
What is ragi/finger millet?
Ragi or finger millet is a widely grown plant in Asia and Africa. This is called Kezhvaragu in Tamil and is often the main ingredient in cereals made for babies. Ragi is ground with water and then the milk is extracted out of it which is then sun-dried and powdered again to use as porridge for babies. Both my kids grew up on Ragi kanji. In fact, my little one still eats the ragi Kanchi mixed with some oats for his morning breakfast. One other dosai that I make with ragi is the sweet ragi dosai that both my boys love. It is one of the best one and I make it along with this savory ragi dosai. This week I am going to be making instant idlis and dosas for the Blogging marathon. This is a quick dosa and perfect for a weeknight dinner. I added wheat flour and rice flour with ragi flour, but if you are making this for a diabetic person, leave the rice flour out and increase the wheat flour quantity.
Step-by-step process
Mix all the flour in a wide bowl. Add the buttermilk and enough salt and mix well. Now add water to make it into a very thin batter. The batter should be much thinner than the regular dosai batter.Protip to make buttermilk - Use ¼ cup of thick plain yogurt and dilute it with water to make buttermilk. Do not use buttermilk made with milk and vinegar for this recipe.
In a small pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chilies, ginger, and curry leaves. Let it fry for a minute and then add it to the prepared dosai batter. Add the chopped onions as well and mix.
Heat a griddle/Tawa on medium-high heat. Once the Tawa is heated very well, pour the batter from outside to inside to form a circle. The dosai will have holes and spaces in them (just like rawa dosai). Add a little oil around the edges and let it cook.
Once cooked, flip over the dosai and let it cook on the other side.
Remove from the griddle and then repeat the same with the rest of the batter.
Serve with your favorite chutney or sambhar! I served it with some peanut chutney.
Notes and observation
The dosai can be made only with ragi and wheat flour and you could leave the rice flour. In that case, use ½ cup of wheat flour instead of ¼ cup. If making for a diabetic person, I would leave the rice flour out.
The dosai will be darker than the regular dosai since the ragi flour is dark in color.
Adding onions adds a sweet flavor to the dosai. If needed onions can be omitted.
Sprouted ragi flour can be added instead of regular ragi flour. It adds more nutrition to the recipe.
The seasoning ingredients can also be added directly without frying. When I am short on time, I add everything along with the batter and make dosa.
If making the dosai vegan, then skip the buttermilk and use all water.
Frequently asked questions
More Instant Dosai Recipes
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