Neer Dosa (lacy, snow white Rice Crepes)

Neer Dosa is a thin, fluffy and savory rice crepes from South-Indian cuisine. “Neer” means water in tulu, as the name states it’s all water.

My aunt used to call it “panpole” (in konkani). The first time I had Neer dosa was at her place. Usually I like my dosas crispy, but for the first time I loved soft, fluffy and delicate dosas. Since then I have been making Neer Dosas quite regularly in my kitchen.

Neer Dosa has a quick and simple recipe without too much hassle. I like calling it “instant dosas”, cause like other dosas it doesn’t require fermentation. Another thing I like about this white, light and lacy dosa, is it tastes great with almost anything like with chutneys, chicken (Chicken Xacuti), egg, fish or crab curry.

Serves: 4
Cooking time: 20 – 25 mins

Ingredients

2 cups Rice
Salt, as required
2 tbsp fresh coconut, grated (optional)
Oil as required to grease dosa tava (flat griddle pan)

Batter

1.  Wash and soak rice overnight or for at least 4 hrs. Drain the water and grind the rice along with the grated coconut to a fine paste. Add water as required (batter should be a free flowing liquid and ground smooth).
2.  Add salt to taste. Mix well.

Preparation

1.  Heat large skillet or tava on high flame. Drizzle oil over the hot skillet.
2.  Mix the batter well, pour batter over the skillet and swirl it in a circle so that the batter completely (and thinly) coats the bottom of the skillet.
3.  Drizzle a little oil over the dosa so that the dosas don’t stick to the skillet while lifting it. (optional)
4.  Reduce the flame to medium heat. Cover the skillet for a 1 min with a lid or metal plate. Then uncover and cook further for more 30 sec.
5.  Once the dosa looks cooked, fold the dosa twice to form a triangle. Remove onto a plate.
6.  Repeat the same procedure for the rest of the dosas.

Serve hot with Garlic coconut chutney or your choice of curry.

spoonful O’ tips

1.  To get a liquidy consistency of the batter is very important. When you dip your finger in the batter and rub them together, it should be smooth with no grains.
2.  If the batter is too thick, it will not spread around when poured on a hot skillet and if the batter is too thin, the dosa will start cracking on the hot skillet.
3.  The skillet must be extremely hot for the dosas to come out soft and lacy.
4.  In my experience, the first two dosas usually stick to the pan and don’t come out so well. After that the pan get seasoned and the dosas turn out wonderful.
5.  If you keep the skillet covered for a longer time while cooking, the dosas will get brown and crispy. This dosa cooks super fast.
6.  The recipe can be made without adding coconut. But coconut adds extra softness to the dosas.
7.  Neer dosas are cooked only on one side.