Cookilicious Kitchen Stories - Episode 7

Cookilicious Kitchen Stories

Ease into Indian vegan/vegetarian cooking and work your way up from simple spice mixes to complex curries.

My food blog Cookilicious features a collection of detailed, mouth-watering vegetarian and vegan recipes.

This is our seventh episode, in which I have shared the recipe for Instant Potato Dosa. This is a delicious breakfast dish from Southern India.

Dosa is an Indian crepe that is popularly paired with a condiment called a Chutney. The recipe Ithat I'm going to talk about in today's episode is:

Potato Dosa

This is the Chutney I recommend pairing this Dosa with. I spoke about it in Episode 6:

Andhra Style Chutney Recipe

You will find more chutney recipes on this page:

Condiments

The traditional Dosa recipe is here:

Uttapam/Dosa Batter

These are some more delicious Dosa recipes that you may find interesting:

If you try any of these dishes, then I would love to see photos of your dish - my Instagram handle is @cookilicious.
If you have any questions or feedback, please write to us at contactthechef@cookilicious.com.
If you have been listening to our podcast regularly and like it, then please subscribe so you are aware of new episodes when they come online.

Instant Potato Dosa -- A South Indian Delicacy

Episode 7 - Potato Dosa, A South Indian Delicacy

Hello and welcome to the seventh episode of Cookilicious Kitchen Stories. In our previous episode, we talked about making Idli-Chutney, a popular breakfast dish from South India. Today, we’ll continue our journey in the South by talking about another delicacy. Before we start, I’d like to request you to take a moment to subscribe to our podcast.

The dish we’re going to talk about today is called Dosa, and it’s just as popular as Idli-Chutney. A Dosa is an Indian crepe made with rice and lentils. Both Idli and Dosa are traditional South Indian fare. You’ll find them in every restaurant. They are also popular street food dishes.

Since Dosa is very easy to make, it’s usually a staple of every South Indian household. My family was no exception. I have eaten Dosas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner when I was a child. It’s still one of my favorite comfort foods as it brings back fond memories of simpler times.

There are many varieties of Dosas. The traditional Dosa recipe is on my blog and I have shared the link for it in the episode summary. Today, the recipe I’m going to talk about is Instant Potato Dosa. This is a variety that my Aunt makes, and I got the recipe from her. Dosas usually require fermentation, but as the name suggests, today’s recipe is ‘Instant’ and does not require this. This Potato Dosa can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can also enjoy it as a light snack when you feel hungry. This is also an ideal dish to pack for an office or school lunch.

To make this recipe, you will need

1 cup all-purpose flour or Maida
2 tablespoons chickpea flour or Besan
3 tablespoons rice flour
2 tablespoons flaxseed powder
1 finely chopped Jalapeno
1 cup of coarsely chopped spinach
¼ cup of cilantro
2 grated potatoes, raw or boiled
2 ½ teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of paprika
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
Water as needed

You can find these ingredients at your nearest Indian store or grocery store, or online on Amazon. These ingredient quantities will yield up to 6 Dosas. This recipe requires approximately 10 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cook time, so it’s pretty quick!

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the recipe.

First, to a mixing bowl, add the all-purpose flour, rice flour, chickpea flour, flax seed powder, and salt.
Next, add the jalapenos, chopped spinach, and cilantro. Mix everything well.
Now add the grated potatoes to the bowl.
Gradually add water and mix everything well. You should be aiming for a batter-like consistency. If you dip a spoon into the batter and it coats evenly, then you have achieved the correct consistency.
Add the turmeric powder and paprika to the batter and mix well. This will lend some color and heat to your Dosa.
Heat a skillet over a medium flame until it’s uniformly hot.
Once the skillet is hot enough, ladle some batter onto it and spread it around like a pancake. The idea is to create a thin crepe.
Now drizzle some oil along the sides of the crepe and let it cook. After some time, if you slide a spatula under the crepe, it should come away from the skillet quite easily. Flip it over and let the other side cook.

Voila, ‘Instant Potato Dosa’ is ready! Serve it fresh and hot with some Chutney. You can make the same Peanut Tomato Chutney we talked about in the last podcast episode. I’ve also included a few links to some chutney recipes in the episode summary, so feel free to check them out.

Next, I’m going to share a few tips and tricks that should help you make delicious Dosas.

To know when the skillet is hot enough, you can sprinkle some water on the skillet. If the water droplets are able to move freely around the pan without evaporating, it’s hot enough.
Always cook on a medium flame. Too low of a flame and the Dosa will take too long to cook. Too high of a flame and it will burn.
You can place a lid over the skillet to speed up the cooking time.
When you ladle the batter onto the skillet and spread it around to form the crepe, take the skillet off the flame. This will help the batter spread easier.
You can use any potato variety to make the batter. They can be boiled or raw. I have tried with both and they turned out great. This is also a great recipe to use leftover mashed potatoes. Simply mix it in the batter.
You can also use the batter to make waffles instead of Dosas.
You can grate some cheese on top of the Dosa if you like, it tastes really good!
You can prepare the batter and refrigerate it. It will stay good for about a week. Get it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before making the Dosa so it has a chance to thaw a little.
If you don’t have the flour mentioned in the ingredients, feel free to use any flour available to you.
If you are not vegan, use Ghee instead of oil for a more authentic taste.

This concludes our podcast for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. I’ve added links to a few Dosa recipes on my blog. They all have detailed process shots and more tips and suggestions.

This is the Chutney I recommend pairing this Dosa with. I spoke about it in episode 6

Also included is a link to the condiments page featuring an assortment of chutneys. Please do check them out. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop us an email. If you liked the podcast, then please take a moment to subscribe. I’ll be back soon with more delicious recipes. Until next time, this is Priya signing off. Stay safe and keep cooking delicious!