Sambhar: Wash toor dal, put it in pot. Add a glass of water and 2 tbsp sliced onions in it. Put the potato and the pieces of drumstick in a bowl with water. Add water in tamarind in a different bowl. Put all these- Dal, veggies and tamerind for boiling in one cooker. Cook on medium heat till 5 whistles release. Heat oil in a pan. Splatter mustard, then add dry red chilli, fenugreek seeds, udad dal, mung Dal, green chillies and curry leaves.
Add sliced onions and fry till they are translucent. Next add the tomatoes and the veggies followed by the spices, asafoetida and salt. Add 2-3 tbsp water and allow the spices to cook until oil oozes.
Then add 400 ml water and the boiled tamarind water (sieved) and bring it to boil on low heat. Add dal. Let it all boil on low heat for 5-10 min. Remember that the consistency of sambhar should be thinner than regular dal. And it should be slightly on sour side.
Sabzi : heat oil in a pan. Splatter mustard seeds. Add methi seeds, udad dal, chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida and turmeric powder. Next add onions and saute till they are translucent. Then break potatoes between your fingers and add.
Add all the spices and salt. Combine everything well and cook on low heat for 2-3 min.
Chutney: roast chana Dal. Combine all the ingredients in the mixture jar and grind till smooth paste. You may add a little water if needed.
Add oil, milk and sugar in the batter. Combine very well. Also add a little water in the if required to make thick, but smoothly pouring consistency (not the ribbon consistency).Heat dosa pan sprinkle some water to cool it a bit. Wipe it dry.
Put batter on it and spread it going outwards going in the same direction. Wait till the surface looks dry.
Then spread butter and chutney on it. Place sabzi on it. Let the dhosa cook evenly on all the sides. You may have to move the pan to help flame reach out on all sides. Keep the flame low to high.
Dosa will easily peel off with a little help of spatula when it's cooked well. Try to scrape it gently and peel it off the pan. Fold it and remove from pan. Serve hot with chutney and sambar.
Variation : once the surface of dosa looks dry enough, put much amount of butter in the centre followed by chopped onions,chopped tomatoes and peas- a tsp of each. Let it cook a bit then put sabzi on it.
Tips on dosa batter: 1. Consistency the batter should be slightly thinner than for idler, but if the batter is too thin, it will stick to the pan and not peel off. Whereas if it is thick, the dhosa will not spread. 2. Temperature : the batter must be at the room temperature or else the dhosa will be very chewy. 3. The batter must be well fermented and must have the right proportion of dal and rice to get crispy golden dosa. See my recipe for 'idli dosa batter ' on Cookpad.
Tips on the pan: 1. Type: use the regular dosa pan (which is kind of non-stick), not the non-stick pan with multiple quoting. Thick iron tawa is the best. 2. Preparing the pan for dosa: always stir fry a piece of bread/chapati/Puri on tawa before starting to make dosa on it. This small process helps to prepare pan for dosa so dosa does not stick to it.
Tips on making dosa: 1. The pan should be hot, but at the time of spreading batter, the temperature has to be controlled a bit so dosa can be spread easily. That's why we sprinkle some water just before spreading batter. You may also remove the pan off the flame while spreading if you need more time to spread it. 2. Spread dosa in the same direction. That create a nice and even swirls on the dosa. 3. Spread dosa starting from the centre going outwards.
Tips on heat under the pan at different times: 1. Keep the flame low while spreading the batter and even after till the surface of dosa looks dried. The heat can be increased to medium-high then after. 2. Do not cook dosa over high heat or it won't be crisp. 3. Move the pan over heat all around for even cooking. 4. Do not start scraping off dosa until it looks cooked (a little brownish at the bottom)
