Healthy Brown Rice and Quinoa Dosa; a healthy dosa (savory Indian rice-lentil crepes) with added gluten-free, high protein quinoa for a boost in nutrients; perfect to enjoy for breakfast or any time! Dosa is the quintessential south Indian breakfast revered and enjoyed the world over now! Every morning, our day starts with these crispy, healthy rice-lentil savory crepes with a couple of bowls of different varieties of chutneys or sambar to dip and enjoy! It could be either these or some soft, fluffy idlis – savory rice-lentil steamed cakes or even fluffy Rava Idlis (steamed semolina-yogurt cakes). But, my favorite has always been dosas, the crispier the better. The present theme in our Face book group Healthy Wellthy Cuisines is dosa. Recently, I came across a recipe shared by a friend with healthy quinoa and brown rice instead of white rice and had bookmarked to make it. With a few changes, I decided to make these and share on our group. DOSA BATTER: Dosas have 2 main ingredients: rice and urad dal (whole or split black gram lentils) with a dash of fenugreek/methi seeds for added health benefits, taste and flavor. Rice and dal are soaked along with fenugreek and then blended to a smooth batter. This batter is then fermented for at least 8 hours or overnight before making dosas or even idlis. To make it healthier, I have used brown rice instead of white rice and one of the new super foods, quinoa. WHAT KIND OF RICE TO USE? Traditionally, we use something called “idli rice”, sometimes called “Salem akki/rice” (as I believe it originated from Salem in south India). I have used Basmati rice, sona rice etc. due to unavailability of this idli rice and have got good results. So, please don’t rush out and try to look for idli rice! You can use any type of rice. As I said, for this recipe, I decided to use brown rice; much healthier than white rice, high in fiber content and it has a lower glycemic index than regular rice; great for diabetics! URAD DAL/BLACK GRAM LENTILS: You can use dehusked or deskinned black gram, whole or split. I prefer to use the whole, deskinned urad dal. All these ingredients are easily available in any Indian store or even online. OTHER OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS:
When I first started cooking, I used to make dosas/idlis with just rice and dal. But during my working tenure, sharing lunch with colleagues introduced me to the mystery ingredient (for me!) in dosas and idlis; fenugreek seeds/methi seeds (seeds of the aromatic herb fenugreek) which aids in controlling sugar in your body! Their dosas/idlis used to have a distinct aroma which I loved. When inquiring about it, I found they added these nutritious fenugreek seeds (soaked and just a dash) to their batter while blending. I was floored by the aroma and flavor it lent to the dish. It aids in fermentation too! Ever since then, I have started adding them to all my dosa/idli batters! Some people add a couple of tablespoons of cooked rice or even poha/flattened rice to add to the crispiness. I do add these sometimes, but have not really noticed much difference. You can choose to add or just avoid it for dosas, but for idlis, it does make a difference in the fluffiness! Quinoa is one of the trending ingredients nowadays and it has found it’s way in salads, pulaos, cookies, cakes etc. Addition of quinoa to the batter increases the nutrition, lends a lovely aroma to the dosa and makes it super crispy! The original recipe used the proportion of rice:dal:quinoa as 2:1:1, but I have used only 2:1:1/2 as I felt the smell of quinoa was too strong for our liking and may not be palatable to many!
MAKING THE BATTER AND FERMENTATION: Soak all the ingredients; rice, dal, quinoa and methi seeds for at least 4 to 5 hours.
Blend to a fairly smooth paste/batter. I have used a blender, but this can also be made in a large wet stone grinder (found in most Indian kitchens) too. If you are using the wet grinder, you can use proportions of dal and rice; 1:3. Increase quinoa to 3/4 cup. Pour into a large container with enough room for the batter to rise while fermenting. This fermentation can be done in a warm kitchen or a warm oven. Add salt to taste and mix with clean hands! I don’t know what it does, but mixing with bare hands does make a difference in fermentation (an old traditional method practiced by my mother and grandmothers!!). Leave to ferment and leave aside for 6 to 8 hours (depending upon the temperature in the kitchen) or even overnight. I normally place the container in an oven with the oven light on or near the fridge wall on the counter; works perfectly every times. Make sure you place the container over a flat baking sheet or a plate, in case the batter rises too much and spills all over!
Nowadays, I prefer to use my INSTANT POT to ferment my batter in the yogurt mode! Comes out super fluffy and perfectly fermented!
MAKING HEALTHY BROWN RICE AND QUINOA DOSA: Once the batter has fermented and risen, mix again with a ladle and dilute if needed to make a flowing slightly thick batter. My favorite pan to use is an iron griddle (cast iron) to make my dosas. I have somehow never been enamored by non-stick pans, especially to make dosas! The key to making crisp dosas is slow cooking on a medium low flame for a long time, to allow the bottom of the dosa to crisp up and brown beautifully. Quinoa, I noticed adds more crispiness to the crepe/dosa!
Once you have spread the dosas on the griddle, drizzle oil in the beginning and let the dosa set slightly on top (cover with a lid if needed). Now, comes the best part! This I learnt from a local dhaba/street food vendor; rub a block of butter (salted or unsalted) all over the top of the dosa and then continue to cook it until crispy and golden brown on the bottom! SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Remove and serve either rolled or folded over (sometimes filled with potato curry/bhaji, then the dosa is called “masala dosa”). On some days, I do flip the dosa and cook the other side too, but this is optional!
Serve crispy, healthy, nutritious and super delicious Brown Rice and Quinoa dosas with chutney, sambar, Indian pickles, Molaga podi or filled with a spicy potato-onion bhaji to make masala dosas! I have served these crispy, golden brown, healthy Brown Rice and Quinoa Dosa with Curry Leaves Chutney and Potato Bhaji! I swear, these healthy brown rice and quinoa dosas came out so, so crispy and delicious; I may never go back to making dosas with regular rice and without quinoa! And of course, they are super healthy too compared to the regular dosas! They were so tasty; my family has been having these for breakfast and dinner! This combination of brown rice, urad dal and quinoa for my dosas is for sure a keeper!! Hope you will try this soon in your kitchen and amp up the nutrition in your favorite breakfast dosa!
UPDATED DECEMBER 2020:
I have been making these quite often but wanted to share my recent plate of dosa goodness I had for breakfast last week with a side of homemade Molaga Podi/Chutney Powder and Instant No-Dal Thakkali/Tomato Sambar. Absolutely yumm!
If you do happen to make this, I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below (rate if you can) and/or share on Instagram (@curryandvanilla16) or on my Facebook page. Enjoy and Happy Cooking!
Enjoy these crispy dosas with:
Molaga Podi/South Indian Chutney Powder Instant Tomato Sambar Potato Curry/Bhaji Coconut Chutney with Onions Spicy Onion Chutney
Other Breakfast Delights you can check out are:
Surnali Dosa Ragi Rava Dosa Instant Multigrain Rava Dosa Instant Rava/Semolina Idlis
Let’s fire up the griddle and make some crispy, super delicious Healthy Brown Rice and Quinoa dosas!
Do make these for your family soon! Cook Time: 10 minutes
2 cups brown rice 1 cup whole, deskinned urad dal/black gram lentils ½ cup Quinoa 1 tsp methi seeds/fenugreek seeds 3 tablespoons cooked rice or poha (flattened rice); this is optional Salt to taste (I have added about 1 1/2 teaspoons) Butter to rub over the dosa (optional) Oil/ghee for roasting the dosas
Instructions Notes If you want, you can flip and cook the other side gain for a crispier dosa. Use oil or ghee for drizzling over the dosa. For a vegan version, omit the ghee and butter. PIN or SHARE HERE for later:
I am sharing this with our gourmet Face Book group “Healthy Wellthy Cuisines” where the current theme is #TimeForDosaAtHW ! Do check out other super delicious and unique dosas shared by my friends at Healthy Wellthy Cuisines:
Spicy Tomato Dosa by Rosy Sweet Cucumber Dosas by Paneer Masala Dosa by Priya Pav Bhaji Dosa by Sasmita Jowar Dosa by Jayashree Ragi Dosa with Paneer Bhurjee by Shalu
For more similar culinary creations from my kitchen, don’t forget to follow me on: Facebook @ curryandvanilla Pinterest @ curryandvanilla Instagram @ curryandvanilla16 Twitter @ curryandvanilla Google Plus @ Vanitha Bhat Have fun cooking, eating and sharing!!!!
