Masala dosa

As tradition built it

Makes 8 to 10 dosa. Same fermented batter as idli, thinned; potato filling takes about 20 minutes.

Ingredients

• as available idli/dosa batter (as above), thinned with water to a pourable consistency
• 4 large potatoes, boiled and roughly mashed
• 2 tbsp oil or ghee
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp urad dal
• A sprig curry leaves
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 green chillies, slit
• ½ tsp turmeric
• to taste salt

Method

1. For the filling, heat the oil and temper the mustard seeds and urad dal until the seeds pop, then add curry leaves, onion and green chilli and fry until the onion softens.
2. Add turmeric and the mashed potato, salt to taste, and cook a few minutes more until well combined. Keep warm.
3. Heat a flat, well-seasoned cast iron tawa. Pour a ladle of thinned batter into the centre and spread outward in a thin, even spiral.
4. Drizzle a little oil or ghee around the edge and cook until the underside is golden and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes; a proper dosa is not flipped.
5. Spoon the potato filling along the centre and fold into thirds.

What a modern chef changes

A batter roasted on stone-ground aromatics, and a tawa hot enough to crisp the dosa's whole surface, not just its edge

Rung 1

Method

1. Grind a small measure of the tempering spices, mustard seed and curry leaf, on stone alongside the wet spices for the filling, rather than only using them as a whole-seed tempering, for a rounder, less scattered aromatic base.
2. Preheat the tawa properly, testing with a drop of water that should sizzle and evaporate instantly, since a tawa that is merely warm rather than properly hot is the single most common reason a home dosa turns out soft and pale rather than crisp.
3. Finish with a thin film of ghee rather than a neutral oil, for a dosa that reads as Tamil Brahmin in register even where the filling itself, per the history above, does not.