Ash gourd Dosa/ Instant Boodu kumbalakai dosa

Ash gourd, a healthy & humble vegetable. As per my observation, we use this vegetable highly in our region (Dakshina Kannada) in cooking ranging from curries, dosa to halwa/ desserts. Whereas in Bangalore it is not much used in cooking but mainly in pooja! 

Scientifically, it is Benincasa hispida and other common names are wax gourd, white gourd, winter melon... It has numerous health benefits!. It has the cooling & neutralizing property which makes it a perfect diet in case of hyper acidity and getting rid of ulcers. Good for weight watchers & diabetic. This juicy vegetable is good to hydrate the body and it relaxes the brain. Good for skin health too!

So how better we can use this vegetable than regular curries and feed it to the fussy eating kids! Option is very simple, it is dosa. It makes a perfect breakfast item with soft dosa which can be served with choice of chutney. I love making dosa with added goodness of various vegetables!
Please note that this dosa does not require fermentation of the batter.. It should be made instant. Check for the recipe of Plantain stem dosa, Cucumber neer dosa, plain dosa, Multi grain dosa, horse gram dosa, tender coconut dosa... 

Preparation time: 4 hours

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 18 - 20 dosa

Ingredients:

Roughly chopped ash gourd – 2 cups/ around ¼ of a small ash gourd

Dosa rice – 3.5 cups

Salt – to taste

Oil/ ghee – to make dosa

Method:

• Wash and soak dosa rice in water for 2-4 hours.
• Now, wash and peel off the outer skin of ash gourd. Chop roughly removing core (seeds) as well.
• Drain water from soaked rice completely. Take chopped ash gourd, rice in a mixer jar. Add salt and grind it adding enough water to make smooth batter. Consistency of the batter should be little thicker than neer dosa batter.
• Make dosas with fresh batter or refrigerate this batter until dosa is prepared. Do not ferment this batter.

Making of dosa:

• Adjust the batter adding required water to make the consistency that of little thicker than neer dosa batter and thinner than plain dosa batter. You can check and add more water after making one dosa if it is harder.
• Heat iron griddle/ pan. Apply little oil or ghee.
• Drop a ladle full of batter and spread to make dosa. Or you can follow the method of making neer dosa.
• Close the lid and cook for a minute or until it is cooked properly and dosa comes out of tava clean. Apply ghee on top and roast inverting it for a while. (This is optional.)
• Serve hot healthy dosa with choice of coconut chutney.

Note:

• You can make this dosa with grated ash gourd instead of grinding it with rice too.
• Consistency of batter depends on the ash gourd measurement & water content of ash gourd used. So check and add water as required after making 1 dosa.