Khara Dosa/ Mangalore style masala neer dosa/ Khara tellavu

Being a Mangalorean, I grown up eating varieties of neer dosa. It was sometimes, plain white neer dosa/ tellavu, Vegetable neer dosa like cucumber neer dosa, tender coconut dosa, & many more. Today I am sharing one such recipe of making spicy neer dosa or khara dosa which is nothing but a variant of neer dosa with the addition of basic spices. With the flavour of common spices found in indian kitchens like coriander seeds & red chillis, it makes a special breakfast or snacks option! Jaggery syrup or coconut- jaggery mix is a perfect combination to this spicy dosa, whereas one can serve it with choice of chutney/ sambhar too which is equally good combination. This dosa can be made with mix of 2 varieties of rices, white dosa rice & parboiled rice (Kuchilakki/ red rice). I am writing this recipe using this combination, but you can make it with just white dosa rice.

Preparation time: 4 hours

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Serves: 15 dosa

Ingredients:

Dosa rice (white) – 1.5 cups

Boiled rice/ Kerala matta rice – 1.5 cups, you can replace it with white dosa rice too

Dry red chillis - to taste, I add 1-2 as we eat less spice (you can increase the number)

Coriander seeds – 2 tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp (optional)

Salt – to taste

Oil/ ghee – to make dosa

Ginger – a small piece (optional)

Fresh green leaves (coriander / curry leaves/ moringa)- 3-4 tbsp (finely chopped). I used mix of brahmi, moringa, coriander & curry leaves here

Freshly grated coconut – ¼ cup (optional)

Method:

• Wash and soak both rices for 4 hours.
• Once done, drain water and keep aside.
• Take coriander seeds, cumin, red chilli in mixer jar (wet grinding).  Blend them so that the spices are coarsely powdered. Now soaked & drained rice, salt and water as needed and grind to smooth batter.
• The batter consistency should be slightly thicker than regular neer dosa batter. You can add water & adjust the consistency if required after making a dosa.
• Add finely chopped greens to this batter and make dosas with fresh batter.
• Don’t ferment this batter.

Making dosa:

• Heat iron griddle or pan.
• Apply oil on top. Spread dosa with a ladleful of batter. Follow the process of making neer dosa.
• Cover & cook dosa well. Apply ghee on top, flip dosa (optional).
• Serve hot dosa with chutney or jaggery syrup or coconut – jaggery mix.
• After making one dosa, see if dosa is turning harder. Add little water to the batter in this case.

Notes:

• Store left over batter in refrigerator.
• You can add finely chopped onions to the batter too.
• Fresh greens can also be avoided. I add available edible greens around me many times which is a great idea to feed fuzzy eating kids!
• If you are using only white rice, then I suggest adding coconut while making batter. If using boiled rice, then coconut need not be added.
• 1 tsp grated jaggery can also be added while grinding batter.