Quinoa Dosai

I make dosa batter every other week.  As long as I have that in the fridge, I don’t have to worry about coming home and wondering what to make dinner.  I use the same batter to make idlis, dosas and uttappams.  If I make idlis the first day, I will make dosas couple of days later and uttappams a few days after that.  That takes care of at least three meals.

 

Last week, while cleaning my pantry, I found a big box of quinoa.  I love quinoa and make salads and soups with it, but other than my older son, no one else likes it much at home.  And he, of course, is away at college.  I needed to find a way to use quinoa so that everyone at home will eat it.

I have made idlis with quinoa before – my friend Vimala’s recipe, and thought maybe I could use it to make dosas.  My mom also mentioned in our last phone conversations that she was substituting quinoa for rice in all her recipes, including making dosais.  She told me how she made it, and so I decided to try it out. 

My first attempt came out great!  My husband loved the taste.  In fact he had quinoa dosas almost everyday till the batter was done.  He also liked the fact that it was easy to spread and the dosas were super easy to make.

Here is what you need:

• 2 cups quinoa
• 1 cup urad dal
• a handful of channa dal
• a handful of split moong dal with skin
• ¼ tsp. methi seeds (fenugreek)
• salt to taste
• oil to make the dosas

Here is how I made it:

1. Soak the quinoa along with the dals and methi seeds for about 4 – 5 hours
2. Pour out the soaking water and rinse it a couple of times.
3. Grind this to a smooth batter adding a little water.  I use my wet grinder, but if you have a blender, that should work too.
4. Add salt to taste.  Mix well with your hand.
5. Cover and let this ferment overnight
6. Heat a griddle or tawa.
7. Pour a ladle full of batter on the griddle and spread to make a thin crepe/dosa
8. Drizzle oil on the outside.
9. When the edges get slightly browned, flip it over and cook on the other side.

Serve hot with sambar or your choice of chutney.  I made peanut chutney to go with it.