Alagar Kovil Dosai (with Saamai / Little Millet)

It is April and it is time for one more Mega Blogging Marathon. As usual, a group of bloggers will be posting for the whole month except for Sundays. As there will be 26 days to blog, we will be doing another A – Z theme this month. Among the themes suggested by Valli, I loved  the regional theme so much. I have been concentrating so much on baking and international food, I have been doing regional foods very rarely. This month you will be seeing twenty six recipes from Tamil Nadu, my native state. I have selected recipes close to my heart, my mum’s recipes, my MIL’s recipes and some recipes from cook books. All in all if you love Tamil food, then it would be an awesome virtual treat for you. I have also done so many millet recipes avoiding too much rice.

I reside in Madurai which is a great place for variety foods. Madurai is also called as Temple City with so many famous temples in and around it. One such temple is Alagar Kovil. We used to visit it often. It is an amazing place situated at the foothills of Alagar Malai. We usually take a trip during weekends to enjoy the view and have a darshan of Alagar. When I was writing down the list of recipes, my very first in the list was Alagar Kovil dosai. This is the main neivedhyam available at the temple prasadham stalls and is very famous all over Tamil Nadu. Made with urad dhal and rice, these deep fried dosas are not like the usual dosas. This is one of my favourite prasadhams available in temples. When I was searching for recipes, I found that no one knew what this dosai is about. Every where the batter is shaped and cooked like a normal dosai. The method I have used may not be authentic, but the result is so much like the dosai we get in temples. Usually the dosas available are large and can be divide amon three persons. But I tried making tiny version of the dosas and I am sure that they taste so much like the original ones.

As I told you earlier, I have tried to avoid rice in many recipes and this is one such. Instead of raw rice, I used little millet/ saamai arisi. Using millets in recipes instead of rice is very easy. Just substitute raw rice in any recipe with millet rice. I am fortunate to have a departmental store where all types of millets are available. Even par boiled millet rice is also available which can be used instead of idli rice in recipes. You will be seeing them in my future posts. The urad dhal to be used should be the husked ones. The black dhal adds an interesting texture and taste to these dosas. So use them for an authentic touch. I was not sure how the dosa batter can be deep fried to form flat dosas. So instead of pouring the batter in oil, I used my appam pan to cook individual dosas. The shape came out neat. If any of you know how they do it in temple, please comment in this post. I am so eager to learn. Chutney is not necessary for this dosa, but as hubby prefers dosas with chutney, I made coconut chutney. This batter also made delicious paniyaram too. With pepper and cumin, this dosa is so spicy and delicious.

Ingredients:

Black Urad Dhal with skin / Karuppu Ulundu – 1 cup

Saamai Arisi / Little Millet – 2 cups ( raw rice can be used instead)

Pepper – 1 tbs

Cumin Seeds – 1 1/2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Oil – To Fry

Procedure:

Soak urad dhal and millet separately over night.

Grind urad dhal in a wet grinder until soft and fluffy.

Transfer to a large container.

Grind the millet also in the same grinder.

When smooth, add it to the ground urad dhal.

Add salt and mix well.

Cover and set aside for 5-6 hours.

As the urad dhal quantity is more, the fermentation is quick.

Once the batter is fermented, add crushed pepper and cumin seeds and mix well.

In an appam pan, pour 1 tbs of oil.

Pour a ladle of the batter and let it cook.

Once the bottom is done, flip it and cook the other side also.

When both sides are nicely browned, remove from pan and repeat for the next dosa.

Serve them hot and enjoy!!

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63

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Alagar Kovil Dosai Recipe

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Ingredients

  

Ingredients

• Black Urad Dhal with skin - 1 cup
• cups Saamai Arisi / Little Millet - 2 raw rice can be used instead
• Pepper - 1 tbs
• Cumin Seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Oil - To Fry

Instructions

 

Procedure

• Soak urad dhal and millet separately over night.
• Grind urad dhal in a wet grinder until soft and fluffy.
• Transfer to a large container.
• Grind the millet also in the same grinder.
• When smooth, add it to the ground urad dhal.
• Add salt and mix well.
• Cover and set aside for 5-6 hours.
• As the urad dhal quantity is more, the fermentation is quick.
• Once the batter is fermented, add crushed pepper and cumin seeds and mix well.
• In an appam pan, pour 1 tbs of oil.
• Pour a ladle of the batter and let it cook.
• Once the bottom is done, flip it and cook the other side also.
• When both sides are nicely browned, remove from pan and repeat for the next dosa.
• Serve them hot and enjoy!!