Thalippu Dosai (Tadka Dosa)

Thalippu Dosai (Tadka Dosa) by DK on Apr 2, 2018

Talimpu Dosa Recipe | Talippu Dosai | South Indian Breakfast Recipes

Variety is the spice of life, isn't it? For many aspects in our lives, unidimensional view is considered so boring; then what makes food any different? While I love to make different dishes on a day to day basis, I abhor spending a lot of time in the kitchen. There is so much to do in a day that doing just one thing in entirety depresses me. So making interesting meals (3-4 times) a day without spending much time in the kitchen sound pretty contrasting, doesn't it? Well, they needn't be. It needs some creativity (and some planning) and desire to borrow ideas from neighboring cuisines.

I have borrowed this idea from the Konkani cuisine - Phanna Doddak, a no ferment tempered dosa. Its a quick fix where the highlight is making a fresh tadka (tempering) every single time before dropping a ladle of batter over the tadka and cooking until browned on both the sides. This process is repeated for each dosa. So, my variation is to use my regular dosa (or idli) batter and add some tadka to it. I then proceed to make the dosa in the regular way with some onions and chillies. That's a different twist to making your regular dosa! Tadka always enhances the flavor of a dish and this is no different!

Cook time: Under 15 min
Prep time: Under 15 min
Serves: 2 people
Yields: Makes 3-4 Dosas

Ingredients

1 cup Dosa Batter (or Idli Batter)
1 tbsp OPOS Bottled Lentil Tadka, (dont haave any? See Tips)
1 small-medium Onion, finely chopped
1-2 Green Chilli, finely chopped

Optional additions

3-4 eggs
1 inch Ginger, peeled and chopped fine
5-6 Curry leaves

Tips

1. Tadka: If you don't have OPOS Tadka on hand, you can simply heat oil in a pan and temper ingredients like mustard, channa dal, urad dal and asafoetida until slightly browned.

Method

1. Take the required amount of dosa/idli batter. Add the tadka to it. Increase or decrease as per preference.

2. Give it a good mix until combined.

3. Heat a pan. I use a cast iron skillet. Once hot ( drops of water should sizzle), lower the flame, drop a ladle of the batter and spread it into a semi-thick crepe. Increase the flame to medium.

4. Add the onion and chillies (if using). Press it down for it to stick it to the batter.

5. Drizzle some oil all around the dosa. Let it cook for couple of minutes.

6. When browned, turn it over the other side.

7. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

8. Usually when I make it for breakfast, I add an egg per dosa for my boys. I whip an egg with a pinch of salt and pepper.

9. I drop a ladle of batter, spread it a bit and add the onion-chilli mix on top. Now on top of that, I add the whisked egg.

10. I spread it around with the help if the ladle.

11. Cover it with a pan to aid cooking of the egg while the bottom gets browned.

12. After couple of minutes, I remove the cover and flip the dosa.

13. Just needs few seconds on this side since its mostly done thanks to covering with a lid.

14. When done, remove and repeat with rest.

Serve hot since dosas are best eaten right out of the skillet. These don't really need a side dish. My husband and jr. in fact prefer it as it is, but eat the plain tadka dosa with homemade yogurt . I also love it with green coconut chutney(with lots of cilantro added).