Every South Indian fridge or oven would in 99% of the cases hold a vessel full of fermented batter, either ready to go or in a state of fermenting. In today's modern society when every health magazine is screaming Fermentation and Probiotics as the elixir for good health, I cannot help but feel proud of where I come from.  My childhood meals were full of Idli's and Dosas that's traditionally made using a fermented batter of rice and lentils. And our meals were never complete without homemade yogurt which we all know is chockful of probiotics.

There are variety of ways to make dosa and this version comes from Tirunelveli / Thoothukudi District in Tamil Nadu, India. Traditionally, in this method, only whole Black Urad dal is used. Only the rice is soaked while the Black Gram lentil is first pounded in a Aatu Kal (a contraption made with stone for pounding grains) into flour and set aside. Then the rice is pounded into a batter and then this flour is added to make these pancakes/crepes. Dry grinding of these lentils in my current day electric wet grinder freaks me out imagining the noise pollution and hence I prefer the soaking method. I am also partial to soaking my whole foods since it aids in better digestion and absorption of nutrients.