Chettinad Cauliflower Masala Dosa Recipe | Dosa Recipes

After a long time I am posting a DOSA recipe in my blog.Many of you know my love for Dosa as I have mentioned in many posts about my views/tips on preparing a wonderful Dosa .Hence I would not get into the technical details of  Dosa again and bore you guys.

Coming to today's Dosa recipe, I have never tried Cauliflower dosa in any restaurant and also I  am also not aware of any particular Chettinad style preparation for this dosa. A few recipes that catch my attention haunt me until I try it. This is one such recipe, which I saw at Anu's space and I had the huge urge for few months to prepare and finally prepared it a few months back and loved it too.This time I wanted to share it with my readers and hence I made it again to share it in my space.

This dosa tastes different and is a good change from the regular Masala Dosa because of its spicy cauliflower filling.What attracted me the most was the mashed version of cauliflower in the filling.Though I am not sure of the authenticity of the chettinadu style preparation, I have adapted the filling recipe from her blog and modified it to as per my requirements.The batter which I am mentioning here can be used to make any dosa like plain dosa, utappam or Masala dosa,it works wonders!!
Check out other must try Dosa recipes in my blog.

1. Atukula Dosa/Sponge Dosa 
2. Davanagere Benne Dosa 
3. Erra Kaaram Dosa...from Rayalaseema 
4. MLA Pesarattu / Upma Pesarattu 
5. Paper Thin Rava Dosa..Hotel Style
6. Mysore Masala Dosa
7. Pav Bhaji Dosa
8. Vegetable Dosa

 

Chettinadu style Cauliflower Masala Dosa:

Ingredients:

for Batter:

2 cups Raw rice

2 cups Idli Rice or Par boiled rice

1 cup whole white Urad dal

1/4 cup Toor dal

1/4 cup Chana dal

1/4 cup Flattened rice(Poha)

1 tsp Fenugreek seeds

Salt to taste 

Oil/Ghee, to roast dosas

to mix in batter before making dosas:

2 tbsp chiroti Rava

1 tbsp Sugar

a pinch of Cooking Soda

for Cauliflower Masala:

2 cups Cauliflower florets

1 big Onion,finely chopped

1 big Tomato,chopped

5-6 Garlic pods,peeled

1/2" Ginger,finely chopped

1 Green chilli,finely chopped

2 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves

1/2 tsp Rasam powder

1/2 tsp Sambar powder

1/2 tsp Red chili powder

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

a sprig of Curry leaves

2 Red chillies,broken

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

Salt to taste

to grind:

2 tbsp fresh grated Coconut

2 tsp Poppy seeds,soaked in water

1/2 tsp Saunf 

5-6 Pepper corns

Method:

to make dosa batter:

Wash and soak raw rice,idli rice(or par boiled rice), urad dal, toor dal, chana dal, fenugreek seeds together in water for  4-5 hrs.

Soak flattened rice(poha) for 1/2 hr.

Grind all the ingredients in the wet grinder to a fine batter by adding water at regular intervals.

Add required amount of salt at the end of grinding and mix well.

Allow the batter to ferment for 12-14 hrs.

On the day of preparing dosa take out the required amount of dosa batter into a vessel and add chiroti rava and sugar to it and mix well and let it keep for an hour.

to make Cauliflower masala:

• Clean and wash the cauliflower florets and soak them in salted hot water for 10-15 mins.Drain them and chop them finely.
• Heat oil in a kadai/pan and crackle mustard seeds and add broken red chillies and curry leaves fry until they wilt.
• Add garlic pods,chopped ginger and green chili and fry for a minute.Now add finely chopped onions and fry until they become translucent.
• Add chopped cauliflower florets and fry well for 2-3 mins and add chopped tomatoes to it and fry for 3-4 mins.Cover it and cook until the tomatoes turns mushy and cauliflower is cooked.
• Grind grated coconut with poppy seeds,pepper corns and saunf to a fine paste.Add little water if required for grinding.
• Add rasam powder,sambar powder,red chili powder,turmeric powder and salt to the cauliflower mixture and mash it nicely with a masher.It is your choice to keep the texture how ever you want.I mashed it completely like a spread,if you want you keep it chunky too.
• Add the ground coconut mixture to it and let it cook for 3-4 mins until the raw smell disappears.You should keep the consistency of this very thick as we will apply this inside the dosa.
• Switch it off and let it come to room temperature.Add chopped coriander leaves to it and mix and keep it ready.

to make Cauliflower Masala Dosa:

• Make the tawa ready for making dosa,keep the stove on medium flame and pour a ladle full of batter in the middle of the pan and spread in a circular motion to form a 9 " dosa and pour some oil/ghee (1 tbsp roughly) all over the edges and in the center cover it with a lid.
• After it is roasted for a minute remove the lid and smear the cauliflower mixture(approx 3-4 tbsp) all over the dosa.
• Keep the flame on HIGH and let it roast for another minute until it turns golden brown and crispy.
• Fold it into half and serve.

Serve it with Coconut chutney and Sambar. Check out other side dishes for Idli/dosa here.

Tips:

• The addition of sugar to the batter makes the dosas crisp and also gives a thick golden crust to dosas.
• If your dosas did not turn out good,do not panic.Add 1/4 tsp cooking soda to a ladle and mix with 2 tbsp water well and that to the dosa batter and mix well and start making dosas.This will make the interior of dosa fluffy.
• If you want you can avoid mashing the cauliflower florets and keep them as they are and follow the same process for the filling.I personally liked the idea of mashing it.
• The dosa batter can be used to make any dosa like plain dosa, Utappam or Masala dosa.

If you are interested in other dosa recipes,check out more varieties here.