Instant Dosa Recipe made with a homemade Instant Dosa Mix Flour (which can be stored and used later) made with idli rava, urad dal flour, gram flour (besan) and fenugreek seeds (methi).
Table of Contents
About Instant Dosa Mix
As I had mentioned in the Instant Idli Mix recipe, that I will be sharing an instant dosa mix recipe. So here is the recipe.
It is indeed very easy to prepare this instant dosa mix flour at home. Whenever you want to make a quick and instant dosa, simply take the required amount of flour. Add some curd (yogurt) or lemon juice, water and eno (fruit salt). Mix very well and prepare the dosa.
You can even mix the flour with just water or fresh curd and let the batter ferment for 4 to 5 hours or overnight. So no soaking and grinding of rice and lentils here. With curd, the dosa taste much better and have a sour taste as compared with lemon juice.
The taste and texture of this instant dosa cannot be compared with dosa made from ground and fermented rice-lentil batter, but for an instant version, these dosa are good. To make dosa using the traditional method, check this post on Dosa Recipe
As mentioned above, I have used idli rava to make dosa. Idli rava is semi-fine ground idli rice and is available in most supermarkets and shops in India. It is also available online.
In Andhra Cuisine, idli rava is used to prepare idli instead or rice. Below is an image of idli rava. It is finely granulated.
I have used idli rava as it gives a good crisp texture in the dosa. I also tried making the dosa mix with rice flour. However, with rice flour, the dosa do not become soft and are less crisp.
I have not added poha (flattened rice) to the mix. But you can add them. If using poha, then add ½ cup thick poha, which is ground finely to a dry powder like texture.
Do note that the batter made with an instant dosa mix flour is not viscous like the batter made with ground lentils. So it is slightly tricky while spreading the dosa batter.
The heat has to be a on low or sim when you spread the batter. Or else the dosa breaks when spreading the batter. This also happens as the batter gets cooked faster than the regular ground and fermented dosa batter.
You can cook these dosas on a medium heat, but when spreading dosa batter, do bring the temperature of the pan down.
- So if using a cast iron pan, sprinkle some water and wipe the pan.
- If using non-stick pan, remove the pan from the source of heat for some seconds.
In this recipe post, I will explain the step by step method of preparing instant dosa flour and also mention in detail on how to make instant dosa.
The total yield of the dosa mix flour is 720 grams. I made dosa 4 times with this mix and when preparing them it was so easy for me.
Twice I fermented the batter overnight and twice I made instant dosa with this mix. You can serve these instant dosa plain with coconut chutney or make Masala Dosa.
How to make Instant Dosa Mix
1. Heat a pan on a low to medium flame. Then lower the heat, add the urad dal. I have used organic unpolished urad dal.
If using regular urad dal from the market, then rinse it a couple of times. Then spread the lentils on a plate or tray and let them dry naturally or in the sun.
If keeping in the sun for a few hours, then you don’t need to roast urad dal.
2. Roast urad dal on a low flame for about 2 minutes, stirring often. Urad dal is roasted just to get rid of some moisture from them.
3. Turn off the heat and then add ¼ teaspoon methi seeds. Stir to mix.
Keep the pan on the kitchen countertop. Also let this mixture cool completely. You can also cool this mixture on a separate plate.
4. In a mixing bowl, take 3 cups idli rava. Keep aside.
5. In a grinder jar add the urad dal and methi seeds.
6. Grind to a fine flour.
7. Using a sieve, sift the flour directly in the rice rava bowl. Some urad dal grits will be there on the sieve. You can add them to your lentil dishes or discard.
8. The below picture is of the sifted urad dal flour.
9. Add ¼ cup besan.
10. Next add 1 teaspoon salt. You can add more salt if required. I have added less salt.
11. Mix very well with a spoon or a wired whisk.
12. Then spoon the dosa mix flour in a jar. Seal tightly with its lid. Keep in a dry and cool place. You can also refrigerate or freeze the dosa flour mix.
Use the instant dosa mix flour to make crisp dosa when required. Below I mention on making instant dosa in detail.
How to make Instant Dosa
This Instant Dosa is made with 1 cup of the instant dosa mix recipe shared above. Note that 1 cup of flour yields 12 to 14 dosa.
If you prefer you can even use 2 cups of the instant dosa mix. You can even ferment the batter and keep it for 4 to 5 hours or overnight.
For the leavening of the instant dosa batter two ingredients are used
- An acidic ingredient – You can use either sour curd (sour yogurt) or lemon juice as the acidic ingredient. Sour curd gives a nice sour taste similar to regular dosa.
- A leavening agent – Both fruit salt (eno) and baking soda can be used. If using fruit salt, then add ½ teaspoon and if using baking soda, then add ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon.
The recipe works very well and within some minutes you will have hot and crisp instant dosa ready.
All you need is this instant dosa mix. So you can prepare the dosa mix and keep it stored at room temperature or in the fridge. The dosa mix stays good for about a month.
Use the following proportions:
- 1 cup of dosa mix flour (makes for 12 to 14 dosa)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or ¼ cup sour curd (sour yogurt)
- 1.25 to 1.3 cups water or add as required
- ½ teaspoon fruit salt or eno
1. To make the batter, take 1 cup of the homemade dosa mix in a mixing bowl or pan.
2. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Instead of lemon juice, you can also add ¼ cup sour curd. You can also add a bit of salt if you prefer.
3. Then add 1.25 to 1.3 cups water or add as required.
4. Mix very well and make a smooth lump free batter. The batter consistency is medium thick and flowing like the dosa batter consistency.
5. Then add ½ teaspoon fruit salt or eno. Sprinkle the fruit salt all over the batter.
You can also use ⅛ or ¼ teaspoon baking soda instead of fruit salt.
6. Again mix very well.
7. Then make dosa on a well seasoned flat skillet or tawa.
Keep the heat to a low, so that you can easily spread the dosa batter. On a medium to high flame, it becomes difficult to spread the dosa batter.
Take a ladle full of the dosa batter and begin to gently spread it on the tawa.
8. Spread the batter to a round and neat dosa.
9. Cover with a lid and let the dosa cook on medium heat.
10. Let the top side get cooked first. Spread some oil or ghee or butter as required while cooking dosa.
11. Continue to cook till the base is nicely golden and crisp.
12. Turn over and cook the other side for a minute or so.
13. Flip and then fold and serve. Prepare all the instant dosa this way. Remember to keep the heat to a low or sim when spreading the dosa batter.
When the base becomes golden and crisp, remove and serve the instant dosa.
Do serve this instant dosa when they are hot as on cooling the crispiness goes away.
Serve Instant Dosa hot With coconut chutney, sambar and potato masala.
Expert Tips
- The ratio of sour curd and water can always be played around with. For a more sour taste, you can even add ½ cup of sour curd and reduce the water accordingly.
- Also do note that the dosa batter does not spread smoothly like the fermented dosa batter. It is slightly tricky to get this part right. So keep the heat to its lowest or sim and then spread the dosa batter. On a medium hot pan, the batter gets cooked when you spread it and so the dosa does not turn out in a neat and round shape.
- You can opt to roast these instant dosa on medium heat, but remember to reduce the heat when spreading the dosa batter.
- Thus if you use a cast iron pan, then sprinkle some water and carefully wipe the pan before pouring the batter.
- If you use a non-stick pan, then remove tit from the heat source for some seconds and then place it back.
- Serve the dosas hot as on cooling the crispness goes away.
More Dosa Varieties
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Instant Dosa Recipe | Instant Dosa Mix
Ingredients
- 200 grams urad dal or 1 cup urad dal (split and husked black gram)
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)
- 500 grams idli rava or rice rava or 3 cups idli rava, finely granulated or finely textured
- 20 grams gram flour or ¼ cup (gram flour)
- 1 teaspoon salt or add as required
Instructions
Making instant dosa mix
- Heat a pan on a low to medium heat. Then lower the heat, add the urad dal. I have used organic unpolished urad dal. If using regular urad dal from the market, then rinse it a couple of times. Then spread the lentils on a plate or tray and let them dry naturally or in the sun. If keeping in the sun for a few hours, then you don't need to roast urad dal.
- Roast urad dal on a low flame for about 2 minutes, stirring often. Urad dal is roasted just to get rid of some moisture from them.
- Switch off the heat and then add ¼ teaspoon methi seeds. Mix well.
- Keep the pan on the kitchen countertop. Also let this mixture cool completely. You can also cool this mixture on a separate plate.
- In a mixing bowl take 3 cups idli rava. Keep aside.
- In a grinder jar add the urad dal and methi seeds.
- Grind to a fine flour.
- Using a sieve, sift the flour directly in the rice rava bowl. Some urad dal grits will be there on the sieve. You can add them to your lentil recipes or discard.
- Add ¼ cup gram flour.
- Next add 1 teaspoon salt. You can add more salt if required. I have added less salt.
- Mix very well with a spoon or a wired whisk.
- Then spoon the dosa mix flour in a jar. Seal tightly with its lid. Keep in a dry and cool place. You can also freeze or refrigerate the dosa mix.
- Use the instant dosa mix to make crispy dosas when required.
Making instant dosa with 1 cup of this dosa mix
- Take 1 cup of dosa mix flour in a mixing bowl.
- Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice or ¼ cup sour curd (sour yogurt). Then add 1.25 to 1.3 cups water or add as required. Mix very well.
- The batter consistency is medium thick and flowing like dosa batter consistency.
- Next add ½ teaspoon fruit salt or eno evenly all over the batter. Again mix very well.
- Then make instant dosa on tawa or a flat skillet. Keep the heat to a low, so that you can easily spread the dosa batter. On a medium to high heat, it becomes difficult to spread the batter.
- Heat a tawa or a flat skillet on a low flame or sim. Take a ladle full of the batter. Gently spread it on the tawa to a neat and round dosa.
- Cover with a lid and let the dosa cook.
- Let the top side get cooked first. Then spread some oil or ghee or butter on the dosa.
- Continue to cook till the base is nicely golden and crisp. Flip dosa with a spatula and cook the other side.
- Flip and then fold dosa and serve. Prepare all the instant dosa this way. Remember to reduce the heat when spreading the dosa batter.
- Serve Instant Dosa hot with coconut chutney, sambar and potato masala. Make sure to serve the instant dosa hot as on cooling the crispy texture goes away.
Notes
- Use good quality urad dal and idli rava or rice rava. They should be finely granulated and not coarse.
- The instant dosa mix can be scaled easily to make for less or more quantities.
- You can opt to make instant dosa straightaway my making the batter or ferment the batter for some hours. If fermenting the batter, feel free to leave out the curd or yogurt and eno/fruit salt. Simply mix the instant dosa mix with water in a bowl. Cover with lid and ferment for 4 to 5 hours or overnight or as needed.
This Instant Dosa Mix from the archives, originally published in November 2016 has been updated and republished on February 2023.
Made the batter in the morning. But it did not ferment till night. Why so?
The batter will be fermented but it won’t have a lot of increase in the volume like a ground batter made with lentils and rice. Do check if it has a sour fermented aroma.
If yes then the batter is fermented. Fermentation also depends on the climate and temperature. In a warm climate or warm room temperature the batter will ferment.
Hello mam,from where I can order your instant dosa mix..Is it available on Amazon
Nope, I am only sharing the recipe and I do not sell the dosa mix. Thanks.
needed this recipe since a along time, thanks!!
Thanks and welcome Lila.
Hi Dassana,
What’s the shelf life of instant idli/dosa mix
Thanks
hi preethi, this instant dosa mix stays good for about 3 to 4 months at room temperature. to keep for 6 months or more, you can keep in the fridge.
Hi. Amit
I am running my small biz of Batter. I like to hv a small practicle workshop training for it. Will u pls guide.
Nilesh, May I know what you want to know. I will try to answer your query.
Hi Dassana, just curious can I use buttermilk to make the batter? Now, by buttermilk I mean milk + vinegar solution. It happens sometime that I run out of curd/lemon but milk is always available. Any thoughts on this? Thanks 🙂
you can use this method in baking recipes. in an instant dosa recipe or idli recipe, i am not sure how the taste will be as vinegar can have a really strong after taste.
Hi dassana
Can we use baking soda instead of eno fruit salt…
How can we use instant mix using the rice
Thanks
Amritha
you can use baking soda. but for 1 cup of dosa mix 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda will be too much. it will give a strong aroma in the dosa. so you can add 1/4th to 1/3rd teaspoon of baking soda. if using rice, then add 2.75 cups rice. rinse rice a couple of times. then spread it on a large plate or tray or a kitchen napkin and let the rice grains dry. there should be no moisture in them. once dried then grind in a mixer-grinder till you get fine rava like grains in the rice. you can use both idli rice or regular rice or half-half of both.
Is it compulsory to put methi seeds?
Hamida, not compulsory. but it gives a good taste.
Hi dassana,
Which salt do you generally use? In this recipe as well as many of your other recipe pics the salt doesn’t look like the usual free-flow grainy table salt..
ruchi, i use rock salt or sendha namak.