RAVA DOSA

Rava dosa is called as ravvattu in Telugu. These crispy, net textured, Indian pancakes can be had for breakfast or can replace dinner. This purely South Indian Rava dosa is a favorite of many, but making these remained a mystery for many others. Right from the ratio of rava to the flour, Mixing of the batter, Thickness of the batter, art of pouring the dosas, every thing plays an important role in getting  the right mouthwatering dosa. One important point to note is, as the name itself suggests, these are rava dosas, so the main  and dominating ingredient should be the rava and not the flour. This I have mentioned specifically because I have seen many making the batter with lots of flour and a little bit of rava. Here I come with a recipe of rava dosa which has the base in my Mom’s recipe, but with my own variations.
INGREDIENTS  

• Rava(suji)                    2 cups
• Maida                          1/4 cup
• Rice flour                    1/4 cup
• Salt                             to taste
• Oil                               2 Tsp
• Chana dal                    1/4 tsp
• Urad dal                      1/4 tsp
• Mustard                      1/8 tsp
• Curd                            1/2 cup(optional)
• Water                          to mix the batter

for the filling

• Onions                       1 (finely chopped)
• Grated carrot             2 Tsp
• Cashews                     a few
• Green chilies             2 (finely chopped)
• Oil                              for frying
• Ginger                        small piece(finely chopped)

PROCEDURE In a pan heat oil and add the chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add the rava and fry for a minute. Keep the flame low so the rava do not burn. Now remove the rava into a bowl and let it cool. Now add the salt, maida, rice flour and the curd. Mix well and add enough water to make a thin batter. Let the batter rest for half an hour to 45 minutes. By this time the batter tend to thicken a little bit. Add water if required. It should be of the pouring consistency and thinner than the regular dosa batter. Unlike the regular dosas, the rava dosas are made just by pouring batter onto the pan and the batter is not spread with the laddle. So the consistency should be very thin. Heat a tava and smear some oil onto it. Mix the batter well and pour a ladle full of batter in circular direction on the tava starting from the edges of the tava. Take another ladle full and cover the middle  pocket  in the  dosa  to form a perfect round( Do not try to spread the dosa with ladle).  When the top layer tends to change color sprinkle the chopped onions, grated carrots, chopped chilies, cashews, chopped ginger. Add a Table spoon of oil on the dosa and cook till the bottom of the dosa turns golden brown. Fold the dosa into half and serve the yummy rava dosa with coconut chutney and ginger chutney. TIPS

• Roasting the rava makes it retain its grainy texture even after soaking the batter for half an hour. This helps in attaining net texture to dosa.
• Generally the rava dosas are crispy. If you want them to be soft add more of the maida an rice flour.
• Add grated coconut instead of carrot for a different taste.
• At the time of pouring the batter on the tava, mix the batter from the bottom as the flours and rava tend to settle at the bottom of the bowl.
• Keep the leftover batter in the refrigerator and this keep away the rava from further fermenting.
• Curd can be skipped if you do not like the taste.
• Add oil liberally so that you can get crispy dosas.
• If the stuffing is not used you can flip the dosa and cook on the second side also.
• Alternatively all the stuffing ingredients can be mixed in the batter and use the batter to make dosas. In this method you can cook the dosa on both the sides.(Use this batter the same day.)

Rava dosa