Mysore Masala Dosa (my style)

Off late, I had been longing to dig into this spicy and hearty South Indian crepe that takes its name from the beautiful city of Mysore. Anytime Mysore is mentioned, I always think of the royal Mysore Palace, the famous Santoor sandal soap and of course the Mysore Masala Dosa! It is very strange to think that the first time I tasted this popular crepe was not in India but outside and I loved it! The delicious rice and lentil crepe smeared with the tangy and spicy red chutney stuffed with a potato mixture made me an immediate fan of the dish. However I have never really been a fan of the potato stuffing served with most masala dosas at restaurants – I think that’s because I was spoilt by my moms potato stuffing for doasas!

Late last November hubby and me made a trip to Mysore and I was looking forward to taking in the sights and the famous dosa. But then I was so disappointed to find that restaurant that we dined at did not serve them! This is akin to a local Chennai joint not serving Idlis, dosas, vadas or pongal for breakfast!! The restaurant only offered the set dosa!!! Not that this wasn’t delicious but then it had been a really long time since I had my fix of the Mysore masala dosa. I even asked around to find out where they would serve this but did not get any useful information. We were in town for 2 days and I never got to eat the authentic version 😦

More than 9 months later I wanted to eat it again and this time I got curious about the red chutney. I googled some recipes and even checked with a colleague from Mysore on how this was made 🙂 Now with a basic idea in mind I was determined to make it myself….Apparently garlic is a very important part of the red chutney concoction. But my moms kitchen does not stock garlic regularly (yeah! they are the avoid garlic types) and so I ended up making my own version of the red chutney which came close to what I had tasted in the past. I made enough just to make 2 dosas for 3 people..It was a Saturday and my doesn’t eat onions [Ya, ya…more about this later] so didn’t want to make too much chutney and leave it in the fridge! Here is my version of my favorite MMD.

Note: I assume that you have a batch of dosa batter waiting inside your fridge. If you don’t know how to make it don’t fret! Our country is becoming immensely popular for selling ready-made dosa batter in most stores – an inspiration from our western cousins I guess…… But nothing beats the taste of home-made batter and I was lucky enough cos my mom had just whipped up a fresh batch the previous day 🙂

What you need

For the red chutney:

1 medium sized onion – roughly quartered
1 small tomato
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad daal
1/2 tsp channa daal
A pinch of Asafoetida
2 dried red chilles – broken in pieces
1/2 inch ginger
salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Getting it done

Add the mustard, urad daal,channa daal,asafoetida to hot oil and when the mustard sputters, add the onions, ginger and red chillies and saute well

Add the tomatoes and cook for few minutes till the onions start turning golden brown.

Cool the mixture and grind this mix – The red chutney is ready!!

Of course, if you have some garlic on hand do add 2-3 cloves and saute the same with the onions. Also some variations of this chutney do not use tomato, but some tamarind paste instead to get the tanginess of the red chutney.

Potato Masala

I follow a very simple recipe to make this as I don’t like to jazz up my potato stuffing as this interferes with the dips like chutneys and sambars not to forget the red chutney in this case. So here is what you need:

2 medium sized potatoes – cooked in a pressure cooker, cooled and peeled
1/4 c green peas
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp oil
A pinch of Asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder or more if you require
salt to taste
Finely chopped Daniya leaves / cilantro for garnish

Getting it done

Add the mustard and asafoetida to hot oil in a pan and when the mustard splutters add the green peas, turmeric powder and chilli powder and saute for about 2-3 minutes.

While the peas are cooking, mash the potatoes well – I prefer to add the salt while mashing the potatoes so that the taste of the salt is incorporated properly.

Now just add the mashed potatoes to the pan and incorporate with the peas mixture. Now, I prefer a slightly dry mixture and not the slimy or runny kind of masalas that one might get at the restaurants with big chunks of potatoes peeping out! So I did not add any extra water.

If you are happy with the taste, add the chopped daniya / cilantro, mix well and set the masala aside

Putting it together

Heat a lovely flat non-stick pan – Yes! I use non-stick for most of my cooking and if you are like me just ensure that you don’t leave the pan for your help to scrub. You can be sure that it shall be returned without the teflon coating!!! Just wash it yourself – saves you tons of money!

Throw some drops of water on the pan and watch them sizzle. If they don’t sizzle the pan is not hot enough 🙂

Now, take a ladle full of batter and pour it on the center of the pan and start making the dosa by moving the ladle in concentric circles.. Don’t worry if the dough forms lumps or you are not able to get pretty circles! Crepes and dosas in general take some practise to get them right! So if this one fails you no worries, take more care with the next one…

Phew! Now that’s out of the way let it cook a little – just until the raw batter starts to get steamed! Reduce the heat a bit is the bottom of the dosa cooks faster than the top. The idea is that you don’t see any raw batter on top to proceed with the next step

Reduce the heat and take a table spoon of your lovely red chutney and spread it over the dosa and when that’s done, dump some of the potato mix right onto the center of the dosa and flatten it a bit

With a spatula, slowly fold over the portion of the dosa on the right side of the mixture on top of the mixture and repeat the same step with the lest side of the dosa.

Using the spatula flatten out the filling and slowly flip the dosa to the other side and cook the dosa for a few seconds. If your dosa is looking nice and golden its ready to be served.

Now move the MMD to a nice plate and serve with some lovely sambar or chutney. Actually, it’s ok even if you don’t have anything to serve it with – the MMD is a pretty wholesome dish by itself with the chutney and potato mix inside.