Neer Dosa, a quick favorite

It's been really long since I left a post on this blog. My microwave convection oven went for a complete toss and failed to operate despite heavy cajoling or intense reprimanding. A brief but quite a spirit dampening hiatus was forced and silence on this blog space followed. 

Weekends in Bangalore, especially this year, come bundled with power cuts that seem to go on for eternity. Last weekend, I ensured boredom due to long power cut was kept at bay by preparing my favorite in the range of dosas - Neer Dosa. 

There are many reasons why Neer Dosa gets multiple votes from me - 

1. Comes in handy when the stock of idli/dosa rice gets exhausted, all you need for this recipe is raw rice which we usually use for meals. I use Sona Masuri rice variety. 

2. Mixer will do the job and no need to run the grinder - so pretty quick and easier cleaning process. 

3. Neer dosa is extremely soft and makes perfect combination with a spicy chutney, after all it takes two to tango. This dosa melts in mouth, literally and no efforts required in the process of relishing it.
4. I felt the need to add this point and the next one - the batter once prepared is ready for immediate use, it need not be kept aside for fermentation - saves time. 
5. The neer dosa when cooked on the tawa needs very little oil, it is cooked on only one side covered with a lid, with no turning over required - so prep time is cut short as well. 

Now coming to the recipe of Neer Dosa - (prepare for two) 

All you need 

1 cup rice - soaked overnight. More the hours of soaking, easier it is to grind in the mixer and softer gets the batter. 

3 big table spoons of grated coconut. This is the secret ingredient for making the dosas soft, so go easy on it. One spoon reduction may still yield similar results if you are over conscious of taking in coconut. 

Salt to taste 

Procedure

Grind all of the above ingredients in a mixer well adding required water to get a thin, runny batter. Highly watery, runny consistency of the batter is a must for this recipe. 

Heat a dosa tawa and pour a ladle of neer dosa batter. The batter must be added to the tawa much like rava dosa batter, please do not attempt to pour it all onto the center and spread it around like we do for our plain dosa, it will not work with neer dosa. 

Below is a picture of the neer dosa batter on a heated tawa -

If the tawa is heated sufficiently, the neer dosa will have perforations like in the picture above. Cover the tawa with a lid and cook. Fold the dosa and serve on a plate. There is no need to turn the dosa over and cook again. 

Recipe for accompaniment - spicy mint, coriander tomato chutney 

1 medium sized tomato - chopped into chunks 

A handful of mint sprigs 

A handful of coriander sprigs 

1 big table spoon of groundnut (no need to remove the outer peel) 

4 red chillies (I use the salem red chilly variety) 

A small piece of tamarind (about an inch long)

Salt to taste

A pinch of hing  

Place a fry pan on the flame, add two spoons of oil, when heated sufficiently, add red chillies and groundnuts, fry well until aroma fills the kitchen :) Add this to the mixer. 

Now in the same hot pan, toss the sprigs of coriander and mint for a minute and add this to the mixer too. 

Add 1 spoon of oil, if required onto the pan and fry tomato chunks until its raw smell goes away. Add salt required and a pinch of hing. Add the tamarind piece as well and try to soften it a bit in the heat so that it grinds well with the other ingredients. Using tamarind is recommended as it helps neutralize the tangy flavor of tomato. Add this to the mixer and grind all of it well to get a yummy chutney. 

Neer Dosa served with spicy chutney and zuppp....goes power at home, right after I finish all the grinding work.  

Note: Neer dosa, also known as Paan pole in Konkani language, is a major hit in Mangalore. I have used pictures taken on my mobile Nokia 3110C - not too good for a visual appeal. You may also refer to the recipe at - http://cuisineindia.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/neer-dosa/ - this is Prathibha Aunty's The Indian Food Court blog, the link has better illustrations.