Tosei or Dosa

I’m writing this post with my phone.
Malaysia is currently under  Movement Control Order for Covid19. Stuck at home, can’t dine out, we yearn for food that we love eating out. My kids have Tosei once every fortnight and they love it.

So I plucked up my courage and tried making this at home.
Many recipes online require raw rice , like idli rice. It’s not something I can get easily in Malaysia and most recipes don’t provide exact water amount. Vague instructions like ‘just enough’, ‘not too thick not too thin’ doesn’t help the noob like me who has never ever seen it made from scratch. Eyeballing takes experience, like real life experience seeing and feeling the batter.

I messaged one of my readers , Thenmathy on Facebook, and she guided me from purchasing to fermenting... I’m grateful for her help.

So here is my version of Tosei, that will remove the guessing game.



Day 1
3pm
Rinse and soak separately*
110g Skinless black gram /ulunthu
1tsp fenugreek /halba

This is Ulunthu/skinless black gram.
 Easily available at grocery stores

11pm
1. Grind in blender part by part, and pour everything into a pot with 5L capacity
A) Drained soaked ulunthu + 1 cup water (250ml)
B) Drained soaked fenugreek + 110g cooked rice + 2/3 cup water (170ml)
C) 330g rice flour (Erawan brand) + 1,1/3 cups water (330ml)

2. Rinse blender with 1 cup water.
3. Put in a pinch of yeast and mix with clean bare hands.
4. Cover and let it proof. Put in the wok, just in case it spills over during fermentation, of which I was told, could happen

lets begin to ferment 

Day 2
Breakfast time
1. Open the lid and stir in 1 tsp salt.

It’s very bubbly

2. Heat up a pan on medium heat. Light brush oil over. Pour one ladle of the mixture into the pan. Use the ladle to swirl the batter to make it round.
3. Cook the Tosei until brown parts can be seen. If you like it crispy, cook until the Tosei starts to curl up.

See that brown spot there? It’s done.
Or you look at the sides of the Tosei

Now Tosei is done... Enjoy! 

Really thankful that this attempt is a success!

This recipe makes 17 pieces of 8-9inch wide tosei. My pan is 10-inch wide.
I used one ladle for each piece, and my ladle’s capacity is 90ml. 
If you half this recipe, just blend everything in one go, if your blender can cope with it. 
If you cant finish the batter, keep it in the fridge right away. And make again the next day, or next day again. 
If it’s a bit sourish, it’s still ‘normal’ , but not too sour.