Millet Dosa

Millet dosa - vegan, gluten-free, nutritious South Indian breakfast usually served with sambar and varieties of chutneys. This crispy dosa without rice makes a healthy and diabetic friendly breakfast.  

This recipe was originally published on 04/04/2019 and updated on 26/01/2020.

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Millets are small seed grasses that are considered gluten-free supernatural food as they are rich in nutrients, fibre, vitamins, proteins and have umpteen health benefits. Millets are the best source of grain for celiac sufferers(people with gluten intolerance).

I have used three different varieties of millets in this dosa recipe- foxtail millet (korralu/thinai/navane), little millet (saamai/saama beyyam/saame akki) and kodo millet (arikelu/varagu/harka). These millets are available in the form of rice and semolina. I’ve used semolina and all these varieties look similar with a slight colour difference. 

Tips and Tricks to make perfect Millet Dosa 

Making dosa at home is not a big deal, but making perfect and crispy dosa every time and at all-weather conditions might be little difficult. With few simple tips and tricks you can make perfect dosa every time.  

Ingredients proportion and batter consistency are the deciding factors of the texture of dosa. I find 3 portions millets to 1 portion urad dal always works well. Addition of fistful poha (flattened rice flakes) while grinding helps to make dosa crisp.  

Fermentation is an important step and it could take anywhere between 6-14 hrs depending on the weather where you live. This process takes longer during cold weather and as less as 6 hours during extremely hot and humid weather. In hot weather, batter will ferment easily on a kitchen countertop. On cold days, add a cup of hot water to the batter, mix well and place the container in a warm place probably in an oven with its lights on. Alternatively, you can ferment batter in Instant Pot to fast up the process on cold days.  

Do not skip methi seeds (fenugreek seeds) as it helps in the fermentation process. 

Millets must be soaked for a minimum of 6 hrs to make the grains more digestible. 

Is wet grinder better than mixer grinder? 

Some people recommend grinding in a wet stone grinder for best results, but for me, a mixer grinder (an electric blender) does an equally good job. I’ve been using it for almost a decade and it gives me good results every time. I personally prefer the mixer grinder due to ease of use, cleaning and the best part is it requires less space for storage than the wet stone grinder.  

Don’t have a traditional Indian mixie? Then try powerful blenders such as Vitamix, Nutribullet or Ninja. However, a wet grinder is useful and saves time if you wish to make a big batch of batter. 

Millet dosa recipe variations  

You could use any 2 different varieties of millets instead of 3 (such as 1.5 cups of foxtail millet and 1.5 cups of millet), or you could use any 1 type of millet (eg: 3 cups of foxtail millet). But make sure not to alter the millets and urad dal ratio (3 parts of millet: 1-part urad dal).  

Add finely chopped onions, green chillies & coriander as toppings on dosa for extra flavour and taste. 

Take the things a notch up by adding grated carrot, chopped coriander, finely chopped capsicum (bell pepper), onion, tomato and spinach. Mix these vegetables in the batter and make uttapam. Make this colurful millet uttapam in different shapes to appeal kids and encourage them to eat their healthy meals without any fuss or tantrums. 

Try adding pureed vegetables to help picky kids eat their nutritious meals. This is specifically an ideal option to help kids struggling with a texture of food.  

How to serve dosa 

Like regular rice dosa, millet dosa tastes good with any south Indian chutney – coconut chutney, onion tomato chutney or with simple sides such as Tomato Kurma, Bombay Chutney, Plain Salna. 

This millet dosa without rice tastes equally good with condiments such as Eggplant Chutney (Vankaya Pachadi), Carrot Chutney, Mango Thokku.  

Watch how to make millet dosa

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More Indian Breakfast Recipes 

Vegetable Upma 

Instant Appe (Paniyaram) 

Oats Porridge (Masala Oats) 

Ingredients

Foxtail millet: 1 cup

Little millet: 1 cup

Kodo millet: 1 cup

Urad dal: 1 cup

Flattened rice flakes: ½ cup

Fenugreek seeds: ¼ tsp

Water: ⅓ cup

Salt: as required

Instructions

Place all 3 millets in a 1st container and urad dal, fenugreek seeds in 2nd container.

Rinse and wash couple of times with cold water and soak them for 8 hours.

Soak poha (flattened rice flakes) for 20 minutes.

Drain the water from urad dal, poha and millets.

Now grind millets along with urad dal and flattened rice flakes (poha) until smooth adding little water when necessary.

Transfer the batter into a container, close it with lid and allow batter to ferment.

Once batter ferments well, add salt, required water and mix until well combined.

Heat dosa tava on medium flame, pour ladle full batter and spread it in a circular motion just like a pancake with the back of a ladle.

Drizzle 1 teaspoon oil all around dosa.

Once the base is crispy, loosen the dosa from edges, fold gently and place it on a plate.

Enjoy hot and crispy dosa with sambar, chutney or any accompaniment of your choice.

Notes

Keep batter for fermentation in a container that has enough room to raise.

Millets require less water while grinding. So add little water only when required.

Adjust water depending on required consistency.

Dosa batter should be of pouring consistency. Make sure it's neither too thick nor too watery.

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