Millet dosa is a vegan and gluten-free savoury crepes that make a healthy, nutritious and diabetic friendly breakfast.
Millets are small seed grasses that are considered as gluten-free supernatural food as they are rich in nutrients, fibre, vitamins, proteins and has umpteen health benefits. Millets is best source of grain for celiac sufferers(people with gluten intolerance).
I have used three kinds of millets in dosa recipe. foxtail millet (korralu/thinai/navane), little millet (saamai/saama beyyam/saame akki), kodo millet (arikelu/varagu/harka). These millets are available in the form of rice and semolina. I’ve used semolina and all these seem similar with slight colour difference.
Learn more about how to introduce millets in our diet and their health benefits (article by Chhavi).
How 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 texture of dosa. I find 3:1 ratio of millets to urad dal always works well for me. Addition of fistful poha (flattened rice flakes) or cooked rice while grinding helps to make dosa crisp.
Fermentation is an important step and it could take anywhere between 8-14 hrs depending on the weather where you live. This process takes more time in cold weather and as less as 6 hours in extremely hot and humid weather. In hot weather, batter will ferment easily on kitchen counter top. On cold days, add a cup of hot water to the batter, mix well place the container in warm place probably in an oven with its lights on.
Some people recommend grinding in wet stone grinder for best results, but for me mixie (an electric blender) does equally good job. I’ve been using mixie for almost a decade and it gives me good results every time. I prefer mixie due to ease of use, cleaning and best part is it requires less space for storage as compared to wet stone grinder. However, wet grinder is useful and saves time if you wish to make a big batch of batter.
Millet dosa recipe variations
This recipe can be customised to suit your diet requirements. You could use any 2 types of millets instead of 3 (such as 1.5 cup of foxtail millet and 1.5 cups of millet), or you could use any 1 type of millet (such as 3 cups of foxtail millet). But make sure not to alter the millet and urad dal ratio (3 parts of millet : 1 part urad dal). You could add finely chopped onions, green chillies & coriander as toppings on dosa for extra flavours and taste.
Ingredients
1 cup = 250ml ; 1 tbsp = 15ml
Gluten-free, Vegan
Foxtail millet: 1 cup
Little millet: 1 cup
Kodo millet: 1 cup
Urad dal: 1 cup
Flattened rice flakes: 1/2 cup
Fenugreek seeds: 1/4 tsp
Water: 1/3 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 flattened rice flakes for 20 minutes.
Drain the water from urad dal, flattened rice flakes 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 hot, pour ladle full batter and spread it in circular motion just like pancake with back of ladle.
Drizzle 1 tsp 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 and chutney. Dosa tastes equally good with carrot dip (spicy carrot chutney), eggplant chutney (vankaya pachadi).
Notes
Keep batter for fermentation in a container that has enough room to raise.
Add little water while grinding
Adjust water depending on required consistency.
Dosa batter should be of pouring consistency. Make sure it’s neither too thick nor too watery.
Millet Dosa
Ingredients
1 cup = 250ml ; 1 tbsp = 15ml
Gluten Free, Vegan
- 1 cup Foxtail millet
- 1 cup Little millet
- 1 cup Kodo millet
- 1 cup Urad dal
- 1/2 cup Flattened rice flakes
- 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1/3 cup Water
- 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 flattened rice flakes for 20 minutes.
- Drain the water from urad dal, flattened rice flakes 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 heat, pour ladle full batter and spread it in circular motion just like pancake with back of ladle.
- Drizzle 1 tsp 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 and chutney.
Video
Notes
KEEP IN TOUCH
Do let me know if you make this healthy dosa. I love to get feedback from readers.
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It looks so crispy. Does this batter double as an idly batter too?
Thanks for stopping by Saranya. Yes, millet dosa does turn crispy and tasty but the batter doesn’t rise like idly batter. You will notice an increase in volume but not as much as that of idly batter.
Dosa looks so crispy and wonderful .. a must try recipe … Lovely share
Yes Ruchi It has turned so crispy, best part is it’s a healthy and diabetic friendly recipe so you can enjoy guiltfree.