Mysore Masala Dosai

Salalah, in the Sultanate of Oman is considered Kerala of the Gulf . This small town lies serenely, in the western most part of Oman, almost near the Yeman border.The Dhofar mountains to it's North and the Arabian sea to the South encapsule this town. As your plane takes off from Muscat's Seeb westwards you see mostly barren rocky mountains all the way. But as the aircraft descends, the coconut palm lined coast is a treat to your eyes.
The rains that come down in July- September season, carpet the Dhofar mountains green. People from all of the other Gulf states come to Salalah during this Khareef season. It is so much business that the land lords let out their premises for only on a 9 month contract and you pay extra rent during the three months to make up their otherwise lost revenue from tourism.
We had one Udipi restaurant there. Whenever we were there my husband used to ask only for their Mysore masala dosai. I'm not a fan of masal dosai and used to wonder what difference was there between the two. So I went ahead and asked them for their recipe and they gave me willingly :)







Mallika Bhadrinath has given a very nice recipe. This is a bit different in the combination. So here is the recipe I used.
It makes 8 very thin but large dosais.

Ingredients:

Raw rice -200ml

Urad dhal -2 tablespoons

Thuvar dhal -2 table spoons

Fenugreek - 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste.

Semolina -1 teaspoon

Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Tomato chutney -about 1/4 cup ( recipe below)

Potato masala -1 cup (recipe below)

Soak fenugreek, urad dhal and the thuvar dhal together for a few hours. Wash and soak rice for 1 hour. Blend the fenugreek and dhals in your mixie adding water in small quantities until well blended and frothing. Add the rice and grind to a very smooth batter. Mix the salt, sugar and semolina. Let it stand to ferment just a few hours. (you can use the batter by evening if you grind in the morning)
If you have left over, well fermented idli or dosai batter add that to this batter and you can make your dosais in about two hours after grinding.
Grind the tomato chutney ready. Cook the potato masala and keep aside.
On hot tawa pour out the batter and spread as thin as possible.Add little oil or ghee. Cover the dosai with a lid.
After a minute open the lid, spoon in the chutney and spread on the side of the dosai well. Place some potato masala in the centre and fold triangles.
Repeat with all the batter. Serve hot with chutney, dosai milagai podi or milagu kuzhambu.

Tomato chutney:
Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 6 medium sized.
Onions -1 large
Tamarind -size of a small marble
Urid dhal - 1 teaspoon
Channa dhal - 1 teaspoon
Redchillies -3 pieces
Salt to taste.
Oil -1 teaspoon

In a pan put a teaspoon oil and when hot, put in the dhals, chillies, tamarind and onions.Saute until the onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and saute further until tomatoes are pulpy. Take off fire, cool and blend to a chutney.

Potato masala:
Ingredients:
Potatoes -150 grams
Green chillies - 2 pieces
Salt to taste
curry leaves, coriander leaves, mustard seeds, cumin or fennel seeds, cashews, channa dhal-for the garnish.

Cook potatoes well. Remove jackets and mash well. Add the salt.
In a pan put some oil. When the oil is hot put mustard and fennel seeds to crackle. Add chillies and dhals.Saute until they are golden.Add the potatoes and let it all mix well. Take off the stove and add curry leaves and coriander leaves.Potato masala is ready.