INSTANT WATERMELON DOSA

Would you believe this Dosa gets its lovely green colour from a watermelon rind!!!

My grandmother got a smartphone some time last year and has been hooked on to WhatsApp and YouTube, oftentimes even foregoing her afternoon nap, looking at videos. She recently sent me a video of a recipe for Watermelon Dosa.

I do not know how to prepare the Dosa batter that requires soaking and overnight fermentation. It was only a few years ago that I poured my first Dosa and spammed people with the perfect, crisp round Dosa I had created. I looked around at the empty kitchen back then and gave little nods of acknowledgement to my imaginary audience. Since that day I have been on the lookout for instant Dosa batter recipes. I still shy away from the fermented one. I don’t even know the name of the lentil that goes into it. (Wait a minute; we do add lentils to the batter, right?) The Dosa Dal? When I saw the video of the Watermelon Dosa, I told Radha that I would be making breakfast the next day. “You’ll have to wake up early for that” said she. Harumph.

I had washed and chopped the rind the previous night and kept it in the fridge and left the Mixie and the other ingredients out. This gives you extra 10 minutes of sleep in the morning. I was a bit apprehensive at first as sometimes these instant batters go dreadfully wrong.

After pouring and preparing the first Dosa (which I thought looked great) and getting the second one on the pan, I called Sky to taste it while I hovered around him.

I will definitely be making these Dosas again. It was a great hit at home, Skip and Sky loved it. It’s made from watermelon rind!!! That itself should get you to try this recipe. The rind is a rich source of fiber and is high in Vitamins A, B6,C, Potassium and Zinc (There’s a whole lot of information on the internet, you may Google it :D)

The Dosa is crispy (the semolina makes it crisp) and unlike the plain ‘Rawa Dosa’ it doesn’t require spoonfuls of oil. It doesn’t taste of watermelon but has a mild taste of  ummmm... ‘greens’.

WATERMELON DOSA (makes 12 Dosas)

Ingredients:

Watermelon rind – 2 bowls

Rice Flour – 1 bowl

Semolina (Rawa) –1 bowl

Gram Flour (Besan) – 1 heaped tbsp

Water – about 1 ¼ bowl

Salt – ½ tsp

Method:

1.   Scoop the flesh off the watermelon rind, wash the rind well and chop it into small bits.

2.  Grind the rind in the blender to a paste. To this, add the rice flour, semolina, gram flour and one cup water and blend well.

3. The batter ought be slightly runny (thinner than the regular dosa batter and thicker than the neer dosa batter). Add more water if required and blend again. ( I added ¼ th cup water more)

4.   Let the batter rest for about 10-15 minutes. Add salt to the batter, give it a good mix.

5.   Add a little oil to the pan. Pour the batter onto the pan, spread it out as thin as possible. Pour a little ghee (clarified butter) or oil on it. Cover and cook one side and when that side is done (the bottom will brown and the edges will leave the sides of the pan), flip the dosa and cook the other side for a minute.

6.      Done.

Recipe Notes:

·        This dosa takes a longer time to cook than the regular one. Make sure that you cook both sides well.