Pesarattu – Spiced Mung Dal Dosa(Crêpes)

By Flagthis -

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These specialty crêpes of the Andhra Cuisine can be made of either yellow mung dal or from whole green gram.If you use the former you get a golden yellow crêpe and if you use the latter you’ll have yourself a green crêpe. Both taste great. Personally I prefer using the yellow dal vs the green, purely for aesthetics. Hey, after all your eyes do most of the eating don’t they?

Unlike the traditional dosas these are relatively faster to make for the obvious fact that they don’t have to go through the long hours of fermentation. And since they are not sour, in my opinion you need to complement them with sour chutneys like the tomato, gongura or tamarind to excite you palates.

Ingredients

2 cups mung dal soaked in water for about 4 –5 hours, if you are using whole green gram, soak overnight 
1 tsp roasted cumin
1/2 tsp chopped ginger 
6 sprigs of cilantro 
1/2 cup raw rice soak along with dal
3 green chilies
1 big pinch of asafoetida
1 medium sized onion chopped
salt to taste

Directions

  • Grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste and set aside for 30 minutes.
  • Add more water if the batter is too thick. It should have the consistency of ordinary dosa batter. 
  • Heat a skillet at low flame and smear it with 1/2 a tsp of sesame oil or ghee (I use an onion cut horizontally into half, to smear oil on the skillet. This tends to give a nice aroma to the dosas).
  • Pour batter on to the center of the hot skillet, and gently spread towards the outside in concentric circular movement using the base of the ladle to form a circular thin crêpe.
  •  Increase the flame to high.
  • When you start noticing a golden brown color on the sides and the top surface has the lost the wet look, Turn the dosa over.
  • Allow to roast for half a minute or so on this side.
  • Fold and take of the flame.
  • Reduce the flame and repeat the process to make the next dosa
  • Serve hot with sambar or tomato chutney.

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