Venkatrama Dosai

Ingredients

• - paper thin iyengar dosa
• - 2 tbsp ghee
• - 1 tsp mustard seeds
• - 1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
• - Curry leaves
• - Salt to taste

Method

1. Make Venkatrama dosai batter: Soak 2 cups raw rice for 4 hours. Grind very smooth. Soak 1 cup urad dal separately for 4 hours. Grind to a very smooth fluffy batter. Combine with salt and ferment overnight.
2. Make Venkatrama-style filling: Prepare a thin potato masala — boil and roughly mash 3 potatoes with turmeric, mustard seed tempering, onion, green chilli and ginger.
3. Add curry leaves: Mix a generous amount of fresh curry leaves into the potato masala. This is characteristic of this style.
4. Heat tawa well: Heat a flat tawa on high heat. The tawa should be very hot.
5. Oil generously: Oil the tawa more generously than for regular dosa.
6. Spread dosa very thin: Pour a ladle and spread as thin as possible.
7. Add oil: Drizzle half tsp oil around the edges.
8. Cook until very crispy: Cook on medium heat 3-4 minutes until the base is very dark golden and almost crispy like a paper dosa.
9. Add masala: Place a portion of potato masala along the centre.
10. Serve: Fold and serve immediately. Venkatrama dosai is known for its extremely crispy texture. Serve with coconut chutney and sambar.