Savoury Fermented Indian Pancakes (Dosas)

1 cup red lentils (whole or split)/ yellow split peas
1 cup rice
2 tsp. salt
additional 1 tsp. salt

Method:

1. Rinse lentils and rice until water runs clear. Place in a large bowl and cover with first amount of salt.
Add warm water to cover 2 inches above lentil/ rice mixture. Cover bowl and leave overnight on bench (not fridge).

2. Drain then rinse lentil/ rice mixture next morning. Sprinkle with second amount of salt, and add approximately 1/2 cup warm water.
I use a hand (stick) blender to blend the mixture, but it can also be done in a high-powered blender. Blend until a creamy consistancy, adding small amounts of water as necessary to achieve desired consistancy (sometimes we will have it quite thick, to make a more bread-like muffin or wrap, and sometimes we have it thinner for crepes or pancakes).

3. Once mixture is blended and placed in a large bowl, cover again and leave in a warm (but NOT hot) place for 24 hours, to ferment.

4. Once feremented (it will have a distinct ‘fermented’ smell), the mixture is ready to be cooked.
(We cook ours on a sandwich press, but traditionally they are fried in the same manner as we would pancakes.)
Once lightly browned, they are cooked (dosas with red lentils will have a slightly ‘pink/ orange’ colour, whilst with yellow split peas, they have a lovely golden colour).

You can really make the dosas any size you like; I cannot give oxalate values, I’m sorry, as I never measure how much each batch makes (it is always different, and my daughter often makes them herself), though a batch this size will actually last us a few days (we normally just leave left-over mixture on the bench to ferment some more, which is fine in a cool climate like where we live at the bottom of the world, otherwise you can put left-overs in the fridge for up to a few days, which stops the fermentation process). Sometimes we make them small, other times pancake-sized, sometimes we make them into animal shapes, and the other day my daughter made them into large wraps for lunch (my favourite). I would think, correct me if I’m wrong, that they would equate roughly to the Akara in the recipe above?

Serving: Traditionally, dosas are eaten as a side to curries, vegetable dishes, etc. in India. We have done this, too, but more often we eat them as a bread/ pancake/ toast/ wrap substitute- with butter, coconut oil, chutney, jam, stewed fruit, salad, etc, etc!

Variations: – Could add LO herbs to mixture, or some finely-chopped onion; we have recently made blueberry dosas, which were delicious!!
– We have made these into ‘muffins’ by baking mixture in a muffin tray in the oven
(called “idly” in India, I think, and they steam theirs, which is another option!)
These are great for our muffin-deprived palate! Were lovely with a bit of (LO) jam on top ^_^
– Haven’t tried it yet, but we would like to make the muffins with some finely-chopped LO vegetables, or some chopped LO fruit, for sweet muffins.
– We have made a “bread” with the mixture in a loaf pan; it was quite dense and flat, but when you’ve been outside hand-washing laundry for 3 hours, you appreciate “bread” in any form!

I hope this makes sense, and hopefully it is a true low-oxalate option!

At the risk of making this an even longer post, could I please ask why you say that basmati rice is not a LO option? I have not understood, from looking through the food lists, whether it has been specifically tested or not? And, much to my confusion, the labels on basmati rice say “long-grain rice”, which, on the LO lists, is listed as low-oxalate. We often use a mixture of white long-grain and white basmati, and we still experience ‘dumping’ and severe reactions to other increases in our oxalate consumption, but I don’t know if this indicates that eating basmati is okay or not?

Thanks, again, Heidi, look forward to seeing what you think about the dosas ^_^

Yes, new computer is up and running. I’m still transferring blog and personal stuff to it, but I’m almost there. I found an old note that told me how to access my email on the web, so I’m going to see if I can figure that out this week. Then I’ll try to transfer it to outlook on my new computer to make it easier

To make a cast iron or stainless skillet “non-stick,” heat it first without oil (I use coconut), then add oil and wait until it shimmers before adding the fritters. Gently slide a spatula under each fritter immediately to loosen them; then cook 1 – 2 min./side and drain. Heaven!

Thanks Heidi!! Is your computer up and running yet?

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