Dosa

Name: Dosa
Total time: 24 h
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: Basmati rice; Urad dal; Fenugreek seeds; Salt; Ghee

243 kcal a serving, against 353 for the traditional version. That is 110 kcal off, or 31%, with 11.2g of protein. Serves 6. 24 hours.

What the traditional version is

A fermented batter heavily weighted towards white rice, blended with a handful of lentils and fenugreek. It gets spread paper-thin across a hot griddle and shallow-fried in huge pools of ghee until it turns a deep, glossy golden brown.

What changed, and what each change costs

80g of ghee for 15g of ghee

Ghee is magnificent, but it acts like a sponge on a hot pan, soaking straight into the porous batter. Using a lightly oiled piece of kitchen paper to wipe a frying pan gives you the non-stick surface you need without drowning the food in fat.

What it costs you. You miss out on that intensely rich, browned-butter flavour. The edges will still crisp up beautifully, but they won't have that heavy, saturated gloss that you find in a classic restaurant dish.

300g of basmati rice and 100g of urad dal for 200g of each

Urad dal carries far more structural substance than plain white rice. Levelling out the ratio packs a lot more punch into the crepe itself, completely changing the nutritional profile without ruining the fermentation process. The dal brings an earthy depth that holds its own.

What it costs you. This is a slightly darker, heartier pancake that takes a fraction longer to cook through on the heat. Nobody is going to mistake it for a perfectly translucent, glass-like shell anymore.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Basmati rice
Urad dal
Fenugreek seeds
Salt
Ghee

How it starts

Soaking the grains is the first step to building that characteristic tang.
Drain the soaked grains, keeping a splash of the water.
Give the fermented batter a gentle stir.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Indian.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	353	243
Protein	8.1g	11.2g
Fat	14g	3.2g
Saturated fat	8.1g	1.6g
Carbohydrate	47.5g	41.3g
Protein per 100 kcal	2.3g	4.6g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Indian prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. milk.

The method is in the book

A proper, naturally fermented crepe that snaps when you tear it. I stripped out the heavy pools of ghee and boosted the lentil ratio, making this a genuinely satisfying dish rather than a greasy street snack. You've got to plan ahead with the soaking and resting times, but standing at the stove flipping these hot, sour pancakes is a brilliant way to spend an evening.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Indian, along with 54 more. Buy the paperback