My love for South Indian foods knows no bounds, it was perhaps the numerous trips to Bombay in the early years of my childhood, where eating at posh Udupi style restaurants was the in thing, or the fact that my mum could whip up crispy paper thin dosas, or masala dosa and idli at a whim for me. It is still the first thing I will order at an Indian restaurant-so much for being born in a northern Indian household and being fed dal, rotli, and rice. 

The key to a good rava dosa according to my Mum was how lace-like you can make it, while making sure that it’s cooked all the way through and is crisp, it has to be full of holes like Swiss cheese. These holes let the water vapor escape from the batter as it is being cooked, thus creating a crispy lacy dosa.   

So the more water in the rava dosa batter, the bigger and more abundant the holes –the crispier the dosa. Her ratio for the crispy dosa that held up to the potato and chutney filling was to have equal amount of rava to rice flour. I can never make the dosas like my mum did, she would take handfuls of the batter and just throw it onto the pan, I use a ladle. It took me a while to learn that the perfect rava dosa comes down to three things: how thin your batter is, how long you let it stand and how hot your tawa is.

I eat these with soft chunky Tawa Masala Bateta and spicy tempered coconut chutney for brunch or dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Semolina/ rava/ sooji/cream of wheat
• 1 cup Rice flour
• 4 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger paste
• 1 tablespoon Thai Green chilies chopped
• 2 teaspoon fresh ground whole black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 
• 1 red onion finely diced
• 1 tablespoon cilantro leaves chopped
• 1 sprig curry leaves chopped
• 4 cups water + 1 cup more as needed
• 2 teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt or as needed
• Oil- as needed to fry the dosa

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, add semolina, rice flour, all-purpose flour, salt, onion, cilantro and curry leaves, green chili, ginger paste, ground peppercorn, cumin seeds and mix everything well.
   
   
2. Using a whisk, add 1 cup water at a time and mix into a free-flowing lump-free batter, the batter should be very thin and runny in consistency- something along the lines of full fat whole milk.
   
   
3. Cover and let it rest for 15-30 minutes.
   
   
4. After resting, the semolina should have absorbed some of the water, add an additional 1 cup water to thin it out again, and stir well (as the semolina settles down at the bottom) Rava dosa batter should be a flowy consistency which is the key to achieving a crispy dosa.
   
   
5. Heat a non-stick flat pan or dosa pan on high heat. 
   
   
6. Drizzle some oil, and take a ladleful of batter and pour or drizzle from about 4-5 inch height above the pan in a circular motion starting from the outer edge to the center to create a lacy dosa.
   
   
7. *critical to pour the batter on a hot pan from a height so that the liquid hits the hot pan, forms bubbles and creates the lacy effect.
   
   
8. Do not overlay and pour batter on one spot multiple times; any gaps and holes in the dosa give the lacy effect and let the steam escape.
   
   
9. Lower the flame to medium.
   
   
10. Once when the top side looks cooked, and matt, not runny then drizzle  ½ tsp oil on the top and sides.
    
    
11. Cook until it turns light golden brown and crispy, for approx. 4-5minutes. Rava dosa takes a little longer to cook than the regular dosa.
    
    
12. Fold and transfer hot thin crispy rava dosa to a plate.
    
    
13. Stir and mix the batter well before making each dosa.
    
    

Serve rava dosa hot with Tawa Masala Bateta, tempered coconut chutney and sambar.

NOTES:

• The proportion of flours used is very important to make good dosa. The recipe I have given here gives lacy and crispy rava dosa, perfect to scoop up masala bateta and chutney with. If you want softer dosa then reduce the amount of rice flour by 1/2 cup and add AP flour instead.
  
• To make lacy and crispy rava dosa the batter should be poured on a hot pan from a height, which helps form the lacy effect, do not fill these holes/gaps- they are the main characteristics of this dosa. 
  
  
• Use a flat tawa/pan, otherwise the batter will pool at the center of the pan and you will end up with a thick middle and thin edged dosa.
  
  
• The thinner the batter, the crisper the dosa.
  
  
• Finally, the temperature should be adjusted frequently to get perfect dosa +Increase the heat while you pour the batter and then reduce it to medium/low heat for crispy golden dosas.