Indian cuisine offers such diversity when it comes to flavor and technique. The variety found is quite amazing; for example, did you know there are over 26 varieties of biriyani? Every region has its own version. In fact, I suspect the number is more! I find South Indian food fascinating. Next to Sri Lankan, South Indian food is my favorite cuisine. Sri Lankan Tamil cuisine contains many of the same dishes; unfortunately I have little experience in the variety other than the more popular ones found in Colombo saivar kades (restaurants selling Tamil specialties)
My previous post “In Pursuit of the Perfect Thosai” explains how to cook the normal Thosai which is a fermented batter of rice and Urad (ulundu/blackgram dhal). This post will describe how to make pure lentil thosai using a fermented batter that contains no rice. This recipe will serve 4-6 persons and keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days. I freeze my batter and don’t find any changes in quality of the thosai’s made.
Ingredients
- ½ cup urad dhal (husked blackgram dal split or whole)
- ½ cup mung bean dhal (without husk)
- ½ cup channa dhal
- ½ cup split mung beans with husk
- ½ cup Masoor dhal (red lentils)
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
- water as needed
- ½ cup yogurt
- salt to taste
Wash the lentils soak with the fenugreek seed for about 3 hours. Reserve some of the soaking water for grinding. Grind to a smooth paste using as little water as possible. Start with about ¼ cup and increase gradually if needed. Depending on the size of your grinder, you may have to grind your soaked lentils in batches. Add your ground lentils into a large bowl mix in the yogurt. Its best to use your hands as the warmth of the hands will encourage the fermentation process. If you wish you can add an activated mixture of yeast at this point, but I find it unnecessary as the yogurt is sufficient. Cover lightly and set the bowl aside in a warm place for an hour and your batter is ready. You do not want your batter to be over fermented. Just fermented is the right timing. At this point you can refrigerate or freeze the batter for future use. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t froth up in the 1 hour. the thosai’s will still cook properly.
When you are ready to make the thosai, add salt and dilute the batter if necessary. The batter should be of a pancake or crepe like consistency, not too think and not too thin.
Heat your tawa and cook like you make the normal thosai (see my previous post on making thosai)
