For every 3 cups of par-boiled rice, soak 1 cup of black gram dhal, salt to taste and 1 teaspoon of Fenugreek seeds. Measure a little less than 3 cups of par-boiled rice. Add a handful of raw rice also with it. Wash well and keep soaked in water. Soak Black gram dhal and Fenugreek seeds together.
After two or three hours, wash rice and remove stones if any. Remove stones from the dhal seperately, as above. Grind rice into a smooth firm paste. Grind the dhal seperately into a smooth spongy mass till it gives a gurgling sound. Mix both with salt.
If dosai has to be prepared soon after, mix a little sour buttermilk with he batter. If dosai's are to be prepared in the evening, prepare the dough in the morning, in which case, there is no need for buttermilk. If batter is to be used on same day do not use the fenugreek seeds. If it is for the next morning, include fenugreek seeds. If it is to be kept for more than 24 hours, first grind rice alone and keep. The next morning, grind the dhal and fenugreek seeds together and mix, and prepare the dosais in the evening. This will make the dosais tasty and not too sour
If Raw rice is used, wash and drain rice and pound. Sift through a coarse sieve and knead into a firm dough. Prepare batter witht he black gram dhal by soaking and grinding and mixing both with salt.
Raw rice can be soaked and ground as a paste and used. For this, boil water and remove from fire. Wash raw rice and put it in that and tightly cover it. When the water gets cooled, pour out the rice and drain all the water. Grind to a smooth firm paste after this. Grind dhal also, mix with salt and proceed.
Note: For raw rice dosai for every 2.5 cups of rice, use 1 cup of black gram dhal. If it is to be made into dosais the next day, include fenugreek seeds.
Note2: If the dhal is of a very good quality and the dosai is not so easy to be taken out from the pan , use less of dhal. i.e. For every 3 cups of raw rice use cup of black gram dhal and for every 3 cups of par-boiled rice use only 3/4th cup of black gram dhal
