Kal Dosa is one the popular soft and spongy dosa variety in TamilNadu. It is slightly thicker than the regular dosa. This staple breakfast recipe is made with Parboiled rice, raw rice, urad dal. Dosa batter should be fermented well to get soft and spongy dosas! Relish with Kara Chutney or Coconut Chutney!
Kal Dosa (Kal Dosai), yet another sponge variety of dosa. This is one of the famous SouthIndian breakfast dish in most of the restaurants. Kal dosa is slightly thicker than the traditional dosa. Conventionally iron tawa is used for making kal dosa. Cast iron utensils are always healthy compared to non-stick. Non-stick tawa makes life easier but for authentic taste, I would strongly recommend cast iron tawa. Kal dosa batter needs to be fermented properly to make thick dosa and we have to cook it only on one side. We can see lots of small pores around the dosa and the dosa would be very soft. Kal Dosa with Kara Chutney is one of the famous combo served in hotels. We can serve this soft kal dosa with Tiffin Sambar or other types of chutney too.
Tips for making perfect Kal Dosa:
Soaking: Wash and soak the dal and rice separately for minimum 3 hours.
Grinding in Mixer grinder : Normally for small quanity we can grind the urad dal in mixer jar. But grinding dal in mixer grinder will not yield fluffy batter. So first we need to grind it to smooth batter and then we should beat the batter for 5 mins to incorporate air and make the batter fluffy.
Grinding in Wet Grinder: If you grind it in wet grinder, the batter will naturally be fluffy as the aeration process happens in the grinding process itself. So no need for beating the batter. The batter will be light.
Fermentation : Keep the batter in a warm place and allow it to ferment for 8 hours or overnight. If you are living in a sunny place sometimes the batter gets fermented easily within 4 hours. So keep a watch. If the batter rises and tries to overflow, stir well and refrigerate till you are ready to use. If you are living in cold place, Place the batter inside the Oven and switch on the oven light. The warmth of the light makes the batter ferment quickly.
Readiness of Tawa: Make sure the iron tawa is ready before you pour the batter. If you sprinkle little water, it should sizzle immediately. That will ensure the tawa is ready
Spread Thick: Pour the batter in tawa and spread to a thick dosa. Kal Dosa is always little thicker than the normal crispy dosa.
Cook in low flame: Cook the Kal dosa in low flame with a lid on so that the dosa wile cooked completely and no need to flip
Serve with Kara Chutney or any chutney of your choice!
Cuisine: Indian Recipes, South Indian Recipes, Tamil Nadu Recipes
Equipments Needed
Mixer Grinder
Mixing Bowl
Tawa
Prep Time: 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
Soaking & Fermenting Time: 12 hourshours
Servings: 24Dosa
Calories: 121kcal
Author: Sowmya Venkatachalam
Kal Dosa is one the popular soft and spongy dosa variety in TamilNadu. It is slightly thicker than the regular dosa. This staple breakfast recipe is made with Parboiled rice, raw rice, urad dal. Dosa batter should be fermented well to get soft and spongy dosas! Relish with Kara Chutney or Coconut Chutney!
Take raw rice and parboiled rice in a vessel. Wash and soak the rice together for 3 hours
Take urad dal and fenugreek seeds in another vessel. Wash and soak the dal for 3 hours
Preparing Batter
After 3 hours, drain the water from the urid dal and grind it in the mixer or grinder by sprinkling water little by little. Normally for small quanity we can grind the urad dal in mixer jar. But grinding dal in mixer will not get fluffy batter. So first we need to grind it to smooth batter and then we should beat the batter for 5 mins to incorporate air and make the batter fluffy. If you grind it in wet grinder, the batter will naturally be fluffy as the aeration process happens in the grinding process itself. Keep the urad dal batter aside
Then drain the water from the rice and add it to the mixer and grind it to a smooth batter.
Add the ground rice batter with urad dal batter along with salt and give a nice stir. Close the vessel with a lid. Keep the batter in a warm place and allow it to ferment for 8 hours or overnight. If you are living in a sunny place sometimes the batter gets fermented easily within 4 hours. So keep a watch. If the batter rises and tries to overflow, stir well and refrigerate till you are ready to use. If you are living in cold place, Place the batter inside the Oven and switch on the oven light. The warmth of the light makes the batter ferment quickly.
After fermentation process, take the batter and stir well.
Making Dosa
Heat a tawa (Cast iron tawa is the perfect choice). Make sure the tawa is hot. Sprinkle little water and check if it sizzles then the tawa is ready. Pour a ladle of Kal Dosa batter and spread it to make a thick dosa.
Pour a teaspoon of oil around the dosa. Keep the flame low. When we start getting, pores all over the dosa, cover the tawa with lid and allow the dosa to cook nicely. When the dosa is cooked completely, we can remove from tawa. We don’t need to flip it off to other side.
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Instructions with Step by Step Pictures:
Wash and soak both the rice in a vessel and dal and fenugreek seeds together in another vessel for 3 hours.
After 3 hours, drain the water from the urid dal and grind it in the mixer or grinder by sprinkling water little by little. We have to grind atleast for 10 minutes, till we get a ball like consistency and we can see bubbles coming up in the urid dal batter. Then take the urid dal batter in a vessel. Then drain the water from the rice and add it to the mixer and grind it to a smooth batter. Add the ground rice batter with urid dal batter and give a nice stir. Keep it overnight to ferment the batter. The next day, when the batter is fermented nicely, we can add salt and mix well. Adding salt in the beginning may delay the fermentation and hence I, usually add salt after fermentation only.
Heat a tawa in high flame and add a ladle of kal dosa batter and spread it little to make a thick dosa. When we start getting, pores all over the dosa, then we should lower the flame to minimum and add oil and cover the tawa with lid and allow the dosa to cook nicely. When the dosa is cooked completely, we can remove from tawa. We don’t need to flip it off to other side.
Kal dosa made with both raw rice and idli rice whereas for we use regular idli/dosa batter for uttapam. Utappam we cook on both the sides where as Dal dosa we cook on only one side and it is very soft and spongy.
Not true about iodine. Being a nutritionist, I can say iodine amount is so small, it has no effect. Also, we add salt in buttermilk. You mean to say the good bacteria in curd/buttermilk also gets killed by iodine in salt. Internet is the last place to look for Food Chemistry answers..
Also, traditionally, only for karyams, fermentation is done without salt. For normal days, batter has to be fermented with salt. even in Canada, I make batter for idli/dosa regularly with excellent fermentation with iodized salt.
In my college days I lived in a hostel in Tirunelveli district. There the local students did not like the dosai to become brown. they insisted that it should be pearl white.
South Indian food is my favorite and dosa is on the top list. I love eating a variety of Dosa. I will be sharing this recipe with mom and ask her to make this for me for breakfast. Your recipes are always amazing like you.
Hello. Thank you for the recipe and explanation.
I have a question. When made dosa, the pores do come but the dosa still remains uncooked in the areas where the thickness is more. So my husband always asks me to cook on the other side too. I tried making even thin dosa, but still the thick areas are not cooked at all. Could you please help me in understanding my mistake?
Super tempting !
Looks Very Nice
When do we add methi seeds?
Hi Usha, i missed to add about fenugeek seeds. We can add it to the urid dal and soak it in water. Thanks for pointing the mistake.
Please let me know if kal dosa & Uttapam both are same or different
Kal dosa made with both raw rice and idli rice whereas for we use regular idli/dosa batter for uttapam. Utappam we cook on both the sides where as Dal dosa we cook on only one side and it is very soft and spongy.
So yummy
I had all along thought that adding salt as soon as we grind helps with the fermentation process? Was I wrong?
Hi Mala, The Iodine in the salt can kill the wild yeast which helps the batter to ferment. So it is always better to add salt after fermentation.
Not true about iodine. Being a nutritionist, I can say iodine amount is so small, it has no effect. Also, we add salt in buttermilk. You mean to say the good bacteria in curd/buttermilk also gets killed by iodine in salt. Internet is the last place to look for Food Chemistry answers..
Also, traditionally, only for karyams, fermentation is done without salt. For normal days, batter has to be fermented with salt. even in Canada, I make batter for idli/dosa regularly with excellent fermentation with iodized salt.
i don't have grinder so then what will be the ratio of urad dal to both types of rice…?
You can use the same amount of urid dal mentioned above. But you have to use 1 cup of aval (beaten rice / poha) to get softer dosa
thanq..:)
is kal dosa and set dosa is same or different?
Why Kondirapully Kaldosa is very famous i.e. what is so special aboutit?
In my college days I lived in a hostel in Tirunelveli district. There the local students did not like the dosai to become brown. they insisted that it should be pearl white.
South Indian food is my favorite and dosa is on the top list. I love eating a variety of Dosa. I will be sharing this recipe with mom and ask her to make this for me for breakfast. Your recipes are always amazing like you.
Thank you so much
Very nice.
Thank you
Looks so delicious, curious about it’s taste.
Hello. Thank you for the recipe and explanation.
I have a question. When made dosa, the pores do come but the dosa still remains uncooked in the areas where the thickness is more. So my husband always asks me to cook on the other side too. I tried making even thin dosa, but still the thick areas are not cooked at all. Could you please help me in understanding my mistake?
Please close the tawa with a lid and keep the flame low that way the dosa gets cooked and the bottom part of the dosa will not be very dark.🙏😊