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Cereals and bread from South India and Sri Lanka

Dosaதோசை

Rice and dehulled black gram are soaked, ground fine and fermented overnight into a sour batter. The batter is thinned, spread in a thin circle on a hot griddle with a little oil and cooked into a crisp pancake.

Fully documentedCereals and bread

Recipe

Dosa, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Vee Satayamas from Bangkok, Thailand, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceNo tested recipe with weights was found. One study made its batter from rice and black gram 3:1, soaked overnight, ground fine and left to ferment overnight; it does not say whether the parts are by weight.
Rice3 partsProportion used in one study; the source does not say whether by weight or volume[kumari2022]
Dehulled black gram (urad dal)1 part[kumari2022]
WaterFor soaking, for grinding, and to thin the batter before cooking
No starterThe bacteria come in on the grains, as in idli[fao138]
Starterspontaneous
Start
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Close-up: water moving into a grain

What changes: Water soaks into the rice and black gram and softens them

Step 1 of 4
Soak rice and black gram
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. mesenteroides
Enterococcus faecalis

Soaked as for idli; one study soaked the grains overnight. Output: soft, swollen grains.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Rice and dehulled black gram are soaked, ground fine and fermented overnight into a sour batter. The batter is thinned, spread in a thin circle on a hot griddle with a little oil and cooked into a crisp pancake. Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Enterococcus faecalis do most of the fermenting.

What makes this one different

Dosa batter is very similar to idli batter, except that the rice and black gram are both ground fine, and the fermented batter is quickly fried as a thin, fairly crisp pancake instead of being steamed.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Masala dosaFilled with spiced potato.
  • Set dosa and benne dose (Davanagere)Set dosa is smaller, spongy, soft and light, served in sets of 2–3. Benne dose is made with butter and is best known as Davanagere benne dose.
  • UttapamMuch thicker and softer than dosa, served with vegetable toppings.
  • Ragi dosaMade of ragi (finger millet) flour mixed with small portions of rice and urad dal. A 2012 study fermented finger millet with horse gram flour instead, and made its dosa from the 16-h fermented batter.
  • Neer dosa, adai, pesarattu and rava dosaNeer dosa is made from a watery rice batter, adai from toor dal, rice and spices in a batter that is not fermented, pesarattu from green gram and rava dosa from semolina.

Safety

A warm overnight ferment can fall in the 28–35 °C range where Bacillus cereus grows best (FDA). Two FDA tables put its lowest growth pH at 4.9 and at 4.3, so souring slows it but does not rule it out. Cooking may kill the bacteria, but their spores are tough and the vomiting toxin survives 121 °C for 30 minutes, so do not hold batter warm for long, and refrigerate leftover batter at 4 °C (40 °F) or lower. Do not taste raw batter, since raw grain and flour can carry Salmonella and E. coli (FDA).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The food historian K.T. Achaya dates the first written mention to 8th-century Tamil literature, with Kannada texts about a century later. The 12th-century Sanskrit Manasollasa gives a recipe.

Process times
The sources we found give no figure for how long any of its steps take.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [fao138] Haard N.F. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, chapter 3 (idli, dosa)gov
  2. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.00377paper
  3. [kumari2022] Kumari V.B.C. et al. 2022, Probiotic potential Lacticaseibacillus casei and Limosilactobacillus fermentum strains isolated from dosa batter, Microorganisms 10:1195, doi:10.3390/microorganisms10061195paper
  4. [gupta2014] Gupta A., Tiwari S.K. 2014, Probiotic potential of Lactobacillus plantarum LD1 isolated from batter of dosa, a South Indian fermented food, Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins 6:73–81, doi:10.1007/s12602-014-9158-2paper
  5. [palanisamy2012] Palanisamy B.D., Rajendran V., Sathyaseelan S., Bhat R., Venkatesan B.P. 2012, Enhancement of nutritional value of finger millet-based food (Indian dosa) by co-fermentation with horse gram flour, International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 63:5–15, doi:10.3109/09637486.2011.591367 (abstract)paper
  6. [fda-bbb] US Food and Drug Administration 2012, Bad Bug Book, 2nd edition, Bacillus cereus and other Bacillus speciesgov
  7. [fda-app4] US FDA 2011, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, 4th ed., Appendix 4, Bacterial pathogen growth and inactivation, Table A-1gov
  8. [fda-flour] US Food and Drug Administration, Handling Flour Safely, What You Need to Knowgov
  9. [wp] Wikipedia, Dosa (food) (history only, citing Achaya 2003)wiki