Podi Dosa with Blender Gunpowder

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A crisp, lacy South Indian dosa smeared with ghee and a fistful of homemade gunpowder — the roasted lentil-and-chile podi that turns a plain crepe into breakfast worth waking up for. Make the podi in a blender any time you like; it keeps for months in a jar, so a stack of dosas becomes a five-minute upgrade. Restaurant versions run around $16, and the whole batch here costs less than one plate.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp sesame oil or neutral oil
• 1/2 cup urad dal (split skinless black gram)
• 1/4 cup chana dal (split chickpeas)
• 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
• 12 dried Byadgi or Kashmiri chiles, stems removed
• 4 dried hot red chiles such as guntur or árbol
• 20 fresh curry leaves
• 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing)
• 1 tsp tamarind concentrate or a marble-size piece of seedless tamarind
• 1 tsp grated jaggery or light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 2 cups idli rice or sona masuri rice
• 1/2 cup whole skinless urad dal
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1/4 cup thick poha (flattened rice)
• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• filtered or bottled water, for soaking and grinding

• 6 tbsp ghee, melted
• 1 tbsp sesame oil, for seasoning the griddle
• 1 small red onion, halved (for oiling the griddle)
• 1 cup coconut chutney, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Make the podi first — it can be done days or weeks ahead. Set a dry skillet over medium-low heat and add 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil. Add the urad dal and chana dal and toast, stirring almost constantly, for 6 to 8 minutes, until the lentils are uniformly reddish-gold and smell nutty. Scrape onto a large plate to cool.
2. In the same skillet over medium-low, toast the sesame seeds dry for 1 to 2 minutes, until they pop and turn pale gold. Add to the plate.
3. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil to the skillet and toast all the dried chiles for 2 to 3 minutes, pressing them flat, until they darken a shade and turn brittle — do not let them blacken or the podi turns bitter. Add the curry leaves and unpeeled garlic and toast 1 to 2 minutes more, until the leaves are crackling-crisp. Turn off the heat, stir in the asafoetida, and spread everything on the plate. Cool completely, at least 20 minutes; warm ingredients steam in the blender and make paste instead of powder.
4. Peel the toasted garlic. Add the chiles, curry leaves, garlic, tamarind, jaggery, and salt to a dry blender jar and pulse in 3-second bursts until coarsely broken up. Add the cooled dals and sesame seeds and pulse in bursts, shaking the jar between pulses, for 45 to 60 seconds total, until you have a sandy, slightly coarse powder with visible flecks — not a fine flour. Cool fully and store in an airtight jar at room temperature.
5. Now the batter. Rinse the rice in 3 changes of water and soak in 4 cups water. In a separate bowl, rinse and soak the urad dal and fenugreek seeds in 2 cups water. Soak both at room temperature for 5 to 6 hours. Twenty minutes before grinding, soak the poha in 1/2 cup water.
6. Drain the urad dal, reserving the soaking water. Grind the dal and fenugreek in a blender with 1/2 cup ice-cold water for 4 to 5 minutes, stopping to scrape down and adding water 1 tablespoon at a time, until the batter is bright white, smooth, and fluffy — it should mound on a spoon. Scrape into a large bowl or pot with at least double the volume.
7. Drain the rice and grind it with the soaked poha and about 3/4 cup water in two batches until smooth with the barest grit, like fine cornmeal in cream. Add to the dal batter.
8. Add the salt and mix with your clean hand for a full minute, lifting and folding to incorporate air and wild yeast. The batter should be thick but pourable, like pancake batter. Cover loosely and ferment at 75 to 85°F for 8 to 14 hours, until it has risen by half and is bubbly and pleasantly sour. In a cold kitchen, use the oven with only the light on.
9. Stir the fermented batter gently to knock out the biggest bubbles. It should coat the back of a spoon and drip slowly; thin with 1 to 3 tablespoons water if needed. Refrigerate until you cook, up to 4 days.
10. Heat a well-seasoned cast-iron or carbon-steel griddle over medium-high until it reads 400°F, or until a few flicked drops of water skitter and vanish in 2 seconds. Dip the cut face of the onion in sesame oil and rub the griddle; wipe off any excess with a paper towel. Just before pouring, splash a teaspoon of water on the surface and wipe it dry — this drop in temperature is what keeps the dosa from sticking.
11. Pour a scant 1/3 cup batter in the center and, using the flat bottom of the ladle, spread it outward in a continuous spiral to a 9-inch round in about 5 seconds. Drizzle 1 1/2 teaspoons melted ghee around the edge and over the surface. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, undisturbed, until the edges lift, the top looks dry, and the underside is lacy and deep golden.
12. Sprinkle 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons podi evenly over the dosa and use the back of a spoon to smear it into the ghee so it becomes a rust-colored paste rather than loose powder. Cook 20 to 30 seconds more, then fold in half or roll into a cigar and slide onto a plate. Serve immediately with coconut chutney.
13. Repeat with the remaining batter, wiping the griddle with the oiled onion and cooling it with a splash of water between each dosa. Adjust the heat down slightly if dosas start browning in under 90 seconds. Serve as they come off the pan — a podi dosa waits for no one.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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