Masala Dosa Recipe

Masala dosa is a classic south Indian breakfast where a spicy potato curry or potato masala is stuffed inside a crispy dosa. It is super delicious, flavorful, hearty and one of the most sought after & popular south Indian breakfast dishes.

Dosa is a crepe made of fermented rice & lentil batter. Masala dosa is a tasty variation of it with a spiced dry potato curry or potato masala stuffed inside. These are basically lentil crepes stuffed with delicious potato curry.

This post will help you make very delicious, flavorful, crispy perfect masala dosas at home in no time. Recipe includes detailed step by step in instructions and a quick video.

Maslaa dosa used to be my constant choice while growing up whenever we ate out 🙂 Though my mother used to make it often, somehow crispy dosas filled with spicy potato masala was so tempting and hard to resist 🙂

Once I started cooking regularly, I wanted to learn how to make masala dosa recipe exactly like the restaurant ones. I must say over the years, I have indeed succeeded in my quest 🙂 This recipe of crispy masala dosa is one of the best out there. You can sure make out from the pictures how crispy, light they are right 🙂

Now let’s quickly get into the recipe along with tips, variations and some interesting facts about masala dosa.

What Is Masala Dosa?

Masala dosa is a south Indian breakfast dish where a spicy & flavorful potato masala is stuffed inside a crispy dosa, served with chutney and sambar. It is a super hearty, filling and wholesome meal that goes very well not only as breakfast but also as brunch, dinner.

There are two types of masala dosas usually made.

1. Tamil nadu style plain masala dosa- super thin crispy dosa served with a very spicy dry potato curry. It is mostly served with coconut chutney.
2. Mysore masala dosa- This variation is very popular in karnataka. It was first made in Mavalli Tiffin Rooms popularly known as MTR. In this variation, the dosa is thicker, darker and chewy. After cooking the dosa, a spicy red chutney is spread and on that potato masala is placed. The potato masala is slightly sweeter too. This is called special masala dosa in Tamil nadu restaurants.
3. Now a days there are many variations like paneer masala dosa, cauliflower dosa, mushroom masala dosa. Basically you can stuff any dry curry inside dosa and serve.

In this post I am sharing the detailed recipe of plain crispy masala dosa and a quick recipe for MTR style mysore masala dose.

You need very few ingredients for making this recipe apart from dosa batter and potatoes. Check out detailed post on how to make dosa batter. Here also I have mentioned a quick recipe.

Once the batter and potato filling are ready, you can make special restaurant style masala dosa recipe in minutes.

Do try out this easy recipe if you want to make good masala dosas served in south Indian restaurants and enjoy.

Ingredients & Substitutes

For Masala Dosa Batter

We need a fermented rice and urad dal batter for this crepe. We are also adding few more ingredients for taste, flavor and also to make crisp dosa.

Rice– You will need a combination of raw rice & parboiled rice or idli rice. It is necessary to use raw rice for crispy dosas. If you use all par boiled rice your dosas will be very soft. You can also use dosa rice if available.

Lentils– Urad dal and chana dal. Urad dal is husked black gram and chana dal is husked, split chickpea or Bengal gram. While you can only use urad dal, chana dal will lend a golden brown color and wonderful flavor to the dosas. You can also some toor dal for flavor. For restaurant style dosa do include chana dal.

Poha– Handful of poha or flattened rice added to dosa batter lends a wonderful flavor, crispy yet soft texture and taste. This is optional too.

Methi Seeds– Methi seeds or fenugreek seeds are added for flavor, as body coolant and they also aid in fermentation of batter.

Salt & water– as needed.

For Potato Filling

For this simple and easy potato bhaji or potato filling or aloo masala you will need very few simple & common ingredients. Apart from potatoes you will need

• sliced onions
• boiled peas (optional)
• curry leaves
• green chillies
• Crushed ginger garlic
• Salt, turmeric powder
• Tempering ingredients- mustard seeds, split urad dal, chana dal.
• chopped coriander leaves

How To Make Masala Dosa

Making Dosa Batter Recipe

Pick and rinse 1 cup idli rice, 1 cup raw rice and 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoon whole urad dal, 1 tablespoon chana dal, 1/4 tablespoon methi seeds and 1/8 cup poha.

Soak rice & ingredients in plenty of water for 3-4 hours.

Drain the soaked rice and soaked lentils to a mixer jar. Reserve soaked water for grinding.

Add about 1/4 cup of water, grind the rice and urad dal to a smooth paste. Add as little water as needed for this urad dal and rice batter. We will adjust consistency of the thick batter after fermentation.

Set aside in a warm place and ferment the batter. It will take anywhere between 6-14 hours depending on the weather for fermenting batter. Here I am batter fermented overnight. Well fermented batter will be fluffy and porous

Refrigerate the fermented batter and use as required.

For making masala dosas take 3 cups batter and add 3/4 cup water to it. Mix well and make sure the batter is in pouring consistency.

Making Potato Stuffing

Pick, rinse and scrub two large potatoes thoroughly. Boil or steam the potatoes well. You can also cook them in instant pot.

To boil potatoes in

• instant pot- 4 minutes in manual or pressure cooker mode with pressure valve sealed
• stovetop- 10 minutes or until fork tender in salted water.

Once done, peel and mash the potatoes coarsely. Do not make them into a paste.

Heat oil in a heavy pan. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal and fry for a minute or until mustard seeds splutter. Add curry leaves, crushed ginger, chopped green chilies and saute well. Next add thinly sliced onions and saute for a minutes. Do not let the onions turn brown.

Add steamed or boiled peas and saute well for 2 minutes in medium heat. Add mashed potatoes and mix. Season with salt and turmeric powder.

Mix well, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add chopped coriander leaves and mix. Remove from heat. Let the masala cool for 10 minutes.

Making Crispy Masala Dosa

Heat a dosa tawa for 3-4 minutes. Use a cast iron pan preferably. If you prefer a non stick pan you can use it too.

Once the tava is hot, add few drops of oil and spread very well. Lower the flame & spread a ladle full of batter into a thin circle. Increase the heat to medium & cook for a minute. Spread some butter all over the dosa and cook for another minute.

2. Spread 3-4 tables of prepared aloo masala. Cook for a minute.

You can fold the dosa just into half or as shown in phot. You can even make triangle dosa. If you want crispy dosa, cook for a minute or 2 after folding.

Remove from flame, place some butter on top and serve restaurant style crispy masala dosa immediately with chutney and sambar

Mysore Masala Dosa Recipe

The main difference between plain masala dosa and mysore masala dosa is the red chutney smeared on dosa. You can also spread the dosa little thick so that it does not tear or become very soggy on spreading chutney.

Make Red Chutney

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small pan. Add 3 tablespoon chana dal and 8 dried red chilies. Saute until the lentils turn golden and chilies crisp up.

Add 1 cup cubed onions, 2 cloves garlic and saute well until the onions turn slightly brown. Let cool. Grind to a smooth chutney after adding salt to taste and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Use this chutney to smear on dosa.

Making Dosas.

Start making dosas as mentioned above. After spreading the batter let it cook for a minute. Now smear 1/2 tablespoon chutney and then place the potato bhaji.

Pro Tips

Tips For Making Batter

Soaking Lentils Together or Separately? – For dosas it does not make a difference. I usually soak them together when grinding the batter in mixer grinder but if grinding in wet grinder, I soak them seperately.

If you are planning to make idlis too with the same batter, do soak rice separately & dal and methi seeds separately.

Ratio of dal to rice– It slightly varies depending on whether you are grinding the batter in mixer grinder or wet grinder. For mixer grinder I add 1/4 + 2 tablespoons urad dal for 2 cups rice and in wet grinder it is 1/4 cup dal for 2 cups rice.

Wet grinder will grind urad dal to a super fluffy paste and yields triple the volume. Do not add more dal than mentioned in the recipe.

Methi seeds– Methi seeds or fenugreek seeds makes the dosa slightly soft and prevents it from turning out too dry or flaky. Methi seeds also helps in fermenting the batter and it is also an excellent body coolant.

Variety of rice- I prefer to use a mix of raw rice like ponni rice, sona masoori , parmal rice and parboiled rice or idli rice.

If you use only parboiled rice, the dosas will turn out too soft and if you use only raw rice dosa will turn out very dry, flaky and hard.

Tips For Fermenting Batter

When to add salt– Adding salt plays a role in fermentation of the batter. Salt helps in fermenting the batter so add it according to the weather.

If you live in cold regions, add salt as soon as you grind the batter. Add salt and mix well with clean hands. If you live in warm weather, add salt only after fermentation else the batter will turn very sour. Always add rock salt or sendha namak. Do not use iodized salt or table salt.

How long to ferment? – It depends on the weather again. In warmer regions, batter usually ferments in 6 hours and colder regions it takes 8-14 hours. Place the batter in a warm place like near stovetop, cooking range or inside the oven with lights on. You can also ferment the batter in instant pot in yogurt mode.

Check if the batter is fermented properly- Well fermented batter would have doubled in volume, look frothy & bubbly. If you stir the batter, it will be super light and fluffy. Drop a small bit of batter into a bowl of water, it will raise and float immediately.

Tips For Making Crispy Masala Dosa

Consistency of batter– For making crispy dosa you should be able to spread the batter thin, so it needs be slightly in thinner consistency compared to idli batter. Before making dosas dilute the batter as follows. For 3 cups batter add 3/4 water and mix thoroughly to make a smooth batter.

Chana dal– For restaurant style crispy and golden brown restaurant style dosa, do add chana dal as mentioned in the recipe.

Spreading Batter – After pouring the batter, spread it quickly in one direction in one swift motion. Do not go back fourth. Start from the center and work your way out and spread till the edges of the pan.

Tawa- pan-griddle- Choosing the right dosa tawa or pan or griddle is the key for making crispy masala dosa. Ideally doasas are made in cast iron tawa in Indian homes. Dosa made in well seasoned cast iron skillet has a wonderful unique aroma and taste. If cast iron is unavailable you can use a heavy non stick pan too. Restaurants use a super heavy iron griddle and maintain perfect temperature throughout the day.

Preheat the tawa– This step is very important for making crispy, thin dosas. If you pour batter on a tawa that is not enough, the dosa will turn hard and chewy. Always heat the tawa for 3-5 minutes over medium heat. To check the doneness, sprinkle few drops of water and if it sizzles immedietly, tawa is ready.

Temperature– The temperature of the tawa is crucial for making crispy dosa. The tawa should be hot but not smoking while making dosas. Lower the temperature while spreading the dosa and increase the heat while cooking.

Frequently Asked Questions

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