Watermelon Dosa / Pancake

Having lived in North side of the Indian subcontinent all my life, I have never been really good with South Indian dishes. The only thing we used to have at Delhi road side stalls was either Dosa or Idli.. I mean the Standard Dosa and the Standard Idli.. not that they don’t have authentic South Indian restaurants in Delhi or so, but I never really did go farther than Sarvana Bhavan in CP. There were just the few forms of Dosas we usually had there like Rava Dosa, Masala Dosa and sometimes Mysore Masala Dosa, Idli always remained the same.. with little Podi on side ( which I didn’t even know the name back then ). Now, I know every South Indian would like to kill me if I say that I didn’t even know the difference between Sambhar and Rasam. I only thought that when you eat Sambhar with Rice, it’s called Rasam. That’s how naïve I was !!!

Those were the days, when I never could imagine making a proper fermented Dosa batter at home on my won. And prepare Spiral shaped  Dosa with that round spoons.. But even now, South Indian Cuisine remains a Rocket Science for me in terms of distinctive tastes and various combinations. Like, the Sambhar prepared using Shallots instead of Onions, or change in taste after addition of certain veggies in Sambhar, or what sort of rice is the best one for Idlis and Dosas separately.. All I still do is to use a store bought Sambhar Masala and mix all the leftover vegetables  from Fridge into the pot with Toor Dal and cook, garnish and serve.. Thats it !  And though I use different vegetables every time  it still tastes the same somehow :(.. May be its the years of experience that your tongue  gets used to the taste and starts distinguishing then.. 

So, when I decided to go for this Watermelon Dosa, I was very skeptical in mind for being able to differentiate in the taste or not. I dont trust my Taste buds that much you know, not identifying the flavors very well. But amazingly this was one Dosa I could actually feel was very different from whatever kind I have had till now. Very simple and refreshing kind of Pancake, the first sweet Dosa i have tasted and loved it.. 

Ingredients:

• Watermelon Juice - about 2 cups
• Rice - 1 cup
• Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
• Thin Parched Rice/Poha - 1/2 cup
• Fenugreek/Methi Seeds - 1/8 tsp
• Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 1 pod (seeds only)
• Jaggery - about 3/4 cup
• Oil or Ghee/Clarified Butter

How to Make ?

• For this red slices of watermelon are not needed.  The lower light pinkish part of melon which we generally throw away is used, say about 2 cups.  Puree the melon slices, avoid adding water.
• Wash rice well and drain all the water.  Now soak rice, fenugreek seeds and cardamom seeds in the watermelon juice for 4 - 5 hours.
• Grind soaked rice, grated jaggery, grated coconut, parched rice into a fine paste.  The batter should not be too thin.  Keep the batter in a warm place overnight for fermentation.  The batter will rise a little.  You can add a little salt as well.

• Heat a pan and spread a ladle full of batter like pancake or set dosa.  Drizzle little oil or ghee, and flip the dosa when the batter dries a little.  Roast the other side well.
• In case the batter turns too thin, add little rice flour or rava/semolina and it should work fine.  Add more or less jaggery to suit your taste.
• Enjoy hot Watermelon Pancakes with Ghee/Clarified Butter.

Tried for Magic Mingle - Rice and Watermelon this month