Red Rice Dosa with Watermelon Rind
Rice is a staple food of more than half of the world’s population and is an inexpensive, nutritious source of energy. There are many varieties of rice that differ in color, flavor and nutritional value, such as brown rice, white rice, red rice, black rice, etc.,
Red rice a.k.a cargo rice is a type of non-glutinous, russet-colored long grain rice, that is similar to brown rice, in that it is unpolished and is healthier than plain old white rice. It is nutty flavor and soft texture, that goes well with most of the dishes using in place of white rice.
As you all know white rice contains fewer nutrients than brown, black or red varieties, as its husk, bran layer and the germ is removed. So, consuming whole grains over refined grains an excellent choice for health by making nutritious additions to your diet.
If you are looking for an alternative to your usual white/brown rice, consider trying red rice because it is a whole grain with a good source of fiber and iron and also fat-free. Red rice definitely makes a healthy addition to your diet.
Dosa is a very common, tasty and filling breakfast from south India. It’s more like a crepe, a thin pancake. The procedure of preparing dosa batter involves soaking rice, urad dal, and fenugreek seeds for 4-6 hours and grinding to a smooth paste and fermenting overnight. The fermented dosa batter is then spread on a hot tawa to yield a delicious dosa that can be enjoyed with any chutney or sambar. Making dosas is a tedious process but the end result is worth, a day-long wait to enjoy the irresistible scrumptious dosas. So why not make this dosa dish for the whole family to enjoy a healthy version. Here is a dosa recipe with the nutritious red rice along with watermelon rind making it, even more, healthier dish. Yes, you read it right! its watermelon rind in this dosa recipe.
Like its cousin-cucumber, the entire watermelon can be eaten, although people tend to only eat the inner pink flesh and throw away the watermelon rind. The black seeds and rind is entirely edible and has many health benefits. After using the flesh part, store the watermelon rind in the refrigerator in an airtight box and use it later to make many dishes from chutneys to pickles. Finding ways to use watermelon rind for food, such as pickles, relishes or jam, extends the functionality of this fruit.
But I tried adding the rind to dosa while making the batter, happy I found another best way to use the healthy rind in our daily food without wasting it, also dosas were as crispy and tasty as the normal dosas with added on health benefits. The dosas with rind do have a slight watermelon flavor that is so good and who would not love to try watermelon flavored dosa. Yummier than ever!!
I always use cast iron to make dosas. You could use a Non-Stick Tawa or Cast-Iron Tawa. Though Non-Stick Tawas make the job easier, I personally recommend using Cast iron and works best all the time I have made these dosas.
Cast iron cookware is inexpensive, hold a high heat capacity, free of chemicals, add trace amounts of iron to your food, and last—well—forever.
Remember to keep the cast-iron tawa/skillet well seasoned always and exclusive for making dosa. Using the same Tawa for making Roti/Chapathi, would make it harder for making dosas the next time.
The right temperature of tawa need to be maintained for making this dosa, also the consistency of the batter should be not too thick and not too watery. Don’t worry if dosa sticks anytime and you find hard to scrape out. Just get the tawa off the stove and scrape and once clean, rub oil using half cut onion/potato. The Tawa is all set to make dosas again.
Enjoy this dosa for breakfast or even an evening snack or pack it for lunch box. Serve Dosa with chutney of your choice and sambar.
Today I served dosa with yummy PEANUT CHUTNEY and Chutney Powder topped with ghee.
You might want to try chutney with Watermelon Rind
HOW TO MAKE RED RICE DOSA(with Watermelon Rind) STEP BY STEP:
1.Rinse 1 cup red rice, ¼ cup urad dal, ½ tsp methi, and ¼ cup red poha thoroughly and soak together in enough water for 5-6 hours.
2. Peel the green skin from watermelon rind(white part, some amount of red fruit is fine too). Roughly chop about a cup of rind and set aside. You could store remaining rind in the refrigerator for later use.
3. Drain the water from soaked rice and dal mixture. Grind the soaked rice and dal to a smooth batter, along with watermelon rind(i did not use any water while grinding)
4. Transfer the ground batter to a deep bowl(which has enough space for the batter to rise. Set in a warm place to ferment for about 8-10 hours or overnight.
5. Once the batter has well risen (doubles the volume), add salt as per taste and mix well. The batter should be thick and pouring consistency. Add water if required to attain pouring consistency, but I did not use water here, as the water from the rind was sufficient to attain the right consistency.
6. Heat a pre-seasoned Cast Iron Dosa Tawa on a med-low flame. When hot, sprinkle water and wipe with a clean towel. Drizzle a few drops of oil and wipe using a paper towel. Pour a ladle of dosa batter and spread in a circular motion. Drizzle oil/ghee on top and edges.
7. Once the dosa is firm and light brown, fold and serve hot with any curry or chutney or sambar.
Healthy & Tasty Dosa is Ready to Relish!!
If you want to know HOW TO SELECT & STORE WATERMELON, also 3 delicious WATERMELON COOLERS recipe, check out…
Red Rice Dosa with Watermelon Rind | ಕೆಂಪಕ್ಕಿ-ಕಲ್ಲಂಗಡಿ ತೊಗಟೆ/ಸಿಪ್ಪೆ ದೋಸೆ | Healthy Breakfast | Red Rice Crepes
Ingredients
- 1 cup Red Rice
- ¼ cup Urad Dal
- ¼ cup Red Poha flattened rice
- ½ tsp Methi Seeds fenugreek seeds
- 1 cup Watermelon Rind chopped
- Salt to taste
- Oil / Ghee to roast dosas
Instructions
Preparation(Soaking and Fermenting):
- Rinse red rice, urad dal, methi and red poha thoroughly and soak together in enough water for 5-6 hours.
- Peel the green skin from watermelon rind(white part, some amount of red fruit is fine too). Roughly chop the rind and set aside.
- Drain the water from soaked rice and dal mixture. Grind the soaked rice and dal to a smooth batter, along with watermelon rind(i did not use any water while grinding).
- Transfer the ground batter to a deep bowl(which has enough space for the batter to rise). Set in a warm place to ferment for about 8-10 hours or overnight.
Method (Making Dosa):
- Once the batter has well risen (doubles the volume), add salt and mix well. The batter should be thick and pouring consistency. Add water if required to attain pouring consistency.
- Heat a pre-seasoned Cast Iron Dosa Tawa on med-low. When hot, sprinkle water and wipe with a clean towel.
- Drizzle a few drops of oil and wipe using a paper towel.
- Pour a ladle of dosa batter and spread in a circular motion. Drizzle oil/ghee on top and edges.
- Once the dosa is firm and light brown, fold and serve hot with any curry or chutney or sambar.
- Healthy & Tasty Dosa is Ready to Relish!!
Video
Notes
- Red rice is easily available in many Asian and health food stores and even online.
- If Red rice is not available, add any normal idly rice/basmati rice/sona masuri rice in place.
- Rice: Rind proportion I make is usually 1:1 (this recipe makes around 10 dosas for 1 cup rice)i.e., if you soak 2 cups rice add 2 cups watermelon Rind. Adjust rind(add more or less) to attain the consistency of batter required, without adding any water while grinding the batter.
- This dosa can be made without watermelon rind, just replace rind with water while grinding. This dosa works well with or without watermelon rind.
- After ferment add water only if required. I did not use any water while grinding or before making dosas.
- The fermenting time might vary depending on the temperature condition in the place you live in. It normally takes 8-10 hours in warm weather. But in cold places, keep the batter inside the oven overnight, with the oven light on. This heat is sufficient enough for batter to rise well. You could even use the YOGURT mode in INSTANT POT for fermenting. Both ways have worked well for me. Try your convenient method and enjoy making dosas irrespective of weather conditions.
You might want to try other chutney recipes…
- Peanut Chutney
- Coconut Chutney
- Gongura Chutney
- Radish Chutney
- Cabbage Chutney
- Red Capsicum Chutney
- Watermelon Rind Chutney
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