Uttappam Or Bread Dosa

Anyone remember college gatherings back in India, also known as variety entertainment show?Due to various reasons government of Maharashtra had changed the rules and by the time I went to college, these programs had turned into one day watered down version of what it used to be. I was lucky enough to watch these when I was a school going kid. My father was a librarian in local college and we got opportunity to visit his college to watch these gatherings. We would take a bus to go college, visit the library, see books but unfortunately there were no books for us to read. My brother and I would play hide and seek by taking advantage of the big bookcases and the arrangement.

After going to other departments, watching the dead animals, looking at colorful rocks, we would then go to see the actual show we had come to see. I barely remember things from those shows with few exceptions. Then came the important part of the trip. We would then go to college canteen. We would sit in the family room, nothing but a room with curtains around so no one could see (at least not supposed to). I think my mom and I cherished these visits. It would remind her about her college days and time she spent with two of her best friends and for me it was one of the rare occasions to eat out. We rarely went to eat out so it was more fun. My mom would order her favorite tomato omelette and dad would order uttappam or dosa. I don't remember what they ordered for me or my brother. Since then tomato omelette was something I liked and uttappam was something I really loved.

I visited my aunt later when I was in college and she made these great uttappams for me. I came back with the recipe and making these ever since!

1 cup Urad daal

1 cup Chana Daal

1 cup Thick Pohe

3 cups Rice *

1 tbsp Fenugreek seeds

1 tbsp Cumin seeds

4-5 black peppercorns

Salt per taste

Diced tomatoes, onions, cilantro, green chilies - as needed

Preparation -

Wash daals and rice together and soak in enough water.

Add pohe, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns to the soaking ingredients.
Let it all soak for minimum 5-6 hours/

Remove the remaining water if any from the soaking grains and set it aside.

Grind the everything in the mixer using the water as needed. The batter should be fine and not too thin. Use as little water as possible. Consistency of the batter should be similar to idli batter and not like dosa batter.

Keep the batter in a warm place to ferment for 8-10 hours.

Heat griddle/flat tava on medium heat and spread a ladleful of batter to make a uttappam of diameter not more than 4-5 inches.

Spread chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro and chilies on the uttappam and let one side cook completely.

Flip the uttappam and cook the other side

Use very little oil if needed.

Serve warm with coconut or tomato chutney.

Tips -
* I have tried these with brown rice. It takes little longer to grind the batter and ferment. And it tastes wonderful but not as good looking as these white rice uttappams.

I like to make these mini ones as it looks nice and easier to flip.

These are also known as bread dosa in my family, may not be the real name for it.