Farali Dosaફરાળી ઢોસા
Thin dosas made from samo flour and sabudana batter, filled with spiced potato. For the fasting day when khichdi feels like too much of the same thing.
Ingredients
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- ½ cup samo flour, ½ cup soaked sabudana
- ¼ cup curd and water as needed
- Rock salt, 2 green chillies, ginger
- Filling: 3 boiled potatoes, cumin, chillies, coriander, salt
- Ghee or oil for the pan
Method
- Blend the samo flour, soaked sabudana, curd, chillies and ginger into a thin dosa batter and rest 20 minutes.
- For the filling, fry cumin and chillies in ghee, add the mashed potato, coriander and salt, and cook 3 minutes.
- Spread the batter thin on a hot tawa.
- Drizzle ghee at the edges and cook until the underside is golden.
- Add the filling, fold, and serve with curd or peanut chutney.
Tips
- Keep the batter thin, or the dosa sticks.
- Use a non-stick pan; fasting batters cling more than regular ones.
Storing and reheating
The batter keeps a day in the fridge, but samo flour drinks water so it thickens; thin it again before using. There is no fermentation here, so held longer it simply turns sour. Cooked dosa do not keep and should be eaten hot off the tawa. The potato filling is fine for two days refrigerated.
What you can swap
- If samo flour is unavailable, rajgara flour works, though the dosa comes out heavier and less crisp. Half samo and half rajgara is the best balance.
- If you avoid curd while fasting, use water with a teaspoon of lemon juice in its place.
- Forgot to soak the sabudana? Two or three tablespoons of sabudana flour can go straight into the batter.
- Instead of potato, use boiled raw banana or sweet potato. The filling tastes slightly sweeter but makes a good change on a fasting day.
What to serve with it
Eaten on fasting days, through Shravan, on Ekadashi, Chaturthi and during Navratri, usually at midday or in the evening. Serve with plain or lightly sweetened curd and peanut chutney. This is what gets made when the household has had enough of sabudana khichdi.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not salt the batter early. Once rock salt goes in the batter thickens quickly, so add it shortly before you start spreading.
- Drain the sabudana soaking water thoroughly. Any of that slippery starch left behind makes the batter slick and it sticks.
- Do not let the tawa get very hot. Farali batter grabs a too-hot surface instantly; keep the heat moderate and wipe the tawa with a cut potato between dosa.
- Do not fold before the underside is properly crisp, or the dosa tears down the middle.
Questions people ask
Can I make farali dosa without sabudana?
Yes, but it will be less crisp. Samo flour on its own gives a soft dosa. If you have no sabudana, add two tablespoons of rajgara flour and let the batter stand twenty minutes before using it.
My dosa sticks and tears. What should I change?
Lower the heat, use a non-stick tawa and wipe it between each dosa. Batter that is too thin also tears, so if that is the case stir in a tablespoon of samo flour.
Are samo and rajgara the same thing?
No. Samo, also called moraiyo, is a small millet and its flour behaves rather like rice flour, while rajgara is ground amaranth seed and is heavier and stickier. Both are eaten while fasting, but samo suits a dosa better.
