Poha Dosa Recipe | Challa Ponganalu

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Poha Dosa aka Challa Ponganalu in Telugu is a crispy, lacey Indian crepe that needs just 3 ingredients to make. A simple and easy recipe that kids absolutely love.

As much as my kids love pancakes for breakfast, they equally enjoy dosa and idli as well. My son is slowly turning out to be more adventurous in trying new flavors and dishes than he was a few years ago. So I made a slightly different dosa recipe for them.

In this recipe dosa batter is made with poha (aka atukulu, avalakkai) or flattened rice. I was introduced to this recipe by our neighbor in India. She used to send us a stack of these hot fluffy dosa called challa ponganalu almost every weekend along with chutney.

Ingredients:

This majjiga attu recipe needs just 3 simple ingredients:

• Rice – any short grained rice like sona masoori can be used.
• Poha – flattened rice
• Buttermilk or sour yogurt

Sour yogurt is a little tough to get in the colder regions. So, I usually use store bought buttermilk which has a nice tang that works great in this recipe.

Instructions:

The most time consuming part of this poha dosa is the fermentation process. Here are the instructions on how to make these delicious challa ponganalu:

• Soak rice and flattened rice, separately, in enough water for 3~4 hours.
• Drain the water and grind them separately, using buttermilk/ sour yogurt, into a smooth batter.
• Pour the batter into a large bowl and keep in a warm place to ferment. In a warm house, this might take anywhere from 6~8 hours. But in cooler regions, this might take up to 12~15 hours, so plan accordingly.
• Well fermented batter will increase in volume and will be airy and lots of bubbles. It will smell tangy and fermented. This indicates it’s time to make dosa.
• At this point, if the batter looks too thick, stir in a little buttermilk to get the right consistency. Also stir in salt.
• Heat a nonstick or cast iron tawa on medium-high heat. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter on the hot tawa and using the back of the spoon spread it evenly into a thin dosa.
• Drizzle generously with oil and cook for 1~2 minutes or until the sides start to turn brown and lifts off from the pan. Gently flip with a thin spatula and cook for 30~45 seconds on the other side.
• Fold in half and remove from the pan. Serve immediately with chutney of choice.

Top Tips:

According to my mom, the key to get the perfect texture for atukula dosa is in the ‘fermentation’ process. The batter needs to be well fermented before making dosa. Head on over to this idli post on how to successfully ferment dosa/ idli batter in cold weather.

I used the yogurt feature on my Instant Pot for 12 hours. The batter did not increase in volume that much but it had a pleasant tangy, fermented smell. So I went ahead and made my dosa for breakfast and they turned out great.

Challa Ponganalu (Poha Dosa)

Pavani

Poha Dosa aka Challa Ponganalu in Telugu is a crispy, lacey Indian crepe that needs just 3 ingredients to make. A simple and easy recipe that kids absolutely love.

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Fermentation: 10 hrs

Total Time 10 hrs 50 mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine south indian

Servings 12 Dosa

Ingredients

  

• 1½ cups Rice (like Sona masoori or other medium-grain rice)
• ¾ cup Poha (Atukulu)
• ½ cup Buttermilk, for grinding and more to thin the batter
• To taste Salt

Instructions

 

• Soak rice and flattened rice, separately, in enough water for 3~4 hours.
• Drain the water completely.
• Grind them separately, using buttermilk/ sour yogurt, into a smooth batter.
• Pour the batter into a large bowl and keep in a warm place to ferment. In a warm house, this might take anywhere from 6~8 hours. But in cooler regions, this might take up to 12~15 hours, so plan accordingly.
• Well fermented batter will increase in volume and will be airy and lots of bubbles. It will smell tangy and fermented. This indicates it’s time to make dosa.
• If the batter looks too thick, stir in a little buttermilk to get the right consistency. Also stir in salt.
• Heat a nonstick or cast iron tawa on medium-high heat. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter on the hot tawa and using the back of the spoon spread it evenly into a thin dosa.
• Drizzle generously with oil and cook for 1~2 minutes or until the sides start to turn brown and lifts off from the pan. Gently flip with a thin spatula and cook for 30~45 seconds on the other side.
• Fold in half and remove from the pan. Serve immediately with chutney of choice.

Notes

• According to my mom, the key to get the perfect texture for atukula dosa is in the ‘fermentation’ process.
• The batter needs to be well fermented before making dosa. Do not add salt to the batter – salt slows down fermentation.
• Keeping the batter in a warm environment is key – so keep the batter covered with a plate and then put a kitchen towel or a larger bowl over it.
• Place the bowl in an oven with the oven light turned on.
• I used the yogurt feature on my Instant Pot for 12 hours. The batter did not increase in volume that much but it had a pleasant tangy, fermented smell. So I went ahead and made my dosa for breakfast and they turned out great.

Taste Test:

Since the batter is ground entirely using buttermilk, I was worried if my dairy-phobic husband or the picky kids will notice. But the cooked poha dosa didn’t have any tell tale sign of buttermilk. They were crisp, lacey and absolutely delicious. Make sure to eat them piping hot for the best flavor and texture.

Sending this to Valli’s Kid’s Delight event that I am hosting this month. Theme is ‘Kid friendly breakfast dishes‘. Also linking to this month’s BM# 110 and don’t forget to check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today.