Neer Dosaನೀರ್ ದೋಸೆ
⏱ Prep 20m🍳 Cook 15m🍽 Serves 4🌿 Vegan
Video: Hebbars Kitchen (YouTube)
Neer is the Tulu word for water, and these dosas are almost as thin and light as the word implies. No souring, no fermentation, and no oil spread on the surface — the batter of soaked rice and grated coconut is kept so liquid it fills the pan by itself, setting in seconds into a white, faintly lacy round that is folded and eaten straight from the heat. Along the Tulu Nadu coast, neer dosa is the everyday companion to fish curries and chicken sukka.
📍 Make it in Plano
This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.
Finding Desi spots near Plano…
Ingredients
- ▪raw rice (akki / dosa rice or sona masoori), soaked 5–6 hours1 cup
- ▪fresh grated coconut (thengina kai)3 tablespoons
- ▪thin coconut milk (thengina halu), or replace with water1/2 cup
- ▪salt3/4 tsp
- ▪coconut oil (thengina yenne) for greasing1 tsp
- ▪water, cold1 1/2 to 2 cups
🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
- Fresh grated coconut is worth seeking out at South Asian, Filipino, or Caribbean grocery stores — it makes the batter light and faintly sweet. Frozen grated coconut (thaw and drain completely) is a reliable substitute. Desiccated or dessicated coconut absorbs too much liquid and throws off the batter entirely.
- Outside South India, regular short-grain or medium-grain rice soaked for 8 hours works in place of dedicated dosa rice. Long-grain basmati does not grind smoothly enough for this recipe.
- The pan must be very hot and very lightly oiled — too cool and the dosa tears; too much oil and the batter slides to one side. A cast-iron pan or an older non-stick pan with good heat retention works better than a thin pan.
Method
- 1Drain the soaked rice. Blend the rice with the grated coconut and 1/2 cup of cold water to a completely smooth paste — grind for at least 3–4 minutes, scraping the sides, until you feel no graininess between your fingers.
- 2Pour the paste into a wide bowl. Add the coconut milk, then add cold water gradually while whisking, until the batter is very thin — thinner than any other dosa batter, nearly as thin as milk. Stir in salt. The batter should pour off the ladle in one continuous stream.
- 3Heat a flat cast-iron tawa or non-stick pan over medium-high heat until the surface is hot enough that a drop of water beads and skips. Wipe the surface with a cloth or paper towel lightly dipped in coconut oil — use just a film, not a pool.
- 4Remove the pan from the heat. Pour a medium ladle of batter from the edge of the pan in a circular motion and tilt slightly — the batter should spread by itself, filling the pan. Do not push or spread with a ladle.
- 5Return the pan to heat. Cover with a dome-shaped lid. Cook for 60–90 seconds on medium heat until the surface is fully set, matte white, and the edges lift cleanly. Do not flip.
- 6Fold the dosa in half, then in half again into a quarter. Slide onto a plate and serve immediately.
- 7Wipe the pan with the oiled cloth between each dosa. The surface must always be hot and barely filmed with oil when the batter goes in — this is the most critical step.
A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.