This Brown Rice Dosa is a great way to make an already healthy south Indian food even healthier. I "parboil" the brown rice, which helps reduce soaking time. A vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free recipe.
Here's a recipe for the ultimate Brown Rice Dosa. If you love a delicious south Indian dosa, this recipe takes the healthfulness up a notch.
Most South Indian cooks have a pot full of dosa batter sitting in their refrigerators which they can pull out at any time to make a quick and nutritious breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner. Dosas cook pretty quickly on the skillet so in no time at all one can have a pile of hot, steaming crepes ready to eat.
Making a dosa batter itself is not difficult, although it does require some soaking time to let the rice and lentils soften so once they are ground up into the batter they can cook quickly on the skillet. If you want to ferment the batter, you will need to add in another overnight wait.
I like making quick dosas because they require even less soaking time than a regular dosa. But when I get the craving for a traditional dosa, I have a foolproof batter that's ready in about 4 hours. Not bad.
This time, I wanted to make my foolproof batter healthier by using brown rice instead of white, which I usually use. I have used brown rice in dosa batters before but I find it usually requires more soaking time. While wondering this past weekend, late in the afternoon, how I could get my dosa batter ready for dinner, I had a brainwave. Parboiled rice.
Now before some of you seasoned cooks out there scream, hey, that's what Indian cooks usually use for dosa, hear me out. I am not talking about the parboiled rice you can buy off the shelf. Instead, I thought I'd parboil my brown rice for a few minutes and then soak it with the lentils, reducing the total soaking time. Get it?
So that's what I did, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. I needed just five hours of soaking time and the dosas themselves were perfect-- I spread them thin and they were crispy around the edges and delicious with the nutty flavor of brown rice.
Here's the recipe for my easy Brown Rice Dosa. Enjoy it with a fresh coconut chutney for a delicious meal.
More South Indian vegan tiffin recipes
Brown Rice Dosa Recipe
Brown Rice Dosa
Equipment
- Cast iron griddle or nonstick griddle
Ingredients
For the chutney:
- ½ cup cilantro (stems and leaves, chopped)
- ½ cup coconut milk
- A few drops of lemon juice
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cover the brown rice with water in a microwave-safe bowl and nuke it for five minutes.
- Allow the rice to sit in the hot water for another half an hour.
- Now add the rice to the remaining ingredients, along with the water. Add more water to cover the lentils and rice. Allow them to soak for at least 5 hours and more if you have the time. Drain.
- Blend the rice-dal mixture, in several batches, adding enough water to make a smooth batter that's runny enough to spread into a crepe, but thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. At this point, you can leave the batter to ferment overnight, which helps beneficial probiotic bacteria in the batter grow. You can also make the dosas rightaway.
- To make dosas, heat a cast-iron or non-stick griddle. The griddle should be hot enough that when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it, they sizzle and evaporate.
- Using a ladle with a rounded bottom, pour some batter into the center of the griddle and, in a quick but smooth motion, spread outward in circles. Don't be afraid if you make holes: just add a small drop of batter to patch it. If your dosa does not spread smoothly, it's possible your ladle is hot. Turn off or lower the heat, and try again.
- Pour a few drops of oil around the dosa's edges to help it crisp up. Once the underside is golden brown, loosen the dosa gently from the skillet and flip over. If your griddle was hot enough to begin with, this step will be very, very easy.
- Cook the other side for a few seconds, giving more time if your dosa is thicker. Serve hot with some sambar or chutney or both.
- To make the chutney, just give all the ingredients a whir in the blender until the cilantro is completely broken down. Check salt and serve with the dosas.
Nutrition
Sangeetha
Great recipe! You are a god sent. I was looking for something like this for a while. Thank you Vaishali ?
Vaishali
So great to hear, Sangeetha! We make these almost every weekend. 🙂
Nina
This was a winner. Turned out crispy.... surprise surprise! I was skeptical of the taste of brown rice but it was not too far off the mark. I did not have Rice flakes so I used white rice instead. Thank you for making dosa a healthier option.
Susan
Hi, do you have a suggestion for a substitute for coconut milk? Thank you! I really enjoy your blog!
Vaishali
Use cashew cream--make it by blending 1/4th cup cashews with 1/4th water. Add more water if you want the chutney to be thinner.
Preethi Krishnan
Thanks, this recipe worked out really well. I like the taste and also the dosa is crispy.
Binjal
This recipe works out pretty good. And the Dosas are super yumm. I made masala out of sweet potato and the coconut chutney as accompaniments. One hell of a perfect breakfast!
Three Cheers!!
Shalini
Do we need to soak the poha also for 5 hrs?
Vaishali
Yes, just soak it with the rice.
Radhika
Hi, thanks for sharing this recipe, esp the parboiling tip. We had this dosa for breakfast today. For us, white rice eaters, brown rice is just, well different.. I will make this dosa regularly. A delicious way to get all the benefits of brown rice
Sejal
Made them yesterday and turned out crip and perfect.
Thank you for the recipe
Vaishali
Hi Sejal, great to hear-- thanks for letting me know!
Anuradha
Looks great! The urad dal you use is washed urad or the black whole? I believe it’s the white but just wanted to make sure. 🙂
Vaishali
It's the white!
Fifi
I've made Dosa a while back and put a potato mixture inside and folded them over to eat. I cannot find my potato recipe. Could you please give me the recipe for the potatoes that go in the Dosa?
Thank you.
Vaishali
Hi Fifi, you can use this recipe for the potatoes. It is just like the potato subzi stuffed inside a dosa. https://holycowvegan.net/poori-bhaji/
Chandana
Best brown rice dosa ever!!! I have tried measurements for brown rice dosa from all websites but ur measurements are perfect even my husband who dosent lyk brownrice dosas loved it. Thanks vaishali
Anonymous
Looks awesome. Question: Why is the batter not fermented? Any particular reason behind it?
Vaishali
No reason, I just didn't do it because Desi doesn't like the flavor, but in recent months I've actually started fermenting at least overnight because of the beneficial bacteria. You can leave this batter out overnight to ferment, then use.
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Anusha, you made me think of my Lalitha Manni who is always asking me to add more toor dal to dosas because they turn out crispy. 🙂 Thanks so much for the tip about the vitamins in the soaking water-- that's a good one. And so happy you liked the dosas.
Anusha
Hi,
The dosas came out perfect and delicious. When I made it the second time, I was out of channa daal and used toor daal instead. Somehow,it made the dosas even more crispy. I have got so many amazing recipes from you and I just wanted to tell you a little something in return. Prewash the daals and rice and soak them in just enough water that you can use while grinding. Draining the water after the soaking period makes you lose all the water soluble vitamins and minerals. That is my mom's tip. I hope you do not mind.
Thanks,
Anusha
Anonymous
Hi Vaishali, i was searching for a brown Rice Dosa Recipe and reached you blog. I am very sure this Recipe will turn out Great!!. will try it. I had one more thing not to complain while searching i landed to another link looks like these people are using your photos, i maybe wrong here. just wanted to let u know.-Anonymous
Vaishali
Anon, thanks for the heads-up about the plagiarist. It is shocking how people have no qualms lifting someone else's work and passing it off as their own.
Anonymous
Hi Vaishali
2 months ago I came across ur blog while looking for dairyfree dessert. I've never followed any blog. But urs is exception which is full of great new ideas and teasty recipes . So far I've tried 3-4 recipes from ur blog the most and best we liked is brown rice uthappa.
Thanks a lot for healthy and delicious recipe with great idea of parboiling brown rice .
Vaishali
Anonymous, so happy to hear you've enjoyed the blog. Also glad you liked the uthappam-- one of my favorites. 🙂
Manasi
I got a sack of brown ricebut found it too chewy to eat on a regular basis. It is lying around, waiting for nirvana. These dosas are perfect. Bookmarked!
Dr. Rupa Shah
I have made dosa from brown rice often. They are more crispy than the parboiled rice version. Red rice can also be tried for making dosa. Thanks for writting about this healthy version of dosa.
Kay
Hi Vaishali, We had these dosas for sunday dinner and yes, they won hands down to the white dosas. It was a genius idea to parboil the rice.
Thanks very much for sharing this.
Shri
The dosas look fab , Vaishali!
Dershana
Hi Vaishali, dosas look fantastic. i've tried making the batter with brown basmati and also with red rice. i've poste dthe red rice version on my blog.
Aparna
This works so well. I was in the same dilemma, but what I did was to soak the rice in boiling hot water! 🙂
Kumudha
I have to try these yummy looking dosas. They look so nutritious and tasty!
Nidhi
I am going to try this. Great idea. I guess I will just soak the parboiled brown rice and dals overnight and grind in the morning for a weekend breakfast. Oh, only if we get over these continuous viral infections!! (Yeah, I am so tired of this weather....)
zengirl
Vaishali,
I always avoided making any new recipes with brown rice, as it takes lot longer to cook, but you made it much easier for me try out. Thanks.
sandhya
perfect healthy dosas... thanks for this idea. will try it next time...
Anonymous
Can you make this without poha?
Vaishali
Yes, just skip it.
Maya Varadan
Hey Vaishali,
I have been sneaking around your blog for some months,never left you a comment.Healthy recipe.Will defly try them.I have plethora of thoughts to write here about ur blog,I would put it simple 'Awesome Work".DH and me are vegetarian's by birth and we always had this concern how can we instill that habit in our daughter who is just a toddler now,but in this country(USA) with free options available in schools,everywhere it is difficult to cultivate that habit.By reading thru your blog it motivates me to go 'vegan',again just not our religion and culture that influence us being vegetarians,majorly the thought another living is being killed to feed us make us to not even eat eggs.
Anyway Hats Off.Keep up the good work.
Vaishali
Maya, welcome and thanks! You are very sweet- and compassionate.
Renu
Just bought brown rice yesterday, I will try your recipe ...looks healthy !
Vaishali
Betty, Thanks. You can find a recipe for a quick naan here: .
Divya, It is slightly different in that the taste is nuttier-- I thought it tasted much better than the white dosa version.
A and N, RV, Usha: Thanks!
Evolvingtastes, yes, it doesn't need any fermentation. Desi doesn't like the taste of fermented dosas anyway, so I almost never let the batter ferment. But if you like, you can certainly allow the dough to stand longer to get the fermentation going.
Shreya, Thanks.
Sunshinemom, I have never tried idlis with brown rice. I don't make idlis as often as I ought to. I was just thinking of making them more often, though, so if I do try them with brown rice I'll surely exchange notes.
Cham: Thanks!
Sharmila, the parboiling is not hard work at all-- it just takes five minutes in the microwave. 🙂
Kmouse, Miri, Priya: Thanks!
Priya
Using brown rice for making out dosas seems an excellent and healthy idea Vaishali..crispy dosas looks prefect..
Miri
What a fantastic idea!
kmouse
Those look wonderful!!!!
Sharmila
I just use whatever rice I have at home which is usually white rice. But I do dump in lots of legumes and lentils. This version of yours sounds great Vaishali! Parboiling the rice first ... wow... you do work hard! 🙂
Cham
Par boiling the rice before grinding is great idea. Dosas look perfect!
Sunshinemom
Your dosas look lovely, brown and crisp! I use brown rice sometimes too. I found that the dosas are good but I wasn't happy with my idlis when I used brown rice as they were not as soft as the ones with polished rice. If you have tried it please let me know your experience.
Shreya
Hi Vaishali, awesome idea, and use of brown rice is so much healthier! Thanks a ton, will definitely be trying this..
evolvingtastes
Wow!! No fermentation needed?
Usha
I use brown rice regularly for my dosas but never thought to par boil them before soaking that is such a cool idea and the dosas have turned out perfect !
RV
They look perfect as the regular rice dosas... I have bookmarked it.. 🙂
A_and_N
OMG! that is a great idea. I buy white rice ONLY for dosas now. The last time I tried with brown rice, it was this coarse mixture and my mixi gave up 🙁
Great idea, Vaishali. Will try soon.
Divya Vikram
This is something I have always wanted to try. thanks for the recipe Vaishali. Does it differ much in taste?
Dairy Free Betty
Mmmmm... Can I please come to your house for dinner... Those look soooooooooo good... YUM!! Every one of your recipes make my mouth water!!
Do you have a good recipe for dairy free nan bread, the soft stuff that I can use when I make curry!! My email is barefoot_pinktoes@hotmail.com
Come check out my blog!!
Thank you!!!!!!!