My Maharashtrian mother, and later my Goan stepmother, struggled to fit into the food traditions of my dad's Karwari family, unlike the wives of my dad's two brothers who were also Karwari. You might wonder, on the face of it, why this should be such a big deal? Goa, Karnataka (where Karwar is located), and Maharashtra, are all neighboring states, with some overlapping food traditions. But if you're an Indian, you know that when it comes to food, every community within every region of every state has its own special way of cooking up the same ingredients. So while my Maharashtrian mom cooked varan, a simple dal made with just three ingredients that's a delicacy when eaten with rice, my Karwari aunts (my dad's sisters) said they would rather have dalitoy, their version of an everyday dal, also delicious, made with a few more ingredients, like mustard seeds and dry red peppers. When my Goan stepmother cooked her mackerel into an amshe-tikhshe, a sweet and sour dish, my Karwari aunts looked down their noses and insisted mackerel tasted so much better in a curry made their way.
When they gathered together to cook for festivals, you could be sure that my mom, and after her my stepmom, would be the ones not actually cooking but rather playing the role of the cook's assistant, doing only those things they were "allowed" to do, so they didn't screw up those perfect Karwari meals.
I have no doubt that the rancor between my aunts and my stepmother, which persists to this day, has less to do with their other differences, of which there were many, and more to do with the fact that my stepmother was forced, despite being a great cook herself, to play second fiddle to my aunts on matters of food.
One recipe that my stepmom did adopt willingly from my Karwari aunts, and even bettered, was Kalingada Polo, or watermelon rind dosa.
Recipes like watermelon rind dosa have an innate appeal for Indians who love to recycle every last bit of everything. I can't speak of India as it is today, but in the land I remember, people recycled practically everything. Plastic bags from department stores would double up as purses and bags for college students and even office-goers. Anything that could be sold to the raddiwala (vendors who buy paper and plastic for recycling) -- like newspapers and plastic bags that were used as packaging for milk -- would be sold. Resealable cans of shortening (sold under the brand name of Dalda when I was a kid) would turn into storage for rice and dal. Tufts of rough coconut fiber would morph into free, organic scrubbers to clean out pots and pans.
In my childhood home, the trash my family of five generated daily would have fit in a cup, and even then it was mostly organic waste, like banana peels and vegetable waste (and that was probably only because no one had devised a recipe with banana peels -- yet).
In homes that had yards, like Desi's, the vegetable waste would turn into compost, but as Bombay apartment dwellers we didn't have that luxury.
The watermelon rind dosa uses a part of the watermelon that would otherwise be discarded -- the white part that is not as sweet as the pink although not as tough as the green skin. But that white part is rather edible, and even better, it is packed with several vitamins. Why waste it?
This is a natural recipe for summer, because who doesn't love biting into this incredibly juicy fruit in these sweltering temperatures? All you need to do is save the white portion and then blend it up with some rice and a couple of other ingredients. The dosa itself has the refreshing, unmistakable flavor of watermelon and is quite addictive.
In our home, you will always find watermelon in the refrigerator in summers, because Jay loves nothing more than a watermelon milkshake with a dollop of ice cream. I've been making this dosa recipe more times than I care to count, and there have been no complaints.
Serve up the dosa with mint chutney or sambar for a delicious meal or a snack. You can even add some jaggery to make a sweet version.
Related recipes
- Vegan Mango Curry
- Savory Cucumber Pancakes
- Savory Indian Pancakes with Lentils and Brown Rice
- 3-ingredient Watermelon Lemonade Popsicles
- Vegan Watermelon Smoothie, no sweeteners, three ingredients
Watermelon rind pancakes, or kalingada polo
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups chopped watermelon rind (the white portion not the green. Okay if you get some of the pink portion in)
- 1 cup rice
- ½ cup coconut milk use ¼ cup fresh grated coconut if available
- ¼ cup poha or flattened or beaten rice optional-- leave this out if not available to you and replace with 2 more tablespoon of rice in the recipe
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Soak the rice and the poha, if using, for an hour. Drain out all the soaking water.
- Place in a blender with the other ingredients and process to a smooth but very slightly grainy paste. Add a couple of tablespoons of water, if needed, at a time to get the batter to the consistency you want. The batter should be fairly thin and runny if you want thin dosas. For thicker dosas, make it the consistency of regular pancake batter.
- Let the batter stand overnight or for 8 hours.
- Heat a griddle. Pour about ½ cup of the batter in the center. If your batter is quite thin, it will spread into a round on its own. If thick, help along with the ladle to create a round.
- Let the dosa cook until bubbles appear all over. Spray or pour a few drops of oil around the edges of the dosa to crisp up the edges and help it release from the pan.
- When the bottom is golden brown, flip over and cook for about 30 seconds more.
- Serve hot with mint or cilantro chutney.
Nutrition
Charuta Apte
I tried making these with red rice, and the red rice gives the dosas such a pretty pink color. Since seeing this dosa recipe, I have started using my watermelon rinds. I also tried a sabzi with them today.
Vaishali
Hi Charuta, That sounds awesome!! I love the idea of pink rice to give them a nice tint. And yes, they do make a good sabzi, but a dosa remains my favorite watermelon rind food. 🙂
Anupama Rajesh
Hi Vaishali,
Thank you for your wonderful recipe! Tried it and the dosas turned out beautifully. Thanks a ton! My kids gobbled them up. I served the dosas with homemade hummus
Vaishali
That's so nice to hear, Anupama. Thanks for letting me know.
Christina
Hi sounds so interesting. I never see much coconut in my area. Can I use dry shredded or is canned coconut better option? I'm American my hubby is from North of India and they don't like to use much coconut but I love it and hope my husband will eat it with me ha I love a variety of food and love to learn diff styles. To me I get bored if norther food.
Vaishali
Dry shredded is fine.
CARTER BOWERS
YOUR DISH LOOKS SO GOOD
Carol
Is the rice supposed to be cooked or dry?
Vaishali
Dry.
Anonymous
Hello Vaishali,
Very good recipe. I never know that with watermelon also we will make these many items. I will definitely try these all items. Especially DOSA. Wow. I liked.
Radhika
Hi, thanks for this lovely recipe.. It especially attracted my attention among others out there, because the rind required is 2.5 times the rice. I did double the grated coconut (you can never add too much coconut :-)). And for those of us who will eat only crisp doses, cooked covered, on a slow fire for some time, these yummy dosas will pass the crisp test also! I have made variations of this before, so I have been forewarned that the only liquid used should be of the pureed watermelon.
Todd
Hello. I am a newly committed vegetarian, but have cooked vegetarian bean curries for many years. I also identify as Hindu/Buddhist so this transition is important to me.
I happened upon your website for the first time this morning and found myself feeling drawn-in and "nourished" by your writing and personal stories...at least as much as by my anticipation of trying your recipies. I feel that I have found my "go to" site for meal planning! Thank you!
I am especially excited about attempting to cook with rice and bean flowers. I am a Kapha, so crave these "feel good" foods but am not able to tolerate heavy foods anymore. I have never ordered dosas at a restaurant because I assumed they were oily and heavy. So excited to try your variations.
perspectivesandprejudices
Hi Vaishali, I tried this over the weekend. I used barely 1/4 cup of coconut milk and no water at all but I think the batter was still too runny. It spread out like rava dosai when I poured it on the tawa, but was really difficult to remove and flip. I tried both a cast iron and a nonstick tawa. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? 🙁
Vaishali
Hi there, Did you drain the rice and poha thoroughly? The watermelon rind adds liquid, but it shouldn't be so much. The measurement I gave was for roughly 1 1/2-inch chopped pieces of watermelon rind-- did you measure after grating/pureeing? That could have dramatically increased the amount of fluid.
Ashwini
Ooh, I think you should update your recipe to say the water needs to be drained. I for one was going to make this today but happened to read all the comments, glad I did! Love the recipe - very unique and appealing!
Anonymous
A beautiful write up, reminded me of my childhood growing up in India and the recycling that I took for granted. Things got repaired until they fell apart. I still remember the one pair of sandals getting sewn up by the cobbler many times. Looking back reminds me how wasteful I have become. Thanks for the post will surely try the dosa.
Kum
Wow! You come with such creative recipes...
I should try this sometime - we often eat watermelons regularly...
blog : Global vegan fare
Chitz
Awesome pics as usual 🙂 And I enjoyed reading the write up, felt like reading a short story and reminiscing on the olden days when life was much simpler & food was more a priority 🙂 Would try this dosa soon as I loved the idea 🙂
onesonicbite
Bookmarking for when I get watermelon at my CSA! I love using all the parts of fruits and veggies since you can get all the vitamins and minerals that food has to offer!
Nandini Konar
What a lovely recipe, Vaishali! I've been looking for things to do with watermelon rind knowing it is chock full of nutrients. This is the fourth use I now know of (others being salad, gazpacho and curry. You can also use it to make Thai papaya salad with the melon instead of green papaya). Thank you very much for sharing.
Anonymous
Can't wait to try this!
Ambica
This looks great, but I am more interested in the watermelon milkshake..will you share the recipe for that too?
Vaishali
Yes! Stay tuned. 🙂
msmarigold
This sounds so good. I'm going to try it. One question: You say to let the batter sit overnight. In the refrigerator? Or at room temperature?
Vaishali
At room temperature. 🙂 You want the batter to ferment ever so slightly (it doesn't get sour) for the probiotic bacteria to manifest and do all those good things for your digestive system. You can keep the batter in the refrigerator or make the dosa rightaway (without letting the batter stand) but I wanted to get the full benefit of the traditional method here.
blue roses and stardust
Any recipe that calls for watermelon is one that I want to try! Oh and I 've tried the Cucumber Dosa recipe above, it was delicious! <3
Shannon (@yupitsvegan)
What a unique and delicious sounding recipe! I can't wait to give this a try once the watermelon shows up in my CSA later this summer.