Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Bacchanga salli Polo (Watermelon Rind Dosa)

Bacchanga salli Polo is a dosa made using watermelon rind (the white part, which is in between the red part and the outer green skin). This dosa has a very soft and spongy texture. In konkani bacchanga and saali means watermelon and peel respectively. This dosa has a similar texture as that of Surnali and Magge Surnali.


It had been a long time since I made this dosa. So thought of sharing it with you all. It came out very good and we both loved it. You won't even know that it has watermelon rind! So next time when you get watermelon, don't forget to save the rind of it. Enjoy making this unique dosa.

Ingredients:
  • Rice- 1 cup
  • Chopped Watermelon rind- heaping 1 cup
  • Puffed rice or flattened rice- 1 cup
  • Grated coconut, fresh/frozen- 1/4 cup
  • Fenugreek seeds/ Methi seeds- 1 1/2 tsp
  • Salt- To taste

Procedure:

Soak the rice for 2-3 hours along with fenugreek seeds.
Now take the base of the watermelon.


Slice the white part of it and discard the outer green part.


Chop the white part into small pieces.


Then grind all the above ingredients except salt to get a fine paste (if adding flattened rice, then just add little water to it before grinding. This makes it soft). Add required amount of water while grinding. The consistency of the batter should be thick. Keep this batter 8-9 hours, for fermentation. After fermentation, add salt to taste. If the batter is very thick (not falling consistency), then add little water (Consistency of the batter should be thick, when compared to other dosa batter)


Pour a ladel full of batter on the heated pan or tawa. Don't spread the batter, unlike other dosas.


Close the lid. Let it cook on a medium flame. Once it fully cooks, tiny holes can be seen throughout the dosa. Yes it is a good sign (If the holes doesn't form then, the resulting dosa will be very flat and the texture you are looking for, is not got. Hence in such a case, add 1/4-1/2 tsp of baking soda to the batter).


Bacchanga Salli Polo is ready!!


Serve it hot with coconut chutney or any other curry of your choice. Above measurement serves two people.

13 comments :

  1. The dosa got such a lovely texture..nice n porous...u mentioned puffed rice as well as flattened rice..it means poha or murmur??

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  2. Thank you so much Prathibha..Sorry about not being clear. You can either add poha or murmurra.both works well. Try and let me know..

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  3. Hi Manjula, I tried this today, along with your recipe for urad and coconut chutney. Unfortunately - and I dont know why - the batter did not ferment! I left it overnight,and I live in Mysore..never happened before..dont know why. The chutney was great. I soaked the rice and methi, for 2 hrs exactly. Any tips? Thanks, Anjali

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  4. Hi Anjali...thanks for coming back to me. Glad that you liked the chutney. Regarding the dosa, I am surprised that it didn't turn out well. I have got few positive feedback about this. I don't know why it didn't ferment well. I think you should keep a little longer for fermentation. Did you have problems fermenting batter of other dosas and idlis?

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  5. Hi Manjula, i had tried this dosa, it never turned as the above pic, it looked spongy, but then seemed to be uncooked. i tried cook on both side, it was quit a pasty texture, not sure what went wrong... never the less the taste was good. only the texture was an issue...

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    Replies
    1. The number of holes on dosa indicates how well your batter has fermented. If you didn't get many holes then you need to ferment more. One more thing is the tawa should be hot before you start making dosas. For this dosa,

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    2. Don't forget to close it with a lid, as soon as the batter is poured over hot tawa. Hope this helps you. Don't lose faith. Try one more time and let me know :)

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  6. Hi Manjula,

    I want to know why do you use methi, as I have never seen my mom using whenever she prepares dosa.


    Regards,
    Roshan Mendonca

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  7. Hi Manjula,

    I want to know why do you use methi, as I have never seen my mom using whenever she prepares dosa.


    Regards,
    Roshan Mendonca

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    Replies
    1. Hi Roshan, Methi seeds helps in the fermentation process. Sorry for the delayed reply.

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  8. Hi, Manjula,

    Instead of Methi seeds can i use yeast for fermentation as i an comfortable with yeast, whenever I had used methi dosa tastes bitter.


    Regards,
    Roshan Mendonca

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    Replies
    1. I have never tried it with yeast. So can't comment on that. You can try though. Trust me this dosa doesn't taste bitter

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  9. Chitrapur Saraswat make it what is called Surnoli. We add a little haldi which gives a golden hue for appearance. We also add jaggery as per our taste to balance the methis bitterness fermentation gives a hint of sourness. Thus giving it an exquisite taste. The jaggery also gives a light caramelise effect at tbe base of surnoli.

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