Savoury Rice Crepes (Neer Dosa, Pan Polo)

Neer dose is one of the most popular breakfasts of Udupi, Mangalore region. These rice crepes are papery thin, light and soft. They are usually served with a coconut chutney for breakfast.

Vegetarians & non-vegetarians have different ways of enjoying these dosas. At home we love to have neer dosas with oil, coconut chutneys of different varieties or with pickles or with honey. A mixture of grated coconut & jaggery goes very well with these dosas (churnu in Konkani).

And non-vegetarians enjoy neer dosas with chicken curries, pork dishes, egg curries, fish curries, mutton, prawn, chicken dishes etc., for breakfast and for lunch or dinner.

Neer means water in Kannada, Tulu. Since the batter of neer dosa is of watery consistency they are called neer dosas/neer dose in Kannada, Tulu. They're called as pan polo in Konkani.

These rice crepes are simple and easy make. Neer dosa batter doesn’t require fermentation. So, you can practically make within 30 minutes of craving for them. 20 minutes of prep is all you'll need to make these dosas.

Neer dosas aren’t made by spreading a ladle full of batter onto a frying pan unlike how you make other dosas. You make neer dosas by splashing the batter around onto the frying pan like you would make rava dosa.

Ingredients:

1 cup medium grained rice (sona masuri/dosa rice)
1/2 cup grated coconut
Salt to taste
1/2 cup oil to grease the pan

Serves: 2-3

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Preparation Method:

Preparing the batter:

Soak rice for a minimum of half an hour.
Wash them well and drain all the water.
Grind rice & grated into a very smooth paste. Add water as required to grind. You can use up to 1 cup of water. But please do not add it all at once in the beginning.
We need a very smooth batter. The smoother the batter the better. Traditionally, a wet grinder is used to grind this batter. But you can use a mixer.
Transfer the batter into a vessel. Add salt, 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water & mix well.
The consistency of neer dosa batter is watery, it should be free flowing. If the batter is thick you’ll have thick dosas instead of soft, thin neer dosas.
Be careful as to not make neer dosa batter too watery, then the batter will tend to stick to your frying pan and the dosas won’t come off as a whole. The dosas will then tear off as you try to remove them off the frying pan.
Getting the right consistency of the dosa batter to make perfect neer dosa is something you’ll have to experiment based on the frying pan you use, based on your ability to splash dosas and based on your liking for thin or thick neer dosas.
For an expert with the right frying pan, a buttermilk consistency to your batter is what is necessary to make perfect neer dosas.

Preparing dosas:

Heat up a frying pan. Grease the cast-iron pan nicely with oil. Make sure you grease the pan with fair amount of oil before you make every dosa. This makes sure the dosas don’t stick to your pan. If you are using a non-stick pan then you need not grease your pan.
Once the frying pan is hot, lower the heat, splash the batter using a ladle onto the frying pan. Coat the frying pan uniformly with the batter. Just a thin layer of batter throughout the pan.
If you splash extra batter onto your frying pan, extra layers of batter over and over again then you’ll have relatively thick dosas.
Place a lid over the pan and cook them on medium to high flame for approximately a minute.
Remove the lid and check if the dosa is cooked all around. If not let the dosa cook completely without the lid on for some more time.
There is no need to flip these dosas and cook it on the other side. You need not add oil onto these dosas when they are frying on the pan unlike we do for other dosas.
Once the dosa is completely cooked, you know it from the change in colour of the dosa. The dosa colour changes from white to off white completely. These dosa remains white on cooking and will not brown. However they do tend to get crisp, so, do not overcook the dosa unless you like your neer dosas crisp. If the dosa looks raw in any part of the pan, give it a minute. Once the whole dosa changes in colour, slide a flat spatula from the sides of the pan and work your way throughout under the dosa. That helps you lift the dosa as a whole without breaking it into pieces. If you're using a non-stick pan, once your dosa is completely cooked it starts to come off the pan on the sides of the frying pan. That's an indication to remove the dosa if it's cooked completely all around.
Fold the dosa in half on the frying pan and again fold it into another half to form a triangle. Then remove the dosa from the frying pan.
Serve the dosas hot with sides of your choice.

Serving suggestions:

You can serve hot neer dosas with any of these side dishes:

Coconut chutney - Any spicy coconut chutney will taste great with neer dosa. Here's one such coconut chutney. A simple, spicy coconut chutney made by grinding together grated coconut, green chillies, tamarind and salt into a coarse chutney tastes great with hot dosas too.
Coconut chutney with onions (piyava alle chutney in Konkani): Onion flavour goes well with these dosas. Grind the spicy coconut chutney as mentioned above with half a small sized onion and with half an inch piece of ginger (peeled). It tastes great with neer dosas.
Sweetend grated coconut (churnu in Konkani): Mix freshly grated coconut with powdered jaggery and enjoy it with hot neer dosas. Yummm!
Pickle and lots of oil: Add lots of oil on top of neer dosas, on top of pickle and enjoy them together. Serve neer dosas with any pickle of your choice. I prefer mango pickle.
Honey - When you have to make a quick breakfast and are in a hurry then the best way to eat neer dosas is to eat them with honey.
Onion side dish: Mix chopped onion with freshly grated coconut, salt, chopped green chillies and enjoy with hot neer dosas!
Fish curry, chicken curry, egg curry, pork curry, dry pork/chicken side dishes go great with neer dosas. They are served for lunch, dinner with neer dosas instead of with rice.

Side Note:

Any left over neer dosa batter can be refrigerated and used the next day.
If you have refrigerated the batter, bring it to room temperature and mix really well before preparing neer dosas.
If you're bored of neer dosas and have leftover batter, then you can make cucumber dosas called as thousali out of neer dosa batter by just adding peeled, grated cucumber to the batter. They taste delicious, full of cucumber flavour.
Do not place hot dosas one over the other as they tend to stick to each other. Once they cool down, you can place these dosas one on top of the other.
Cast iron pan works best to make tasty dosas, but if you don’t have one, then use a non-stick pan. If you are using a non-stick pan, use a pan that has its sides raised to form a boundary. Neer dosas made on a non-stick pan turn to be dry and less tasty compared to the ones made with a cast iron pan.
Each time you make neer dosa, ensure that you mix the batter well before making another dosa.
The more coconut you add to the batter, the better. Softer, tastier dosas you make.
However, if you are in a hurry, you can skip grated coconut, provided the variety of rice you use makes soft dosas. Dosas tend to get little dry & also, taste of these dosas does differ a little without coconut. But they still taste good.
Soft texture of neer dosa is due to many reasons. The variety of rice you use matters (some make soft dosas, some make the dosas dry), the amount of coconut you add to the batter (the more you add, softer the dosas), the amount of water you add to the batter and the amount of batter you splash onto the frying pan, all play a role in the texture of neer dosas in the end.

Do try other Konkani cuisine dosas.

Tags: neer dosa, neer dose, Udupi cuisine, Mangalore food, breakfast, pan polo, GSB Konkani recipe, vegan, vegetarian recipe, South Canara Konkani recipe, Konkani cooking, GSB Konkani cuisine, kids breakfast