Surnalis are sweet, spongy dosas made on Tulsi Pooja day in our GSB community. But since my family loves this dosa, I make it regularly.

My daughter is specially a fan of this dosa and she loves sitting beside me while I make these delicious, aromatic dosas. I don’t blame her as I too used to wait for my mother to make these dosas for our breakfast. These dosas don’t need any accompaniment and can be had as it is.

We, the GSB’s (Gowda Saraswat Brahmin) are famous for our variety of dosas and this is one of the most famous and loved one. You can call this the king of dosas made by konkanis. There are many other yummy dosas which I will be sharing one by one. My family loves dosas and over the years, it has made me a variety dosa specialist. Maybe some day I will open my own dosa corner, haha.

Anyhow, here is the recipe for delicious Surnalis. This was how my mom made them with the exception of adding curd. I add it to get the dosa more spongier. Hope you and your family enjoy them as much as we do. Happy Tulsi Pooja.

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

2 Cups Raw Rice (Any variety of white rice)

1 Cup grated coconut ( fresh/ desiccated)

1 Cup Beaten rice/ Poha

1/2 Cup Curd

3/4 Cup Jaggery

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Fenugreek seeds/ Methi

Salt to taste

Ghee to cook the dosa

Recipe:

1. Wash well and soak the raw rice with fenugreek seeds for 2 to 4 hours.

2. Wash beaten rice/ Poha well in water. Keep aside.

3. Melt jaggery in very little water (about 1/4 Cup). Keep aside to cool.

4. Now grind soaked rice – Fenugreek seeds along with Poha, jaggery, coconut, curd, turmeric and salt to a smooth paste. Add buttermilk instead of water while grinding for spongier surnalis. Don’t add too much water while grinding. It should be a thick batter.

5. Mix well with hands to start fermentation. Keep aside covered for 8 hours or overnight in a warm place of your house. In winters, it takes up to 12 hours for the batter to ferment well.

6. Take a ladle full of the batter and pour a thick dosa. Do not spread like regular dosas. Add ghee on top.

7. Cover and cook on low flame till the dosa cooks. (This dosa requires low flame to cook. Else it will turn black due to jaggery in it.)

8. Remove and serve hot with butter.

Notes:

* Any variety of white rice ranging from Sona masoori to short grain white rice (used for eating) works well to make this dosa.

* You could substitute curd with buttermilk.

* Ensure the batter is a slightly thick ( not very thick) smooth paste and not watery to get perfect surnalis.

* The amount of jaggery is to taste. You could increase or decrease as per your taste.

* Cook the Surnalis on medium to low flame. Else it will turn black underneath if cooked on high flame due to jaggery and poha in the batter.

* Surnalis come out the best when the batter is freshly fermented. Once refrigerated, the dosas does not come as spongy. Still they come out like regular dosas.

* Although it tastes amazing with butter, I make Sambarpalli leaves chutney with it and it tastes super delicious. Here is the recipe for the Sambarpalli leaves chutney .

* You can also check this recipe of Mangalore cucumber or Magge Surnalis .