Vallarai Keerai Dosai, Indian Pennywort Dosa is prepared with regular dosa batter mixed with Vallarai puree, with flavors enhanced with onions, cumin and black pepper corns.
Idli, Dosa, Paratha and Soups are great for sneaking in veggies and greens. Here is one such recipe – Vallarai Keerai dosai.
Spinach dosa or keerai dosai is one of the common recipes from my native. Thodoovaalai dosai and Murungai dosai/adai is a pretty common one. When I got Vallarai, the first recipe that came into my mind was dosai. I wanted to prepare couple of recipes with Vallarai. The first recipe that I tried was the kootu and here comes the dosa. I love playing with idli and dosa by adding different fruit and veggie purees. Recently I started to experiment more with dosa as I can sneak in veggies pretty easily and also I can top it up with cheese too make it more kids friendly. Vaandu loves cheese dosa so dosa is my to-go option these days. Before getting into the dosa recipe, here are my other fruit and veggie based dosa and idli recipes…
- Blue berry idli and dosai
- Spinach dosai
- Squash and carrot dosai
- Kanchipuram Idli with veggies
- Celery Dosai
For this recipe, I didn’t cook the spinach but washed it thoroughly first with cold water and twice with hot water and pureed it along with some pepper powder. The main reason for adding black pepper to all the spinach varieties is because of its anti-bacterial property like turmeric. It kills the germs and also helps to fight against infections. The recipe is super simple. Mix the dosa batter and the puree. Add some chopped onion and temper it with cumin and some black pepper corns and prepare dosa. I served this with my super simple less than 30 minutes sambar. (Recipe coming next)
Vallarai Keerai Dosai, Indian Pennywort Dosa Recipe
Ingredients:
- Dosa Batter – 5 cups
- Vallarai Keerai – 2.5 cups (Tightly packed)
- Chopped Onion – ¼ cup
- Pepper Powder – ½ tsp
- Salt – as required (I added about ¾ tsp)
- Oil – for preparing dosa
- Water – ¼ cup (add as required)
For Tempering
- Oil – 1 tsp
- Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
- Pepper Corns – 1 tsp
Steps:
- Wash the spinach nicely with cold water and then at least twice with warm water.
- Discard the stems and puree it in a blender along with pepper powder by adding ¼ cup of water on required basis.
- Now add this puree and salt to the dosa batter.
- Mix them well.
- Add the chopped onions and do the tempering.
- Heat a pan or tempering ladle and add oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the cumin and pepper. As the cumin starts to splutter, add it to the dosa batter.
- Mix all the ingredients and check for salt at this stage. Adjust accordingly.
- Now heat the dosa pan and once hot, add a ladle full of dosa and spread it evenly.
- Add oil around the dosa and let it cook for about 45 to 50 seconds.
- Now carefully flip them and let it cook for about 30 seconds on the other side. (I usually do not add oil after flipping)
- When both sides are cooked, fold the dosa and remove from the pan. Repeat the same for the remaining batter.
(For the kiddo, I add the cheddar cheese mix on top and let it melt before folding)
Notes:
- The dosa will have slight hint of bitter taste. If you don’t want to puree the spinach raw, you can blanch the spinach or microwave the spinach for couple of minutes before pureeing.
- Green chillies can be added while adding the tempering.
- Adjust the salt as per your preference.
- If the batter is too sour, add a pinch of baking soda.
📖 Recipe
Vallarai Keerai Dosai | Indian Pennywort Dosa
Ingredients
- Dosa Batter - 5 cups
- Vallarai Keerai - 2.5 cups Tightly packed
- Chopped Onion - ¼ cup
- Pepper Powder - ½ tsp
- Salt - as required I added about ¾ tsp
- Oil - for preparing dosa
- Water - ¼ cup add as required
- For Tempering
- Oil - 1 tsp
- Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
- Pepper Corns - 1 tsp
Instructions
- Wash the spinach nicely with cold water and then at least twice with warm water.
- Discard the stems and puree it in a blender along with pepper powder by adding ¼ cup of water on required basis.
- Now add this puree and salt to the dosa batter.
- Mix them well.
- Add the chopped onions and do the tempering.
- Heat a pan or tempering ladle and add oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the cumin and pepper. As the cumin starts to splutter, add it to the dosa batter.
- Mix all the ingredients and check for salt at this stage. Adjust accordingly.
- Now heat the dosa pan and once hot, add a ladle full of dosa and spread it evenly.
- Add oil around the dosa and let it cook for about 45 to 50 seconds.
- Now carefully flip them and let it cook for about 30 seconds on the other side. (I usually do not add oil after flipping)
- When both sides are cooked, fold the dosa and remove from the pan. Repeat the same for the remaining batter.
- (For the kiddo, I add the cheddar cheese mix on top and let it melt before folding)
Notes
Green chillies can be added while adding the tempering.
Adjust the salt as per your preference.
If the batter is too sour, add a pinch of baking soda.
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Such a healthy way to sneak in the keerai :) Great share Sri :)
Thanks a lot :-)
Your dishes are always so new and so intriguing to me. This keerai dosa is no exception for sure! Lovely share, Srividhya! :)
:-) Thanks a lot Anu.
Delicious version of dosa!!
Thankooo
I’m a big fan of sneaking veggies in food. This spinach dosa is a super healthy and delicious idea!
Thanks a lot :-)
Love your version of dosa dear. Sounds tasty and healthy!
Thanks Kushi.
Priya @asmallbite
Hi vidhya,whether there will be more bitterness in the keerai? Should try soon for my kids.
Yes this keerai is slightly bitter. That’s why for 5 cups of batter I went with 2.5 cups of the spinach. You reduce the spinach quantity and try. If you are adding cheese, that should take care of it. ;-)
Wow… this is new to me. Nice way to give spinach to kids?
:-) Thanks pa