Heerekayi Chatti/Ridge Gourd Dosa

This is a very popular dish from my native place - Kota. Given it is my all time favorite, this was one of the first few dishes I learnt to make. I haven’t come across a person who doesn’t like this or who hasn’t asked for the recipe after tasting this:) It tastes like heerekayi bajji. In fact in my native place, bajji is also made with a similar ground batter instead of besan based batter. 

My mom makes wonderful chattis and this is her recipe.

You basically need to dip thinly sliced heerekayi(ridge gourd) in a spicy-tangy-sweet batter and place it on a dosa tava next to each other - somewhat like a beehive - and cook it on both sides. 

More the oil, better the taste :)

Ingredients

For the batter - 

Rice - 2 cups

Urad dal - 1/4 cup

Channa dal - 1/8 cup

few Methi seeds

Soak this for 4-5 hrs

For the masala(approx)

dhaniya - 1tsp

jeera - 1tsp

byadagi menasu - 5-6

uppu/salt

bella/jaggery - 1 and half cube

hunasehannu/tamarind paste - 1 tsp 

Method

Grind everything together coarsely. You can use this batter immediately, or keep it aside for few hours. 

Peel the heerekayi, and cut it into thin slices. Dip each piece in the batter and place it on the hot dosa tava, keeping each piece next to each other forming a circle. 

Cook on both sides. 

This can be eaten as is. It doesn’t need a side dish like chutney or sambar. Traditionally this is taken as an accompaniment with rasam-rice or curd-rice.

Variations - Instead of heerekayi, you can use finely cut spinach and spread it on the tava like utappa, or, you can make plain dosas using this batter, even that tastes good.

  

Recipe Source - amma(Shrimathi Vasudeva)