Benne masala dosa

What does benne mean in benne masala dosa?

Benne is the Kannada word for butter, so benne masala dosa simply means butter masala dosa. The butter goes on the tava, over the dosa while it cooks and often as a final dab on top when it is served. That butter gives the dosa its golden colour, its smell and its soft, rich centre.

There are two styles people mean when they say benne dosa. One comes from Davanagere in central Karnataka. The other is the benne masala dosa served in Bengaluru’s older restaurants.

Feature	Davanagere benne dose	Bengaluru benne masala dosa
Size	Small, about the size of a quarter plate	Regular to large
Thickness	Thick, soft and spongy inside	Thinner, crisp outside
Batter	Rice, urad dal and puffed rice (mandakki)	Varies by restaurant
Butter	In the batter and on the tava, extra on top	On the tava and on top
Potato	Soft potato palya, often on the side	Potato masala inside
Served with	Coconut chutney	Coconut chutney, sometimes sambar

Where does benne dosa come from?

Davanagere benne dose has a well-told origin story. According to accounts published in The Hindu and other newspapers, summarised in Wikipedia’s article on the dish, a woman named Chennamma moved to Davanagere with her children in 1928 and began selling dosa, chutney and potato palya made to her own recipe. Her first dosas used ragi batter. By 1938 her sons had switched to a batter of rice, puffed rice and lentils cooked with butter, and in 1944 one of them, Shanthappa, opened an eatery near the clock tower in old Davanagere.

Benne dose is now the dish Davanagere is best known for, and the name has spread to restaurants across Karnataka and beyond. In Bengaluru, older restaurants such as Vidyarthi Bhavan in Basavanagudi and Central Tiffin Room (CTR) in Malleshwaram are known for butter-rich masala dosas that many people call benne masala dosa.

Source: Benne dose on Wikipedia, citing The Hindu, Deccan Herald and Bangalore Mirror.

Why is benne dosa soft inside?

The puffed rice in a Davanagere-style batter is what makes the dosa soft. It breaks down when ground and gives the batter a lighter, airier body, so the dosa rises a little on the tava instead of spreading into a thin sheet. The butter then fries the underside while the top steams, which is why a good benne dosa is crisp at the base and almost fluffy in the middle.

Recipe card

Prep

40 min

Soak + ferment

15 h

Cook

50 min

Makes

About 14 small dosas

Per dosa

~348 kcal

Ingredients

Batter

• 2 cups raw rice (sona masoori), about 400 g
• 1/2 cup whole white urad dal, about 100 g
• 2 cups puffed rice (mandakki or kurmura), about 40 g
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• About 2 cups water for grinding

To cook

• About 200 g butter, preferably white butter (about 15 g per dosa)
• Potato masala from the masala dosa recipe, made softer with a little extra water
• Coconut chutney, to serve

Method

Soak and grind

1. Soak the rice for 5–6 hours. Soak the urad dal with the fenugreek seeds separately for 5–6 hours.
2. Rinse the puffed rice in water and squeeze it dry just before grinding.
3. Grind the urad dal with a little cold water until fluffy, then grind the rice with the puffed rice until smooth.
4. Mix both batters with the salt, cover and ferment for 10–14 hours until risen and bubbly. The batter should be thicker than regular dosa batter.

Cook

1. Heat a cast-iron tava on medium heat and rub it with a little butter.
2. Pour a ladle of batter and spread it gently into a small, thick round about 15 cm across and 5 mm thick at the centre.
3. Dot 10 g of butter over and around the dosa and cook for 2–3 minutes, covering with a lid for 30 seconds if the top is still wet.
4. When the base is deep golden and crisp, add a spoon of potato palya on one side or serve it alongside.
5. Fold, top with the remaining butter and serve hot with coconut chutney.

Tips for a better benne dosa

• Use white butter if you can find it. Yellow table butter works, but white butter is closer to the traditional taste.
• Keep the tava at medium, not high. Butter burns faster than oil, and a thick dosa needs time to cook through.
• Do not spread the batter thin. A benne dosa should be about 5 mm thick at the centre.
• Put the lid on for 30 seconds after adding butter if the top is still wet; the steam cooks the centre.

How many calories are in a benne masala dosa?

A benne masala dosa cooked with 15 g of butter and 100 g of potato masala has about 348 kcal, about 68 kcal more than a masala dosa cooked with a teaspoon of oil. Every extra 10 g of butter adds about 72 kcal, so a restaurant benne dosa with a generous dab on top can reach 400 kcal. The masala dosa calorie calculator shows the difference for 10 g and 20 g of butter.

Related

• Mysore masala dosa: the red garlic-chilli chutney version.
• Masala dosa recipe: the regular crisp batter and potato masala.
• All types of masala dosa.