It is a very interesting, healthy and delicious dish from the state of Andhra Pradesh. Dibba roti is also known as minapa rotti. It is made up of urad dal and idli rava. It is crisp as a dosa from the outside and soft and spongy as idli from the inside. It can be served for breakfast or brunch with chutney or pickle.
Idli rava and urad dal are used to make dibba roti. Idli rava is not the regular semolina or rava. It is made up of idli rice or any rice for that matter. Idli rava is available at the grocery stores or can be purchased online. It is a very healthy ingredient and there are many recipes using idli rava, few coming up on the blog too, so I would suggest you get your pack. However, coming back to dibba roti, fermentation of the idli rava and urad dal batter is optional but recommended. I got the best results with fully fermented batter.
You might also like the foolproof recipe for the batter of idli and dosa. View it here. Also on the blog is a very flavorful variation of idli, i.e. rava idli. View the recipe here.
1. Wash ½ cup urad dal and soak with ½ tsp fenugreek seeds (dana methi) for 3-4 hours.
2. Separately soak 1 and ½ cup idli rava for 2 hours.
3. After 4 hours, drain off the water in which dal and seeds were soaked. Transfer soaked dal and fenugreek seeds to a grinding jar. Add ice cold water, only as much required to grind the dal. Important: It is important that the dal doesn’t heat up in the process of grinding. That is why ice cold water is added.
4. To check dal paste, put a drop in a bowl of water. It should float.
5. Dal should be ground to absolutely smooth paste. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
6. After soaking idli rava for a couple of hours, squeeze off all the water. To do that I transfer the whole soaked idli rava and water in a colander lined with a muslin cloth.
7. Tie all the ends and squeeze.
8. Transfer idli rava to the mixing bowl having urad dal paste.
9. Mix urad dal paste and soaked and squeezed idli rava.
10. Beat it well with your hand.
11. Leave it to ferment for 6-8 hours or till properly fermented.
12. Once the batter has fermented, heat a kadai. Add 2 tbsp oil and rotate such that the sides are properly greased. I have to mention this. While going through the recipe for dibba rotti I observed many variations. However, one thing was constantly mentioned by everyone. Do not use nonstick pans to make dibba roti. Heavy cast iron or Indolium give best results. I used my anodized kadai. Whatever you use it should be a thick bottom. To avoid any sticking of dibba roti to the bottom you can add some mustard seeds in the oil.
13. Once the oil is hot, pour 2-3 ladles of batter in the kadai. Do not make the dibba roti too thick. The height at the centre should not be more than 1 and ½ inch.
14. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes.
15. Check after 8th minutes. The sides will be cooked.
16. Once the sides appear cooked, carefully flip.
17. Now you can continue to cook it in the kadai but I prefer to transfer it to a greased skillet/tawa. And cook for 1-2 minutes.
18. Serve hot or at room temperature. Dibba roti remains crispy from outside even when it is not hot. Bon appétit!
PREP TIME 12-15 hours fermentation time
COOK TIME 12-15 minutes
TOTAL TIME 15 minutes + 15 hours passive time
• 1 and ¼ cup idli rava
• ½ cup urad dal
• ½ tsp fenugreek seeds (dana methi)
• Oil for frying
1. Wash and soak ½ cup urad dal with ½ tsp fenugreek seeds (dana methi) for 3-4 hours.
2. Separately soak 1 and ½ cup idli rava for 2 hours.
3. After 4 hours drain off the water in which dal and seeks were soaked. Transfer soaked dal and fenugreek seeds to a grinding jar. Add ice cold water, only as much required to grind the dal. Important: It is important that the dal doesn’t heat up in the process of grinding. That is why ice cold water is added.
4. To check dal paste, put a drop of it in a bowl of water. It should float.
5. Dal should be ground to absolutely smooth paste. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
6. After soaking idli rava for a couple of hours, squeeze off all the water. To do that I transfer the whole soaked idli rava and water in a colander lined with a muslin cloth.
7. Tie all the ends and squeeze.
8. Transfer idli rava to the mixing bowl.
9. Mix urad dal paste and soaked and squeezed idli rava.
10. Beat it well with your hands, in fact hand.
11. Leave it to ferment for 6-8 hours or till properly fermented.
12. Once the batter has fermented, heat a kadai. Add 2 tbsp oil and rotate such that the sides are properly greased. I have to mention this. While going through the recipe of dibba rotti I observed different variations. However one thing was constantly mentioned by everyone. Do not use non stick pans to make dibba roti. Heavy cast iron or Indolium give best results. I used my anodized kadai. Whatever you use it should be a thick bottom. To avoid any sticking of dibba roti to the bottom you can add some mustard seeds in the oil.
13. Once the oil is hot, pour 2-3 ladles of batter in the kadai. DO not make the dibba roti too thick. The height at the centre should not be more than 1 and ½ inch.
14. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes.
15. Once the sides appear cooked, carefully flip.
16. Now you can continue to cook it in the kadai but I prefer to transfer it to a greased skillet/tawa. And cook for 1-2 minutes.
17. Serve hot or at room temperature. Dibba roti remains crispy from outside even when it is not hot. Bon appétit!
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