Poha Dosa is a soft, melt in the mouth kind of dosa from South Indian cuisine.

Poha dosa also referred as Sponge Dosa or Atukula Dosa is a delicious breakfast dish served with with peanut chutney or coconut chutney.

5 poha dosa served in a cast iron pan with potato fry and chutney.

The best part about poha dosa is it stays soft even after long hours of making, which makes a prefect tiffin/lunch box dish for both kids and adults.

I also make mini version of these dosa’s and pack it in lunch box for my kids. To keep it warm send the dosa in a hot pack.

Depending on the region, poha dosa is also referred as sponge dosa, val dosa, atukula dosa or avalakki dosa.

To make poha dosa, many use curd. But the recipe I am sharing today does not have curd in it. The procedure for making this dosa is very similar to the regular plain dosa except for the quantity of poha is three times more than the urad dal.

Dosa Recipes from the blog –

Crispy dosa made with rice flour

Plain Dosa

Instant Curd dosa

Instant Oats dosa

Have you tried this poha upma made in 15 minutes.

Ingredients needed to make poha dosa?

Rice ( I use carolina rice), or any short grain rice, please do not use basmati rice

Poha ( thick variety)

Urad dal (preferably whole urad)

How to make a perfect soft sponge dosa?

I have had my share of dosa disasters, but over the years I have learned few things that worked to get the right dosa batter.

the ingredients and the proportion – I use 3 cups of rice, 1 cup of poha & ¼ cup of urad dal

getting the batter right – wash and soak the rice in a bowl. Also wash and soak the poha and urad dal in a different bowl. Soak these in the water for atleast 6 hours.

Discard the soaked water and now transfer the poha and urad dal in a mixer. Add some water and to a smooth paste. Trasfer this mixture to a large container which has enough room to rise.

Now drain the water from the rice and add half of the rice to the mixer. Add some water and grind the rice to a smooth paste. Transfer it to the conatiner. Now add the rest of the soaked rice and little water to the mixer and grind again till smooth paste. Use cold water while grinding. Cold water will help the mixer from not getting hot. Transfer the rice to the poha mixture.

Add salt and mix the batter with clean hands for good three minutes. It is very important to mix it with the hand, because that helps with the fermentation process.

fermentation process – the most important step in making a good dosa is how well the batter ferments. I Live in the U.S, because of lot of temperature fluctuations I prefer to ferment the dosa batter in the oven.

That is the best way of fermenting the batter with getting consistent results every time.

Place the dosa container in the oven, put a large tray under the container ( in case the batter over flows).

Close the oven door and turn on the light and let ferment over night, or atleast 10 hours.

But if you live in a warm place, you can ferment the batter on the counter top. Just make sure its not close to a window or AC vent.

You can also ferment the batter in Instant pot by turning on the yogurt mode. Use a glass or steel lid to close the pot, not the lid which comes with the instant pot. Ferment for 8 to 10 hours.

making the dosa – first and foremost use a cast iron skillet not a non stick pan to make the dosa. Pour a ladle of bater on the hot tava and make slightly thick dosa by spreading (very lightly) in the circular motion with the back of the spatula. Drizle oil and cover with a lid abd cook for 1-2 minutes. You don’t have to flip the dosa and serve it, but I generally cook the second side too for 30 seconds or so.

Serve the sponge poha dosa with chutney of your choice.

atukula dosa served with chutney and potato palya.

If you tried this Poha Dosa, do share your feedback in the comment section below. For more recipes, follow me on Faceboo k and Instagram.