Jan 9, 2007

Surnali (Sweet Dosa or Konkani Pancakes)

Surnali
Suranali is a Konkani version of Pancakes. It has sweet & tangy taste from the jaggery and the yogurt in it.

Surnali is my hubby's favorite breakfast item. I had never tried making Surnali all by myself before moving to US. My mom in law used to whip up perfect batter and she would make Surnali with delicious ghee and serve with a dollop of soft homemade butter, loNi in konkani. I tried to make Surnali a couple of times but mine came out flat and tasteless. Later I got some tips form my MIL to make a perfect Surnali. Here is the recipe for the perfect pancakes from the scratch.



2 cup white rice
1 cup poha/avalakki
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup yogurt, little sour
pinch of turmeric
1/2 cup powdered Jaggery
1 tbsp ghee/oil
2 tbsp butter to serve

Soak rice in water for 3-4 hrs. Grind together coconut and rice. Soak poha for 5 minutes, squeeze out the water and add to the rice, continue grinding to a smooth paste. Use yogurt instead of water to ease grinding. You can use water after all the yogurt has been used, but keep the batter as thick as possible. When the batter is smooth, add powdered jaggery and turmeric and continue to grind until its well blended. Add salt. Take care not to make it salty, as the jaggery has a little salt in it.

Ferment the batter for 8 hrs to raise it to double the volume. Beat and mix well.

To make Surnali, heat a griddle and pour little butter/ghee, pour about 3 tbsp of batter in the center of the griddle. Do not try to spread with the spoon. Let the batter spread slowly by itself. Cover the pancake and cook on low flame till the upper side gets holes and no signs of any raw batter on the top. The lower side of the Surnali should be light golden brown, take care not to blacken it.

Serve with a dollop of butter on top.

I use 8 inch non-stick omelet pan for making Surnali. It gives a nice round shape and also saves the bottom from turning black. Iron dosa griddle are sure to leave a black burnt unpleasant bottom. I keep the flame on very low setting. It takes about 5 minutes for every Surnali.

12 comments:

FH said...

Hi Manjula,you brought us most wonderful homely recipe,thank you.Color is gorgeous and sweet and tangy sounds so good!:)

Aruna said...

Wow...One of the authentic Konkani breakfasts. My mom replaces poha with kurmura sometimes as according to her the base of the surnali does not turn black. I use 50:50 of both.

Manjula said...

Hi Asha,
Yes, thats what makes surnali, the best. Tangyness from yogurt and sweetness from jaggery.

Hi Aruna,
Is kurmura same as churnura/charumburi? Will try with next time.

I use my 8 inch non-stick omelet pan. It gives a nice round shape and also saves the bottom from turning black. Iron dosa griddle are sure to leave a black unpleasant bottom. I keep the flame on very low setting. It takes about 5 minutes for every surnali.
Manjula

Anonymous said...

Hi Manjula,Its looking Yummy.......I'am going to try this weekend..

Aruna said...

Yes Manjula, it is chanburo. I used the Mumbai language. My mom keeps both the griddles, i.e the non stick and the regular one she has, as each surnali takes 5 min and all will be waiting to eat it. I have eaten it prepared on both the type of tavas and prefer the normal tava. Also she adds methi seeds to it which i forgot to mention in the previous comment.

Seema Bhat said...

Manju, beautiful, the dosa looks so soft and fluffy. Never tried it before. I have to try it now
Thank you so much
Seema

Anonymous said...

Awesome. I trie this before but the surnali never came out rt. It was coming ou mashed. Any idea how i could prevent this?

Manjula said...

Hi Seema, Nandini, Jeya,
Yes, this is a fluffy sweet dosa, almost like the pancakes. If make little sweet it becomes likes a cake made on stove top. Enjoy!

Nandini,
I can remember of few reasons why your surnali might have got mushy.
1. I remember my mom saying the rice is not aged properly, if the dosas stick to the pan or if they break. This is true for any kind of dosa.
2. Try using a non stick pan for Surnali to start with. The jaggery gets caramelized and turns black sometimes in iron griddle.
3. The batter has to be thick like any other dosa. It just takes a few trial. I took quite some time to make it perfect.

Aruna,
Thanks for the info on Churmura. Will try this next time.

Manjula

Surabhi said...

Hi Manjula,

I tried the Surnali y'day, but the batter just didn't ferment. Not sure what I am doing wrong.... any ideas to get it to ferment?

Shilpa

Manjula said...

Shilpa & Vinay,
You can try adding a few methi seeds. Soak them along with rice.
Yogurt has to be little sour, but not too much(it might make the surnali very sour).
If you are in a cold place try to maintain a warm temperature. I usually keep my batter in the oven. My oven is always warm from the pilot flame.

Supriya said...

Very lovely photos of the Surnali...the photos look very tempting. Love the description of the recipe.

Dhwani Talati said...

thanks so much for this recipe!...my husband loves it, and i plan to make it for the first time by myself, this saturday..
btw, my MIL's tip is to grind chopped cucumber with the batter.