150g whole or split skinless urad dal (black lentils)
2tbsp leftover cooked white long-grain rice
2tsp sugar
1tsp salt vegetable oil, to cook
Method
The day before, put the uncooked rice and fenugreek seeds in a bowl and cover with water. Put the urad dal in a separate bowl and cover with water. Leave both to soak overnight.
The next morning, drain the rice and fenugreek seeds and blitz in a blender to form a smooth batter. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Drain the urad dal and transfer to the blender along with the cooked rice and sugar. Blitz to form a smooth batter, adding a splash of water if needed to help it loosen.
Add the blended urad dal and the salt to the mixing bowl with the rice batter and mix well. It should have the consistency of cake batter – neither too thick nor too thin.
Cover with cling film and leave to ferment in a warm place for 12 hours. Depending on the temperature, it may ferment more quickly than this, so check on it every few hours to see if it has risen and if you can see bubbles in the batter.
When ready to cook, heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Sprinkle a tiny bit of oil into the pan, add a ladleful of batter and use the back of the ladle to spread it out into a circle, starting from the middle and working outwards. Drizzle over another 1tsp oil and cook until it starts to crisp up, then flip and crisp up for another minute. Repeat until you have used up all the batter. Serve hot.
Recipes and photographs taken from There’s Rice at Home by Rene Subash, photography by Haarala Hamilton
