Manjal dosai, fresh turmeric dosai, a south-indian style pancake made with fresh turmeric root. The basic ingredients rice and dal, soaked and ground with fresh turmeric root, fermented overnight or 6-8 hours.
The color and aroma of this dosai is simply scintillating. Fresh Turmeric has its own unique aroma, which reflects in this dosa as well.
Pair this dosa with a spicy chutney and sambar, to enjoy a colorful breakfast, that makes your day more energetic and colorful.

This Fresh turmeric dosai recipe is from the cookbook Dosai, by Chandra Padmanabhan. The book features many different dosai recipes from south-india. This manjal dosai, is usually served on Diwali day by Tulu Brahmins of South Karnataka .
Fresh turmeric has nurmerous health benefits from lowering cholestrol to preventing cancers. So, i try to use them as much as possible in our regular cooking.
The ingredients used
- Fresh turmeric , use just an inch of fresh turmeric root for the given measurements.
- Idly rice, the normal rice which you use to make idly/dosa batter. I use idly rice or sometimes parboiled rice, madina brand.
- urad dal, the usual split urad dal used to make idly/dosa.
- methi seeds/fenugreek , gives crisp texture to dosas. It aids in the fermentation of batter. Use only the given quantity.

Manjal Dosai, Fresh turmeric dosa
Equipment
- Grinder/Indian style mixie
Ingredients
- 2 cups idly rice /parboiled rice
- ½ cup urad dal
- ½ tsp methi seeds fenugreek seeds
- 1 inch piece of fresh turmeric root
- ½ tsp salt or to taste
Instructions
- Wash and soak rice and dal separately. Soak the fenugreek seeds along with urad dal. Let this soak for 3-4 hours.
- After the said time, drain the water from urad dal and grind it to a fine batter in a grinder. It takes almost 20-30 minutes for the dal to grind to a fine, aerated batter.
- The batter makes a 'cluck,cluck' sound, the sound of a well aerated, fluffy urad dal batter. Remove the batter to a clean vessel.
- Now drain and add the rice to the grinder, add the fresh turmeric root along and grind it to smooth batter. Once it is done, remove the batter to a clean vessel and mix both the batter together.
- I normally add the ground urad dal batter back into the grinder, when the rice is almost done. So both the batters get mixed well in the grinder itself.
- Remove the batter to a clean vessel, that is wide enough, to hold the fermented batter. Fermentation will cause the batter to raise a bit.
- Let the batter sit overnight or atleast 6-8 hours to ferment. The batter would be well risen if it has fermented well.
- If making dosas immediately, remove the necessary batter to another vessel and refrigerate the remaining batter.
To make the dosa
- Add salt to the batter and mix well. Heat a flat tava/dosa pan, add a dab of gingely oil and wipe it well on the pan with a paper towel.
- Pour a ladle of batter in the center of the tava, and slowly spread it circles using the back of the ladle. Dot the edges with gingely oil, let it cook on one side for a minute or until the edges turn brown.
- Flip and cook on the other side. Serve it hot with any chutney/Sambar of your choice. My kids usually prefer idly podi and mint chutney with their dosas.
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I love the color and texture of this dosa….would love to try but then I will have to find the idly rice….not so hard here but I have so many varieties in pantry as is…bursting at the seams already 🙂
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Such a pretty color of the dosas… it is actually good to cook from the same cookbook, at least it will get touched on well! Hehe…
That is a very interesting and nutritious dosa with turmeric. Love the color.
Lovely color. Interesting addition of fresh turmeric to dosai, Priya.
This is a brilliant recipe. I have some turmeric root in my freezer all the time now and I will give this a try next time I grind batter.
This is something I have never heard of using turmeric root in making dosa. The dosa has come out perfect and looks cottony soft.
When this golden sunshine is what meets you in the mornings, I wouldn’t mind a monday morning as well. Beautiful recipe
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Wow looks awesome Priya. The burst of flavor here is amazing. I will definitely try making these dosa.
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Never added turmeric dosa – LOVE the idea and the color it adds. Such a healthy, nutritious and yummy dosa.
Lovely colour of the minjal dosai Priya. I find that in whichever dish we use fresh turmeric the colour of the dish turns out beautiful. You’re so right it also tastes different.
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Such a nice and light breakfast recipe. The recipe also sounds very easy so I will try it for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Addition of turmeric is new to me, never knew about it. It makes it quite healthy too I guess.
I add regular turmeric to dosa sometimes for a change but never added fresh turmeric though!! Such a healthy and unique dosa…will definitely try this out!!
Love the gorgeous yellow color fresh Turmeric gave to the Dosa. Beautiful pictures Priya.
Adding fresh turmeric in dosa making is new to me, however, I am more than happy to devour this yummy dosa anytime as I’m a BIG dosa lover!
Sounds amazing and totally unique kind of pancake never heard before. This must be tried at least once.