Dosa Batter Cinnamon Waffles with Date Syrup Recipe

Soft, fluffy and as light as a cloud, these are truly a product of years of innovation. They’re served with a drizzle of reduced date and cinnamon syrup, which finishes the dish off beautifully.

Makes:

8 small waffles (serves 4)

Ingredients

For the dosa waffle batter

50g dried split chana dhal, picked and rinsed, then soaked in 500ml lukewarm water overnight
150g basmati rice, soaked in 500ml cold water overnight
1 tbsp palm sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp baking powder

For the date syrup

225 g soft pitted dates
1 tsp palm sugar
200ml boiling water
Waffle machine

Method

For the dosa batter, drain the chana dhal and basmati rice separately, retaining the soaking water from each separately, too.

Using a wet grinder if you have one (or a food processor), blitz the soaked chana dhal to a smooth purée, adding up to 10 spoonfuls of the soaking water gradually to help process it down.

Set aside and then do the same with the soaked rice. It’s better to grind them separately because the textures of the two grains can vary. Do not yet discard either of the remaining soaking waters.

Once blended, you should be left with around 270g of ground rice purée and 460g of ground chana dhal purée.

Combine both mixtures in a bowl and pour in 150ml of the remaining soaking water, from the rice or chana dhal. Add the palm sugar, cinnamon and baking powder and whisk together to form a batter similar in consistency to pancake batter. Set aside.

Combine the pitted dates, palm sugar and boiling water in a saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for 5–6 minutes, or until the dates are very soft. Use the wet grinder or food processor to blitz the dates with the excess liquid to form a date syrup. Set aside.

To make the waffles, preheat the waffle machine following the manufacturer’s instructions. Ladle in enough batter to cover the plate on one side. Close the machine and cook for 12–15 minutes (cooking instructions do vary so check the instructions for your machine), then remove. Repeat for the remaining mixture; it should make eight small waffles. Serve the warm waffles drizzled with the date syrup.

Extracted from Dahl by Nitisha Patel, published by Ryland Peters & Small (€17.24) Photography by Clare Winfield © Ryland Peters & Small

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