Azhagar Kovil is a very small village in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. The name of the village is from the very famous Azhagar/ Kallazhagar Kovil. The main deity of this temple is Sundarabahu Perumal in standing pose ( Nindra kolam). Azhagar Kovil is one of the 108 divya desam as per the Vaishavite belief. The Azhagar Kovil Perumal disguises himself as Kallar and visits Madurai on the Full-moon day ( Pournami) of the Chithirai Month as per the Tamil Calendar. During this time, people gather in large volumes, to welcome Kallazhagar to Madurai. It is a pure bliss to watch Kallazhagar wearing green silk dress and enter the river Vaigai in his horse chariot.
Azhagar Kovil is very famous for its prasadham/ offering. normally Puliodharai or Sakkarai Pongal is served in many Perumal temples. However, a handful of temples like Azhagar Kovil, Singaperumal Kovil and Varadharaja Perumal Kovil serves dosa as the prasadham to the devotees. Of all this, the Azhagar Kovil Dosai is very famous for its dosa offering. It is made from raw rice and Urad Dal that are brought in by devotees to the temple. They are ground and made to small size dosas with spices. These dosas cooked in ghee are served as offering to the devotees. This is a no-ferment dosa and I have captured each step in this recipe. Do try this healthy and divinely tasty Azhagar Kovil Dosa. Also, refer to the notes section to see what alternatives can be made to quicken up making this dosa.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Soak 3/4 cup of raw rice in water for 2 hours. Wash and spread to a cloth. Let them air dry for one hour.
- Transfer to a mixer jar with a little moisture in the rice. Grind them to a coarse powder.
- Soak 1/3 cup of whole black Urad Dal in water for 4 hours. Wash and grind them to a thick batter with very little bit water.
- Add the rice powder to the urad batter and pulse in mixer. Transfer to a bowl. Add salt to taste, curry leaves, one teaspoon of coarsely crushed pepper powder, half a teaspoon of Jeera Seeds, dry ginger powder. Mix the batter.
- Adjust the thickness of batter with water. Let it still be in a thick consistency. Pour a ladle of batter and spread thick. Smear ghee and cook on both sides. The edges will be crisp and the middle will be soft. Azhagar Kovil dosai is ready.
Notes
- This recipe uses whole black Urad Dal . If you do not have, you can also use split black Urad Dal or the regular white Urad Dal .
- I have used coarsely crushed peppercorns for the flavor. You can use whole pepper corns too.
- If you want to cut short the method of making rice powder, replace rice with one and a half cup of store bought rice powder or Idiyappam powder.