A breakfast staple across India, dosa, is no longer limited to South India. For the unversed, it is a kind of desi pancake that is either plain or stuffed with a nice filling. However, the fanfare for dosa is widespread with many regions devising their own forms of the dish and Takatle Pole is just an example.
A popular dish on the breakfast table in Konkani regions, Takatle Pole is a special kind of dosa that is made with rava and buttermilk. This is a softer and spongier version of your regular dosa and doesn’t come packed with a filling. Rather, the dosa batter is mixed with ingredients that make it soft and delicious. One of them is buttermilk. The combination of milk and culture is what gives buttermilk. This liquid is added to the batter and mixed with rice flour and fenugreek seeds.
The batter is left to be fermented overnight after grinding everything together. The interesting part is that the usual dosas are often crispy and thin, but Takatle Pole is thicker than them and softer too. It is made by cooking the dosa only on one side and not flipping it. The spongy dosa is usually white in colour and served with a side of coconut chutney. The ingredients of the dish also lend the dosa its unique name ‘Takatle’, which means buttermilk in Konkani.
The method of mixing rice with buttermilk and grinding it together is what gives a distinct flavour to the dosa. Not just coconut chutney, since the dosa has a mildly sweet taste, it can also pair well with a spicy condiment like a garlic chutney. What is even more fascinating is that the Konkan region is not home to just one kind of dosa but other options to choose from too like Surnoli.
This sweet dosa belongs to Goa’s Saraswat community. For the uninitiated, this Hindu Brahmin community is one of the two most important sects of Goa. The seafood eating Hindu community prepares these sweet dosas at home called Surnoli, which are thick and have pores. This makes them slightly different from the regular dosas and a part of the dosa family of the Konkan region. Filled with rice, coconut and jaggery, the dosa has found its way into the breakfast staples of the coastal region.
It is the Takatle Pole that enjoys a much wider fanfare than Surnoli. The dosa is made by mixing rice with methi seeds in buttermilk. Once it softens, the mixture is ground well and fermented overnight. Next morning, the batter is poured on a pan with some ghee and spread evenly in a circular shape. Slow-cooked from one side with the lid covered, the dosa is taken out without flipping and served with a side of your choice of condiments.