Surnali is a south Indian Konkani style fluffy, spongy rice pancake made either sweet (called godu or sweet surnali; sweetened with jaggery or unrefined cane sugar) or savory (cheppi surnali; without the jaggery).
These delicious and soft south Indian style pancakes are normally and traditionally served with dollops of fresh homemade butter or ghee (clarified butter) and some Indian pickles and chutney.
Indians do not prefer anything sweet as a breakfast dish. We usually eat our dosas, idlis, puris, upma etc which are all savory.
Godu surnali is an exception in a Mangalorean Konkani household! Sweet, spongy and fluffy rice pancakes with yogurt in the batter and sweetened with healthy jaggery conjures up wonderful childhood memories when my mother used to make the sweet ones for me and savory for my father.
Even today, the same tradition carries on! I make the sweet version for me and my sons (almost always enjoyed with spicy Indian pickles) and my husband prefers only the savory surnali with some spicy coconut chutney like hing chutney, onion chutney, peanut chutney or coriander chutney on the side.
So, with one batter, you get to enjoy both sweet and savory surnalis. The ingredients are very basic; just rice, flattened or beaten rice or poha and some yogurt or curds. Soak rice along with some fenugreek seeds or methi (this not only is healthy, but gives an amazing flavor and porous texture to the pancake) and blend along with poha soaked in yogurt to a smooth and thick paste and stir in baking soda (helps in fermentation, especially in cold weather).
To make sweet surnali, just remove a part of the batter and mix in some powdered jaggery. Add some Turmeric powder; it gives a beautiful color! To the rest of the batter, add some more salt and leave both batters for overnight fermentation. Make soft surnalis the next day.
Enjoy south Indian Konkani style sweet and savory surnalis any time now with my easy recipe!
For more south Indian breakfast, try:
Instant suji/semolina appe etc.
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice
- 2 cups poha
- 2 cups yogurt/curd/dahi
- 1 teaspoon methi/fenugreek seeds
- 1 cup jaggery/unrefined cane sugar
- Baking soda, 2 large pinches
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash well and soak rice and fenugreek seeds in plenty of water for 3 to 5 hours.
- Soak poha/flattened rice in yogurt (use some water if you want if you find the yogurt is too thick) for about ½ an hour.
- In a blender jar, grind or blend soaked and drained rice using a little water.
- Add the soaked poha and blend again without adding more water; you want a thick batter which will dilute after adding jaggery!
- If needed, do stir in some water just to help the blender run.
- You can make the batter in 2 batches.
- Once you get a thick smooth batter, transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- To half the batter, add salt and a large pinch of baking soda.
- To the second half, add jaggery powder (start with 1/3 cup and keep adding more until just sweetened to your liking; do not add too much as then the batter will be too dilute to make pancakes), a pinch of salt and large pinch of baking soda mix well and ferment both batters overnight or 6 to 8 hours, covered.
- Next morning, make dosas on a griddle like you would do pancakes.
- Pour batter on hot griddle and then cook on low heat to allow the surnali to set and create that beautiful porous texture.
- Enjoy!
Notes
If you like only savory ones, do not use jaggery; these turn out like soft, savory set dosa like pancakes.
Do not add too much jaggery which will dilute the batter that it will not spread thick like pancakes. If it does get too dilute, stir in some rava/semolina/suji and problem solved!
This surnali can be roasted on both sides or only one side.
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I was trying to do this dosa from long time .but I didn't n new this recipe...
Thank you 🙂 You should try this easy recipe; surnali come out soft and porous every time!
I have heard about this, and have been meaning to trying it since so long! I think I should try it sooner. Looks fabulous 🙂
You must try this Freda; the best chutney powder to enjoy with dosas and idlis! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
What rice do you use? Raw rice or parboiled rice?
I use regular raw rice. It will not come good with boiled rice.
Regular everyday rice is fine to make with.