South Indian

Uttapam (Thick Savory Rice Pancake)

Name: Uttapam (Thick Savory Rice Pancake)
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: South Indian
Ingredients: 4 cups dosa batter (rice and urad dal, store-bought or home-fermented); 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 tomato, finely chopped; 2 green chilies, finely chopped; 1/4 cup chopped cilantro; 4 tbsp neutral oil; 1/2 tsp salt

Lakshmi @lakshmi_chennai

Uttapam (Thick Savory Rice Pancake) is South Indian home cooking, eaten at breakfast and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.

25 min Easy Low sodium Vegetarian Vegan Halal Gluten free Dairy free Pescatarian

Ingredients

Serves

The quantities follow this count.

4 cups dosa batter (rice and urad dal, store-bought or home-fermented)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
2 green chilies, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
4 tbsp neutral oil
1/2 tsp salt

How to cook it

Most households use the same store-bought or home-fermented batter for uttapam as for dosa, just kept a little thicker and unspread.
Heat a flat griddle over medium and pour a ladle of batter, spreading it gently into a thick circle without thinning it out too far.
Scatter a spoonful of onion, tomato, green chilies, and cilantro over the top and press them in lightly with the back of the ladle.
Drizzle oil around the edges and cook covered until the base is golden and the top looks set, about 4 minutes.
Flip carefully and cook the other side for 2 minutes, then serve hot.

Watch how to cook Uttapam (Thick Savory Rice Pancake)

Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.

Serve it with

A South Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Uttapam (Thick Savory Rice Pancake), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.

What it is eaten with
- Bajra Bhakri (Pearl Millet Flatbread)
  
  35 min
The sharp little thing
- Coconut Chutney
  
  15 min
Something cool and fresh
- Fried Vadam
  
  10 min

A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.

Safe at your table

Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Uttapam (Thick Savory Rice Pancake) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.

Every tracked allergen in Uttapam (Thick Savory Rice Pancake)
Allergen	In this dish
Peanuts	No
Tree nuts	No
Dairy	No
Gluten	No
Shellfish	No
Eggs	No
Soy	No
Fish	No
Sesame	No
Coconut	No

These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.

What it brings to the plate

Estimated, per serving

Calories: 350 kcal
Protein: 7 g
Carbs: 40 g
Fat: 18 g
Fiber: 3 g
Sugar: 3 g
Sodium: 390 mg
Saturated fat: 3 g

Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.

When to cook it

Uttapam (Thick Savory Rice Pancake) takes about 25 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is easy going. It is eaten at breakfast and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.