firstly, in a large bowl take 3 cup sona masuri rice and ½ tsp methi.
rinse well and soak in enough water for 4 hours.
in another bowl take 1 cup urad dal, 2 tbsp toor dal and 2 tbsp chana dal.
rinse well and soak in enough water for 2 hours.
after soaking dal for 2 hours, drain off the water and transfer to the grinder. you can also grind in mixi if you do not have access to a grinder.
add water as required and blend to smooth paste.
scrape sides. the smooth and fluffy batter will be ready after 40 minutes.
transfer the batter to a large vessel and keep aside.
in the same grinder add soaked rice and 1 cup rinsed poha.
add water slowly and scrape the sides. blend to a coarse paste.
transfer the rice batter to the same urad dal batter.
mix well making sure everything is well combined.
ferment in a warm place for at least 8 hours or until the batter doubles in volume. if you are living in a cold climate, then you can place the batter in the warm oven (just heat the oven until it turns slightly warm and then turn off) to ferment.
once the batter is well fermented, mix gently, without disturbing the air pockets.
transfer 4 cups of fermented batter to a small bowl and add 1 tsp salt.
mix well until the salt is well combined. masala dosa batter is ready. keep aside.