Neer dose ( a thin rice pancake)

This is literally translated from kannada into english by many restaurants these days giving us a hilarious translation of "Water dose". Although "Neer" does mean water in kannada, it actually is a dosa made with a very watery batter. As a kid, neer dose was a breakfast I simply hated. I used to wonder how people enjoy eating it. My perspective totally changed when I had this with the local Mangalorean midigai pickle (it is small raw mangoes pickled whole) at a distant relatives place once. I don't even remember the relative, but I do remember how it felt to eat the neer dose with that pickle. I still think that is probably the most wonderful combination. I knew only one type of neer dose my mom used to make before I came to Bangalore. Bangalore serves this simple dish in various styles. Some add coconut to it, while some cook it differently, some serve it with freshly grated coconut and jaggery, some with regular chutney. Although, each of these does taste nice, I think what we eat as kids is always considered the best by us. So here goes the recipe for the simplest neer dose...

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Water - 5 cups
Salt
Oil for frying

Method:

Wash and soak the rice in 2-3 cups water overnight.
In the morning, drain out the water and grind the rice finely with very little water in a mixer/grinder.
Add salt and 1.5 cups of water to the rice batter.
The consistency of the batter should be around that of buttermilk.
Add more water if needed.
Heat a dosa tava/griddle. Grease the tava.
Once tha tava is hot, pour a spoonful of the batter on the tava.
Cover and cook until done. It should be done in 1-2 mins.
Generally, neer dose is cooked only on one side and isn't flipped on the tava.
If you feel it isn't cooking all the way through to the top, you may flip it and cook it.
Serve hot with coconut chutney or pickle