A dosa (known locally as dosey, dosaë, dosai, dosha, dose, or dhosa) is a thin, savoury crepe in Indian cuisine made from a fermented batter of ground black gram and rice.

According to food historian K. T. Achaya, references in the Sangam literature suggest that dosa was already in use in the ancient Tamil country around the first century CE.

[4] A recipe for dosa can be found in Manasollasa, a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopedia compiled by Someshvara III, who ruled from present-day Karnataka.

In New Delhi, the Madras Hotel in Connaught Place became one of the first restaurants to serve South Indian cuisine.

[9][10] Tirunelveli and Tuticorin merchants who settled there were instrumental in the spreading of South Indian cookery across the island by opening restaurants (vegetarian hotels) to meet initially the needs of the emigrant population.

The standard transliterations and pronunciations of the word in various South Indian languages are: Dosa is high in carbohydrates and contains no added sugars.

[16] A mixture of rice and white gram that has been soaked in water for at least 4–5 hours is ground finely to form a batter.

The mixture of white grams and rice can be replaced with highly refined wheat flour or semolina.