An Ode to Dosa
Continuing with the series of extracts from the book, FoodSutra: A Memoir of the Foods of India
There are dosa fanatics all over India. I am one of them, even if an unlikely one, given that I was born and brought up in the east of the country. As a true fan, I’ve never eaten a bad dosa: in my experience, all dosas are either good or excellent. In a restaurant review a few years ago, I read masala dosa being described as ‘this is what heaven looks like when fashioned from carbohydrate’. My feelings exactly! It is one dish that I get cravings for regularly. The great thing is that because of its popularity, it has not been difficult to find a dosa restaurant near home in the cities that I’ve lived in, in India and outside India. In fact, for a number of years, our home in London was a short driving distance to not one but three south Indian restaurants, each serving multiple varieties of dosa. Bliss! One of those even did home delivery. This was the same south Indian restaurant that I had convinced to make aloo parathas for me, on the sound principle that I could get both my food fixes from one place. My current vendor is a Keralan restaurant. When I call to place a takeaway order for lunch, on hearing my voice the manager straightaway responds, “One masala dosa, sir?”.
My love for dosa is reflected in the book – the dish gets mentioned many times across multiple chapters.
Extract from the Chapter 6 Tamil Nadu: Idli, Dosa, Sambar and beyond
Dosa, also spelt dosai or dose, is a made from a fermented batter of rice and urad daal (black gram or lentil). The batter takes time to prepare and ferment; the rice and daal need to be soaked before being ground into a thick paste and then the paste needs to be left to ferment for at least eight to twelve hours. So, dosa is definitely not an ‘on-demand’ dish at home. When the batter is ready, a scoopful is evenly spread into a thin circular shape over a hot tawa or griddle and cooked in oil or ghee. The cooked dish is like a crepe in appearance, cooked to a semi-crisp and golden finish. The finish is a key element of quality in dosa. It should be in between a roti and a papad in crispiness. If it cracks off like a papad, it’s not good; nor should it feel too soft and rubbery.
The basic dosa, without any stuffing inside, is called a Plain dosa. The most common stuffed dosa is called Masala dosa. It is stuffed with a spicy potato and onion mix, which is prepared separately and added to the dosa in the final stages of cooking. Here ‘masala’ refers to the potato stuffing, which can be misleading as the word masala generally refers to a mix of spices. Dosa is served folded over in halves or thirds, sometimes in cones, with the stuffing inside. It is always served with at least a coconut chutney and, in Tamil Nadu, with Sambar, another staple of south Indian food, which is described later.
There are many different types of dosas. You can add almost any fried food as a stuffing inside the dosa. The traditional varieties are all vegetarian and include onion dosa, paneer dosa, ghee dosa, ghee masala dosa, rava dosa, paper dosa, podi dosa, Mysore masala dosa, set dosa, neer dosa, etc. Most are named after the stuffing, but some need a bit more description.
Rava dosa is made of a batter of rava (another name for sooji or semolina) with rice and maida. Unlike the rice and lentil batter, the rava dosa batter does not need to be fermented; this makes it the go-to-choice when dosa needs to be made on a short notice. Rava dosa looks different from the regular dosa. It is not as smooth and golden in appearance and has minute holes. It can be made plain or with stuffing. When the stuffing is similar to the mix used for masala dosa, you get rava masala dosa.
A visually striking type is Paper dosa. Its name denotes its thinness and, as if to compensate, it is spread into a very large size, 50 – 60 cm in diameter. It is always a sight when brought to the table from the kitchen, at home or in a restaurant. I always feel a bit embarrassed when I order a paper dosa as it invariably draws everyone’s attention to what you are eating. A plus point is that it is easily shared. In my college days, it was not uncommon to see courting couples sharing a paper dosa by eating from each end. You do strange things when you are young.
Podi dosa is somewhat less well known outside the southern states. It gets its name from podi chutney which is applied to the dosa as it is being cooked. This chutney, also called idli podi, is often served as a separate chutney with idli. Its main ingredient is red chilli, though coconut and tamarind give it a more complex taste than a plain red chilli paste. But make no mistake, it can be sharp and this dosa mostly appeals to people who can handle the heat.
There are dosa fanatics all over India. I am one of them, even if an unlikely one, given that I was born and brought up in the east of the country. As a true fan, I’ve never eaten a bad dosa: in my experience, all dosas are either good or excellent. In a restaurant review a few years ago, I read masala dosa being described as ‘this is what heaven looks like when fashioned from carbohydrate’. My feelings exactly! It is one dish that I get cravings for regularly. The great thing is that because of its popularity, it has not been difficult to find a dosa restaurant near home in the cities that I’ve lived in, in India and outside India. In fact, for a number of years, our home in London was a short driving distance to not one but three south Indian restaurants, each serving multiple varieties of dosa. Bliss! One of those even did home delivery. This was the same south Indian restaurant that I had convinced to make aloo parathas for me, on the sound principle that I could get both my food fixes from one place. My current vendor is a Keralan restaurant. When I call to place a takeaway order for lunch, on hearing my voice the manager straightaway responds, “One masala dosa, sir?”.
My love for dosa is reflected in the book – the dish gets mentioned many times across multiple chapters.
Extract from the Chapter 6 Tamil Nadu: Idli, Dosa, Sambar and beyond
Dosa, also spelt dosai or dose, is a made from a fermented batter of rice and urad daal (black gram or lentil). The batter takes time to prepare and ferment; the rice and daal need to be soaked before being ground into a thick paste and then the paste needs to be left to ferment for at least eight to twelve hours. So, dosa is definitely not an ‘on-demand’ dish at home. When the batter is ready, a scoopful is evenly spread into a thin circular shape over a hot tawa or griddle and cooked in oil or ghee. The cooked dish is like a crepe in appearance, cooked to a semi-crisp and golden finish. The finish is a key element of quality in dosa. It should be in between a roti and a papad in crispiness. If it cracks off like a papad, it’s not good; nor should it feel too soft and rubbery.
The basic dosa, without any stuffing inside, is called a Plain dosa. The most common stuffed dosa is called Masala dosa. It is stuffed with a spicy potato and onion mix, which is prepared separately and added to the dosa in the final stages of cooking. Here ‘masala’ refers to the potato stuffing, which can be misleading as the word masala generally refers to a mix of spices. Dosa is served folded over in halves or thirds, sometimes in cones, with the stuffing inside. It is always served with at least a coconut chutney and, in Tamil Nadu, with Sambar, another staple of south Indian food, which is described later.
There are many different types of dosas. You can add almost any fried food as a stuffing inside the dosa. The traditional varieties are all vegetarian and include onion dosa, paneer dosa, ghee dosa, ghee masala dosa, rava dosa, paper dosa, podi dosa, Mysore masala dosa, set dosa, neer dosa, etc. Most are named after the stuffing, but some need a bit more description.
Rava dosa is made of a batter of rava (another name for sooji or semolina) with rice and maida. Unlike the rice and lentil batter, the rava dosa batter does not need to be fermented; this makes it the go-to-choice when dosa needs to be made on a short notice. Rava dosa looks different from the regular dosa. It is not as smooth and golden in appearance and has minute holes. It can be made plain or with stuffing. When the stuffing is similar to the mix used for masala dosa, you get rava masala dosa.
A visually striking type is Paper dosa. Its name denotes its thinness and, as if to compensate, it is spread into a very large size, 50 – 60 cm in diameter. It is always a sight when brought to the table from the kitchen, at home or in a restaurant. I always feel a bit embarrassed when I order a paper dosa as it invariably draws everyone’s attention to what you are eating. A plus point is that it is easily shared. In my college days, it was not uncommon to see courting couples sharing a paper dosa by eating from each end. You do strange things when you are young.
Podi dosa is somewhat less well known outside the southern states. It gets its name from podi chutney which is applied to the dosa as it is being cooked. This chutney, also called idli podi, is often served as a separate chutney with idli. Its main ingredient is red chilli, though coconut and tamarind give it a more complex taste than a plain red chilli paste. But make no mistake, it can be sharp and this dosa mostly appeals to people who can handle the heat.
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