Dosa – A famous South Indian dish to die for!
Updated: Dec 6, 2021
An evening walk in the south Indian cities like Chennai, Bengaluru or Hyderabad, you would feel the hunger triggered by the smell of roasting butter. If you follow your instinct, one would definitely love to give a try on this lip smacking Dosa, a south Indian delicacy. Whether you would like to eat in a classy restaurant or a quick service eat out or a street food vendor, Dosa is a “must in menu” in this part of the world. One serving is filling enough and one would remember and enjoy the taste for many years!! I am sure.
So, what is Dosa, really? It is often compared or described as a “rice pancake”. However, apart from visual resemblance, Dosa(s) are quite different from western pancakes. Dosa(s) are made of rice and lentils. The batter is fermented overnight before it is actually used for preparation of Dosa. It is generally served freshly, greased with ghee or butter along with hot sambar and chutney. The crispy nature of Dosa stuffed with vegetable fillings (generally potato), coupled with butter / ghee and mildly spiced chutney makes it delicious. Very.
Dosa is very popular in the southern states of India, as it is very simple to prepare, very tasty and has a good nutritional value. In fact, you can feel proud that you are tasting a dish, which has a history of about 20 centuries! Or may be even more! Really? And yes. Historians have found the references of Dosa in the literature referencing to 1st century AD. It is believed that the crispy Dosa was originated in present today’s “Udupi” district of Karnataka. Otherwise, a thicker version of Dosa was already there in the then Tamil country. Wow!!
Well, coming back to the dish, there is no dearth of creativity in our Indian chefs. Dosa is quite adaptable to cater both vegetarian enthusiasts as well as meat lovers. As such, Dosa has taken different variety forms based on the regional practices within southern India. Each of these variety comes with its own unique and unmatched taste.
Below are a few variety to tickle your taste buds.
Mysore Masala Dosa is the most famous one among all the other Dosa(s). This is a must try in a south Indian restaurant. Golden brown, crispy and tasty Dosa topped with a spoonful of ghee comes with cooked potato and onion stuffing along with a layer red colored chutney inside of it. Hot sambar and chutney made of mint leaves makes it perfect combination for a delicious treat.
Mouth watery, filling and nutritious!!
Neeru Dose is a famous one from Mangalore, a south western district of Karnataka. Made of soaked rice and grated coconut, topped with ghee is quicker one amongst Dosa. Soft, white and thin nature of this Dosa makes it very special. This one is accompanied with a sweet prepared with grated coconut and spicy chutney. There are a few places which serve this with sweet payasam prepared out of khus-khus.
One can eat as many as five to six Dosas at once!!
Davanagere Benne Dosa is another form of Dosa. As the name suggests, this form of Dosa comes from Davanagere, one of the central districts of Karnataka. This is a unique Dosa because of the method of it’s preparation. This Dosa is roasted with multiple small scoops of butter applied throughout. A plain potato stuffing inside, accompanied with a spicy chutney makes it lip smacking and delicious.
I bet you can’t eat just one!!
Open Dosa / Pudi Dosa is popularly available along with Davanagere Benne Dosa. Whilst the preparation of the Dosa using butter scoop remains in this, chutney powder sprinkled throughout which makes the Dosa very spicy.
Of course, you can get extra butter to treat your taste buds.
Paper Masala Dosa is another interesting one. This is a very thin, crispy and full table length. Almost like one person can start eating from one corner and the other person can start eating from another. This is no different from the regular masala Dosa, however, a lot crispier and tastier!
I am sure you will enjoy the togetherness with this Dosa!!
Above few are the most popular ones, there are many other Dosa. Whist Vegetarians enjoy Rava Dosa, Onion Dosa, Cheese Dosa and many others, non-vegetarians have fun with Egg Dosa, Chicken Dosa and many more. Innovative chefs continue to create newer and tastier Dosas to treat the food enthusiasts. In fact, you might have seen or heard about one of the popular street food, 100 variety Dosa, again Chefs at their innovative best!
Do you get the authentic Dosa everywhere?
India is known for its diversity; every state, city has its own local delicacies. Many south Indian restaurants sprawled up across India to capitalize on the popularity of the famous delicacies. Over time the food business got commercialized and the real authentic taste went missing. However, there are still few iconic or well-known places where the tradition has been maintained over decades to serve the best and the authentic food. Such places have become talk of the town and are always hoarded by the locals and tourist to have a dig into their scrumptious food. They mostly stayed local and hence majority of the food lovers across the country were deprived from the authentic food and the real taste.
Solution to this challenge?
Snackaro, a famous food company, is solving exactly this problem for the food lovers across country. Snackaro promotes local and authentic food delicacies from one small corners of the country to another. Snackaro helps the local, small and the famous food vendors to expand their business and at the same time it’s helping the aspiring entrepreneurs to setup their own successful food business. Using our unique business model, which is tried and tested over years, we are building restaurant brands that serve the authentic, tasty and affordable street food to satisfy your taste buds. Our innovative concept, experienced team and market understanding makes it a very successful, scalable and profitable business opportunity for the food vendors as well as aspiring entrepreneurs.
Well, it’s time for us to have one of the above forms of Dosa!
Of course, don’t forget to have a coffee after your Dosa!! Enjoy!!
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