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Eating in India: the Dosa

The dosa has got to be one of the India's best street foods. In a place that seems to have invented, or at least perfected the concept of having a quick bite outside, that's pretty high praise.

What you get with a dosa is a thin, enormous crepe folded up to enclose various fillings. The most common variety, the masala dosa, has an outer crepe made of rice and lentil flours. The flours have been fermented overnight, so they have a nice tang that complements the filling: boiled potatoes and onion spiced with mustard seeds, turmeric, curry leaves, and chilies.

Typically, as in the photo above, your dosa will come with a sweet coconut chutney and a small bowl of sambar, a vegetable and lentil soup. The chutney comes in handy for taking away a bit of the heat.

Here in Bangalore, dosa carts are easy to find on busy streets, especially near office buildings -- they ought to be easy to find throughout South India and up through Mumbai. If you're not quite ready for jostling to the front of the line at a street stall, you can also get dosas in lots of more casual, quick restaurants. Don't expect to pay more than 20 rupees or so for one -- the one above cost 12.

This is the second post in a series covering the food I'm eating while staying in Bangalore. For more food and whole bunch more livestock, you might want to check out my personal blog at Bangalore Monkey. -- John Rambow