(Last Updated on Mar 10, 2024)

Food is a huge part of the overall travel experience. Every place in the world has its signature dishes – food that is made better there than anywhere else. Whether it is the falafel of Amman or the kulcha of Amritsar or the vada pav of Mumbai or the croissant of Paris – once you’ve eaten them in their home ground, everywhere else seems inferior. Then there are foods that are adopted by different people who give their own twists to them. Today, we talk about one such food.

I woke up this Sunday with a craving. Sadly, we didn’t have the raw material to make it at home. And we couldn’t go out as other plans were already made. Basically, this blog is not a story of how I went about successfully fulfilling my craving. In fact, I take you through most of the versions I’ve encountered and how I loved (almost) all of them! This is one thing I could eat every meal of the day, most days of the week. Yes, I’m talking about the DOSA!

Dosa is a dish that instantly connects me to my childhood. My mother used to make the best dosas in the world – crispy but not lethal (yes, some dosas can be lethal – we’ll come to that), with the perfect amount of ghee and paired with some amazing versions of the versatile coconut chutney. No matter which restaurant we went to, nothing could beat this simple yet elegant version of the dosa. Over the years, my mother has changed her style of dosas but I’ve figured out how to replicate the OG version. Now, my favourite “nostalgic version” of dosa is the one that I make <humble brag>.

Then there is the version that my grandmother makes – these are not crispy. They are smaller, soft and chubby (more appropriate than “fluffy”). They go by various names – thattu dosa (the kind you get in “thattu kada”s, the local shops in Kerala) and set dosa (as they are known in Karnataka). I was never a fan of them as a kid – “a dosa that is not crispy is not a dosa at all!”, “Don’t even call it a dosa. Go, call it an uthappam!”. But with age, I’ve started developing a liking for them. In fact, a couple of months back when we were travelling in Kerala, we stopped at a thattu kada for a tea and snacks. We also ordered some dosa. Within minutes, a plate of 3 piping hot dosas arrived swimming in a pool of red coconut chutney – I distinctly remember that I devoured at least 5-6 such dosas. 20-year-old me would not have touched that plate for a variety of reasons!

Spending my early years in Madurai, I had the chance to sample some really amazing dosas. One dosa that is strongly part of my memory is the “cone dosa”. Once the dosa was ready, they would cut one side of it and fold it into a conical shape. It would look like the server was bringing a hat to the table. It was an adventure to finish off this dosa. Should we start from the top of the cone? Or the side? Or should we just lay it on the plate and flatten the thing? That would be such a travesty! I’ve tried every possible permutation and each time the dosa was just as delicious. I visit A2B (a restaurant chain in Bangalore) from time to time to rekindle these memories by ordering their ghee roast dosa (that’s not conical but the taste is very similar). And one thing about Tamil Nadu dosas – the sambar is the way it SHOULD be – NOT sweet!

I had my next big variation of dosa when I moved to Surathkal, Mangalore for engineering. Dosas there, by default, had a spicy red powder completely pasted inside. Why?? It took some time to get used to it. I tried asking them to skip the powder and got the dirtiest looks – “which planet did this alien come from?”. Given that the neighbouring Udupi is considered the birthplace of the masala dosa, I can concede on this point. And the other jarring component – the sambar was sweet! Why would a savoury item be sweet? It’s been almost 14 years living in Karnataka and I still keep the sweet sambar at arm’s length and prefer a refill of chutney instead. However, I’ve developed a liking for the so-called “gunpowder” that goes in the dosa. Apparently, this is what “Mysore Masala Dosa” is – with the powder. Let’s take a trip to Mysore to verify this! 

At Mysore, we looked for the Old Original Vinayaka Mylari hotel (yes, “Old Original” is part of their name). We wanted to see the original version of the powder-laden masala dosa. And guess what? THERE WAS NO POWDER! And the masala didn’t even have potatoes! What a scam! The entire world was eating “Mysore” dosa with spicy red powder and potato filling but Mysore itself didn’t care about it. It was too funny!

When you go up north, there are problems right at the raw material stage. They usually don’t get the batter to ferment as much as they should – leading to dosas that look like dosas but are dry and bland. Dosas in the north are the same as chapatis in the south – very tough to find a good one. Luckily with plenty of migration happening on both sides, the options have become better. But you still need to look for them!

And finally, we get to Bangalore. Nam and I actively go around looking for nice breakfast places. We discovered the “crispy outside but fluffy inside” dosa of Vidyarthi Bhavan in Basavanagudi, the lethally crispy Butter Paper Masala Dosa – the giant dosa which breaks into shards that will most certainly cut open the inside of your cheeks, the reliable and tasty MTR dosa among others. Then there’s the 99-variety dosa carts which serve “corn paneer dosa” as well as “paneer corn dosa” – an easy way to get the count to 99! Also, there are the “specialty” versions – the “swimming in ghee” varieties from places like Umesh and Rameshwaram.

Then, of course, there are other varieties like the neer dosa (which pairs so well with chicken ghee roast), rava dosa, ragi dosa, ada dosa and others. While they are good in their own way, I don’t consider them a part of the OG dosa family. Hence, they are omitted. Apologies if you got offended.

This particular Sunday, my craving was specific – the “swimming in ghee” Umesh dosa. As I mentioned at the beginning, there is no dosa at the end of this blog. Only a bunch of thoughts. I’m sorry if you expected the recipe for a perfect dosa but I’ll leave that to Krish Ashok. I’ll probably go and buy a packet of dosa batter and whip up a few dosas that are perfect to my liking – medium sized, slightly crispy on the outside, not too soft inside and just the right amount of ghee. And paired with some white coconut chutney! Yum!

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