Andrew Coppolino on why you need to try a dosa

There are dozens of Indian restaurants in Waterloo region and Wellington County where you can eat your fill of pakoras, samosas, masalas and biryanis.

For the most part, what you find are primarily the dishes and cuisines of the north of the Indian subcontinent. What is harder to find but is simply delicious is the dosa, a favourite dish of south India including regions like Chennai, Kerala and Hyderabad.

• Read more from CBC K-W food columnist Andrew Coppolino

The blini, the blintz, the cannoli and the tortillaall have something in common with the dosa. It's athin-cooked batter rolled around a variety of ingredients from paneer cheese to onions and potatoesand even scrambled eggs. Traditionally, the dosa is eaten as the first meal of the day, according to Waterloo chef and restaurateur Shiri Madireddy.

"It's breakfast in south India and very popular. It's like a crpe and is made with rice and lentils. There are many different fillings, but the most famous is the masala with potato and curry inside," saidMadireddy, who has operated Shiri's Kitchen in Waterloo for just over four years.

Crispy and lacy

While the dosa is made from rice and lentils, it's not as simple as merely blending flours. Rice (Madireddy would not disclose what type they use) and lentils are soaked and fermented overnight and then ground into a paste before being thinned out into a loose white batter, which is poured onto a hot flat-top and spread out in a thin circular base like a crpe.

Seasonings such as mustard seed and tamarind are added as well as vegetable or chicken fillings before the dosa is twice folded onto itself forming a foot-long cone or tube. The outside is crisp and lacy; the interior moist and just slightly chewy for a pleasing texture contrast.

Dosas, which can be described as medium heat when it comes to spice, are traditionally served with a few chutneys including coconut and a thin lentil and vegetable dipping "soup" called sambhar. They usually cost under $10.

Street food in India

At Amaya Express in downtown Kitchener, Avinash Piradi describes a similar process as the one Madireddy uses for their masala dosa; his isseasoned with ginger and mustard seed.

"Dosas are a street food of south India," Piradi said. "Our batter is urad dhal (black lentils) and basmati rice that soak overnight and are ground into a paste before being cooked in a dosa pan."

The dosa pan, not surprisingly, looks a lot like a crpe pan.

Before one dies, one needs to try adosa.- Waterloo chef and restaurateurThiru Maran

And like a crpe, dosas are a versatile blank canvass. While it's hard to pin down precise origins and definitive ingredients India is a country with more than one billion people and many different regions a proper dosa represents time and work for what is essentially a street food snack; there might be dozens of kinds of dosas depending on the region.

"We serve about 10 to 12 styles," Madireddysaid. "The most popular is Mysore (a city in southernmost Karnataka state) with masala potato and served with spicy red chili chutney. We also prepare egg bhurgi dosa, which is scrambled egg."

Try different varieties

Thiru Maran at Classic Indian Restaurant in Waterloo goes through a similar preparation before serving his dosas with classic fillings like masala or variations thereof; he saidthe restaurant serves south Indian dishes or adds southern twists to northern dishes.

"Before one dies, one needs to try a dosa,"Maransaid, exhorting diners to eat this south Indian dish that is rather rare in and around Waterloo region.

"Some people like to spice it up, so we make a chilli and cheese dosa which has paneer and shredded mozzarella. The vindaloo really cranks up the heat."

Whatever the filling inside, fresh ingredients are key to a great dosa, Madireddy said. And taking the time to wash and soak the rice and lentils for up to 10 hours before grinding the mixture for at least 30 minutes to make a batter that fries to only a few millimetres thin.

The results of that effort are indeed compelling, and Madireddy would agree.

"On a Friday night and Saturday, we will make over a hundred dosas," she said. "People like to try two or three varieties each time."