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Originating in southern India and loved across the country and even overseas, the humble dosa has come a long way. From being made at home to being a popular street food while also being featured on the menus of some of the most coveted restaurants in the world, it has fans everywhere. There is also something immensely therapeutic about watching a dosa being made.
While it is commonly made, it showcases the patience, precision and skills of the maker. From the batter being spread evenly to the neat folding and cutting of the dosa, the entire process is fascinating to watch. It is an art to be able to perfect those swirls to create a perfectly round, thin, crisp, and golden-brown dosa.
Photo Credit: Freepik
Restaurants that specialise in dosa and offer an extensive menu with unending varieties often feature in videos that go viral on the Internet. Street food vendors often display a different level of skill and speed when they make the dosa. Street vendors who put on a show while making dosas, such as spinning the batter in the air or using multiple pans simultaneously, have often managed to capture the interest of viewers. Videos of dosa vending machines, which make dosas automatically have also gone viral, as viewers are amazed at this fascinating use of technology in making a traditional dish.
A recent video of a street-side food stall in Mumbai’s Dadar area surfaced on Instagram and went viral. The speed and swag that the maker of the dosa at Muthu Dosa Corner displayed is what seems to have caught people’s attention recently. He pours the batter onto this large, long dosa tava, flips it when it is brownish, folds it, and cuts it, all at lightning speed. Despite this, the dosa looked evenly cooked.
The highlight, though, was that once the dosa was done, he flung them using his spatula, almost sending them flying to his assistant, who caught them on a plate with the same finesse and promptly filled the plate with chutneys and handed them over to the customer. The video gathered over 12 lakh views and several thousand heart emojis in the comments section. Along with the guy making the dosas, his helper also got a lot of appreciation. Commenting on his skills to ‘catch’ Instagram users, he said that “he should be on the Indian cricket team."
What also caught everyone’s attention was the way multiple dosas were being made simultaneously. A certain section of people, though, found the video gimmicky and said that the focus should be on the quality of the food and not the show. Others also found the speed unnecessary and pointed to some pieces falling off the plate, calling it a “wasteful exercise.”
Video Credit: Hebbars Kitchen
A similar video of a dosa vendor in South Mumbai amused social media users earlier this year. This dosa vendor flung the cooked dosa high up in the air and it landed perfectly on the plate each time. At that time as well, the internet was divided between people who applauded the dosa seller's skills and those who were not impressed.
Someone sarcastically commented that ‘they should have added saffron too,” while some users inquired about the price. In the comments section, one user also said that this was the vendor's livelihood, that he was doing what it took to sell his product and that it was unfair to judge him.
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While traditionalists have been appalled by the variety of dosas being served in cities such as Mumbai and in many cities in North India, these dosas have been popular. The list is endless. From cheese and chocolate to paneer and noodles, these dosas combine different cuisines and create fusion dosas such as the pizza dosa and the Chinese dosa. In Mumbai’s Ghatkopar for example, foodies queue up at stalls in a lane popularly known as the ‘Khau Galli’ to eat the Pav Bhaji Dosa. The dosa is stuffed with the bhaji, usually served with pav in this version.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
While one food vlogger shared a video featuring a street stall vendor making dosas stuffed with dry fruits, the filling of the masala dosa, generously topped with cheese, another one shared a video of a dosa maker in Chandigarh who stuffed the dosa with Gulab Jamuns. In the video, the vendor put three pieces of gulab jamun on the hot dosa batter, smashed them, and spread them evenly. He added coconut flakes, cream, and sugar syrup to this mix and then folded the dosa into a triangle. He topped his dish with more coconut flakes and some cream.
The video went viral but most people reacted negatively, being more shocked about the fact that the vlogger enjoyed this creation. When asked how he came up with this recipe, the dosa vendor said in the video that he created it out of public demand. He said his customers wanted him to make this and he wants to experiment with other sweets like rasgulla in the future.
