Redefining the Classic 'Dosa'

Culinary Craze

Posing a challenge to these western culinary attractions is the desi dosa — in a jazzy avatar. All because of an innovative venture that goes by the name Dosa Calling or DC as the outlet is popularly known. DC even sports a dosa lab!

That’s right, a dosa lab. Research, inventions and a battery of tests do happen here, only, you get to munch on the products. In fact, everyday, corporate chef of Dosa Calling, Bhaskaran Krishnan proceeds to his dosa lab to try out new concoctions and upgrade earlier ones.

So it is that you see tangy and wacky inventions in dosas with different fillings and flavours like the Sutta Kathrikkai (Smoked brinjal) — with south Indian baingan bharta instead of potatoes, the Soya Keema, Fusion (a fusion of the rich culinary heritage of the North west), the Manchurian (Chinese style), the Szechwan Mushroom Mayo, pasta in south Indian Chettinad sauce, and even an ice-cream! DC now offers a mind boggling 60 varieties of dosas now, and more varieties are on the way. The idea is to repackage the dosa in fancy sauces, flavours, and of course, names.

“The batter formula was taken from the Centre for Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore to get a batter that gives the right crispness and caramelisation”, shares Krishna Kumar, Md, DC. As for the batter recipe, well, it is a secret. There is also a microbiologist at DC to test the shelf life, taste, quality and colour of the batter.

And then of course, most important of all, there is the ultimate test — the edibility test: 75 Café Coffee Day going types — young and old — try these new concoctions and pronounce their verdicts. Some verdicts do go against the lab. For example, the nine grain dosa. The dosa avatars that get a thumbs-up make it to the menu card. Not that DC has done away entirely with the time-tested traditional fare, like the straightforward ghee roast dosa, aappam with coconut milk and stew, oothappam, pesarattu, and of course adai served with jaggery and creamy avial. And a variety of adais at that — the masala, coconut, ginger, spinach.

There is even variety in choice of the batter base — ragee, cholam, kambu and wheat. “The idea is to discover dosa in all its possibilities”, Bhaskaran Krishnan says. DC offers soups and the like too, to complete the cosmopolitan culinary circuit.

Now, five DC outlets across Chennai sell dosas like hot cakes, with home delivery services too. “The reason all our outlets are doing well is because of our centralised kitchen, with food dispatched from here once every four hours”, informs Krishnan. DC restaurants stick to simple functional decor— slick, but not swanky. And the price range is especially inviting.

Perhaps this will work in DC’s favour, somewhat on the lines of Indian software firms providing high quality software at a fraction of the charges quoted by western firms. Krishanan’s parting line, “The reason we chose to focus on the dosa is because we found that dosa has a universal appeal. And pizzas are not rally good for us”. 

Krishnan, Krishna Kumar and Gopinath, a director of DC happen to be old classmates (of BSc catering technology at SN Arts College in Coimbatore), who met up long after they left college. Dosa Calling is now thinking big.

With five outlets launched in the last year, an ambitious 300 more outlets in cities across the country have been planned for the next two years, and an ambitious 700 outlets around the world is DC’s ultimate vision. “Anybody should  be able to access a dosa, whenever and wherever in the world he might be”, says Krishnan.

Is this India’s culinary retort to the invasion of burgers, pizzas and pasta?
Are we going to see the humble dosa take over the fast food world the way Chinese noodles, Italian pizza and American burgers have done? Well, maybe, nothing can stop a dosa whose time has come.