Our friend Vinu has told us many times that there is a difference between southern India cooking and northern India cooking. He is from the south of India and says that most all the Indian Restaurants in America cook northern India style. Last week he took us to a southern India restaurant called Chennai Masala. And yes, Vinu is right the food is different.
We ordered a family size dosa. Yep, I think something 3 feet long would definitely qualify as 'family size'.
Dosas are made from rice flour. The menu said, "A large lacy delicately browned crepe". After tearing off a piece there were several sauces to use as dips or to eat with the dosa. My personal favorite was the potato & onion masala. A sort of Indian style mashed potatoes, spicy and delicious!
We also had poori.
These are lightly puffed, deep fried wheat bread, again served with the Potato Masala. Yum! Are you surprised when I say that I gained 2 1/2 pounds the day we went here?
I LOVE Southern Indian food! That's great that you found a wonderful restaurant. Dosas are so yummy. Sometime you'll have to try idly too. I think it's the same batter as the dosa, but they make it into a little spongy cake/ patty type of thing. That's what we had for breakfast almost every morning when we were in Southern India. Our favorite thing though was the parothas from a little stand outside the village. They were 25 cents a piece (so not an everyday treat there on our budget!) but a few parathas with sauce on a banana leaf-- like heaven! I haven't seen it replicated here well at all, maybe it was a local specialty. This is making me want Indian food!!
ReplyDeleteTerrah, next time you're in Portland you should definitely go to Chennai Masala....and I'll come too!
ReplyDeleteYUM!!! If I ever get to visit you I want to eat there.
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