Sunil Laxman talks about his quest for the perfect dosa. For my part, I’m still trying to adapt my cooking style to the new mix I started using. My dosas are not perfect. That’s for sure!

I recently went from using papadums to using papads to accompany my sambar (or I should say: to accompany the sambar I pull of a can because I’m Mr. Lazy when it comes to cooking). I find that I prefer the papads… even though I tend to burn them a bit.

I changed brands for my dosa mix and it seems that this brand behaves a bit differently than the previous brand I used… My dosas tonight were pitiful to look at. I thought of posting a picture but I don’t think I could bear the shame of displaying the barely recognizable mass of stuff I ended up with.

If only dosa mixes were regulated by an ISO standard… If only…

Of course it doesn’t help that I’ve never been properly instructed in the art of cooking dosas. Might as well ask a monkey.

Magesh warns his readers of some taxi drivers in Mumbai swindling their clients by switching notes. I’m surprised nobody ever tried to pull this on me in the US given that American paper currency looks pretty much all the same. I mean, the differences between the various notes are not as visible as with Canadian currency, for instance, where notes of different values are of a completely different color. That’s the kind of system I was raised on so when I came to the US, I had to learn to take a good look at what I hand out to cashiers because color was no longer enough to know what I was doing. I know I made a mistake at least once since an honest cashier once returned the money I just gave her while noting my error.

Well, that’s just a good reminder to be on the lookout, no matter where you are because individuals and corporations are after your money and some of them will resort to dishonesty to get it.

Arvind says:

Am I the only one who feels an uncontrollable rage when my dosas (South Indian pancake-like delicacy, if you’ve never tasted them) don’t come out in one piece? After all, they taste the same either way.

Most of the time my dosas come out in one piece… but not always. No uncontrollable rage here when they don’t. I think mine are a bit on the thick side though. It seems those I get in good Indian restaurants are thinner than mine. Since I’m lazy, I use one of those pre-made mixes that only need water. I found that adding a bit more water than required helps with spreading the batter in the pan.

One of these days, I’ll have to try a dosa with maple syrup. Yeah… I know… sacrilegious!