Masala Dosa, a State of Mind

Surfing through the web yesterday I came across a photo essay on Falafels, the way they are made and eaten in different parts of the world…which then lead my mind to wonder as to what would qualify for India’s national dish ? Of course, while one lives in India, that is Bharat, every region or street will lay claim to a special dish…thus, for the Bengali, Macher Jhol (fish curry would be a plebeian, non-Bengali way of describing Macher jhol); for the Gujerati, Undhia (cooked vegetables would be again a plebeian, non-Gujerati description); for the Keralite, Avial (vegetables cooked in a coconut gravy to the non-Keralite, God’s Nectar to the Keralite) and so on…

However, as we all know once we have crossed Kala Pani (Indian expression for crossing the oceans), for the outside world everyone is Indian, or, ‘Hindi’ as they call you, somewhat derisively in the Middle East. (I had a Tamilian friend who, like all proud Tamilians of the ‘60s, did not speak a work of Hindi, till, a taxi driver in Bahrain asked him, “kaisa Hindi hai tum ? Hindi nahin bolta hai…’ What sort of a ‘Hindi’ –Indian- are you that you do not speak Hindi…?) And so, for the outside world, which makes no distinction between Hindis and Pakis, what would emerge as the national or food of the subcontinent ?

Given current trends in the UK where, for two and hundred and fifty years of the Raj, Indians (and Bangladeshis, in the main) have now replaced roast beef and yorkshire pudding with chicken tikka as the national dish of Old Blightey, one would think that chicken tikka and/or chicken tandoori would be top of the list. Be that as it may, as we all know, apna Bharat mahan hai (India is great) and diverse. One significant element of this diversity is that there is a significant number of people from among the one billion plus subcontinenters who will not eat anything that walks…in fact, in the old Madras state (now Tamil Nadu) hotels for the vegetarians would be denoted as Civil Hotels, as opposed to the Military Hotels for the carnivores…the principle being that meat was served in the Army, hence Military Hotels as opposed to Civil, or vegetarian hotels…there used to be a further subdivision of Brahmin hotels among the Civil hotels...which I shall not go into for now...

And, if one were to take a look at what the Civil Hotels have to offer, the Dosa makes the top of the list…particularly when we look at Civil Hotels outside of India…

I have seen the dosa variously described by Civil Hotels outside of India trying to market their wares to the western clientele. The most common description is that of ‘crepe made of rice and lentils.’ More important than the dosa itself are its accompaniments, the coconut chutney, the sambar (a lentil based gravy), and, of course, the crowning glory, the milagai podi. Travelling in HongKong, I once saw milagai podi described as ‘chilli powder mixed with spices and garnished with oil…’ A much easier and more understandable way of describing milagai podi is simply, “Gunpowder” It takes some courage and fortitude for the average westerner not brought up on a wholesome diet of green and red chillies to make oral contact with “Gunpowder.”

There is a school of thought among some women who have moved to western climes from India that they will never eat Indian food outside of their homes, as they fancy themselves the best Indian chefs and that no one can make Indian food better. I shall not comment on that school of thought. What is more important is that on Saturday or Sunday morning when Indian Udipi style restaurants open their doors in Mississauga, Ontario or Sunnyvale, California, there is generally a line up of ex Besant Nagar, Ballygunge, Karol Bagh, Matunga (all Indian suburbs with predominantly South Indian populations) residents waiting outside to get a whiff of their favourite food.

Subcontinenters living outside of the subcontinent reconnect to their roots in different ways. For some it is the music they grew up on, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh et al…For some it is the religion they grew up with…Living overseas I have always been impressed with the number of tam-brahm houses that arrange for the chanting of the Vishnu Sahasranama (an ancient chant giving the thousand names of Vishnu) outside of India…For those like me with less artistic or spiritual leanings, it is the food…

Walk into any Indian restaurant and you can see the regulars…for them, the food is their raison d’etre, the reason for being…I have seen some of them go away on business trips, only to be separated from their favourite food, be it chicken tikka masala or masala dosa, and, stumble into their favourite food haunt a few weeks later with a zombie like look on their face…once the body has received the nourishment it was deprived of while living off bagels and salads, and, the masalas start doing their trick once again, the person can start talking rocket science once again…

My son spent last year in France, studying at a global business school…when he was coming home after six months in France we asked him what he wanted, expecting him to ask for some exotic French cuisine to be served with red wine…Dosa with sambar was the instant chat line reply…and boy, for the next six weeks he lived off dosas…

Which then, makes me wonder is the Masala Dosa (or chicken tikka) a food, or, a state of mind ?