Potato Masala Dosa Stuffing
Bring a taste of South Indian cuisine to your own kitchen.
The Spice of South India
South Indian food is finally making its way to the spotlight on Vancouver Island
Awoken as the train jerks suddenly, I am greeted by the miles of swaying coconut trees beyond the window of my train traveling down the southwest coast of India. Outside, the monsoon rain drenches the lush paddy fields teeming with rice; inside, the rain pours through the poorly sealed windows and trickles down the walls of my cabin as waiters move briskly down the aisle, hands full with dishes made from the rice we're passing by: dosa, idli, vada and uttapam.
I gather by the meals being served that it is early morning, because though gaining traction in Canada as options for lunch and dinner, these fermented rice and lentil fares are traditional South Indian breakfast foods. Served with spicy vegetable curry, coconut chutney, fiery tomato and tamarind sauce, South India greets the light of day with a powerhouse of spice alongside a steaming cup of chai.
Indian food's growing popularity in Western Canada
For Indians, spice is the ultimate comfort. So when Punjabi immigrants came to British Columbia in the early 1900s, it was natural for them to set up restaurants serving comfort food that took them back, if only momentarily, to a more familiar table halfway around the world.
Since then, North Indian food has enjoyed a dominant reputation in the Western Canadian culinary experience. Influenced in large part by Central Asian trading, North Indian food relies heavily on Mughlai (Indo-Persian flavours) and is made rich through the addition of dairy to fatty meat dishes. Its relatively milder profile curried favour with the British who brought it to England, where chicken tikka masala has for years been widely lauded as Britain’s unofficial national dish.
In contrast, colonialists often found South Indian food too spicy, so it remained on the back burner, ceding table space to butter chickens and saag paneers. Recently, however, the rising tide of conscious, plant-based eating has created the perfect conditions for South Indian food to step into the spotlight. With rice, lentils and vegetables at the centre of the meals, plant-forward diners are venturing to the Indian South.
Popular South Indian dishes
Food of varying degrees of heat exists all over India, though South Indian cuisine is arguably the spiciest. But with dozens of variations and hundreds of accompanying dishes from all across the six states that make up South India, South Indian food offers something for everyone.
Dosas: Fermented for at least twenty-four hours, dosas are a work of delicate balance; a batter too thick or too thin results in a sticky mess on the griddle. The batter is poured atop a griddle with a karchi (a flat-bottomed ladle) and spread up to two feet wide with speed and precision. It takes mastery to know exactly when to add the varied fillings, from the iconic masala dosa, with its traditional spiced potatoes, to freshly cracked eggs. Rolled into a cylinder or folded like a triangle, dosas are served within minutes, to be torn open from the centre with fingers ready to be singed.
Uttapams: While dosas demand accuracy, other dishes can be a little more forgiving—like uttapams. Flavoured instead with the topping of fresh vegetables like tomato and onion, uttapams are made with a thicker batter and a relatively relaxed process, resulting in a fluffy rice pancake (served with chutney instead of syrup).
Idlis: Using a similar batter to uttapams, these spacecraft-shaped, pillowy dumplings are steamed in a multi-tiered tray and feature the additional flavours of tempered curry leaves and mustard seeds, the holy grail of South Indian food. Idlis are served drowning in sambar, a vegetable curry common at food carts and temples alike. Part of the eating experience is losing chunks of idli in the sambar and fishing them out, catching them before they disintegrate.
Vadas: A spicy donut, vadas follow a similar eating M.O. to idlis. An extra-thick batter makes the mixture more malleable, allowing it to be molded into its signature circular shape with a distinct hole in its centre, before it is deep-fried to a golden brown. Flecked with whole peppercorns, vada is perfect for dunking into steaming sambar. However, unlike its culinary cousins, it is also available as dahi vada, laden with sweetened yogurt for a bit of a spice reprieve—but only if requested without the heavy dusting of chili powder.
Vancouver Island's taste of South India
In India, the best restaurants are found in the most unassuming of places, and Victoria’s Dosa Paragon is no exception. They have two locations: one is nestled between a men's clothing store and a hair salon in a strip mall and offers an exclusively plant-based menu, while their Wharf Street location serves idlis, vadas, uttapams and enough dosa variations to cater to both carnivore and vegan alike. At the Hudson Market, hidden gem Cafe Malabar serves idlis and Gun Powder Masala Dosa, a cult favourite sprinkled with podi, a powdered mix of spice and sesame. At Southern Flavors, in addition to the traditional offerings, you can try the Masala Tiffin and sample a little bit of everything that makes up the South Indian table. They also serve arguably the most iconic dosa, the Mysore Masala: named for a city in the state of Karnataka, it is a choice for only the most battle-tested tongue. Made with a paste of nearly pure chili, even the accompanying coconut chutney may not be enough to douse the flames. In Nanaimo, Heritage Indian Cuisine serves South Indian specials from noon until close, including sada dosa. Sada, which means "plain," comes without any of the usual spiced stuffings, so those who want to try the unique flavour of dosa without the after-burn need not be deterred.
Taking its place on the world's culinary stage
Back on the train, groggily peeking beyond the vinyl curtains of my cabin, I see half-awake, but hungry, foreign travellers digging into their breakfasts as waiters bustle through the car, karchi in one hand and pot of sambar in another, ready to ladle it onto plates—whether diners ask for it or not. I can tell the locals from the tourists easily, because most Indians wouldn’t dare to eat on these common transport trains, instead opting for a tiffin from home. I want to tell them that train food is best consumed on high-end luxury locomotives, not on the hundreds of interstate routes that criss-cross India, where train food isn’t exactly food safe—though I doubt that would deter the tourists; the scent wafting from car to car is simply too tempting.
Until recently, India’s global food profile has been largely based on culinary hearsay, with the food of twenty-eight states and eight union territories being represented on the world’s stage solely by North Indian food. But that is slowly changing as the long overshadowed flavours and diversity of South Indian food come into the spotlight. Especially for vegetarians, vegans and reducetarians, these dishes pack a punch with a trifecta of flavour, nutrition and probiotics.
Well, that is what 253 million of my closest South Indian friends think, anyway.
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