March 26, 2007...12:30 am
Dosa delight
Tearing open the dosa is like unwrapping a Christmas present, but tastier.
There is only one place I know of in Western New York serving the dosa, the quintessential southern Indian crepe.
Made of a fermented lentil-rice batter, the dosa straddles the border between crispy and chewy. Its size, some two or three feet across, gives the eater plenty of time to ponder the right adjectives.
The huge crepe conceals a delicious prize
Hidden in its center is a filling. The masala dosa, a classic, packs a payload of curried potato, dotted with cumin seed.
At Kabab and Curry (5185 Transit Road, Amherst, 565-3822), this beauty will set you back $9. It’s preceded by dal, a lentil soup perked up with cilantro, and arrives with two sauces, a vanilla fresh coconut sauce and a tomato chile chutney with a bit of smoky heat.
Two chutneys and a bowl of lentil soup rounds out a vegetarian feast
You tear, dab, taste and scoop until you can’t believe vegetarian food can be this satisfying.
Kabab and Curry’s monopoly on the local dosa trade may not last long. There’s a place at 656 Millersport Highway in Amherst with a sign that reads “Palace of Dosas: Pure vegetarian, authentic South Indian.”
Another sign says they’re opening April 1. An all-vegetarian restaurant opening in Western New York? Or just a cruel culinary April Fool’s joke?
1 Comment
July 15, 2008 at 2:14 pm
[...] The kheer offered up by Kabab & Curry is surprisingly perfect, given that it’s being dished out in mass quantities. But the texture is silken, the hints of cardamom and saffron are there, and it was chilled just right–all for just two tickets. My modest proposal for next year–bring out the dosas. [...]
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