DOSA A dish with a past | Parami News

One of the earliest references to the word “dosa” in Tamil can be found in the eighth-century dictionary Nigandus. Nigandu ‘Centham Diwakaram’ Category Dosa The “appam” variety resembles pancakes, while the 10th century “Pingala Nigandu” mentions “kanjam” as another name for dosa. Apart from Nigandus, the 18th century Virali vidu thoothu is an early Tamil work in which dosa is mentioned.
Apparently, this dish is a staple in most households in Tamil Nadu and its history can be traced back to the kitchens hundreds of years ago. tamil nadu With this crispy goodness gracing the breakfast table, along with its fluffier, more famous cousin idli, it raises questions about its origins. cooking Staple food.Clues in this regard exist not only in history tamil literature But in the halls of Jeonju temples.exist Vishnu In temples, food offered to the deity is called ‘amudhu’ and here, dosa seems to hold an important place.There are countless inscription Dating back to the 16th century, the word “dosa” is mentioned.
Inscriptions at the Vishnu temples of Tirupati, Srirangam and Kanchipuram mention that the service of donating money for the worship of Dosas was popular in those days and was called “dosapadi”. One of them, located at Kancheepuram Varadaraja Per rumal temple (1524 AD) details the donation for dosa made by the famous Vijayanagar King Krishnadevarayar.
He is said to have donated 3,000 panam for dosapati services. Use the money to buy land and make 15 offerings to the gods every day. In the same temple, an inscription from the reign of Vijayanagar king Achutaraya mentions the dosa offerings offered during the celebration of the birth of Lord Krishna. This is unusual because today, chapatis are not included as one of the sacred dishes in celebration of Krishna Jayanthi celebrations. A 17th-century inscription from the Parthasarathy temple in Chennai also mentions dosa offerings for important temple festivals, as does the Ramanathapuram copper plate of the same era. This means that by the 16th century, Dosa offerings had become common in the famous Perumal temple in the Tamil region.
Even today, in famous Vishnu temples such as Azhagar Kovil, Singaperumal Kovil and Varadharaja Perumal Kovil, the chapatis offered remain special. Most of the temple inscriptions mention the dimensions of the ingredients used in making dosa offerings.
For example, a Tamil inscription from Tirupathi details the dimensions of the offerings: three grains of marakkal (about three kilograms) of rice, one grain of marakkal and three grains of nazhi (nearly one and a half kilograms) of black beans, one grain of nalli and One uri (about two kilograms). Some inscriptions even give recipes for different dosages. The Tirupathi temple mentions that it is sprinkled on the votive tulle. Everyone knows that dosa is made with rice and urad dal batter, but few inscriptions mention spicy dosa with cumin and pepper added to the batter. 19th century Tamil cookbooks like Nalaveemma bagasasthiram also mention the same spicy dosa containing cumin and pepper. In fact, the cookbook contains recipes for a variety of dosas, from spicy dosas with red chilli, fried urad dal and asafoetida to sweet dosas with added sugar. Another ancient cookbook, the Hindu bagasasthiram, lists recipes for various dosas such as thengai dosa (coconut), vendhaya dosa (fenugreek), vengaya (onion), vella (white), kodumai maavu dosa (wheat flour) , paal dosa (milk), pirandai dosa (made with traditional herbs) and paayatham paruppu dosa.
The 2000-year-old Sangam book “Madurai kaanji” describes a food called “adai” (similar to dosa but with a different batter) sold on the streets of Madurai. Fast forward to today, and the pancake culture shows no signs of declining. A recent report from food delivery service Swiggy said it delivered 29 million doses last year alone.
In March this year, MTR Foods set the Guinness World Record for the longest dosa at a length of 123 feet, an effort by 75 chefs and overcoming 110 previous unsuccessful attempts. This is nothing new when you think of an inscription in Tirupathi, dating back to the 16th century, which mentions a ‘pattanam dosa’ (a large dosa) made at that time. So the next time you make or order a crispy dosa, big or small, or even read about the batter record, remember that you are tasting centuries of Tamil culinary heritage.
(The author is a Tamil culture researcher)