[Aurangabad, India] 4-foot-long masala dosa at Kailash

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Before we know it, it was our last day in Aurangabad. We spent the morning exploring the spectacular Ellora Caves, with its magnificent collection of Hindu, Buddhist & Jain stone temples, hewn into the rocks between 700 and 1000 AD.

Amazing landscape. From there, it was a short 20-minutes’ drive to Kailash Veg Restaurant to grab a quick lunch.

The bright, spartan, family restaurant is a mere 2-minutes’ drive from Aurangabad’s railway station, which makes it a perfect spot for a proper meal before you catch your next train.

It had a comprehensive menu of South Indian and Punjabi lunch options:

Started off with some very good mango lassi: super-thick, super-fresh and creamy, it’s like sipping the chilled liquid concentrate of a dozen mangos in one glass!

One of the menu items that intrigued us was the 4-foot-long masala dosa crepe, so we got that - it was marvelous: a giant, shiny, crisp golden roll of deliciousness. Dosas get their crispness from the use of split black gram lentils (known as urad dal in Hindi).

The masala dosa has dollops of masala-spiced potatoes-and-onion inside, and was served with creamy coconut chutney, spicy-red sambar (lentil-and-vegetable curry), and more masala potatoes on the side.

We absolutely loved it - couldn’t finish it, though. There were three of us gnawing at the giant log like a trio of beavers, but we gave up after 20 minutes. We’d been too greedy (one of my dining companions had even ordered a vegetarian biryani!) and were just too satiated.

Still something I’d highly recommend if one comes to Aurangabad.

Address
Kailash Vegetarian Restaurant
V889+PHV, Railway Station Rd, Rachanakar Colony, New Usmanpura, Aurangabad, Maharashtra 431005, India
Tel: +91240 235 2031
Opening hours: 8am to 11pm daily

[Saregama]

I have to show my nephews the dosa pics. Maybe we’ll be hunting down a 4’ dosa instead of being satisfied with 4 regular or a couple of standard 2’ paper dosas

[klyeoh (Peter)]

I’ve even read of 6- and 10-foot ones in Delhi: probably suitable for a whole lunch or dinner party, or if you have 3-4 growing boys in your party!

Eating in India can be so much fun!!

I’m now in the Deep South: we flew into sweltering Kochi last night. It’s now 34 deg C (93 deg F) in late-morning - a shock to our bodies after Aurangabad’s 20 deg C/68 deg F - off to hunt for some Keralan food at lunch afterwards.

[Saregama]

Better sweltering than hit with the cyclone! I was wondering how you’d fare with the weather, but of course it’s along the east coast. My mom was just saying that Bombay and points north and west have gotten cold very early this year.

Enjoy the rest of your trip – look forward to reading about the eats and the sights both!

[ipsedixit]

I need that in my life.

That’s so awesome.

[Saregama]

There’s at least a 2’ version somewhere close to you!

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@Saregama

Better sweltering than hit with the cyclone! I was wondering how you’d fare with the weather, but of course it’s along the east coast.

Yes, we’d have been affected if we’d been in Chennai or Pondicherry, where Cyclone Michaung brought along a deluge!

Cyclone Michaung Highlights: Rajnath Singh to visit Tamil Nadu today

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)]

That just leaves me speechless. What a wonderful thing. And I’m sure I’ve never seen such a menu list of different dosas - not even at dosa specialist places in the UK.

By the by, I was interested to see the description as it being a “4 foot” one. Does India not use metric? Or maybe the use of an imperial measurement has a significance (bit like in the UK, pub beer is still served in pints)?

[linguafood (Natascha)]

Those saris are gorgeous, and I want to dive into that dosa (having had my first this summer)!

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@Harters

Does India not use metric? Or maybe the use of an imperial measurement has a significance (bit like in the UK, pub beer is still served in pints)?

I think in India, just like in Singapore, Malaysia and many parts of the Commonwealth, there is still a kind of romanticism attached to the imperial system. We’ve all been using the metric system for decades now, but there’ll always be “The Hundred Food Journey” or, in Bangalore today, the 100 Feet Road, a major thoroughfare.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@linguafood

Those saris are gorgeous

They certainly are - vibrant and so regal. When a woman dons a sari, she walks differently, because she feels like a queen.

[linguafood (Natascha)]

My late mother owned a few and would wear them on very special occasions. She had a night blue one with what looked like stars to me as a child , and a stunning pink one. Indian friends of hers had brought them back as a gift.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Many of my friends in Kuala Lumpur have sarees passed down to them by their mothers or aunts! They, in turn, intended to pass those down to the next generation.

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)]

@klyeoh

there is still a kind of romanticism attached to the imperial system

I wondered if it may might be something like that. We were in South Africa a few years back. Did a safari. Our ranger was very tall and I asked him what his height was. six foot, four inches, he said. I expressed surprise as I knew SA had been metric for decades. He said height was still generally taken in imperial. But he said that if he’d had to measure it to, say, cut a piece of wood, he’d have to convert it and then measure in metric as that’s generally how he understood length.

Saris are indeed gorgeous. I always enjoy a walk along Manchester’s “Curry Mile” looking in the sari shop windows (and the sweet shops, of course)

[linguafood (Natascha)]

Absolutely gorgeous. Thank you for sharing

[Saregama]

@Harters

Does India not use metric?

It does.

There are a few instances like real estate where feet are still in use (though the larger you get, the quicker the switch to meters, eg land plot vs apartment). Sometimes you might see yards converted to meters as the original papers were likely in yards, but you might also see other archaic measures like bigha.

Fabric width is another one, because mill machines must have been set to then-standard measures (fabric for regular clothing is sold by the meter, but the standard width was a yard, or a slightly wider sari-width, though saris vary in width when hand-loomed and also regionally.)

In other measurements, eg volumetric or weight, it’s only ever metric (and was previously as well — so liquids in liters, solids in kilos). Distances are km only.

Generationally, anyone who went to school post-independence only learned the metric system.

[BoneAppetite]

Your account has our head spinning imagining:

1. Your trio of gnawing beavers, and

2. Dimensions of griddles that turn out those logs.

[ipsedixit]

I need the full fat 4’ version.

2’ is just too easy.

I mean, seriously, it’s just dosa. Basically crepe.

I once took down a 5’ long roll of jiang bing (and that had egg and pork filling).

A 4’ dosa would be a walk in the park.

[PedroPero (PETER)]

That’s one heck-of-a dosa!!

[Saregama]

@ipsedixit

5’ long roll of jiang bing

Do tell