HYDERABAD: The street dosa stalls in the older parts of Hyderabad do brisk business in the early mornings, as well as in the evenings. In every area, at least a couple of bandis, as street food stalls are locally called, are much crowded, and often dish out their own signature offerings. You can even find several innovations and variations done at these carts to differentiate them from the others – from the addition of butter, cheese, paneer, upma and special chutneys to even trying out a bit of fusion.
Among the most well-known dosa bandis in the city is Govind Dosa located at Ghansi Bazar near Charminar. From early morning, there is a rush for the dosas, idlis and vadas at this place. It is fascinating to see rows of their popular butter dosas being prepared with toppings of upma, tomatoes and of course large dollops of butter. To try out their dosas in the evening, one can visit their second branch in Banjara Hills.
Ram Ki Bandi near Mozzamjahi Market has become another celebrity street stall dishing out some delicious food. At 3 am they are one of the earliest to open, and their signature dish is cheese dosa, where a slice of cheese is added to the dosa along with a spicy chutney topping. Some even fancy dosas with double cheese. Gaining much popularity, they have also set up their own restaurant named Ram Dosa House in Banjara Hills, which operates during normal hours.
Lakshman Bandi in Begum Bazar is known for its chatpat dosa, which has a filling of rawa and spicy podi and lots of ghee. Their coconut, as well as mint chutneys, are the most sought-after. The usual butter masala dosa is also not to be missed in this place which is operating for close to 40 years now.
Hanuman Tekdi has its own 35 year old Pragathi Tiffin Centre, which gets its name due to its proximity to Pragathi College. People swear by their butter paneer dosa, where they add shredded paneer to the dish, along with red ginger chutney, onions, butter and even beetroots and carrots.
The dosas available in these places are not expensive at all, starting with as low as `25 and the top-end ones costing close to a 100 rupees. Though all these stalls have a long history, they are not averse to going contemporary to keep up with the changing palates of their customers. Pizza dosa is one such innovation, where vegetables like capsicum and tomato are added along with cheese and paneer to make the dish look colourful. Topped with corn and coriander leaves, these dosas are served cut into slices resembling a pizza. No wonder then that you’ll see several cars parked over there just for these delights.
Sabyasachi is a food enthusiast and blogs at www.foodaholix.in