- I have a feeling you practiced a bit
before you come here. - Chef, I didn't practice!
No, you did. - You're an amazing teacher.
- [Chef Vijay] You're like a pro! (laughs)
- I've never made one single dosa in my entire life,
but I'm going to learn from Chef Vijay.
He's a Michelin Star chef.
Super talented.
Not sure how I'm going to do, but ask me in a couple hours.
(bright electronic music)
- Dosa's a thin crepe,
which is made out of fermented rice and lentil batter.
Dosas are the oldest food.
We've been eating it for thousand-thousands of years.
- We have rice, we have lentils.
Lots of love, right?
- (laughs) Obviously.
- Obviously.
- This is the lentils that we use
to make dosa batter.
- [Nyesha] What are they called?
- [Chef Vijay] Urad dal.
And then shake it, just rinse it with your finger.
There you go.
Just feel it, feel the rice.
- Just like my grandma taught me, counterclockwise.
- [Chef Vijay] So we can drain all the water.
- How many dosas do you think you've made in your lifetime?
Thousands? Millions? (laughs)
- Yeah, because we feed for at least 150 people a day
and every single one dosa. - Wow.
- For 20 years, times 20. (laughs)
- When we blend, are we looking
for completely smooth or a little bit of texture?
- So we don't like it super fine,
like a fine paste or something like that.
We should keep a little bit of kind of grainy texture.
So, that's so you get a nice texture of the batter.
- It's so interesting.
There's an amazing earthy aroma coming off of these.
- Right, already.
- [Nyesha] So equal parts water to lentil? Less water?
- One is to two, and then we can just always go from there.
Because I use my eyeballs all the time because I'm used
to using it. (laughs) - of course.
- This is the part we really learn to see this
from your grandmas, mothers,
because they never measure anything.
- They really don't.
(Nyesha laughs)
If you try to measure,
"What are you doing?", like that.
They look at you- - Till it's ready.
(both laugh)
- [Nyesha] You're like, "Okay."
(motor whirring)
- [Chef Vijay] That's a perfect consistency.
- Rice, meet lentils. Lentils, meet rice.
(Chef Vijay laughs)
Perfect.
So from here,
how much time do we ferment on the second time?
- Depends on temperature.
For New York, I would say at least 12 to 18 hours a day.
Considering this temperature, 12 to 18 hours.
- What about in India?
- Six hours.
(both laugh)
So I can add in salt.
- So mix.
Thinking happy thoughts, energy transfer.
- So once it's fermented, you can get
that earthy, kind of sourdough kind of flavor.
You know, when it's just fermented,
you can get that complete fermented flavor.
- You know, Chef, it's so interesting.
Cause I feel like every culture kind of has a similar style
If it's Ethiopia, the injera. - They have injera!
- It has that sourdough flavor.
- Exactly.
- Right? So beautiful.
(lively music)
- So how important is the griddle
for this dosa-making process?
- The grill is the most important, as I said.
You know, it has to be seasoned properly.
I mean, anybody can make batter.
I mean just the recipe, this kind of consistency.
To get this temperature and season the grill
is the most important part.
Before we make dosas, this is the fermented dosa batter.
- Oh, wow. May I taste it?
- Oh, please.
Yeah, it's very important to taste it.
Sometimes we forget put it salt in it.
- Wow! Fermentation, it's alive.
- You see how they are a little frothy,
a little bubbly.
That's how you see
it's fermented nice. - Absolutely
And then the flavor. - Delicious.
- I want to talk about spices.
This is called gunpowder.
- Gunpowder?
- Right.
So, I mean, not real gunpowder.
(both laugh)
- So this is...
Basically, it's ground lentils and chilies.
How is it?
- Delicious.
- Thank you.
- I don't think I've actually ever had this flavor profile.
The mixture of it.
- Right, this is three different types of lentils,
and red chilies and curry leaves and stuff like that.
All right, so now ready to make dosas now?
- [Nyesha] Yes.
- Let's make sure the grill is not too hot.
- [Nyesha] And what are we looking for here with the water?
- See how it's bubbly right now?
It's way too hot.
So we need to cool it a little bit.
So that's why I'm going to add a little water,
grease a little bit so that it doesn't get sticky.
Alight, Chef, so I'm gonna make one now
and then you're gonna try one.
Just pour it.
I just go this way,
from left to right.
Either way, whatever you prefer it.
- Left to right? Is this how your family taught you?
- Yes.
So I like to go. - I'm going to make it
- that way. (laughs)
- I'm going sprinkle a little bit of ghee on now.
- So it almost sort of fries a little bit from the top?
- Right.
- Cooks from both sides.
- And then you can add the gun powder also now.
- Gunpowder.
- Once it's half cooked through,
you can add a little bit of gunpowder right there.
The way you check how a dosa's ready is,
you see how the butter come out of the edge
right there? - Yes.
- That means they're almost ready.
- So when you leave it so long, you're gonna burn it.
So you just go all the way.
Now it's ready.
You can just fold it however you like to.
- I'll tell you why they're folding in triangle like that.
I'm just going to fold in a triangle.
And I go here...
Awesome.
There you go.
Thank you, Chef. - Yes, Chef.
- [Chef Vijay] Thank you.
- Wow look how shiny this is.
What an amazing balance of texture of crunchiness-
- You can hear the crunchiness, yes.
See, I can hear you too. (laughs)
- I'm gonna try now.
(laughing)
- Please, go for it.
You'll do great.
- [Nyesha] Oh, no! Spread!
- Almost.
Wow. I'm so proud of you.
- Oh my gosh, yay!
(Chef Vijay laughs)
- Well for the first day, this is great, actually.
- I need to put the ghee, Chef.
Powder?
- Right.
- Do you want try this?
(both laugh)
Oh my God.
- Chef!
- I'm super impressed.
- First try, my first dosa.
- Oh! That is great for first time, oh my God.
This is really great.
- We are perfectionist as chefs.
(both laugh)
I have to do your seniors proud.
(both laugh)
All right, would you like to go for one more?
- Yes.
- I want to try one with the filling also.
- So, let's try one with this now.
- Look at the move.
(Nyesha laughs)
- I love that.
(Nyesha laughs)
- I have a feeling you practiced a bit
before you come here. - Chef, I didn't practice.
- No, you did.
- [Nyesha] You're an amazing teacher.
- You're a pro! (laughs)
That's great.
- Flatten or leave it?
- Doesn't matter.
Look at that.
Look at the color.
Look at the folding.
- [Nyesha] Look at the color!
- [Chef Vijay] Yay! (claps)
This is great.
- I want to put a little gee on it.
- Oh, please.
- Because you did so I have to,
you know, make my teacher proud.
- [Chef Vijay] Wow.
- Wow, I'm so proud of this.
I just want to look at it.
(both laugh)
I want to put it in a frame.
(both laugh)
- [Chef Vijay] Hundred out of a hundred.
- [Nyesha] Thank you for teaching me.
- So this is the first component, as we discussed.
So we are going to the potatoes, the filings.
(lively music)
Let's get the potatoes.
Okay, that's the potato filling
that goes into the dosa.
So these are the few ingredients
the little black mustard seeds.
This is a little bit of urad dal
and then chana dal, chilies.
- [Nyesha] Love the chilies.
- [Chef Vijay] And there's more chilies, more red chilies.
- It's beautiful using the fresh chili
and the dried chili, kind of hit it from both sides.
- Exactly, yeah.
And then the one and only curry leaves,
which is our favorite.
- Our favorite, yes.
- And then there's one more called-
very specific spice, called asafoetida.
Have you ever had one before?
- Never.
This is asafoetida. It's very-
- Oh my gosh, wow. Pungent!
- Yeah, it gives a very nice aromatic to our food.
- It is fascinating.
- Yeah, I know, right?
I don't think you have seen this before.
- Never in my life.
- We use a lot in Southern Indian food,
and generally in Indian food,
but we use a lot in Southern India actually.
And then obviously a little bit of white and mashed potatoes
- For the potato masala...
Time. - Right.
- Potato Masala time!
- PMT. (laughs)
- PMT.
(both laugh)
What's our first step?
So, tempering is the most important thing in Indian cooking.
They also call it tadka.
So we are gonna add some mustard seeds.
Cause you want to make sure the mustard seed's really
cracked in the oil.
See how they're popping?
And now we can add our lentils.
Until it's gets gold in color.
Yeah, it need to be cooked a little more.
You see the color difference now?
Now it's kind of yellowish.
So we wanted a golden color.
- [Nyesha] Golden color.
- I don't know if you notice that I'm breaking
all the chilies.
So that way the way the chilies,
the flavor of the chilies...
I'm adding this chili also.
Let's be very careful when we do the curry leaves.
It can come to your face.
I'm just gonna step back a little bit.
There you go.
(loud sizzling)
- Fire in the hole!
(Chef Vijay laughs)
Anyway, adding a little of ginger.
I hope you get all these aromas.
- Oh my gosh, this is just...
I wish I had a candle of this scent.
(Chef Vijay laughs)
- Now we can add all these onions.
- No wonder why I love Indian food so much.
This is just-
- So many spices.
- Layers, absolutely.
So many aromatics, right?
And every step of the cooking process
is an opportunity for flavor.
- We need to know,
when you add the, for example,
I need to add the turmeric.
I'm still waiting for it.
- Is that to avoid the turmeric burning?
- Yeah, exactly.
- So let's cook it until all this raw flavor goes away
from the spices.
So we don't want to cook the onions all the way through,
we just wanna keep the crunchiness,
as I said earlier.
So I think that this would be okay.
Now we can add the potatoes.
- Just gonna mix them all the way through.
It's too chunky right now.
So I just want to-
- Break down some of the this.
But not like mashed potatoes.
- [Chef Vijay] Exactly.
- [Nyesha] So with the dosa, is there different types
of filling?
- Yes. I mean, this is kind of traditional fillings.
I mean, nowadays everybody's making different fillings.
Things are evolving.
You know, this is a very traditional filling.
This is what we used do.
- It's so interesting that sort of duality
between that simple dosa of three ingredients,
and then we have this, that just is layers
upon layers of flavor.
And you kind of get that amazing
kind of yin and yang balance as you're eating that dosa
with the flavor fulfilling, right?
Shall we taste? - Yeah, please.
- How are you able to make potatoes taste so delicious?
- Thanks to my ancestors. (laughs)
- Yes, respect to the ancestors.
Thank you. - Exactly.
- All right, Chef.
So, let's talk about coconut chutney.
- Yes, please.
- This is our coconut chutney.
I mean, every households make different types
of coconut chutney.
So there's a small variation,
everybody makes a different way.
These are the ingredients that goes
into our coconut chutney.
It's a fresh red coconut, green chilies,
and a little red ginger, and a little bit of garlic,
and some cilantro.
This roasted chana dal.
For any food, there's always some kind of chutney dish.
It's an accompaniment, especially in Indian food.
- So this is your favorite chutney?
- Yes. It's a preference.
Some households they make the coconut chutney
without cilantro.
Some, you can make...
It's kind of a mixture of flavors.
I prefer to make it with cilantro.
So if you don't like cilantro, you can skip it.
(motor whirring)
- So what are you looking for here?
- So I mean, again, that it's not too smooth.
But you should blend them together.
Just little salt, I think it's perfect.
All right, Chef, let's do the tempering
for the coconut chutney.
(lively music)
I'd like you to take a bite.
The chutney that you made it without the tempering,
and after tempering.
I want you to see the difference after this
- Night and day.
It's so much more alive in depth of flavor.
Wow. - Exactly.
(funk music)
So this is the final product.
So we did the potato masala already.
So we are going to put this in the middle.
So it's gonna be served with the coconut chutney
that we just made.
- [Nyesha] Love it.
- All right, and also we have the tomato chutney.
- Oh, what's this one?
- Sambar.
- [Nyesha] Wow.
- Sambal, this has about at least 45-50 ingredients.
It takes about - 45 to 15
three, four hours. - ingredients.
- [Nyesha] Oh, which one should I try first?
- Can I show you quickly?
- Please?
- You can make a little hole in the middle.
There, you can see potatoes
and then just take a small piece.
Then dip it in all three sauces.
Go for it.
Yes, Chef.
I already know I'm going to love it, I have to say.
- [Nyesha] How is it...
literally, this is one of the best things
I've ever eaten in my life.
- No exaggeration.
Everything from soaking the rice, soaking the lentils,
fermentation, to the filling
and the beautiful chutney as well.
Chef, I am truly tasting your soul
on this dish and I'm very grateful.
- [Chef Vijay] Thank you so much, thank you.
- [Nyesha] Thank you so much!
(funk music)