The Man Behind Mumbai’s Legendary Flying Dosas

[water sizzling]

[customers chattering]

We here in Mumbai, in Dadar,

one of the oldest colonies in Mumbai

and we're at Muttu Anna Dosa corner

right behind me.

A Dosa is a savory lentil

and rice crepe that's fermented.

It's delicious.

And this guy behind me is supposed

to be one of the best.

[bike revving]

[speaking in Hindi]

[Muttu speaking in Hindi]

So the number one step here

is the cleaning of the flat top.

And this is really important

'cause he wants to both, season it, clean it,

and make it nonstick at the same time.

So what he is doing with the water

is essentially making sure that all the oil

that's on the surface of the griddle comes up

and gets scraped off.

So you get a perfect seasoning

and a perfect non-stick surface,

but it's not oily.

And that's critical for getting

that crisp Dosa batter.

[water sizzling]

The prep is happening fresh.

That cutting block that he's cutting on

has probably been doing it for 40 years,

give or take,

speaking just from the cutting block.

What's incredible is the speed.

All the preps are done fresh every day.

And that's why, people ask me all the time,

Street food, how do you feel about it?

I'm like, If you see them prepping,

if you see it happening fresh,

you're probably gonna be just fine.

He's just decimating.

I mean the knife skills are insane.

Chef's knife, India style.

That's it.

Right now they're borrowing power

from the shop behind him and hooking it up

so that he can get the lights and the fan going.

And then I'm sure the shop benefits

from the crowds are gonna be gathering

here pretty soon.

And it's a win-win for both situations.

There's no permits.

But here's the permit

that's actually a universal permit.

You're good, you're so good

that everybody wants you here.

The neighborhood wants you here,

the cops want you here.

When you're that good, you don't need

to say, I want to be here.

They tell you, You have to be here.

He's doing his first tester.

If this is good, this will not be eaten.

This first one is given to the gods as a gift

before you start service, every single time.

[Dosa scarping]

The first one's for Bhagwan.

Yes.

[water sizzling]

[Chef] This batter is rice and urad dal,

a type of lentil that's been soaked overnight,

at least five hours minimum, chef says,

usually done overnight

and then the next day it's ground

and a stone on stone grinder.

What's happening here is the fluffing

of the batter as we'll call it.

Basically making sure that the heavy bits

that fell to the bottom got fully turned

around and mixed up.

And he is aerating it to keep

that batter super light,

make sure it doesn't get too dense.

It might sort of gross the Westerners out,

but he's putting his hand in there

because he's trying to keep the active bacterias

going in the batter and putting his hand

and bringing it out,

makes sure that there's a constant introduction

of natural bacteria into the batter.

And it's important.

When you're trying to make bread at home,

it's so important to kneed with your hands.

The fact that you're actually using your hands

to knead the dough with is introducing a lot

of that bacteria from your hand into the dough,

helping with the yeast activation,

helping with the rise.

The same thing's happening in here right now.

This technique dates back probably two, 3000 years

in terms of this kind of batter making.

[speaking in Hindi]

[Muttu speaking in Hindi]

[Chef speaking in Hindi]

This 28-year-old charcoal brazier

is charcoal fired.

He buys charcoal from the shop.

I mean, this is a pain in the ass.

He's gotta light it, he's gotta manage it.

We didn't see him light it

because this whole cart got wheeled in.

So they went, loaded it up,

lit it somewhere else, let it get to temp,

and then brought the cart in.

He's modulating the heat of the flat top

by raising and lowering it over the live fire.

So when it gets too hot,

he puts these little metal inserts

so you can raise the griddle up a little bit,

get a little bit more airflow underneath it,

and then when it cools down,

he drops it down again.

It's just brilliant.

So this is the classic masala

that goes inside of a masala Dosa.

Typically the masala is mounted in the middle

and the Dosa's sort of wrapped around it,

but because it's sort of a street version of it,

he's spreading the masala all over it.

It's potatoes that have been cooked

with popped mustard seeds.

Curry leaves.

[both speaking in Hindi]

A little bit of urad dal in it.

[both speaking in Hindi]

And a little bit of...

[speaking in Hindi]

Yes sir. Yeah, a little bit

of a turmeric, chili powder

and of course lots of salt.

And the idea is to give a contrast

of the soft, mushy, warm potato texture

with the crispy crunchy crepe on the outside.

I mean no different

than a classic French crepe

with some sort of stuffing like bananas

on the inside.

This is a savory version of it.

[metal clanging]

So this vati,

it's the portion control

and it's what he uses to spread with.

I mean you can buy this at any little

kitchenware shop around here.

And this is the size that he is using

that he's mastered his art with.

It's specific to the size of the flat top.

So this technique

of the way he's spreading the batter

to make it absolutely paper thin,

it takes so much time, so much energy.

I mean, just look at this.

Look at this.

I mean this, this is a flex here

that he's got five on the flat top

and he is managing five at the same time.

Getting that perfect thinness

is what makes a true dose of master know

what the heck they're doing.

I can't explain to you how hard it is

to do this without the Dosa tearing

or getting too thick.

As the batter's cooking on the flat top,

it's becoming porous.

So when he puts the butter on,

it's seeping through the pores

and essentially caramelizing the bottom.

Oh, this is the Mysore Masala Special.

[Muttu] Yes sir, Mysore Masala.

[Chef] That's special.

What's been thrown across only

for the Mysore masala is some

of the tomato chutney just to add extra flavor,

extra spice to the whole thing.

So this is a special technique.

We're gonna use a little masher

is the only way to describe it,

to essentially turn it into almost

like a Pav Bhaji.

There he goes, there he goes.

[Muttu speaking in Hindi]

And the potato masala on top.

A little squeeze of fresh lime.

[customers chattering]

So this is the specialty of this place,

probably the most famous,

Mysore Masala Dosa.

[both speaking in Hindi]

[both speaking in Hindi]

And then a little bit

of the tomato chutney to help make it wet.

This is just the magic moment

where something that seems that it's glued

to the flat top separates itself out perfectly.

Watch out for the flying Dosa.

Don't get hit by that one.

So there goes one Sada Dosa.

[metal scraping]

Amazing.

And this one, he is doing last

because the Pav Bhaji has to cook,

just taking his time.

[metal scraping]

Incredible.

I mean a lifetime of just doing the same thing

over and over again.

And now he's de glazing the flat top

to get all the oil off.

Definitely an element of showmanship here

in this whole operation.

It's street food.

There's gotta be a component of street art

to the street food and he knows it.

I mean this is insane.

There's a guy at the end.

He knows when he sees the potatoes

go down that it's a Mysore Masala Dosa.

And with a flick of his wrist,

he's flinging a wet chutney,

straight onto the flat top, honoring accuracy.

I haven't seen him miss yet,

but I'm keeping an eye.

So this mashing is a classic Pav Bhaji technique,

where onions, potatoes, tomatoes,

bell peppers are sort of mashed into a hash.

And the idea being

that he can mop it up with the bread,

but here he is doing it on the Dosa,

which is a first for me.

I've never seen this technique

used on Dosa before.

Essentially you're waiting

for that perfect moment when the top is cooked,

the vegetables are cooked

and the bottom is crispy, golden.

And this man is just...

He could probably do it with his eyes closed.

[Muttu speaking in Hindi]

He's gonna do it.

He's gonna do a spread with one.

[Muttu] Okay. Okay.

Eyes closed, no look.

[Muttu speaking in foreign language]

[Assistant speaking in foreign language]

Okay sir?

Perfect Dosa, eyes closed.

I mean this is insane.

This is just like mind blowing skill over here

to do this.

It's just showing off muscle memory.

I mean this one's a serious flex.

He is just showing off at this point.

Beautiful.

That's the one he made with his eyes closed.

That's about it.

Perfect Dosa.

That one's in honor of me,

so I'm gonna go try it.

Oh god, I mean, perfectly golden even color.

You can see the striations

of where the hand was.

I mean this is just...

I wanna frame this and put it up

on a wall in my restaurant.

This thing's just absolutely perfect.

Just look at it.

It's just insane.

Hello friends, how are you?

That is perfect Dosa.

This is pretty damn close to the perfect food.

I'm loaded.

I'm gonna grab myself a Mysore Masala Dosa.

I know what I want.

Mysore Masala Dosa.

[speaking in Hindi]

Thank you.

Alright, got my ticket.

[speaking in Hindi]

[Assistant] Yes, thank you.

[Chef] Thank you.

And now we wait for magic to happen.

Let's go over and watch him make my Dosa.

And this move over here,

I mean, I'm still trying to figure out like,

is this really the most efficient way to do it?

But apparently it is.

The vegetable guy comes here

with the lime squeezer.

Oh my god, I got the extra butter.

This is gonna be beautiful.

[speaking in Hindi]

[Muttu] First class. Yes.

[Chef] All right.

[speaking in Hindi]

Oh my God.

My mouth's actually salivating right now.

I'm so excited about this.

Oh my.

It smells absolutely fantastic.

It's so savory.

It's that perfect, savory, you know,

potatoes, tomatoes,

the acid balance is incredible.

It's just bursting with flavor,

just literally explosive flavor in your mouth.

Its fantastic.

Even though it's got all this soft sort

of wet masala on the inside,

there's still a nice crunch

on the outside of the Dosa.

So you get that bite through

and just the tanginess of the tomatoes,

the potatoes, a little bit of heat herbaceous

from the green chilies,

it really is just an amazing bite.

It kind of makes you wanna keep

coming back for more.

It's almost meaty in its umami,

even though it's purely vegetarian.

I mean, it is an incredibly complex bite

because you know, it's easy to think

that the Dosa's just the wrapper,

a tortilla, a hamburger bun.

It's not, I mean just that by itself,

you could just eat it like a bag of chips

'cause it's got so much flavor,

tanginess, saltiness, the fermentation.

You can taste the rice,

you can taste the dal.

But then when you put the stuffed vegetables

in the inside and that butter

and just a hint of that cheese, I mean,

it's just atrocious how good this is.

[water sizzling]

It's buttery, creamy.

I mean it's just a remarkable testament

to how seriously we take food in India,

how seriously this guy takes his craft

and his art.

And the crazy part is nobody here

that's buying this Dosas from him

is taking that for granted.

They know what has gone into making of this.

I mean, it's really humbling, inspiring.

This is what I love

about the street food of India.

This is what I love about Mumbai.

In this particular spot, Dadar,

it's just this melting pot of cultures,

and this guy is the real deal.

[traffic buzzing] [locals chattering]