Mumbai Mornings: Mumbai's Amazing Street Food: Part 1

I usually hate the sound of steel sliding against steel, but when I'm waiting for my Dosa(stuffed rice crepes), there is no sound more pleasing to my ears. Why? Because it means the dosawalla (person who cooks the dosas) , is sliding his spatula under the dosa, and and rolling it up to serve it.

One of my favorite dosas is the mysore masala, which is stuff with diced, tomatoes, cilantro, mashed potatoes and two types of chutney, and last night I treated myself to just that.

The batter for dosas is made of soaked and ground rice and black lentils. this Batter is then spread on a hot griddle and cooked till crisp, and often is stuffed with vegetables, mashed potatoes and sometimes even cheese. It's served with spicy lentil soup, sweet coconut chutney and spicy coconut chutney.

Everybody has a different recipe for this, and every Indian housewife considers herself an expert but the best dosas in my opinion are made by the dosawalla at chandralok, a market close to where I live. Working from a dilapidated bus-stop he whips up delicious dosas with at ferocious speed. Prepared freshly for you to see and piled haphazardly on a plate, the mysore dosa will run you about 80 cents and is worth every penny. Its spicy, hot, crisp, sweet salty and sour, and it always leaves you wanting more. I could go into more mouth watering detail, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let them do the talking.

Tomorrow, I cover Crawford Market, one of Mumbai's busiest markets, where fruits, vegetables, meat and even pets are sold.