Vegetarian Indian?

A friend from Kerala in South India will be visiting me this weekend, and, after spending years in the Midlands of England, has a strong hankering for the food of her homeland. I proposed taking her out for a South Indian meal on Devon, including her favorite dish, dosas (apparently in Kerala they eat them plain, without the filling that seems ubiquitous in the US). I know about Woodlands and Udupi palace, and I've seen the thread comparing them (inconclusively), but I'm wondering which place has the best dosas, or if there are other veg. Indian restaurants of which I'm not aware.

Thanks!

HI,

There is a Keralan caterer on Montrose or perhaps it is an Indian caterer who makes Keralan food? Three years ago they made a feast for a dinner described here. This particular dinner is one of the few major events I have missed and long regretted.

You can also do take-away from this caterer, which varies from day to day. Others may comment on the Keralan restaurants, though I hope they will advise which is better to do: get your food from Malabar or go to the restaurant.

Malabar Carryout
3519 West Montrose Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
773-588-0304

Bruce Kraig of Culinary Historians of Chicago has a program featuring Kerala, which occasionally runs on PBS called Hidden India.

Regards,

Others may comment on the Keralan restaurants . . .

Does Chicago have any Keralan restaurants, as opposed to generic South Indian? Most of these restaurants do serve some foods eaten in Kerala but few if any dishes unique to the state.

In addition to Malabar, there’s another Keralan caterer in Chicago. Here’s a link to an old post on Banana Leaf, located just up Milwaukee from Taqueria Oaxaqueña. I had meals from both places a few months apart. They were both very good, with different strengths. It has been a couple years since I dealt with either. I just phoned to be sure they’re still around and got answering machines for both so that’s a hopeful sign.

Sazerac told me about another Keralan caterer, located in Glenview. I think he was very pleased with it but I know little more.

Banana Leaf
3582 N Milwaukee Av
Chicago
773-205-4455

Kairali
777 N Milwaukee Av
Glenview IL
847-729-2100

Malabar
3519 W Montrose Av
Chicago
773-588-0304

Thanks. I should have been clearer: I'm just looking for a good veg. Indian restaurant that has decent dosas, not a caterer. I haven't been to any save Udupi Palace (which I went to several years ago, and liked), and so am relying on the expertise here.

Jerry wrote:Thanks. I should have been clearer: I'm just looking for a good veg. Indian restaurant that has decent dosas, not a caterer. I haven't been to any save Udupi Palace (which I went to several years ago, and liked), and so am relying on the expertise here.

BTW, I presume youve already made sure that the friend *is* vegetarian, right?
Because, Ive havent met that many pure-veg Keralaites - there are plenty
of course, but unlike their neighbouring states many of them are very
non-vegetarian. Tamil Nadu next door also does dosas (which is what you
get at Udipi, Mysore Woodland etc)... but Kerala is the one spot which has
non-vegetarian dosas. And plain dosas that you eat with seafood
soup-type dishes etc.

Anyway. There are others who know much more than me about South Indian
food, so I'll leave it to them to rec a good restaurant on Devon. I presume
thats where youre located, or near it, BTW? Else, if youre in the NW burbs
for instnace, Ive heard v good things about a small place called "Priya"
in Schaumburg, which has tons of different dosas (including an egg
dosa and a kheema dosa, which sound like they might be Kerala style).
Priya also has other Indian food, as well as Indian-chinese - havent been
there yet, but have heard very good things about it (it is, however, very
small - only like 20 or so seats).

c8w

Jerry wrote:A friend from Kerala in South India will be visiting me this weekend, and, after spending years in the Midlands of England, has a strong hankering for the food of her homeland. I proposed taking her out for a South Indian meal on Devon, including her favorite dish, dosas (apparently in Kerala they eat them plain, without the filling that seems ubiquitous in the US)

If your friend is hankering for food from Kerala, then maybe you should strongly consider takeout from one of the 'caterers' - Malabar foods or Kairali. Note that these will be predominantly non-vegetarian - fish curries (and fried beef). I haven't tried Kairali yet, but learnt they were the caterer for a convention of the malabar churches in the US this past Summer, from a family friend who was in attendance. The food was, we were told, excellent. I have not ordered from Kairali directly. Malabar caterer is also very good.

If it is dosas you are looking for then Udupi Palace may be a good choice. I wasn't particularly enamoured with it overrall, but the dosas were decent, although the accompaniments weren't. A friend who just moved to Chicago (from India) tried dosas at both UP and Mysore Woodlands and preferred the former.

Dosas are the 'crepes'. The 'filling' or 'masala' (potatoes in the context of dosas) comes when you order a masala dosa. You could ask for the masala on the side.

sazerac wrote:If your friend is hankering for food from Kerala, then maybe you should strongly consider takeout from one of the 'caterers'

I strongly agree, if you’re interested in Keralan food other than dosas. It’s worth emphasizing these caterers will fill small orders as well as large. We ordered food for three from Banana Leaf before (granted, it was a lot of food for three people but it was also very reasonably priced). Of course, it’s not as convenient as a restaurant because you have to order ahead and find somewhere to eat. Also dosas don’t travel very well. I think that both Malabar and Kairali usually have readymade food available that you can pick up without ordering in advance.

The Kairali website, http://www.kairalifoods.net seems to be functional (thanks to sazerac for sending me the address a while back!).

I'm definitely not an Indian food expert, but am a vegetarian who loves dosa--that's what I pick when I'm lucky enough to get to Udupi (my fav is paper masala dosai, to be exact, with lots of coconut chutney). That and a bowl of rasam soup is the perfecto meal. Can't comment on Mysore; I wasn't impressed with the buffet at Arya Bhavan, another veggie place that offers dosa, too.

Please report back whichever place you choose!

if your friend is recently over from India, I don't know that any of the spots is really gonna do it for him. For veg stuff among the devon places I'd do sizzle india - its andhra not keralan food. It also has non veg dosas on the menu (fish and shrimp IIRC) though for some reason I haven't had them.

I recommend the caterers as well (In fact we had our thanksgiving meal from malabar), but malabar I think requires an order of 10 if you wanna select stuff, though you can sometimes call in and see what they're making for another order and have them make a little extra.

We wound up having coffee first at Sukardia (sp?), then went to Udupi. We started with samosas and chile pakhoras, and my friend's opinion was that they were quite good, although the samosas were much larger than those one gets in India. She commented favorably on the samosa dough. Then we each had the plain dosa, and she thought they were pretty good (not quite sour enough), that the sambar was very good, and the coconut chutney was not quite thick enough (we regard dosas as vehicles for coconut chutney). Apparently dosas are standard breakfast food in Kerala. We then had two meetha pans at a pan stall in the back of a video store across the street and a bit east (excellent pan; best I've had on Devon), and then to Sukhardia Sweeets again for a pound of mixed sweets. Superb Indian sweets there, especially the carrot halvah and the fig roll. All in all, a good eating day.

Jerry wrote:we each had the plain dosa...we regard dosas as vehicles for coconut chutney). Apparently dosas are standard breakfast food in Kerala..

Thanks for the report. I've never ordered "plain" dosa, always getting it with the potato filling. What do you get when you just order dosa without the masala? Just the bread and chutney?

While this is less than helpful, I recall seeing awnings advertising Indian/Pak. vegetarian cuisine on a couple of storefronts that were just off Devon. In the heart of the district but a few doors south of the avenue. Perhaps others can transform that slim clue into genuine information.

I have had the dosas at Myseore on occasion and enjoyed them, but I am no expert and have no real benchmark for comparison, let alone memories of the native version.

veghead wrote:

Jerry wrote:we each had the plain dosa...we regard dosas as vehicles for coconut chutney). Apparently dosas are standard breakfast food in Kerala..

Thanks for the report. I've never ordered "plain" dosa, always getting it with the potato filling. What do you get when you just order dosa without the masala? Just the bread and chutney?

I rarely order it with the potato myself - just dont care for it much that
way. Mine is the "paper dosa" - one huge dosa that spills over the plate
by a fair bit, crisp and thin (one of the reasons I dont care for filling is
that it invariably makes the dosa un-crisp, very quickly). The paper is also
much bigger than the other filled dosas IMHO. You then just break off
pieces with your fingers, and eat em with chutney (I prefer it with
chutney over sambar), sort of scooping chutney up with it or else
just dipping it into chutney.

And yes, it is very much breakfast food- in non-southern India when you
"go out" for dosas, you usually do it on a weekend for breakfast (or more
accurately brunch, maybe 10ish or 11ish). Even in southern India this
holds true really - did it in Bangalore and even in Madras a couple of
times for breakfast on my last trip.

c8w