You will find a lot more than dosa's here.
Cuisines from Andhra, Karnataka, Kerla and Tamil Nadu are
featured in this section. Each region has their own style
of cooking though coffee and coconut are common to all. Madras
is the home of South Indian cuisine. Crisp dosas, soft and
spongy idlis, rice dishes to suit every taste are offered
by this cuisine to lovers of vegetarian food.
South Indian food is largely non-greasy, roasted
and steamed. Rice is the staple diet and forms the basis of
every meal. It is usually served with sambhar, rasam (a thin
soup), dry and curried vegetables and a curd preparation called
pachadi. Coconut is an important ingredient in all South Indian
recepies. The South Indian dosa (rice pancakes),
idli (steamed rice cakes) and vada, which is
made of fermented rice and dal, are now popular throughout the
country. The popular dishes from Kerala are appams (a rice pancake)
and thick stews. Desserts from the south include the Mysore
pak and the creamy payasum.
The cuisine of the south is largely non-greasy, either boiled
or steamed and therefore very light on the stomach. Rice is
the staple of the south Indian meal. Traditionally south Indian
food is served on a banana leaf and each dish has its own specific
place on the platter and has to be served in a particular order.
The meal consists of several courses of rice, which is eaten
with a different dish like sambar, rasam and curd during each
course. There are several accompaniments like curries, made
of either vegetables or meat, vegetable stews, raitha, papad
and pickles. Curd is usually a must for all vegetarian meals.
Coconut is used liberally both as garnish and also as part
of the masala.
South Indian snacks are most popular all over the country.
The ubiquitous idli, dosa and vada, are eaten with sambar
by the bowlsful and spicy coconut chutney. While idli is steamed
rice cakes, dosa is a pancake and vada are deep fried dal
doughnuts.
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