A red-hot favourite of foodies

Nellore ghee karam dosa

Nellore: Even though it is street food…it has been popular across the region for its flavour and unique taste. It is none other than ‘Nellore ghee karam dosa’ which attracts hundreds of foodies every day who wait for their turn at some particular shops for a dosa that is nicely roasted in pure ghee (clarified butter).

In fact, Nellore falls under Rayalaseema region in terms of spicy cuisines. They love spicy chillies for regular dishes, chutneys and pickles. The trend has been continuing for many centuries and some old timers never like to have dishes with sugar or jaggery or less spicy even now.

Nellore is famous for its ‘Nellore Reddy’ cuisine, which has gained popularity across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states. The cooks from the district visit many cities in the country and even many places across the USA for serving mouth-watering, hot and spicy Nellore recipes.

The specialty of this ghee dosa is that it is spread with karam (chilli paste or powder) added to tomatoes, onions, garlic and some other secret ingredients of the cook. It is slow roasted using sumptuous volume of ghee. Cooks will sprinkle more ghee and powder made with pulses on the dosa to enhance the ‘sting on the tongue effect’ as it gets ready to be served.

Doctors say this street food is harmful to health owing to contamination of oil or ghee, huge fats and spicy nature. The digestive system will get damaged with heavy intake of ghee, chillies and fermented batter used for dosa.

“We observe gastric related problems are rampant among patients who consume these recipes extremely. We suggest them to have the recipes that contain excessive oils and spices once in a blue moon for avoiding ailments,” said Dr Chandra, a leading gastroenterologist.

But, these warnings are ignored by foodies who love the taste and fall in queue in front of the shops. Some streets look like a market place with people eagerly waiting for their orders. Some petty stalls at Stonehousepet area serve with pure chilli paste with a little salt being applied on the dosa roasted in ghee.

This is very spicy and novices cannot bear it. Initially this dose is introduced to novices with moderate spicy chutney combined with onions, tomatoes and garlic. Specialty of Nellore is recognised with cooking of dosa in low flame using charcoal even today. Because, charcoal gives even flame plus heat and helps roast the dosa uniformly when pasted with karam which finally brings nice aroma and crispiness to it.

“We have been preparing karam dosa for more than two decades using available pure ghee for satisfaction of our customers. It is true that the food is harmful to health when consumed regularly and excessively. So, we take care of quality of oil, possible low spicy chillies and make available Idli too for avoiding concentration of food lovers only on dosa,” said Sreenivasulu from Kanaka Mahal area. Still, he admitted, people love to have dosa since it has such good taste.

Many people who visit these places simply ask for ghee dosa. Some traders open the shops only after 4 pm and continue the business till late night. After 6 pm, one cannot get the popular dish immediately as people throng the stalls and the streets markedly give look of a weekly bazaar.

“We love this dosa and visited the place from Tirupati riding motorbikes for tasting it. Though Rayalaseema areas serve the dish, this is a different one with nice flavour and good taste,” said Srikanth and Durga Mahesh.

Interestingly, people in the region like to have kodi kura (chicken curry) with dosa and such stalls are also busy throughout the day. Some restaurants also serve kodi kura with dosa in a different combination. It has been a practice in the region with all non-vegetarian families preferring chicken curry with dosa on Bhogi day (A day before Sankranti) as a mark of tradition.

By PV Prasad