Do you remember your first taste of tosai?
It is an entire experience. A sleepy daybreak sojourn into a nondescript kedai under an ageing tree. Uncle offers you a toasty, paper-like piece that overflows from a stainless steel tray with two thick coconut chutneys of white and brown hues, and a liquid-gold dhal or lentil sambar stew as a gentle sidekick to balance the other textures. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you get the green mint chutney. You sink your hands into the crepe and dunk a tiny cut into these sloshes of curries, mixing them as a painter would blend colours on a palette.
The taste of tosai is that of comfort. Like bread, it is prepared through the process of fermentation—from leaving grounded rice and lentil batter in a warm place overnight.
