Is Dosa a South Indian Food?

A dose, also called dosai, dosey, dwashi, dosa or dosha is a thin pancake in South Indian cuisine made from a fermented batter of ground black lentils and rice.

Dosas originated in South India, but its precise geographical origins are unknown. According to historian P. Thankappan Nair, dosa originated in the town of Udupi in present-day Karnataka. However, according to food historian K. T. Achaya, references in the Sangam literature suggest that dosa was already in use in the ancient Tamil country around the 1st century CE. Achaya states that the earliest written mention of dosa appears in literature of present-day Tamil Nadu, in the 8th century, while the earliest mention of dosa in the Kannada literature appears a century later.

In popular tradition, the origin of the dosa is linked to Udupi, probably because of the dish's association with Udupi restaurants. The Tamil dosai is softer and thicker. The thinner and crispier version of dosa was first made in present-day Karnataka. A recipe for dosa can be found in Manasollasa, a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopedia compiled by Someshvara III, who ruled from present-day Karnataka.

After the Independence of India, South Indian cuisine became gradually popular in the North. In Delhi, the Madras Hotel in Connaught Place became one of the first restaurants to serve South Indian cuisine. It arrived in Mumbai with the Udupi restaurants in the 1930s.