Derby World exclusive as we watch a chef make giant dosas measuring 74 centimetres at Nalaas Restaurant

Eating good food is fine and dandy, however there is nothing quite as gratifying as watching food being made.

This is one of the reasons why Chefs’ Tables are so popular, because you get to see exactly how a chef cooks amazing dishes.

Derby World was invited to go behind the scenes at one of Derby’s most popular restaurants to see how they make one of their most celebrated dishes, the dosa.

There are various versions of dosa on the menu at Nalaas Restaurant such as cheese dosa and podi dosa, whilst the video shows a ghee roast dosa being cooked.

Thambidurai Krishnan is the owner of Nalaas.

He has been at the helm since 2016 and has grown the restaurant and its reputation over seven years.

During that time, the restaurant has undergone a contemporary refurbishment and scooped the South Indian Restaurant Of The Year at the English Curry Awards in 2021.

Nalaas serves a wide variety of dishes with a South Indian slant.

You can expect starters including samosas and onion pakoras, Madras lamb and chicken kadai curries and rice mains such as paneer biryani.

A dish you may not be familiar with, is the dosa.

What a dosa?

A dosa is a hot, savoury Indian pancake.

It is made from a batter containing a fermented mixture of ground rice and lentils.

The dough is prepared the night before and cooked in a similar way to a pancake that you’d usually cook on Pancake Day.

This means you would use the bottom of a ladle to spread it thinly and cook over a medium-hot surface.

There is no need to flip the dosa, you just need to cook one side until golden brown, then when bubbles start to form on the exposed surface, it is cooked.

A dosa is a crispy pancake, whereas a masala dosa has a filling of spicy potatoes.

Dosas are traditionally served with a few chutneys and sambar, which is a lightly spiced lentil and vegetable stew.

The dynamic chefs at Nalaas have around 55 years’ experience between them.

Chef Abdul Kather has been cooking for four decades, and it is he who is pictured in the video making the dosa.

What is special about a dosa?

Being served a dosa can be a magical experience.

Aside from satisfying hunger, being served a dosa is part theatre - you can see diners’ eyes light up when they spot wait-staff expertly balancing the giant dosas in their arms.

How do you eat a dosa?

There is no right or wrong way to enjoy a dosa.

Purists will always insist on using hands to get stuck in and enjoy a dosa, whilst there are plenty of people who are more comfortable using cutlery.

Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India got into hot water a few years’ ago when he ate his dosa using a knife and fork.

Following outrage on Twitter, Mr Ellis embraced the good natured banter and posted a second dosa video, this time acknowledging the dosa tasted better eaten with his hands.

Nalaas makes around 350 dosas a week and is one of the leading Indian restaurants in Derby.

You can find out more about Nalaas by visiting their website here.