Bengaluru is famous for its gheelicious dosas, fluffy idlis and filter kaapi so strong that it can awaken your senses in a jiffy. But how much ghee in a dosa counts as too much? Recently, a video of a Bengaluru eatery pouring litres of ghee while preparing dosa and using a broom to clean the tawa has sparked quite a controversy and curiosity on social media. Here’s what happened.
Bengaluru Eatery Uses Broom To Clean Tawa; Internet Is Unimpressed
Digital creator, @thefoodiebae took to its Facebook page to share a video from an outlet of Bengaluru’s famous Rameswaram Cafe. The 3-minute video shows the chef preparing fresh hot dosas on a tawa. Captioned, “the hi-tech dosa”, the chef first moistens the tawa with oil to prepare multiple dosas simultaneously. Next, he spreads the oil evenly all over the tawa. Then, he uses a ladle to pour the dosa batter and spread it across the pan to cook multiple dosas.
Next, he cuts open a packet of Nandini ghee and pours copious amounts of ghee over the dosas cooking on the tawa. He goes on to add dollops of spiced potato or masala and finally adds the pudi or Rameswaram Cafe’s signature spice mix to the dosa. The dosas are neatly folded and placed on plates topped with banana leaves. A serving of two chutneys is added on the plates to complement the dosas. On some plates, servers add bowls of spicy sambhar as well.
But what caught the attention of Netizens was the use of a broom to clean the tawa and the overly generous use of ghee to prepare dosas. Many took to the comments section to lay down their opinions on the same. DrHira Mumtaz comments, “Sooo much oil…u have spoiled the dosa …so unhealthy”. Amar Singh states, “This is very bad to swipe tava by broom coconut.” Mangaladasan Pandian says, “Dont they realize, using this much ghee harm the health of the consumer?”
Srikanth Deshmukh quips, “That quantity of ghee and ‘chattni pudi’ for one dose (dosa 
) is of no benefit for health. Please maintain caution on intake; healthy life is more precious than momentary satisfaction of taste buds.” Pradeep Shenoy jokes, “The amount of ghee poured on dosa is slightly higher than the amount of rain that Bangalore received this year. ” Others proceeded to call it the most “unhealthy dosa” or “heart attack dosa”.
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Why Are Brooms Used On Tawas?
While there are many who have taken to social media to call out the use of brooms on tawas and even gone on to say it’s “unhygienic”, let’s lay out the facts for you. It’s very common to witness restaurants in South India using brooms to clean tawas or evenly spread oil on them. Here’s why.
- Cooks use only clean brooms on tawas
- Made of coconut palm leaves, brooms have rough edges which can scrap off unwanted food particles from the tawa to cook the next batch of dosas
- As cooks have to clean tawas fast, they first pour water and then quickly use brooms to clean a big surface area
- Brooms are durable and can withstand heat as they are made of coconut fronds. So, they are also used to evenly spread oil on the tawa.
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So, now that you know why restaurants use brooms on tawas, let’s be clear that it isn’t unhygienic.
Cover Image Courtesy: @thefoodiebae/ Facebook
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