Bon Appétit joins Chef Meherwan Irani to explore Mumbai’s street food scene at Muthu Dosa Corner in Dadar. Known for his fast-paced skills and signature Rajinikanth-style dosas, Muttu Anna has earned a reputation as one of the city's true dosa masters. Watch as he crafts five perfectly crisp dosas at once with unmatched speed, precision, and flair. Inspired by the legendary Indian actor Rajinikanth, Muttu Anna's dosa-making is part performance, part tradition, and all flavor.
00:00We're here in Mumbai, in Dadar, one of the oldest colonies in Mumbai, and we're at
00:10Muttu Ana Dosa corner right behind me. A dosa is a savory lentil and rice crepe that's fermented,
00:17it's delicious, and this guy behind me is supposed to be one of the best.
00:21Anna, what's the first step?
00:24First step, the first step is the first step.
00:26So the number one step here is the cleaning of the flattop, and this is really important
00:32because he wants to both season it, clean it, and make it nonstick at the same time.
00:38What he's doing with the water is essentially making sure that all the oil that's on the
00:43surface of the griddle comes up and gets scraped off, so you get a perfect seasoning and a perfect
00:47nonstick surface, but it's not oily, and that's critical for getting that crisp dosa batter.
00:56The prep is happening fresh. That cutting block that he's cutting on has probably been
01:00done for 40 years, give or take. He can just open the cutting block. What's incredible is
01:05the speed. All the preps are done fresh every day, and that's why, you know, people ask me
01:10all the time, street food, how do you feel about it? I'm like, if you see them prepping, if you
01:14see it happening fresh, you're probably going to be just fine. He's just decimating. I mean,
01:18the knife skills are insane. Chef's knife, India style. That's it. Right now, they're borrowing
01:24power from the shop behind him and hooking it up so that we can get the lights and the
01:28fan going, and then I'm sure the shop benefits from the crowds that are going to be gathering
01:32here pretty soon, and it's a win-win for both situations. There's no permits, but here's
01:37the permit that's actually a universal permit. You're good. You're so good that everybody wants
01:42you here. The neighborhood wants you here. The cops want you here. When you're that good,
01:46you don't need to say, I want to be here. They tell you, you have to be here. He's doing
01:50his first tester. If this is good, this will not be eaten. This first one is given to the
01:55gods as a gift before you start the service every single time.
02:08This batter is rice and urad dal, a type of lentil that's been soaked overnight. At least
02:14five hours minimum, chef says, usually done overnight, and then the next day it's ground
02:18in a stone-on-stone grinder. What's happening here is the fluffing of the batter, as we'll
02:22call it, basically making sure that the heavy bits that fell to the bottom got fully turned
02:27around and mixed up, and he's aerating it to keep the batter super light, make sure it
02:30doesn't get too dense. It might sort of gross the Westerners out, but he's putting his hand
02:34in there because he's trying to keep the active bacterias going in the batter, and you know,
02:39putting his hand and bringing it out makes sure that there's a constant introduction of natural
02:43bacteria into the batter, and it's important. When you're trying to make bread at home,
02:47it's so important to knead with your hands. The fact that you're actually using your hands
02:50to knead the dough with is introducing a lot of that bacteria from your hand into the dough,
02:54helping with the yeast activation, helping with the rise. The same thing is happening
02:58in here right now. This technique dates back probably two, three thousand years in terms
03:03of this kind of batter making. This 28-year-old charcoal brazier is charcoal fired. He buys charcoal
03:19from the shop. I mean, this is a pain in the ass. He's got to light it. He's got to manage
03:23it. We didn't see him light it because this whole cart got wheeled in. So they went, loaded it up, lit it
03:28somewhere else, let it get to temp, and then brought the cart in. He's modulating the heat of the flat
03:33top by raising and lowering it over the life fire. So when it gets too hot, he puts these little metal
03:38inserts so you can raise the griddle up a little bit, get a little bit more airflow underneath it,
03:42and then when it cools down, he drops it down again. It's just brilliant. So this is the classic masala
03:48that goes inside of a masala dosa. Typically, the masala is mounted in the middle and the dosa sort of wrapped
03:53around it, but because it's sort of a street version of it, he's spreading the masala all over it.
03:57It's potatoes that have been cooked with popped mustard seeds, curry leaves,
04:01a little bit of urad dal in it, a little bit of haldi, a little bit of turmeric,
04:09chili powder, and of course lots of salt. And the idea is to give a contrast of the soft, mushy,
04:15warm potato texture with the crispy, crunchy crepe on the outset. I mean, no different than a French classic
04:20French crepe with, you know, some sort of stuffing like bananas on the inside,
04:24this is the savory version of it.
04:34So this vati is both the dipper, it's the portion control, and it's what he uses to spread with.
04:39I mean, you can buy this at any little kitchenware shop around here, and this is the size that he's using,
04:45that he's mastered his art with. It's specific to the size of the flat top.
04:49So this technique of the way he's spreading the batter to make it absolutely paper thin,
04:55it takes so much time, so much energy. I mean, just look at this.
04:58Look at this. I mean, this is a flex here, that he's got five on the flat top,
05:02and he's managing five at the same time. Getting that perfect thinness is what makes a true dosa master know what the heck they're doing.
05:09It's, I can't explain to you how hard it is to do this without the dosa tearing or getting too thick.
05:15As the batter is cooking on the flat top, it's becoming porous. So when he puts the butter on,
05:20it's seeping through the pores and essentially caramelizing the bottom.
05:24Oh, this is the maesur masala special.
05:27Yes, maesur masala.
05:28That's special. What's been thrown across only for the maesur masala is some of the tomato chutney,
05:32just to add extra flavor, extra spice to the whole thing.
05:35So this is a special technique. We're just going to use a little masher,
05:39is the only way to describe it, to essentially turn it into almost a kebab bhaji.
05:43There he goes, there he goes.
05:44And the potato masala on top, a little squeeze of fresh lime.
05:50So this is the specialty of this place, probably the most famous maesur masala noosa.
06:04Is this your recipe?
06:05Yes sir, it's famous either.
06:06And what kind of masala will you give this, baby?
06:08This is pav bhaji masala, milchi boudar, sour namal.
06:12And milchi, okay. And then a little bit of the tomato chutney.
06:15Tomato chutney, okay.
06:16To help make it wet.
06:17This is just the magic moment, where something that seems that it's glued to the flat top,
06:23separates itself out perfectly.
06:24Sir.
06:27Watch out for the flying dosa. Don't get hit by one.
06:30So there goes one saada dosa.
06:38Amazing.
06:39And this one he's doing last, because the pav bhaji has to cook.
06:43So he's taking his time.
06:51Incredible.
06:52A lifetime of just doing the same thing over and over again.
06:57And now he's deglazing the flat top to get all the oil off.
07:02Definitely an element of showmanship here in this whole operation.
07:06It's street food.
07:07There's got to be a component of street art to the street food.
07:10And he knows it.
07:14I mean, this is insane.
07:16There's a guy at the end.
07:17He knows, when he sees the potatoes go down, that it's a maestro masala dosa.
07:21And with a flick of his wrist, he's flinging a wet chutney straight onto the flat top.
07:26Unerring accuracy.
07:27I haven't seen him miss yet, but I'm keeping an eye.
07:32So this mashing is a classic pav bhaji technique, where onions, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers
07:38were sort of mashed into a hash.
07:40And the idea being that he can mop it up with bread.
07:44Here he's doing it on the dosa, which is a first for me.
07:47I've never seen this technique used on a dosa before.
07:49Essentially, you're waiting for that perfect moment when the top is cooked, the vegetables are cooked,
07:54and the bottom is crispy golden.
07:56And this man is just, he could probably do it with his eyes closed.
07:59He's going to do it.
08:00He's going to do a spread with wine.
08:03Okay, eyes closed.
08:05No look.
08:07Perfect dosa, eyes closed.
08:18I mean, this is insane.
08:20This is just like mind blowing skill over here to do this.
08:24It's just showing off muscle memory.
08:27I mean, this one's a serious flex.
08:29He is just showing off at this point.
08:32Beautiful.
08:33That's the one he made with his eyes closed.
08:35That's about a perfect dosa.
08:37That one's in honor of me, so I'm going to go try it.
08:39Oh my God.
08:40I mean, perfectly golden even color.
08:44You can see the striations of where the hand was.
08:48I mean, this is just, I want to frame this and put it up on a wall in my restaurant.
08:52This thing's just absolutely perfect.
08:54Just look at it.
08:55It's just insane.
08:56Hello, friends.
08:57How are you?
08:58That is perfect dosa.
08:59This is pretty damn close to the perfect food.
09:05I'm loaded.
09:06I'm going to give myself a Maesor Masala Dosa.
09:08I know what I want.
09:09Make Maesor Masala Dosa.
09:11Make so?
09:12Yes.
09:13One third.
09:15All right.
09:16Got my ticket.
09:17Maesor?
09:18Yes.
09:21All right.
09:22And now we wait for magic to happen.
09:25Let's go over and watch him make Maesor Masala Dosa.
09:32And this move over here, I mean, I'm still trying to figure out, like, is this really the most efficient way to do it?
09:38But apparently it is.
09:40The vegetable comes here with a lime squeezer.
09:45Oh my God.
09:46I got the extra butter.
09:48This is going to be beautiful.
09:49First class.
09:50First class.
09:51First class.
09:52Yes.
09:53All right.
09:54Yes.
09:55I'm going to give you some cheese.
09:58Oh my God.
10:01My mouth's actually salivating right now.
10:03I'm so excited about this.
10:04Oh my, it smells absolutely fantastic.
10:11It's so savory.
10:12It's that perfect savory, you know, potatoes, tomatoes.
10:15The acid balance is incredible.
10:19It's just bursting with flavor.
10:22Just literally explosive flavor in your mouth.
10:24It's fantastic.
10:26Even though it's got all this soft sort of wet masala on the inside, there's still a nice crunch in the outside of the dosa to get that bite through.
10:33And just the tanginess of the tomatoes, the potatoes, a little bit of heat, herbaceous from the green chilies.
10:40It really is just an amazing bite.
10:42It kind of makes you want to keep coming back for more.
10:44It's almost meaty in its umami, even though it's purely vegetarian.
10:48I mean, it is an incredibly complex bite because, you know, it's easy to think that the dosa is just a wrapper, a tortilla, a hamburger bun.
10:58It's not.
10:59I mean, just that by itself, you could just eat it like a bag of chips because it's got so much flavor, tanginess, saltiness, the fermentation.
11:06You can taste the rice, you can taste the dal, but then when you put the stuffed vegetables on the inside and that butter and just a hint of that cheese.
11:13I mean, it's just atrocious how good this is.
11:16It's buttery, creamy.
11:24I mean, it's just a remarkable testament to how seriously we take food in India, how seriously this guy takes his craft and his art.
11:35And the crazy part is nobody here that's buying these dosas from him is taking that for granted.
11:39They know what has gone into making of this.
11:42I mean, it's really humbling, inspiring.
11:46This is what I love about the street food of India.
11:48This is what I love about Mumbai.
11:49And this particular spot, Dhadar, it's just this melting pot of cultures.
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