Jaipur revisited

 I was lucky enough to learn how to prepare dhosa when visiting a students’ mess at the Film and Television Institute of India. This mess was being run by a friend, passionate about healthy eating, who had taken on the mess management to demonstrate that using organic food, more salads, less oil was not only delicious but was better for our own health, the health of the environment, and needed to cost no more than less thoughtfully sourced food.
It is time consuming to prepare the dhosa, so it wasn’t common on the mess menu. The flour is a mixture of rice and lentils, soaked separately, ground finely and mixed together, then left to ferment for a few hours which gives the pancake its distinctive, slightly sour taste. Our dhosas were cooked on an industrial griddle and then rolled up over a filling of our choice. We were served on disposable banana leaf plates — straight into the compost afterwards, no washing up and no litter! Great. It was a very convivial evening and the students (and visitors) couldn’t get enough.
So it was a pleasure to find masala dhosa on the menu at Jaipur to bring back a taste and a memory of that trip to India. I hadn’t been to the Jaipur since their move from Sunrise sports club to a converted house on King George Road. We sat in the lush, green garden under a shady tree. One drawback was the proximity of our table to the car park. As more patrons turned up we found ourselves sitting almost in the cars. More of a delineation between car park and tables would help. Inside are three rooms for dining, spacious and breezy but we wanted to be outside in spite of traffic noise. The maroon tablecloths and avocado green crockery combine freshness with a hint of the orient.
Complimentary poppadums with a tasty, green coriander chutney, carrot pickle and hot chillie  arrived promptly. As did our starter — a chicken tikka naan — small, succulent pieces of chicken breast wrapped in bite sized naans. (US$3) On the menu it was advertised as 3 pieces (we got 4 — a generous concession to our request to share).
Mains took a while — almost 30 minutes — but were worth the wait. The masala dhosa (US$8) was served with a small bowl of soupy, delicately spiced dhal.
That brought back memories of my Indian journey where this delicious spiced soup was an ubiquitous accompaniment to all meals whether in private homes or restaurants. The dhosa itself was good — crispy, slightly sour wrapped around a spicy potato filling. My companion ordered the palak paneer — spinach and white cheese in a mildly spiced tomato gravy, acco-mpanied by a fresh naan.
Also on the menu are a range of chicken dishes, (US$10), mutton (US$14) and fish — from US$14 for tilapia to US$17 for prawn curry.
Vegetarian dishes start from chana dhal at US$7 through to vegetarian tlali platter at US$10. Various rice dishes — jeera, pilau, fried and plain come in at US$2 and good buttery naans at US$1.
Sweets on offer were gulab jamon  (US$3) and icecream (US$2). I would have been tempted by kulfi (US$3) — spiced Indian ice cream, unavailable that day.
All in all a lovely light meal, good flavours, good spice blends, nice accompaniments, cheerful service. Lunch for two — including soda water and water  (we brought our own wine — no corkage) came to US$24.