A Thosai Brunch

I prefer Thosai (or "Dosa" as India Indians write) to Prata. It’s less oily, more filling and tastier.

For those who don’t know, Thosai is a crepe made from lightly-fermented rice and lentil batter. Sometimes it is filled with stuff like egg, or Masala (curried potatoes and vegetables) or whatever catches your fancy. It is usually accompanied with condiments such as Sambar, coconut chutney, and some chilli thingie. It is normally eaten in the mornings but it can be eaten any time of the day.

I’m going on and on about Thosai as Nesh and I had a Thosai brunch during the week at Chettinadu Restaurant (Add: 41 Chandar Road; Tel: [65] 6291 7161). It was a nondescript restaurant in Little India that we randomly veered into whilst looking for food.

The restaurant was one of those old-school "share-everything” types where banana leaves were used as plates; grabbing and mashing food with fingers (always the right hand!) was encouraged; the condiments came in three massive tin cans shared amongst the diners (ask for it nicely); and waiters waggled their heads politely in approval or looked sheepish when it came to screw-ups.

Before this brunch, I had tried Thosai plain, with egg fillings, and Masala . According to Wikipedia, there’s more variations such as "chilli, butter, ghee, wheat, appam, cheese, adai, paper" Thosai. Nesh was deeply into the Rava Onion Thosai which used semolina batter for the crepe and julienned onions for filling.

It’s a simple dish. Sweet, crunchy and crispy courtesy of the julienned onions and just-right frying technique. But I thought what really made it good were the condiments that gave it richness, spice and bite only when mixed together. Thus, heap on the chilli thingie, go easy on the coconut chutney, and let the Sambar soak into that Thosai’s pores. Adjust according to taste.

We were craving for it much later during a 7-11 beer session. Unfortunately as Nesh pointed out, "Dude. There aren’t any 24-hour Thosai shops." Not at 2am in Little India, Serangoon Road. 

Cook it!
Basics:	Thosai Batter
Thosais:	Basic Thosai | Masala Thosai | Rava Onion Thosai | Paper Thosai
Condiments:	Coconut Chutney | Sambar

Go to Jail, pass Go, do not collect.

A 66-year old Floridian women chose to spend 60 days in jail over paying a $7.95 bill. Father took 20-year old son to court for idleness. Man arrested for an affair with a vacuum. And the list goes on and on…

I’m baffled at the amount of stupidity in the world. Like the car-surfing mooner who fell on his face in the middle of a road. Or quirky coincidences like a suspect who outran the police in a souped-up golf cart.

What are the oddest or most moronic things that you’ve ever encountered?

Painted Skin: Cell-u-lite

Liao Zhai was a fun thing back in the days of TVB. It was scary as heck with green spotlights, cheesy makeup and sound effects, and pretty good acting. No other versions of Liao Zhai can come close to it.

As such, the Liao Zhai story of 2008 – Painted Skin (also known as 画皮） – was an utter let-down. Here’s a dead give-away that it sucks: movie critics praise the actors for their acting – from forlorn to lovelorn expressions.

For crying out loud, it’s a horror movie! The plot’s supposed to be suspenseful, terrifying and fear-inducing! Demons aren’t supposed to pine for mortals and go squishy over them! I wasn’t supposed to be yawning my head off through it all, while Donnie Yen tries to rekindle some spent love and Vicki Zhao begs for answers.

The only thing good was the scene where Vicki Zhao does a "白发魔女" when she turns albino and weeps tears of blood (YAWN…) while running around like a headless chicken. Sigh… Liao Zhai should return to its roots of terror and do something properly terrifying.

And not yawningly horrifying for us movie-goers.

Resources
Hua Pi Story in English | Movie Synopsis

Movie Trailer from YouTube

Painted Skin Trailer