#thosai

[majianguo]

The greatest breakfast ever, thosai with a side of vadai (sort of like a South Indian doughnut) - at Fortune Eating House, my favorite place for South Indian food.

[gomzdrawfr]

God I love potatoes

[radio-charlie]

Today is a double breakfast day. v hungry

[bonefall]

changing the bluestar rat death could be yother opportunity to subvert audience expectations (for thosay or may not familiar with the source material). Like, red-herring foreshadr rat death here and there and then WHAMMO! hit 'em with the ol' sdivergence. (i recall the ultimate spider-man comic book run did stuff like this to fantastic effect, as a distilled, modernized retelling. churned through them whenever i wast reading warrior cats)

Would LOVE to do that but, I think it's already gonna reveal itself as diverging the minute that Firepaw walks into the Cleric den, the Cleric turns around, and the reveal of BB!Spottedleaf causes the live studio audience to cheer for like 2 minutes straight

Maybe I could make the scene kinda like, a rat jumps out and hisses as they cross by the Carrionplace, only for Jag to leap forward and crush it under his paws from behind in a big leap? Like when a big villain lands on a smaller villain lmao "HELLO I am Snag, I'll be your antagonist for this scene!"

[simply-zhouye]

Zhou Ye enjoying a huge tower cone of thosai that is as big as her hehe when she was in Singapore back in June 2023 ~

[sivavakkiyar]

How round/thin are they 🤔🤨🧐 (the thosai)

depends…grandma likes small soft dosa. me and my mom like large crisp dosa

[clarabowmp3]

seriously?? thosai?? this is the malayali in me speaking but IT SHOULD ALWAYS BE DOSHA /j

OMG YA i always have this issue w my South Indian friends who allll have different pronunciations and it makes me so 😵‍💫😵‍💫 like Im North Indian but my mum always pronounced it as ‘dosa’ growing up so every other pronunciation has me feeling like ???? WHAT???

[imustbenuts]

thosai?!??!?! THOSAI?!?!?! THOSAI?!?!?!?

THOSAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OR IS THIS PRATA

I CANT TELL

[ehronlime]

Stacks on stacks of thosai and roti and appam. https://www.instagram.com/p/CmiQAX-yr1J/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[chimaeraonwards]

okay I want to preface this by saying that I'm not an expert on North Korea or any sort of international relations, I'm just someone from the global south who has read a lot of news growing up and has a lot of opinions.

There are so many things I want to expand on from the posts before this one but I'll just stick to the hamburger thing.

I want to start with a common talking point that I see being brought up by many news outlets is how North Koreans call it "double bread with meat". Maybe I'm reading too much into this but many news outlets make it sound like they're alienating and dehumanizing North Koreans.

I can't find a legitimate consensus on the reasons why it's called "double bread with meat" - some reasons include English was banned in North Korea at the time and that there was no word equivalent word for hamburger so they had to make one up.

It drives me crazy to think about how the West uses the whole "double bread with meat" thing to ridicule North Koreans when to me that's just how language and etymology work??? Many would use a close description to make a new word when the word doesn't exist in a certain language. By the way, they're allowed to use the word hamburger now.

and North Koreans aren't the only people who change the names of foods to make them more palatable to the populace. Many countries around the world do the same thing. Here is a restaurant in Washington that rebranded the names of Indian food where thosai/dosa was renamed to crepes.

Does it make it any less funny to natives of the culture the food was from? Absolutely not - I remember laughing at the absurdity of calling thosai/dosas crepes. But can you laugh at/criticise this and not dehumanise the people who remarketed the food? Yeah, they're still people at the end of the day.

If you want to understand this phenomenon better, I would highly recommend reading this article about the Nacirema tribe.

I also want to add to @4dmc's post that Patrick Soh (apparently) has said that he does not currently receive any money from the restaurants. I wasn't able to find the primary source of his saying it but it's something to keep in mind with everything else I'm going to share.

So why does someone start a business in/business ties with a country like North Korea when they might not even be making money from it?

Here's where I think the difference between soft power and hard power lies.

hard power is using actions like sanctions and militaristic action as means of persuasion. soft power is the ability to persuade without coercion. you can gain soft power through things like music, pop culture, charities, etc.

more often than not, the West has always had the idea that to help oppressed people - violence or cultural destruction needs to be enacted. some examples are "free Palestine from Hamas" by carpet bombing them, "stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia" by sending troops to Vietnam, and "help aboriginals in Canada" by sending them to residential schools.

but let's look at how these organisations from 2 different countries have helped the North Korean people. I picked these 2 simply because I'm more familiar with these initiatives.

There is a social enterprise from Singapore called Choson Exchange that aims to train North Koreans in things like business and economic policy so that they can succeed on their own. their workshops have helped North Koreans start their own businesses including their starting own cafe.

A private Malaysian university gave Kim Jong Un an honorary doctorate in Economics. Sounds crazy but, it's true. But let's look at the big picture here. The North Korean Embassy was located near the university campus at the time. There were even North Korean students in that university, giving them access to higher education as international students (it was mostly children of diplomats). (of course, all of this fell apart after the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un's estranged brother, at a Malaysian airport but that's a whole other thing)

Does this mean that North Korea is a utopia, free from criticism? Of course not.

But it comes back to my point here about soft and hard power. Who is more likely to influence policy changes in the North Korean government.

It makes me think about who do I think has made positive changes to the average North Korean's citizen quality of life? Is the the countries who wielded soft power or those who used hard power? Personally, i think if you really cared about the oppressed people in North Korea (or any oppressed group really), you need to ask yourself, how are you talking about them? How are you helping them?

Most people are not their governments (or whoever is in charge). They are regular people who want to own businesses, start families, study abroad, and so much more. If the whole world treated and punished all citizens as if they were representatives of their government, then I bet all US citizens would be the most sanctioned in the world.

The alienation and dehumanization of oppressed people is a reflection of you, not the oppressed people. Look at the daily lives of people before judging them based on the actions of their leaders.

The last thing I want everyone to think about is this quote from Patrick Soh, the actual guy who brought hamburgers to North Korea:

"I think what they really need are friends."

i saw the trailer for the new feel-good “anti-racist” US war movie about the carpet bombing of North Korea and started writing up something for this blog, partially inspired by the absolute shit storm i got for sharing that post i made with pictures of everyday life outside pyongyang

and then i gave up, because what’s the point? westerners can’t even handle a single picture of a north korean not looking miserable without screaming propaganda

meanwhile, there are no stories about the horrors of life in the ‘hermit kingdom’ that are deemed too outlandish to be believable. i can’t remember who said it, but it’s like the entire country has taken up permanent residence in the western imaginary as some silly little cartoon villain, where the leaders of the country does evil things for no discernible reason. they’re just silly and evil like that, and the citizens, of course, are silly, too. silly and brainwashed.

i watched a video recently of a tourists visiting an auto dealership in pyongyang, and the entire time he was just gawking at the employees and costumers, shoving his phone in their face, and confidently explaining to his youtube audience that everyone he’s interacting with are actually actors.

what level of dehumanization do you have to reach for that thought to even cross your mind? to think that the people you see before you are actors? that entire cities and shops are erected with to sole purpose that you, a western, will see them and be impressed?

what frustrates me the most is the casual cruelty that seeps into any mention of north korea, no matter how small. if north koreans are not being evil, they’re being silly.

a north korean newspaper reports that a group of archeologists in pyongyang have discovered an old rock carving with the words ‘unicorn lair’ (mistranslated), and the western press reports that north koreans now believe in unicorns.

a tourist at a hotel in hamhung is told by the receptionist to be careful at the beach: the waves can get high. that day the tourists goes to the beach, and there are no waves. she retells the story to her instagram followers, explaining that the poor woman at the hotel could never have seen real waves before because north koreans are probably never allowed to travel.

she adds a little teary-eyed emoji.

one of the cities i included in the post was sariwon, a densely populated city to the south of pyongyang. below are some pictures from its “folk customs street”, which was built to showcase old korean traditions and customs

here’s all wikipedia has to say about it

Built to display an ideal picture of ancient Korea, it includes buildings in the “historical style” and a collection of ancient Korean cannons. Although it is considered an inaccurate romanticized recreation of an ancient Korean street, it is frequently used as a destination for foreigners on official government tours. Many older style Korean buildings exist in the city.

it’s just north koreans being silly again. there’s no mention of what might motivate them to build a street like that — why the preservation of old customs, culture and architecture might somehow be important for the city

could it perhaps have something to do with how the U.S. air force dropped 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,557 tons of napalm, over the korean peninsula during the war? the carpet bombings, which are now the topic of an upcoming hollywood movie about overcoming racism through warcrimes, destroyed an estimate of 85% of all buildings in north korea. some cities were entirely wiped off the map.

in sariwon they missed a few buildings, but not many — after an intense firebombing campaign the U.S. military estimated the destruction of sariwon to be at 95%.

none of this is mentioned on the wikipedia page for sariwon.

we destroyed entire cities. memory-holed the entire thing, called it the forgotten war. and now, 70 years later, we’re convincing ourselves that the people living in the ruins are actors.

and somehow the north koreans are the brainwashed ones

[andpigandpanda]

I had proper lunch hor.

MomDad had thosai for breakfast.

[adzizi]

Shredded Thosai with Curry Chicken #foodporn #sedapgiler #fyp #MYfoodie #fypsarawak #menurahmah #postbariatricsurgery #bariatricmeal #minigastricbypass #bariatricwarrior #malaysianfood #lunch

[radio-charlie]

can you get good dosa where you are? i want a dosa

haha the places i know with the really, *really* good dosa are about a 20 min drive from here. here's my favorite one for you:

[suvaifoodssingapore]

Suvai Foods top Selling Products

Suvai Foods offers a diverse range of products that cater to lovers of Indian cuisine, with several top-selling items that stand out. Their product line includes a variety of batters, teas, and ready-to-eat foods.

Dosa (Thosai) / Idli Batter: This is a staple product for making traditional South Indian dishes like dosas and idlis. Suvai Foods is known for producing these batters without preservatives, maintaining an authentic taste​​.

Masala Chai Premix: This instant tea mix is popular for its blend of spices including cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and black pepper, offering a quick and flavorful chai experience​.

Mumbai Pav / Ladi Pav: These soft bread rolls are a hit among customers, perfect for making popular street food items like vada pav​.

Cold-pressed Oils: Suvai Foods offers a variety of cold-pressed oils such as sesame, groundnut, and coconut oil, which are appreciated for their purity and health benefits​ ​.

Instant Sambar and Coconut Chutney: These ready-to-eat products are convenient and bring the authentic flavors of South Indian cuisine to the table quickly​.

3 in 1 Filter Coffee Premix: Another popular item, this premix offers a quick way to enjoy traditional South Indian filter coffee​.

Suvai Foods continues to be a preferred choice for many due to their commitment to quality, preservative-free products, and a wide range of authentic Indian foods​ (Suvaifoods)​​ (Singapore Food Manufacturers)​.

Suvai Foods maintain quality of their products

Suvai Foods maintains the quality of their products through several rigorous practices:

ISO Certification: Suvai Foods is ISO 22000 certified, which ensures that their food safety management systems meet international standards. This certification covers every aspect of their production process, from sourcing raw materials to the final packaging of products​.

Halal Certification: All Suvai Foods products are 100% vegetarian and Halal certified, ensuring they meet specific dietary laws and quality standards required for Halal certification​ .

Preservative-Free Products: Suvai Foods prides itself on producing batters and other products without using preservatives. This commitment to natural ingredients helps maintain the authenticity and healthiness of their foods​​.

Cold-Pressed Oils: The company uses cold-pressing techniques for their oils, which helps retain the nutritional value and flavor of the oils. Cold-pressed oils are processed at lower temperatures, which preserves their natural qualities​.

Stone Grinding Method: For products like dosa and idli batters, Suvai Foods uses traditional stone grinding methods. This technique not only enhances the texture and taste but also ensures that the nutritional content of the ingredients is preserved​​.

Strict Quality Control: From the selection of raw materials to the final product, Suvai Foods implements strict quality control measures. Each batch is tested for quality and consistency to ensure that only the best products reach their customers​.

Fresh Ingredients: Suvai Foods emphasizes the use of fresh ingredients in their products. For instance, their ready-to-eat items and batters are made fresh and delivered quickly to maintain their quality and taste​.

These practices collectively help Suvai Foods to maintain high standards of quality, ensuring that their customers receive authentic, tasty, and safe products.

Follow Suvai Foods for more such posts!

[saurabhgt]

The 5 Best Indian Restaurants in Singapore: A Culinary Journey

Singapore, a melting pot of cultures, is renowned for its diverse and vibrant food scene. Among the many cuisines that thrive here, Indian cuisine stands out for its rich flavors, aromatic spices, and varied dishes. Whether you crave the fiery heat of a South Indian curry, the complex spices of North Indian biryanis, or the comforting taste of Indian street food, Singapore has it all. Here are five of the best Indian restaurants in Singapore that offer an unforgettable culinary experience. Singapore is a bustling city in Southeast Asia and famous for holding a rich culture of different nations. This small nation boasts several places to visit in Singapore which promises you some wholesome experiences with their larger-than-life architecture, scenic parks, etc.

1. The Song of India

Location: 33 Scotts Road, Singapore 228226

A Michelin-starred restaurant, The Song of India is an epitome of luxury and elegance. Housed in a beautiful black-and-white colonial bungalow, this restaurant offers a fine dining experience with a modern twist on traditional Indian dishes. Signature dishes like the Lobster Moilee, a rich coconut curry with tender lobster, and the Kashmiri Rogan Josh, a succulent lamb curry, are must-tries. The restaurant’s ambiance, combined with its impeccable service and exquisite food, makes it a top choice for Indian cuisine lovers.

2. MTR Singapore

Location: 438 Serangoon Road, Singapore 218133

For those who crave authentic South Indian flavors, MTR Singapore is the place to be. Originating from Bangalore, India, this restaurant has brought the essence of South Indian vegetarian cuisine to Singapore. The Masala Dosa, a crispy rice crepe filled with spicy potato, and the Rava Idli, a steamed semolina cake, are crowd favorites. MTR’s commitment to quality and traditional recipes makes it a beloved spot for locals and tourists alike.

3. Punjab Grill

Location: B1-01A, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, 2 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018972

Punjab Grill offers a regal dining experience with its lavish interiors and gourmet North Indian cuisine. The restaurant specializes in Punjabi dishes with a modern twist. The Tandoori Guchchi, stuffed morel mushrooms cooked in a clay oven, and the Butter Chicken, a creamy tomato-based chicken curry, are standout dishes. With its prime location at Marina Bay Sands and its sophisticated menu, Punjab Grill is perfect for special occasions.

4. Samy’s Curry

Location: 25 Dempsey Road, Singapore 249670

Established in the 1950s, Samy’s Curry is a legendary name in Singapore’s Indian culinary scene. Located in the lush Dempsey Hill area, this restaurant offers a more casual yet iconic dining experience. Known for its traditional South Indian fare served on banana leaves, Samy’s Curry is famous for its Fish Head Curry, a spicy and tangy dish that draws patrons from all over the island. The rustic charm and hearty portions make it a family favorite.

5. Komala Vilas

Location: 76-78 Serangoon Road, Singapore 217981

A heritage restaurant that has been serving delicious vegetarian Indian food since 1947, Komala Vilas is a staple in Little India. This eatery is renowned for its thalis – a platter of various dishes that provide a complete meal. The dosas, thosai, and vadas are crispy and flavorful, making it a go-to spot for authentic South Indian breakfast and lunch. The bustling atmosphere and consistent quality have made Komala Vilas a beloved institution in Singapore.

Conclusion

Singapore’s Indian restaurants offer a diverse range of dining experiences, from luxurious fine dining to casual, traditional eateries. Each of these five restaurants provides a unique taste of Indian cuisine, showcasing the rich culinary heritage and innovation that make Indian food so beloved. Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, a culinary journey through these Indian restaurants is a must-do for anyone looking to explore the flavors of India in Singapore.

[greedyapron]

22/5/2024 - Dinner

📍 Arunachala Bhavan, Little India

🫓 Masala Thosai ($4.80)

It's soft with a slightly crispy exterior! It's a darn good thosai. Filled with tasty potatoes, these were quite filling.

🥔 Pani Puri ($6.10)

It satisfies the pani puri craving but it's not the best. Still pretty satisfied with this cause it's not that easy to find.

🍽 Poriyal ($3.70)

Soya mutton and potato. Was part of their Vesak day menu but they still sold it to us ala carte. It's tasty with a nice "meat" texture. The spices are more than enough even without onion and garlic.

🫖 Masala Tea ($2.80)

A good cup of tea. Sakunthala's is better but it's also twice the price.