Rajarani Thosai – Tho-You-Sai That Your Thosai Can’t Get Any Fresher Than This?

Making a traditional and authentic thosai is a laborious process. The crepe-like South Indian savory pancake, made from a batter of fermented rice flour, ground lentils and fenugreek, requires the lentils to be first pre-soaked before the grounding process. Thereafter, the mixture has to be left overnight to ferment with rice flour and fenugreek before cooking. Because of this time-consuming preparation, most places today opt for mass-produced premixes.

This, however, has never been the case for Rajarani Thosai at Tampines Round Market & Food Centre. The power mother-and-son duo sticks to the painstaking process of grinding soaked black lentils by hand, and making their own sambars, dhal, and chutneys to accompany the fresh thosai made from scratch daily. It comes as little surprise then, that this stall sports one of the longest queues in the food centre.

We love our Masala Thosai and Butter Thosai, and we love it even more when they come together in one! The Masala Butter Thosai ($4) arrived well executed. We adored the crisp paper-like edges, and velvety soft centre loaded with spiced and buttery potatoes. The salty globs of melted butter (not Planta or margarine, mind you) melded perfectly together with the aromatic masala spices, making every mouthful particularly delicious.

Served on an Indian Thali plate with 3 sauces — coconut chutney, dhal and chilli and onion chutney — the thosai though already delectable on its own, was even better when dipped into the sauces.

Other interesting options include the Crispy Cereal Thosai ($3.50) and protein-packed Cheese Egg Butter Thosai ($4.50). But if you are a thosai purist, there’s also the traditional Plain Thosai ($2) and Egg Thosai ($2.50) available.

Another crowd-favorite was the fresh made on-site appams. Using a similar fermented rice batter as thosai but with coconut milk, these UFO-looking pancakes had shatteringly crisp edges with thick and cushiony centres. Think of them as the Indian cousins of mee chiang kuehs, with similar crunchy edges and a pillowy soft centre, but more tart due to the fermentation process. Best eaten with hands, the Plain Appam ($1) paired well with a simple sprinkling of orange palm sugar, which lent a mild sweetness to the savory batter. You can also opt for the oozy Cheese Appam ($2), or classic Egg Appam ($1.50).

We also tried the Puttu Mayam Set ($2) which came with 2 pieces of puttu mayam (rice noodles pressed into a flat disc-like shape and steamed), orange palm sugar and generous shavings of grated coconut. The slightly melted orange palm sugar and juicy coconut shavings complemented the plain rice discs well, making for a simple yet comforting treat.

With many traditional methods of cooking and preparation fast disappearing today, it is heartening to know that there are hawkers who are still upholding traditions. Committed to serving only authentic, wholesome and satiating meals at affordable prices, Rajarani Thosai is the place to visit for your bite of fresh-off-the-stove tradition.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.