Dosas at Flushing's Ganesha Temple

Feed your soul: Hindu canteens welcome everyone to the table

Comments (0) By Sarah DiGregorio Tuesday, Apr 29 2008

There are many items on offer that I've never seen on restaurant menus or on my Indian in-laws' table, a reminder of the tremendous diversity of Indian cooking—finding these rare, regional dishes is reason enough to seek out temple eats. As an added bonus, nothing I ate was more than $7, and all the proceeds go to temple projects.

Pongal is a good bet: a comforting stew of rice, yellow split-peas, plenty of butter, and whole peppercorns. There was bobbatlu, a flatbread stuffed with a sweet lentil mixture, sometimes served with milk poured over it, and pesarattu, a dosa from the state of Andhra Pradesh, made with yellow or green split-peas, which you can order stuffed with upma, a kind of spicy cream-of-wheat pilaf.

Andy Kropa

Sunday supper, with god looking over your shoulder

Location Info

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Ganesha Temple

45-57 Bowne St.
Flushing, NY 11355

Category: Religion/Spirituality

Region: Flushing

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Details

Ganesha Temple
45-57 Bowne Street
Flushing, NY
718-460-8484

Swaminarayan Temple
43-38 Bowne Street
Flushing, NY
718-539-5373

Sri Venkateswara Temple
780 Old Farm Road
Bridgewater, NJ
908-725-4477

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More familiarly, there are all manner of dosas—plain, spicy, mysore, masala—and uttapam. The sambal and coconut chutneys are self-serve, available from several vats in the center of the room. Almost everything is made to order; each dosa comes hot from the griddle, skinny, crisp, and teetering on its plate.

Sitting at the linoleum table, ripping off pieces of my dosa, surrounded by the hubbub of parents wrangling children and couples bickering about what to order, I found it all oddly comforting—like hanging out with the family without actually having to hang out with the family . . . and with better food.