Did You Know These 6 Dishes Were Invented Right Here In Bangalore

Bangalore loves food, be it home-cooked, bought from the store, on the streets or at the fanciest restaurants! And we have our own culture too, it may be borrowed from the neighbouring states, or even have some western influences, but we don’t lack at invention. So we went ahead and made a list of dishes that were invented in Bangalore.

Rava Idli

rava idli

Picture Credits - MTR

The oldest of them all, Rava Idli is said to be invented at Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR) at the time of World War II. Due to the shortage of rice, the cooks at MTR replaced it with semolina and served to the customers which came to be a huge hit. Rava Idli is also the healthier version of your normal kind and comes with added veggies in the batter, often topped with cashew. 

Khara Bun Congress

congress bun masala

Picture Credits - Archana's Kitchen

Spicy Masala Bun stuffed with Congress Peanuts, slathered with butter, chutney and other condiments; this was a favourite evening snack for most of us who grew up in Bangalore. The story goes that after the split of Congress Party in 1969, the peanut masala was named in the humour of the situation. The peanuts in Congress Peanuts are always split into two and while there are plenty of dishes like Congress Masala (similar to bhel), Khara Bun Congress is the most popular even to this date. 

99 Variety Dosa

99 Variety dishes

Picture Credits - Livemint

This is the story of how the most popular South Indian breakfast dish underwent cultural changes, got influenced by Maharastra, North India and even China and came back to Bangalore to become a rage. Said to be invented by a couple from Hassan, Karnataka who first sold the dosa with Pav Bhaji; they named it 99 Variety and added variations like Chinese Dosa (which comes with noodles) and Paneer Dosa (with oodles of butter and paneer). 

Brain Puffs 

brain buff

Picture Credits - Vidya's Cooking

Move over Egg Puffs and Dilkush because nothing beats Brain Puff at Albert Bakery which is available only over the weekends (or during Ramazan), we suggest you call to ask if they have it. Said to be invented in the city, while other bakeries serve paneer, chicken and egg variations, none of them compares to the spicy, squishy filling in the Brain Puffs. 

Honey Cake 

honey cake

Picture Credits - Gruha Paakaa

Remember having yummy Honey Cake on the way back home from school? Or at a friend’s birthday party, which you only signed up to for the snacks and the cake. Well, nothing beats soft sponge cake soaked in honey syrup, slathered with jam and desiccated coconut (we drool even as we type this). While the origin traces back to the Iyengar Bakeries of the late 1900s, we can’t know for sure who came up with this delicious invention. 

Chandrahara

chandrahara

Picture Credits - MTR

Another invention by MTR, the story goes that the founder came up with this dish after his visit to France. He was inspired by a layered French pastry, had it prepared by his cooks and named it ‘French Sweet’ but the dish failed to sell. It was then renamed to ‘Chandrahara’ after a successful movie running in theatres at the time. Fast forward to today, people still visit MTR on Sundays just to indulge in a serving of this crispy fried sweet, layered with khova syrup.

DBC

DBC Corner House Death By Chocolate

Picture Credits - Tanmayi

DBC or Death By Chocolate is more an emotion with the Bangalore crowd than a dessert, and as cliché as this statement sounds, it’s also entirely true. Try telling somebody that you don’t like DBC and watch for their reaction (we just did and got dirty looks from our colleague). The sundae is a combination of Vanilla Ice Cream (or chocolate if you prefer), chocolate cake, topped with cream, chocolate, peanuts, cherries and chocolate sauce (sigh).  

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