Vegetarianism may be an on-again, off-again fad in America, but India has been on the bandwagon for centuries. Variety and balance have become established principles, and complex flavorings mean that carnivores who miss the depth meat can add to a dish receive plenty of compensation.
Indian vegetarians, north and south, do amazing things with nuts, seeds and beans, especially the humble lentil, which can show up in a doughnut, a pancake or a sauce. A catalog of spices, herbs and seeds, starting with anise and working its way through cumin, cardamom, fenugreek, turmeric and maybe a dozen others, keeps the uninitiated guessing about exactly what turns a gummy-looking rice dish (pongal) into an intriguing flavor sensation (turns out it is the aromatic black gram beans).
Dasaprakash (DAH-sah-prah-kash), an almost formal space of white walls decorated with saris and two levels of cloth-covered tables, is part of a chain started in Mysore, India (Chicago and Dubai are its only foreign outposts). The menu takes getting used to, with such descriptions as “served in a mild spicy lentil soup” not really helpful to a table of newcomers. Our waiter, Rao, saw that we were rattling around ignorantly in the menu and stepped in, almost apologetically, after we had ordered appetizers. His advice was sound: We ended up with a good mix of flavors, textures and colors.
Decoding becomes easier after a dive into Indian cookbooks. You learn that masala is a general, and infinitely variable, term for spice mixture. Dosai is a type of pancake. Sambhar is a spice blend that starts with coriander and chili pods (and gives its name to a zippy potato-and-pea dish), and “chutney” here means a soup-consistency sauce, not Major Greys sweet mango condiment.
So the menu’s code of “Rava dosai-Masala/Sambhar/Chutney” ($6.95) turns out to be a lacy, pan-fried semolina pancake (reminiscent of a potato pancake) studded with chilies, cumin seed and nuts that comes with a bowl of potato chunks bathed in a savory, saffron-scented sauce. The chutney, in this case a yogurt and coconut blend, is on the side.
“Vegetarian” doesn’t necessarily mean health food. Many dishes are salty and oil is liberally applied.
Rather than play a la carte roulette, diners may want to take advantage of set menus, or thali,which present compatible dishes, from appetizers to dessert, all on one tray. They start at $10.95.
Still, we enjoyed our shots in the dark. The “cutlet” appetizer ($3.95) arrived in four crisp, golden oblongs of farmer-style cheese (the menu states only three pieces per order, but Rao, in another nice gesture, added another so no one had to share). Crisp lentil doughnuts in the “mild spicy” lentil soup ($3.95) were light and tender, if not exactly crisp after bobbing in the soup, and the seemingly contradictory description proved apt: The coriander-scented broth lighted a little tingle, but no one broke a sweat.
Hotter but still not incendiary was navarathan khorma ($7.50), a braised dish of curried vegetables.
The menu pairs the above-mentioned pongal rice dish with avial ($6.50), a curried yogurt sauce hiding chunks of potatoes, peas and peppers.
A chickpea dish, channa masala ($7.50), was salty but rich with cumin and coriander. I kept going back to it even after the alarm for “full” had sounded.
Desserts had to remain unsampled by our sated crew, but they include gulab jamun ($3.25), rosewater-scented balls of powdered milk that have been deep-fried and soaked in syrup, and carrot halwa ($3.50), a pudding. Beverages include Indian beers, South Indian-style coffee and lassi, a sweet or salty yogurt drink that cools the heat ($3.25). A mango version ($3.50) was soothing and not too sweet.
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Dasaprakash
(Three forks)
2511 W. Devon Ave.,
773-465-3272 Hours: Noon-3 p.m. and 6-9:30 p.m. Mon., Wed., Thur., Fri.; Noon-10 p.m. Sat.-Sun.
Closed Tues.
Credit cards: A, D, DC, M, V
Ratings: 4 forks: Top of the class
3 forks: Better than most
2 forks: Very good fare
1 fork: Middle of the road
Reviews are based on anonymous visits by Tribune staff members. The meals are paid for by the Tribune.
