Arvind Krishnan reached his $50,000 Kickstarter goal for his startup.
By Raghavendra M
An Indian American entrepreneur will soon make it simpler than ever to make a variety of Dosas, thanks to his upcoming electric kitchen gadget, DosaMaker.
Meet Arvind Krishnan, an Indian American entrepreneur who recently reached his $50,000 Kickstarter goal for his startup, Soul of India Cooking Company, which is about to release its first product.
Dosa has been a popular food for ages in India, and while it is one of the fastest foods to prepare, not all can cook it well unless one learns the knack by practice.
While other South Indian foods such as Idli, Chapati, Roti and rice delicacies had the privilege of being cooked using modern machines, dosa was always cooked on a flat thava. With his innovative product, Krishna is enthusiastic about transforming dosa-making.
A few years back, Krishnan was in India working with his family who founded one of India’s oldest food businesses, Nilgiri’s. While enjoying a dosa, he remembered how difficult it was to get dosa back home in the US.
So after returning home, he embarked on developing the world’s first household dosa making appliance.
“We had to design the DosaMaker from the ground up, and our first major challenge was not having any product to reference or build from,” Krishnan was quoted by India.com as saying.
After proving the concept six years ago, Krishnan and his team have been working diligently since then in perfecting the product.
“We then built and consumer tested about a dozen prototypes to perfect our design, and in the past year, we partnered with our manufacturer to make sure our design could be mass-produced,” he added.
DosaMaker, which comes with a closing mechanism, is made to consistently create evenly spread dosas. A high performance coating is used to develop an advanced non-stick cooking surface so that crispy dosas can be made with very little oil, said the company website.
A built-in software-based temperature controller uses a proprietary algorithm to automatically manage temperature. This electric gadget can be used for a variety of batters, including fresh homemade batter and pre-packaged mixes to make dosas.
The device makes it easy to prepare egg dosa, grilled cheese dosa or traditional masala dosa. From breakfast to dessert, dosas are a healthy alternative to wraps and sandwich breads, explains the website.
“Most dosa batters are vegan and gluten-free, and I knew dosas would be a great addition to the mainstream health food movement,” Krishnan said.
“We’re seeking to eat healthier, unprocessed foods, and limit our simple carbohydrate intake, which includes many types of bread and wraps. Yet we’re also seeking variety in our meals and aren’t interested in sacrificing great flavor.”
The DosaMaker has a projected retail cost of $199, and its expected to launch in March 2016.