A plate of fluffy idlis is never enough. Often served on a banana leaf, these steamed rice and lentil cakes are best served with coconut chutney and tangy sambar. Finish the meal off with a hot cup of filter coffee and you’ve got the perfect weekday blues cure, right?
Today, the comfort food has a high status for itself in South India, whether at home or in restaurants. Made using a stacked mould, the dough is fermented for a day before baking. As we all continue to savor the dish under the banner of “South Indian cuisine”, you would be surprised to know that idli is claimed to be an Indonesian dish and even has an Arabic connection to it.
A mysterious origin
The modern idli recipe may have originated in present-day Indonesia, which has a long tradition of fermented foods
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According to renowned Indian food historian KT Achaya, the modern idli recipe may have originated in present-day Indonesia, which has a long tradition of fermented foods such as tempeh and kecap. This was noted in his book “A Historical Dictionary of Indian Cuisine”. Legend has it that Hindu kings of the Shailendra, Isyana and Sanjaya dynasties, who ruled this South Asian country from the 9th to 11th centuries, often traveled to India to seek wives. The kings took with them the royal cooks on the trip, who carried the recipe for making Indonesian fermented rice cakes or kedli with them. However, this Achaya theory has not been explored because the recipe for an Indonesian dish with this name has never been discovered.
Another theory championed by other food historians like Lizzie Collingham from Britain and Kristen J. Gremillion from America, states that the idli was actually introduced by Arab traders, when they married and settled in southern India from the 9th to the 12th century. It is said that these Arab settlers were particular about their diet and often wanted halal food but could not make it too clear to the local people, which led to a lot of confusion.
The South Indians used rice as a staple in most of their meals, which was foreign to the Arab palate at the time but eventually became familiar. So, in order to put an end to the confusion about halal food among the people, the Arabs started making rice dumplings, which would be “flattened and eaten with coconut paste”, as stated in ‘Encyclopaedia of Food History‘, edited by Collingham and Gordon Ramsay of Great Britain, Oxford University Press, and ‘Seed to Civilization, The Story of Food’, by Heiser Charles B, Harvard University Press, 1990.
While the world continues to debate the origins of this dish, mentions of idli have been recorded in Kannada literature as iddalige from the 6th century, long before kings came in search of wives, and certainly before unique dietary requirements. The modern recipe followed by most today, was perfected by the Tamils of South India.
Did you know?
In 2015, a Chennai-based Idli caterer called Eniyavan started celebrating March 30, every year, as “World Idli Day”.
The many forms of idli
Idli comes in different forms…
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Today, idli has become so popular that there are different versions of it. Some dishes like Gujarati dhokla and Mangalorean sanna are said to be inspired by the South Indian meal. However, one can never be too sure because Gujarati historians believe that it was the Saurashtrian textile merchants who introduced the idli to southern India in the 10th and 12th centuries.
1. Tulsi idli
Preparation time: 6 to 8 hours
Ingredients:
2 cups (500 g) idli rava
1 cup (250g) white urad dal
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek seeds
Method:
1. Soak idli rava and urad dal separately in water for at least six hours. Make sure the water is placed at room temperature. Soak the fenugreek seeds with the soaked urad dal.
2. Strain the water and grind the urad dal in a food processor adding 50ml of water until thick.
3. Blanch the basil leaves and store them in ice water. This helps retain leaf freshness and green color.
4. Mix two tablespoons of butter and the basil leaves to obtain a smooth paste.
5. Combine soaked idli rava, lentils and basil in a large bowl.
6. Leave the dough at room temperature for two hours to ferment.
7. Brush the idli mold with butter and carefully pour the batter and steam the idlis for 10 minutes.
2. Purple Idli
Preparation time: 6 to 8 hours
Ingredients:
2 cups (500 g) idli rava
1 cup (250g) white urad dal
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek seeds
Method:
1. Soak idli rava and urad dal separately in water for at least six hours. Make sure the water is placed at room temperature. Soak the fenugreek seeds with the soaked urad dal.
2. Strain the water and grind the urad dal in a food processor adding 50ml of water until thick.
3. Boil the beetroot and blend into a paste, once cooled to room temperature.
4. In a saucepan, pour the beet paste after heating a tablespoon of hot oil. Stir lightly. Set aside.
5. Combine the soaked idli rava, lentils and beet paste in a large bowl.
6. Leave the dough at room temperature for two hours to ferment.
7. Brush the idli mold with butter and carefully pour the batter and steam the idlis for 10 minutes.
3. Masala Idli
Preparation time: 6 to 8 hours
Ingredients:
2 cups (500 g) idli rava
1 cup (250g) white urad dal
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek seeds
250g coarsely chopped carrot
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste (a mixture of equal parts ginger and garlic)
1 teaspoon roasted channa powder
Method:
1. Soak idli rava and urad dal separately in water for at least six hours. Make sure the water is placed at room temperature. Soak the fenugreek seeds with the soaked urad dal.
2. Strain the water and grind the urad dal in a food processor adding 50ml of water until thick.
3. Coarsely blanch the chopped carrots and blend into a paste, once cooled to room temperature.
4. Heat the pan with the corn oil, add the ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, roasted channa powder and blanched carrot, over low heat.
5. Combine the soaked idli rava, lentils, spicy carrot paste in a large bowl.
6. Leave the dough at room temperature for two hours to ferment.
7. Brush the idli mold with butter and carefully pour the batter and steam the idlis for 10 minutes.
Recipe courtesy of Executive Chef Amrish Sood, Jehangir’s Dubai
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