An insight on Idli: Its relation with dhokla and Indonesia

One of the most popular breakfast and favorite street food snack of southern India is Idli. It is one of the easiest snacks to prepare as it requires only two steps one is fermentation and other is steaming. This white coloured, round shaped snack is mostly served with Sambar and a couple of chutneys (coconut chutney and tomato chutney) to enhance the taste.

In the last couple of decades, its popularity in northern India has increased a lot. I still remember, when I was a kid we had to go to the restaurants run by the south Indian community or to the Indian coffee houses to enjoy the south Indian food. But now it has become one of the favorite weekend breakfasts for many north Indian families and now could be easily found at almost everywhere from a street stall to one of the most reputed restaurants in the city.

Health Benefits of Idli:

There have been a few Indian snacks that are very nutritious and tasty too. Idli definitely occupies one of the positions in the top three. World Health Organization has also mentioned the same about Idli. Rich in proteins, improves digestion, increases the energy level and helps in controlling the weight also. It’s nutritious value increases more once consumed with Sambar. Sambar is a stew that has the nutritious qualities of all the veggies added to it while preparing it. Sambar requires a sperate blog as a stew and would write one very soon.

Preparation, serving and eating:

There are many different verities of idlis and they have different ingredients also, but most popular and easiest is prepared by rice and black gram lentils. First, both are soaked separately for 6 to 8 hours or can be left soaked for a whole night. The second step is both are grinded separately and then mixed together and left for fermentation for a night. Now our batter is ready for preparing idlis. Last, the batter is transferred in molds in batches and steamed.

Brief History:

There have been few mentions by food historians that ‘Idli’ might not be Indian and it could have come from the region now a part of present Indonesia (Suvarnabhumi). According to Food historian Mr. K.T Achaya ‘Idli’ could have come to India around 800 to 1200 CE from the kingdoms of Hindu kings of that region named ‘Suvarnabhumi’. Idli’s introduction to southern India was a result of intermarriages between the South Indian kings and Suvarnabhumi kings (in Indonesia). ‘Kedli’ which is one of the delicacies in Indonesia is considered as a processor of current Indian Idli.

The first written evidence of ‘Idli’ has been found in Kannada language Jain text ‘Vaddaradhane’ written by author Shivakotiacharya in 920 CE as ‘Iddalige’ prepared from black gram batter.

Gujarati Food Historians claim that idli is a Gujarati snack and was taken to southern India by Saurashtrian textile merchant who went to the south in between 10^th to 12^th century. 'Idli' has been mentioned as ‘Idari’ in Gujarati work ‘Varnaka Samuccaya’ in 1520 CE which has similar ingredients rice and black gram. ‘Idada’ one of the forms of dhokla has been considered as the modified version of ‘Idari’.

Now:

After writing many blogs on Indian snacks, I have got to know that few of the Indian snacks do not have Indian origin, but it doesn’t matter at all, because with the passage of time they have become an integral part of our identity and we cherish their taste, and the same is the case with Idli.

It is one of the few snacks in India which are considered healthy and nutritious for people of all ages. There is no time to enjoy it and when coconut chutney, and peanut and tomato chutney are also there then keeping your fingers away from it becomes impossible.