IDDALIYO IDDALI Today morning the Tiffin item was warm iddali. Seeingiddali, soft with a special fragrance I thought I should write on iddali today.Side item was hot olan.Because of the fresh coconut milk added and slippery colocasia pieces, I ateone more iddali than my standard three numbers. The same iddali warmed will beserved (three numbers) for night. Only addition is buttermilk to drink.
1 Origin of iddali I am not sure at what time preparation of Iddali hasstarted. I recollect reading in a website- EARLIEST IDDALIES HAD NO RICECONTENT. Only Black gram ground in to a batter. Later adding rice batter thepreparation of iddali started in Udupi. 2 Iddali batter Boiled special iddali Rice socked minimum three hours isground in the wet grinder. Socked black gram skin removed is ground separately andadded with rice batter. There is a definite proportion of rice and black gramsocked. Some add a little socked Methi also in the grinding period with rice.Whatever it is, iddalies with slightly more proportion of Black gram tastebetter. Earlier we had black gram with skin, we had to sock and remove skinbefore ground. Now we have skin removed black grams. At one time only split black grams wereavailable. Some use mixer cum grinder and others use wet grinder forpreparing batter. InTamilnadu we have separate iddali rice. In Kerala we use boiled rice. 3 Readymade batter At least for two decades we get ready made batter eitherpacked or getting prepared in our presence and given from it. Iddali is a fooditem recommended by doctors when one has fever- Along with sugar or simply. Not with a combinationof chatni, mulakaipoti or sambar. While I was in Nagerkovil during 1978’s one of my colleaguessaid, his family is preparing iddali batter. He was an Engineering graduate and from well to-do family. Once I visited his home. I found five wet grinders runningin a corridor and two women supervising and another three doing things. It wassupplied to restaurants in stainless steel containers. He said it gave very good profit. In my home 30% batter is prepared in home and 70% readymadeis purchased. I am not sure whether readymade batter is commonly sold in Keralaas in Tamilnadu. Trivandrum it is available in shops now. 4 No boring item in Tiffin Iddali is one of the food item MEN DO NOT GET bored. Generally women do not favour iddali while going to restaurants. Reason best known to them. Their preferencewould be to chapathi with side dishes. 5 Dosa batter Normally iddali batter is thick. Slightly adding water itcan be changed to dosa batter. Something like Vata batter changed to Bonda batterjust adding pieces of ginger, coconut pieces etc. Now a day we get iddali/dosa batter. It can beused for both preparations. I recently read in aQuora answer crisp dosa can be made at home IF SOME SOCKED RAWRICE also added 6 Madurai Mallikaippoiddali Madurai in Tamilnadu is famous for the soft tasty iddalies.They are often compared to Jasmine for the softness. MADURAI MALLLIKAIPOO IDDALI. There are manyiddali shops- Though they prepare other items still famous for the iddali. Special types of iddalies like Rava iddali, Ramamangalamiddali etc. are also there. 7 Iddali taste As the size becomesmaller, taste becomes more due to perfect boiling. One can experience always theedges of the iddali taste more than the centre. There is also mini iddali socked in specialsambar added with ghee which is more liked for the sambar. Best combination withiddali are coconut chutni and sambar. Sambar is served more in restaurants and during feasts.Chutni can be of grades, mostly second serving of chutney need not be that of firstserved one. Iddali, vadai is the combination. Vadai is ulundu vadai/ methuvadai. At one time in Chennai hotels Iddali sambar was served. Sambar wouldbe poured over iddali. Seeing iddali was not possible. This sambar was called iddali sambar with dhal content lessto differentiate from meals sambar 8 Usuli Iddali served hot tastes better, many prepare an UPPUMA TYPE PREPARATION CALLEDUSILI from the excess iddalies for evening snack from the morningones prepared. In Tamilnadu homes Usili is compelled tiffin in some days. Iddali fully lose tastewhen warmed in microwave and get a non-pleasing smell too sometimes. 9 Iddalai mulakapoti The three side dishes of iddali are sambar, chutni andiddali mulakaipoti (with oil) Exceptions are eating using sugar, pickles,thairmulaka added in curd. Some use Kotsu, Aviyal, koottu and Theeyal also. In Kerala homes along with mulakaipoti, coconut oil used one time for frying called chuttennai is used which has special taste Chatni of Kerala has at least 80% coconut content whereaschatni of Tamilnadu has 70% or more Pottukatalai. Sambar in Karnataka will havemore sweet content. In Tamilnadu chatni contents are changing now. Mostly 50%coconut is used. I have read skin removed groundnut socked and ground isadded to chutni – something similar to coconut ground. 10 Sammanthi In teashops of Kerala we get SAMMANTHI, chatni diluted andadded with red chilli instead of green chilli giving brown colour. Normally sammanthi and sambarare served, more sambar is served comparing to Chatni. Normallysmaller thava just above the size of spoon for chatni is provided everywhere. Whether more chatni isasked normal reply will be getting prepared fresh, take sambar- during feasts. By the time we finish eating iddali, chatni for next panthi will be brought from the prepared and kept!! 11 Special chatnies CHATNI AND ULUNDU VATA ARE SOME HOW ALWAYS DEARER. However in restaurants now aday they give any additional quantity- Iddali is charged expecting thisaddition!! An iddali costing aboveRs 25-00 in such restaurants. We can sock iddali in chatni there… Some restaurantsprovide a lesser quality chatni when asked a 2nd time. Special chatniesusing onion, coriander leaves are also served. Sambar would have a specialtaste, it would be asked a 2nd time in such restaurants. 12 Trains serving iddalivatai In Railway coaches the vendors give only iddali vataipacked. In a polythene packet chutni. Earliersambar was not there, now sambar is also given in a pouch. Really train chutneyhas a special taste because of their chilly combination. 13 Iddali pana/Iddalithattu For preparing iddali the iddali thattu is required. Thattumay come as a separate unit or as part of iddali pana. Earlier times iddali pana was used and thattu placed in itafter pouring water. Thattu has moulds to pour batter. The batter is poured inthe thattu having oval pits/moulds. The perfect or slightly over boiling makeiddali soft and tasty. Iddali thattu set is alsoused by many keeping it in a cooker. The set has a holder and rod to place thattuone above the other. It has a bottom,and water in cooker should be well below it. After pouring water the iddalithattu set placed in it and lid is placed Water boiled with the lid placingover it. COOKER WEIGHTis not placed. Recently I have seen a large saucepan provided with two fittings andsuitable iddali thattu placed on it as a supermarket show piece item ( with a closure ) Iddali thattu may have tiny holes, sometimes holes areprovided in the non- pit area. Some put a cloth piece before pouring batter.Some apply oil in the pits. The iddalies are taken out after boiling sprinklinga little cold water over it, keeping a little cool and with a spoon. Largescale preparation in steam columns has different methods of iddali plates. Hot iddali served in plantain leaf with hot sambar hasspecial taste. Ennappairukku- iddalinga is a hotel name in Madurai. 14. Iddali tablets I am not sure whether it has really happened or a humourstory. Once an iyer in high governmentposition was travelling with a British in a train. Iyer took tiffin froma pack of iddalies brought with him. Forevening snack also iyer opened iddali pack. The British asked whatyou are eating. Iyer replied memory tablets. British felt if it could increase memory he toocan eat and asked the iyer whether he could give a few to him. Iyer openedanother packet and gave three iddalies @ price of 2-00 Indian rupees each. After eating iddali the British asked isit not high Rs 2-00 for one iddali. Iyer coolly replied- See, now your memory working more efficiently about theprice. It was the period one could get ten iddalies for one Ana. Writer- R. GopalaKrishnan dated 11-4-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1864164236.504974.1618138175748%40mail.yahoo.com.
