Oil-Free Idli Recipe Makes An Ideal Breakfast For All
Oil-free foods have high demand among the modern health-conscious people, who want to intake the minimum amount of oil in their daily diet. Idli is a prime cuisine that ranks among the topmost foods noted for the use of a minimum amount of oil. It is a South Indian cuisine that is now widely consumed all over India, not only by South Indians but eaten by people hailing from other regions as well. Reputed dieticians prescribe this food to their overweight patients, to fulfill their appetite in a healthy and tasty way.
Few interesting facts about the common idli recipe
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Idli is an ancient South Indian food, which is proved by the mention of this item under the name ‘iddalige’ in some Kannada literary works that were penned thousand years ago. It was also seen in Sanskrit literature, with the name ‘iddarika’. However, the early idli recipe was a bit different from the modern one, as only black gram was then used to make its batter while now rice is also added to black gram flour. Due to its round shape and lightweight, some writers then compared this food with valuable coins.
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Presently, this primitive type of idli made with only black gram flour is called Uddina idli and it is quite popular all over Karnataka. The batter of ancient idli was not fermented like the common idli that is usually prepared. Moreover, idli was not prepared by steaming in those olden days, as per the recipe described in many historic works of that era.
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Many people believe that the fermentation of batter for the preparation of idli is now done by following the tradition observed in Indonesia. Many cuisines were prepared by fermenting in that country. Moreover, the custom of steaming foods also originated in the royal kitchens of some South Asian countries, which had many Indian cooks.
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Idli is believed to be mentioned in the ancient literature of other Indian languages, like Tamil and Gujarati. In Tamil language, idli was written as ‘itali’ and in Gujarati book, ‘idari’ was the name given to the steamed food that strongly resembled idli. The huge popularity of modern idli has driven to start March 30 as the World Idli Day.
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Though parboiled rice and black gram are the main ingredients of idli recipe, many people now add more food materials to bring some variations to this plain snack. Semolina is added to make special Rava idli while the curd is added to the idli batter to bring the required sourness even without fermentation. Some people use green moong dal instead of black lentils or urad dal. The use of brown rice instead of parboiled rice is another option for preparing this food.
Since no spice, except salt, is used in the idli recipe, people need to serve this steamed food with spicy condiments, like sambar and chutneys to satisfy everyone’s taste buds.
