Alternative flour that is much more useful and powerful
The well-known meal from South India, idli, is a steamed rice and lentils cake that is widely popular both in India and outside the country. However, it’s fascinating to learn where the idli and sambhar or the sour sauce that goes with it originated. Is it from the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, or Karnataka? Or possibly from somewhere else?
The idli is not mentioned in any of the old writings, and it may be assumed that its allusions first appeared around the eleventh century.
K. T. Achaya, a knowledgeable food historian, suggests that idli may have a foreign origin. Even though Achaya often succeeds in implying that the majority of contemporary Indian cuisine may be traced back to South Indian cuisine with the support of sources from numerous ancient Tamil literature. Achaya’s assertion was astounding news in the culinary community! claiming at a later time that idli is a later descendent of an Indonesian dish
The cause of the claim is that there may have been trade routes between Indonesia and South India during the Middle Ages, and perhaps Indian chefs learned how to prepare idli and brought it to India.
Achaya neither specified a dish from Indonesia that resembles idli, which the Indian cooks learnt and brought to India, nor did he have a strong textual foundation for this theory. A dish he called kedli, which he thought the Indonesians invented. Achaya asserts that the kedli is the forerunner of the idli and is not particularly well made, which is somewhat debatable.
Another hypothesis states that Arab traders established in South India and produced some rice cakes, which were later known as idlis, long before the arrival of the Prophet, due to the long trade links between South India and Arabia.
Although many may agree that the idli may have originated in Indonesia, the technique of making the batter is another factor to take into account. The batter might have been fermented in the Indonesian manner since this technique was popular in Indonesian cuisine, but there is no Tamil tradition of fermentation. Therefore, the Indian chefs may have gotten the idea of fermenting the dough on Indonesian boats, and the approach and method are not similar to the Indonesian idli.
It is frequently asserted that the sambhar that every South Indian brags about is a Maharashtrian delicacy that the great Maratha monarchs gave to the Tamils. The Marathas ruled Thanjavur, for example.
The legend has many versions: a king named Shahuji, who once paid allegiance to Sambhaji, the son of the great Maratha warrior Shivaji Maharaj, gave his cook a day off and then went into the kitchen to prepare a well-known Maharashtrian lentil dish called ‘Amti’, only to discover that the tropical fruit ‘Kokum’, which is mostly used as a souring agent in Western India, had run out, so he used tamarind to create a new version of the lentils, which he named Sambhar in honor of Shambhaji.
One theory holds that the name “Shambhar” was given to a lentil dish prepared by the royal chefs in Shambhaji’s honor after he visited Thanjavur.
In Tamil literature, there is a dish named Kottu that is said to be the earliest version of sambhar, and the concept of cooking lentils with vegetables has been a common theme in ancient Tamil recipes, even if there are several debates.
Interestingly, the main ingredient of the Sambhar is a lentil called ‘Tuvar Dal’ (also called ‘Toor’) and ‘Arhar’, which are well-liked dal in Western India. Additionally, in Tamil Nadu, the Tuvar Dal is largely unknown, thus it seems strange that a well-known Tamilian dish is prepared using a Maharashtrian Dal.
Furthermore, keep in mind that a dish is not created in one sitting; it takes time for the ideal recipe to develop and for the final dish to be prepared.
It is very possible that the Marathas, who ruled Thanjavur, brought Tuvar dal, which eventually replaced moong dal in several dishes. Why wasn’t the Sambhar returned to Maharashtra if it was such a fantastic Maharashtrian dish?
The popularity of idlisambhar began in the early 20th century, and it was in Bombay that South Indian restaurants began selling dosas, idlis, vadas, and sambhar. The majority of the restaurateurs came from Karnataka, particularly the Udupi district, hence the name “Udupi Restaurant.”
The sambhar in Karnataka and Mangalore is quite different from the Tamil version, which, in the public’s view, is more harmonious. When South Indian restaurants first appeared, their business flourished because they specialized in Idli, dosa, and sambhar, and they favored the Tamil-oriented sambhar over other varieties.