Thought For Food Series 1: Idli

Breakfasts in South India are a yummy affair. You can choose from a variety of offerings, which are delicious and healthy at the same time. Idly is one of them, a popular breakfast snack not only in south India but all across India, it is one of my favorite breakfasts. For the uninitiated, it is a savory cake two to three inches in diameter made from fermented batter of rice and lentils. The batter after being fermented is put into specially molded trays that are in turn placed inside a pressure cooker. The batter gets cooked by the steam and out come the steaming hot idlis, supple but shapely.

Traditional South Indian meals are served on banana leaves which is a pragmatic and charming practice; there is a certain subtle taste that the banana leaves lend to the meal. Idly usually is served with accompaniments like chutney and sambar. Chutney is a blend of various spices and condiments where as sambar (not seen in the picture) is a vegetable stew with a hint of tamarind.

Now comes the best part, savoring the delicacy. Here it is the case of to each his own. I have seen people eat idly in a lot of different ways. Some like it mishmashed with the sambar and chutney the idly lost and assimilated in the hodgepodge best eaten with bare hands. Some prefer forks and spoons making little pieces of idly and dipping it in sambar and chutney in turns. I like to eat idli with my hands, dipping the idli in the sambar and letting it soak the essence, and then brushing it past the spicy chutney; it tastes yummylicious.

Happy Eating Folks!

P.S. – Now that I am roaming around a lot I get to try a lot of authentic traditional food, so will be posting about more dishes with yummy pictures. This particular picture was taken in Parambikulam before a trek. The plate is not mine, but my friend Nishka's. I had ordered dosas, which were delicious too! More about dosas some other time though.

A corny story

This post is dedicated to something that has given me immense pleasure all these years, the corn or the bhutta, as it is called lovingly. The story started in my first year of college, as the first rains indicated the onset of monsoons, we were treated to an unusual sight. Hordes of bhuttawalas were filed neatly on the road overlooking our college cricket ground. Evidently they occupied the same very place every year and found patrons from all around Nagpur, not to mention the NIT crowd. The once peaceful roadside very soon became the center of frenzied activity as the bhuttawalas vied for the attention of the passers by.

When I had my first roasted bhutta from there I was hooked, it was not like I hadn’t eaten roasted bhutta before but it had never tasted like this. From then, a visit to the bhuttawalas after college became a ritual of sorts for me. Anyone from my batch who wanted to have a bhutta found company in me.

What goes into making a mouth-watering bhutta? The process for me starts right from selecting the right bhutta; it should neither be very tender nor very tough. The tough ones (yellow kernels are a give away) give your teeth a tough time and the tender ones (cream kernels) leave you feeling unsatisfied. A right balance is needed, yin and yang as they say. When the very important task of selecting the right bhutta is done, it is put over burning coals; mind you, a bhutta roasted over gas can’t even come close to the yumminess of the ones roasted over coal.

The bhuttewale bhaiyya keeps the fire astir as he fans continuously; he also keeps turning the corn to roast it evenly from all sides, the sound of bursting kernels is music to my ears. After being roasted perfectly, he deftly applies lime and salt to it and then coats it with chilly chutney to make it all the more tempting. The best is yet to come though; he finally smears it with butter that melts at the very touch of the garam garam bhutta! Aah... nothing like it!! The butter dissolves the lime, salt and chutney, and it all seeps into the niches between the kernels producing a uniformly heavenly texture and taste. The bestest part is when I dig my teeth into it; I relish every kernel every bite of it. And every time I finish, I end up wanting even more.

All the years in my college I always waited for the rainy season, those two months when I could enjoy this delicacy. No other fad has sustained with me for so long and it’s still going strong. As I came to Bangalore to start working, I was elated at the sight of the bhuttawala in front of my office. Here you get corn all round the year, unlike Nagpur, but they don’t make it like they did there, still, I like it here too. I treat myself to a bhutta everyday as I walk back from my office in the evening, a repeat of the ritual I followed in the college.

In the age of fast food, the humble corn still wins hands-down for me; it is healthy, yummy and filling. For a person like me, who doesn’t like to fuss much over food, its just the thing. I hope the association continues, and I keep deriving pleasure from eating bhutta for years to come! :D