Madhulika Naidu Varma Chozha
Several years ago, on an arduous journey to Gangotri, my hunger pangs were satisfied by warm, fluffy idlis served with tomato-ginger chutney. The hot and steaming plate in the chilly cold of Garhwal Himalayas brought tears of joy to my eyes! Indeed, the idli in any form always satiates a South Indian’s appetite. Be it the thatte, the rava, or the uddine idli versions from Karnataka, the sanna along the Konkan coast, Andhra’s steamed-rice kudumulu, or the Mangalorean khotigge and mudde idlis steamed in leaves; the delicacy in one or the other decorated form always shows up in the Southern platter. Of the wide range of idlis that I have savoured across a lifetime, the most unique must be what my maternal grandmother prepared: she called it the tapela idli. ‘Tapela’ being an old Telugu word for a certain heavy utensil made of metal. To give an idea, it would be a cross between the modern day jalebi kadai and a South Indian wide-mouthed vessel called the bogani in Telugu.
Tapela Idli was nothing like its modern cousin, the quintessential idli, that we now eat to our heart’s fill! It was more of a thick, slow-cooked, and savory treat that was cooked with heat from both sides of the tapela vessel. It was prepared with a mixture of one cup rice and near about a fist of different kinds of lentils like toor, moong, urad, chana, masoor etc. based on availability. The ingredients were mixed well, washed, and soaked for a minimum of six hours followed by a coarse grounding into paste before salt was added. The tempering given to the ground mixture usually consisted of mustard, jeera, urad dal, chana dal, red chillies, asafoetida, and lots of curry leaves in a generous quantity of oil. The tapela was then given a good rubbing with oil and the batter was poured into the heavy base container and cooked on slow flame for several hours. Red hot coal would usually be placed on the lid of the container to allow for even cooking on both sides. The tapela idli would be poked with a toothpick to check if it was cooked and then flipped to cook on the other side for a short while. Once ready, it would be cut into triangles and served with spicy, mouth-watering chutney.
Such a technique of slow cooking was also adapted by my paternal grandmother, who used it to bake cake for me every Friday all through my early childhood years. The coal on the top of the lid, and the hot sand below the tapela, all gave the cake a very distinct flavour; something that the finest bakeries have not been able to match till date. What is referred to as dumpukht in the north was known as tapelapakamu in the Telugu velir culture of the South since antiquity. Dum means 'to keep food on slow fire' and pukht means 'process of cooking', thus meaning 'cooking on slow fire'. The dum technique of North India uses a round and heavy bottomed handi (clay pot), in which food is sealed and cooked over a slow fire. Dum technique from the Deccan uses wide-mouthed vessels with heat on both sides. On similar line, tapela pakamu comprises a steaming technique that also broils food simultaneously along with trapping the steam to cook the contents of the vessel.
This form of cooking with a tapela is an ancient Chola recipe mentioned in Sangam literature called Purananuru (c. 200 BCE), one of the oldest compilation of poems in the world. It has been handed down generation after generation with great care through oral traditions as well as training. Verse 33 in Purananuru refers to the Chola King Nalan killi after he captured a seven layered fort held by the Pandyas:“Nalan Killi emblazoned the Tiger symbol on the fort. After doing so, the soldiers were fed “oon-soru” (meat rice) in their camps”. There is another reference to this culinary technique in verse 113 which tells of the king Pari Vel who used to offer “oonsoru” made with goat meat along with liquor. This verse was written as a lament upon Vel Pari’s death by the sage Kapilar. This method of slow cooking rice with goat meat in a heavy bottom vessel with heat from both sides was known to the velir clans of the South atleast sixteen centuries or earlier before it arrived with the Mughals!!
Much has been written by food historians about the possible origins of idli. K T Acharya believes that the idli probably arrived in India from present-day Indonesia around 800-1200 CE. The region we now call Indonesia was then ruled by Hindu kings of the Shailendra, Isyana, and Sañjaya dynasties, and it is speculated that royal cooks aboard their entourage brought the recipe to the subcontinent. There is also a possibility that the Chola and Pallava conquests and trade of Southeast Asia built opportunities for culinary technologies to be exchanged. Acharya noted that Indonesian cuisine has a long history of utilising fermented and steamed foods, with the kedli seemingly the closest relative to the Indic idli.
However, a version of the idli known as ‘iddalage’ is also mentioned in a 920 CE Kannada language work, the Vaddaradhane by Shivakotiacharya. Similar recipes that do not involve fermentation and steaming have been found in later writings, such as the Sanskrit Manasollasa written by the King Someshvara III, Chalukyaruler of the Deccan in early 11th century C.E. The text details a recipe called ‘iddarika’ which is similar to the present day Uddine idli. Chavundaraya II, the author of the earliest available Kannada encyclopedia, Lokopakara (c.1025 CE), describes the preparation of this food by soaking black gram in buttermilk, ground to a fine paste, and mixed with the clear water of curd and spices.
According to food historian Colleen Taylor Sen, fermentation of modern day idli batter is natural process that was possibly discovered independently in India, since nearly all cultures use fermentation in some form. Gujarati historians believe that it was Saurashtrian textile merchants who introduced the modern day idli to South India between the 10th and 12th centuries A.D. The Gujarati work Varṇaka Samuccaya (1520 CE) mentions idli as idarias well as its local adaptation idada (a non-fermented version of dhokla). The earliest extant Tamil work to mention modern day idli (as itali) is Maccapuranam, dated to the 17th century.
With time, the kedli seems to have disappeared from Indonesian kitchens, while the idli still rules our kitchens, hearts, and lives. And a major reason behind this is that the culinary technologies of the South of India are closely associated with the type of vessel that the food is cooked in! Such has been the tenacity of preserving culinary traditions in velir communities of the South that these vessels are passed down from one generation to the other along with recipes and training in crafting and preserving ancient culinary knowledge forms. To write about the various forms of vessels used in ancient culinary traditions of the Chola household will be an article for another day, but for now, I celebrate the gift of the tapela and its culinary wonders from my ancestors!!
BIO
Madhulika Naidu Varma Chozha is the Associate Director for Learning Experiences at Plaksha University. She is an artist and an independent researcher who writes in the areas of cultural significance of oral traditions, vernacular ritual performance, cultural colonialism, living traditions and learning systems of South India.
