Where the idli came from.

The idli, despite being one of India's most iconic breakfast foods, has contested origins. Food historian K.T. Achaya proposed that the dish may have travelled to India from Indonesia, where a similar steamed cake called kedli already existed. According to this theory, the cooks employed by Hindu kings of the Indianised Indonesian kingdoms invented the steamed idli there and brought the recipe back to India during 800–1200 CE. The 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk Xuan Zang, who travelled extensively in India, noted that Indians at that time had neither the steaming method nor the necessary utensils for it.

Other historians dispute this. Colleen Taylor Sen argues that fermentation is a near-universal practice that likely arose independently in India. Dorian Fuller has noted that steaming techniques were already in use in Neolithic South India around 2000 BCE.

The earliest mentions

The earliest known textual references include iddalige in the Kannada text Vaddaradhane by Shivakotiacharya (c. 920 CE), and iddarika in the Sanskrit Manasollasa (1130 CE) by the Western Chalukya king Someshwara III. Importantly, these early versions were made only from black gram (urad dal) batter and lacked rice, fermentation, and steaming - the three defining features of the modern idli.

The dish in its current form likely matured between the 10th and 13th centuries. The Tamil reference itali appears only by the 17th century, in the work Maccapuranam.

A separate theory credits Saurashtrian silk weavers who migrated to Tamil Nadu around the 10th century with introducing a precursor dish (idada, related to dhokla). Another theory attributes idli's introduction to Arab traders who settled in southern India between the 9th and 12th centuries.

What every idli has in common

The classic idli is made from a fermented batter of parboiled rice (usually idli rice) and whole white lentil (urad dal / black gram, Vigna mungo), typically in a 4:1 or 3:1 rice-to-dal ratio. Fenugreek seeds are often added to aid fermentation. After soaking for 4–6 hours, the dal is ground to a fluffy paste and the rice is ground coarser, then combined and left to ferment overnight.

The fermentation more than doubles the batter's volume and breaks down starches, increasing protein bioavailability and vitamin B content. The batter is then steamed in perforated trays for 10–25 minutes.

That base recipe - and the local creativity around it - has produced the astonishing diversity catalogued in the rest of this archive: temple-town tempering in Kanchipuram, palm-toddy fermentation in Goa, screwpine-leaf wrapping in Mangalore, wartime semolina substitution in Bengaluru, and a recent generation of fusions that send the same batter through a tava with cheese on top.

How we organise this archive

We've grouped every variety into four families:

• Regional & Traditional - the heritage idlis with a documented town, ritual context, or specific steaming technique. Kanchipuram, Ramassery, Thatte, Sanna, the leaf-wrapped Konkani idlis, the hotel-style Mallige and Udupi.
• Ingredient Innovations - idlis built on a different grain, pulse, or starch. Rava, ragi, jowar, foxtail millet, red rice, oats, sabudana, vermicelli, quinoa.
• Konkani Specialty - the small, season-driven sweet and savoury steamed cakes that Konkani households make from jackfruit, pumpkin, cucumber, drumstick leaves and broken wheat. Often steamed in turmeric or teak leaves.
• Modern & Fusion - chocolate idlis, pizza idlis, idli Manchurian, and the leftover-day classics: idli upma, idli fry, idli 65, idli chaat.

One celebration worth noting: on 30 March 2015, Chennai-based idli caterer Eniyavan made 1,328 varieties of idli to launch World Idli Day, now observed every year on 30 March.