Kanchipuram Idli

also called Kovil Idli · Kanjeevaram Idli

A temple-town idli laced with crushed pepper, cumin and ghee - slow-steamed and slightly dense.

Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu

Image: Sailu's Food · Editorial

Also called Kovil Idli or Kanjeevaram Idli, this variety comes from the temple town of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, where it is offered as prasadam at the Sri Varadaraja Perumal temple. It is distinctive for the warmth of its tempering - cumin and crushed black peppercorns sizzled in ghee with cashews, curry leaves, dried ginger and a whisper of asafoetida - and for a slightly denser, darker crumb than a standard idli.

The batter is a little coarser than usual, with a higher proportion of urad dal; some cooks build it from equal parts raw rice, parboiled rice and urad dal, and a few drop the rice altogether and lean on chana dal for body. At the temple kitchen the cakes are slow-cooked in batches of three to three-and-a-half kilos for nearly an hour, then sliced into roundels for the offering plate.

Traditionally it is steamed in cups folded from mandharai (bauhinia / camel's-foot) leaves, or in hollow bamboo cylinders known as kudalai. Banana leaves and small idli moulds are the standard substitutes at home.

The Recipe

Yield · 12–16 idlis

Effort profile

Soak4–5 hours

Ferment8–9 hours

Steam15–20 minutes

Steps7

Each axis is scaled against the longest example in the archive.

Ingredients

For the batter

½ cup regular raw rice (120 g)
½ cup parboiled / idli rice (120 g)
½ cup whole urad dal (120 g)
15 fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp chana dal (soaked separately in ¼ cup hot water for 30 min)
¼ tsp dry ginger powder (sukku)
1 tsp salt

Tempering (in 1 tbsp ghee or sesame oil)

½ tsp black peppercorns, crushed
½ tsp cumin seeds, crushed
8–10 cashews, chopped
7–8 curry leaves, chopped
⅛ tsp asafoetida

To steam

greased moulds or banana-leaf-lined tumblers
2.5 cups water in the steamer

Method

1.
Soak rice and urad dal separately for 4–5 hours.
2.
Grind urad dal with ½ cup water until smooth and fluffy. Grind rice coarsely (semolina-like) with ½ cup water.
3.
Combine the batters, cover, and ferment 8–9 hours.
4.
Heat ghee or oil; crackle the crushed pepper and cumin, fry cashews to light golden, then curry leaves; switch off and stir in asafoetida.
5.
Stir the tempering, soaked chana dal, ginger powder and salt into the fermented batter.
6.
Pour into greased moulds (or banana-leaf-lined cups) three-quarters full. Steam 15–20 minutes on medium heat without a whistle.
7.
Rest 1–2 minutes, demould, slice into roundels for serving.

Serve with

kara (onion-tomato) chutneycoconut chutneyidli poditiffin sambar

Notes

Traditionally steamed in mantharai (bauhinia) leaf cups or hollow bamboo cylinders called kudalai; banana leaves or a small cake pan are standard home substitutes.

Adapted from vegrecipesofindia.com.

Where it's from

Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu · 12.83°N, 79.70°E