Recently I met a friend who had come home to Mumbai on a short vacation. We stopped for a small snack at this yuppy South Indian food joint in an upmarket mall. As we glanced through the menu, we were quite amused at the exotic descriptions of the food we have at home everyday. 🙂
One item that caught my eye was Podi Tossed Idli, and as a coincidence the table next to ours ordered this very dish. It did look quite appetizing and so we ordered it. Quite a treat it was too!
Podi tossed idlis or idlis smothered with khara podi or molaga podi are a very familiar sight in many South Indian homes. They are especially favoured when one needs to pack food to carry along. In days of yore, when we travelled to our “native place” by train, podi tossed idlis were one of the many things that were packed in the “tiffin carriage”.
Amma would mix generous amounts of khara podi in even more generous amounts of sesame oil (nuvvulu nune). She would then dip individual idlis into this mix and wrap individual parcels of 3 or 4 idlis in banana leaf. This would constitute breakfast or tiffin on the long train travel. While Amma kept the idlis whole, I cut up the idli and this made it into a finger food.
Pulihora and Daddojanam with Nimmakaya Uragaya were the other staples that could be found in the carriage.
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- Regular-Sized Idlis – 4 or Button Idlis – 8
- Molaga Podi or Khara Podi – 2 tbsp
- Ghee – 2 tsp
Method
- If you are using regular sized idlis, cut them into 1″ pieces.
- In a wok, heat the ghee till it melts.
- Turn off the heat.
- Add 1 tbsp molaga podi.
- Mix well.
- Add the button idlis or idli pieces.
- Mix with a gentle hand till the pieces are coated with the molaga podi.
- Sprinkle the rest of the molaga podi on the idli pieces.
- Mix with a gentle hand till the pieces are coated with the molaga podi.
- Serve warm.
one of my childhood favorites. yumm
🙂
This is my favourite snacks….. Your picture looks very tempting 🙂
🙂
Woow! This is such a nice idea. Will try this fr sure. Thnx fr the recipe.
Do let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Holidaying in Rome, and drooling over your idlis!
Have fun….. enjoy Roman food. I went bonkers over Risotto, Gnocchi, Pumpkin Soup, Panini……
Gimme idlis and molagai podi any day over bland pizzas and ricotta ravioli 🙂
Agree…. had carried spicy sev and chakli with us. 🙂
Have Italian Hot Chocolate. … to die for.
Ok, will try that. So far we’ve been living on gelatos!
Looks yummy! My mom made this with left over idlis but with onions and red chilies.
Drooling at the spicy podi tossed idly! I used to take it as lunch during my school days and share it with friends. This kindles sweet memories!
My toddler loves crunchy foods and my husband loves idli, I will have to try this recipe out! I hope that you’ll check out some of my recipes too x