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Comment by victor106 | Hacker News Reader

When I was in India I had this thing called “idli”. It tastes amazing dipped in a soup called “sambar”. And dipped in a few pickles which they call “chutney”. Upon inqurring I came to know th at It’s made from mixing fermented rice and fermented dals. Not just the taste but it also feels light on the stomach and it feels ( I am not sure if it actually is) healthy. They also have something called the “dosa” that is like a crepe made from fermenting rice and dals. I strongly suggest trying it. Not all places in the US serve good idli and dosa though. I tried making it in my apartment but the fermentation failed a few times so I gave up.

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Dosa and Idli are from the South Side of India. I have roots there, specifically Kerala. In my childhood days, my mom used to make Idli and/or Dosa every single day. She soaked the dals and rice around midday in water and used a blender(Indian blender btw, they start at 500W motor rating and are the 4x4s of the blender world) to grind them to a batter, add salt and kept overnight on the kitchen counter for fermentation. Next day morning, we'd make amazing Idli and/Dosa for breakfast. Here in Amsterdam, we have a 'Saravana Bhavan' restaurant in De Pijp, they have the best South Indian cuisine in the country. They are a global chain and you may find 'Saravana Bhavan' in North America and in the UK.

The chutney you have encountered is most likely one of the following

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/red-coconut-chutney-recipe...

https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/2615806-kerala-coconut-chutne...

Nice to know you liked idli and dosa. I do too, and so do plenty of Indians. They are staples of the diet in south India, and at least dosa/dosai (particularly masala dosa) has spread in popularity to many parts of the world.

A few minor points: the chutney is not a pickle in the sense of not being a fermented item, it's made and eaten fresh, just some ingredients ground up together, maybe fried lightly or not.

>mixing fermented rice and fermented dals

Close, but not quite. The rice and (urad/udid) dal (black gram - not black chickpea, a different species), are wet-ground together and then left to ferment overnight or so. Then the same flour/batter is used to make either idli or dosa. I don't have scientific evidence but idli is likely healthy, so is dosa, due to the fermentation, and idli is nice and light, as you noticed.

>I tried making it in my apartment but the fermentation failed a few times so I gave up.

Try asking an Indian or South Asian friend or acquaintance for advice, or ask on the IndianFood reddit.

Edit: Added Wikipedia links.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idli

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_dosa

P.S. A fantastic variant (IMO) of masala dosa is Mysore masala dosa - at least, that is what it was called, in a small nearby restaurant where I used to have it regularly, when in college in Chennai. The variation is that the filling for the dosa is a dry (actually just a little wet, with the spice mixture), boiled and spiced cowpea (lobia) curry, instead of the potato curry (which is what is called the "masala" in the original). Damn tasty. I used to regularly polish off two of them for lunch in my college days. (Lobia is heavier than potato, and they used to put in a generous amount, so it was a pretty good and heavy enough meal.)

If you live in the US you can find the fermented mix ready to cook at local indian grocery stores. https://shasthaonline.com/collections/batter/products/batter...

I am a North Indian so idli dosa is not a native food for me, but I use my vitamix to blend up some rice and urad dal into a nice paste, ferment it in a preheated oven, and next day we have excellent dosa. I really like mine crispy so the key is to really cook it until it gets nice and crispy on a nonstick surface.

Tastes great with a coconut based chutney, or even a nice Spicey peanut sauce.

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