Idli and Dosai are eaten almost daily by people in Tamil Nadu. Most of it is consumed either at breakfast and/or dinner. Kids love dosai and is the most often ordered foods at restaurants. Bigger and crispier the dosai, better for them. I may be called anti-tamil for writing this blog. But closing our eyes will not make the world go dark. Tamil Nadu along with Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have the highest percentage of diabetics among the large Indian states[1].
The irony is awareness about diabetes is also very high. It is a common topic of conversation when friends and families meet. Everyone agrees that sugar is bad for diabetes and try to cut down on sugar. The challenge is how they go about defining sugar. For most people, it is sweets as such even though they come with various excuses to indulge them from time to time. Many others rightly refrain from adding sugar to their tea or coffee. Some others cut down on boiled rice intake because their doctors advised them to do so. On the other hand, Idli and dosai are considered healthy and eaten daily with pride.
Let's look at how dosai and idli are prepared.
1. The idli rice is partially boiled (parboiled) in the rice mill. This is done to reduce the cooking time in our kitchens. Partial boiling also prolongs the shelf life of the rice.
2. Soak the rice in water. Soaking makes the rice softer and easier to grind.
3. Grind the rice into a batter. Grinding breaks down the rice and releases the stored energy.
4. Ferment the batter. Fermentation happens naturally as rice becomes edible to the bacteria around us. Also a great preservation technique when we did not have refrigerators.
5. Steam cook the batter to make idli.
The rice undergoes 5 stages of "cooking" before we consume it as idli.In the case of dosai, we heat the batter on a pan. We flip it over to make sure both sides are brown like us. Heating any starch turns it from a complex carbohydrate ( polysaccharide, a chain of multiple glucose units) to a simpler carbohydrate (disaccharide, a chain of 2 glucose units). It is the same reaction which occurs in our mouth when we eat starch like boiled rice. So, when we consume dosai, it's much closer to sugar ( glucose or monosaccharide) than starch. Actually many restaurants add sugar to the batter to make it look brownier as that's what customers ask for. In that case, its almost sugar that we end up eating. Sugar is what gives the brown color by a process called carmelization. Caramel chocolate anyone? The caramel is obtained from heating sugar. The brown color makes it an ideal and cheaper substitute for chocolate.
All these cooking techniques were invented by our ancestors to extract energy from grains which is not an ideal food like vegetables or fruits. They had to do with grains as they were able to grow it in large quantity. Since grains are seeds, they can be stored for a long time. We are abusing those ingenious techniques to overfeed ourselves when we clearly do not have any need for such copious amount of instant energy.
Another irony is that we rile against fast food, particularly if it comes from the Western world. Let's take the definition of fast food. Fast food is pre-cooked food, heated and served quickly. Fast food is also cheap. Idli and dosa would then fall into the category of fast food. Nowadays many folks buy the batter instead of making it. Ultimately, it is all about convenience. But convenience is not a good reason when you look at the all complications that arise from diabetes.
The body cannot spare energy for digestion when we fall sick. Dosa, idli, idiyappam, appam are great as they provide instant energy. The same goes for high intensity workouts like swimming, sprint, etc., So, there is a time when idli and dosa are okay to be consumed. But only in those limited time, not throughout the year.
Remember when we talk about nutritional value of food, we conveniently ignore the processing (partially boiled rice) when we buy them. The nutritional value of a food must be determined based on how it is consumed not in its raw form. We delude ourselves by buying brown rice because it is healthy and then eating it as dosai. If we consume instant energy foods like idli and dosai all the time, then it is equivalent to injecting ourselves with sugar. The more we do, the more addicted we become. So, lets stop feeding the sugar addiction by eating complex carbohydrates which needs to be ground down in our mouth rather than in a grinder. Let our body do its work of digesting food instead of cooking it many times over. Remember cooking should be kept to a minimum with raw ingredients every single time.
Sources:
[1] National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-2021
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