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In praise of ID



You will rarely hear me talking about specific food brands on this page. But this one brand in particular needs to be talked about. Because unlike Zomato or Tiny Owl, ID hasn't pulled in zillions of dollars in investment funds. Nor do you see them roping in Shahrukh Khans of the world and advertising on TV.

Quietly, simply, one day the packs of ID idli-dosa batter showed up on the racks of my neighbourhood supermarket. Bombay's used to buying packs of dosa batter already so let me tell you what ID does better. The batter is sealed in a thick, ziplock bag that you can pop in the fridge. It's also already salted, so you can pour ladlefuls of batter out directly onto idli moulds or the dosa tavaa. The batter is also perfectly fermented every single time.

ID batter works equally well for idlis and dosas. Also, on the days you are feeling fanciful or have sudden guests, you can drop spoonfuls of batter into hot oil and deep fry into the vadas you see above. Then a few months back, ID added another product range that has made many a weekend for me. It's their malabar parotha, packaged half cooked, so you can pop it on a pan and get a crispy, flaky parantha in 2-3 minutes. I've had fresh malabar paranthas at restaurants and believe it or not, this packaged version is better than most. Since the parantha launch, ID has also launched things like whole wheat parantha and rotis but I can't say I love those.

For me, the perfect dosa batter and the malabar parantha I eat with pickle or chutney on weekend afternoons are the new constants in life. And that's what good brands do - they become part of who you are.

PS: Contrary to the food blogging trends nowadays, this post is not sponsored by ID. I don't even know who those guys are. I simply love their product!
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Comments

Kshitij Shah said…
I loved ID Foods Batter and Parothas as well Simmi!

Shameless plug, but you can read about my thoughts here: http://www.bambaiyaveggie.com/2015/06/24/freshness-in-a-pack-from-id-foods-idli-dosa-mix-and-parathas/

Looking forward to #BombayChristmas as well. The hunt for the nicest Christmas tree is on.
December 1, 2015 at 9:04 AM
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