why grains and pulses were soaked before cooking?
when I was little I used to see my mom and my aunt soak the grains and pulses. Since my aunt cooked in the viragu adupu- wooden stove I thought may be they are doing it to cook faster.
morning as soon as she wakes up she soaks both and cooks later.they will get soaked atleast for 3 hours minimum. For idli and dosai morning itself they will soak and grind it late evening like 5-6 pm. They ground in aatukal; the traditional stone grinder.
let it ferment for the whole day night and the next day morning it was ready for the idlis.
I will write an entire post of how sustainable they were. My first hand experience.
now science says soak everything so that phytic acid gets released. Phytic acid acts as an inhibitor to digest nutrients.
see everything they did it scientifically . And we have ignored everything because they could not answer us.
reference Wikipedia.
The (myo) phytate anion is a colorless species that has significant nutritional role as the principal storage form of phosphorus in many plant tissues, especially bran and seeds. It is also present in many legumes, cereals, and grains. Phytic acid and phytate have a strong binding affinity to the dietary minerals, calcium, iron, and zinc, inhibiting their absorption in the small intestine.[1]
