History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s2.t1.4

v1.c26.s2.t1.4

*Grilling* : Though a *tāva* for grilling does not seem to have been specifically identified in the Indus Valley, a typical dough-kneading plate with sides sloping outwards was recovered at Mohenjodaro (Mackay, 1938, Pl. 64, Item 13). The *Sūtra* literature rocords the baking of flat cakes on a broken earthen jar (*kapāla*), and a grilling vessel (*vapāsrapaṇi*) (Prakash, Om, 1961, pp. 34-57). Among the items of the sacrificial *puroḍuśa* offering described in the Gṛhya sūtras is the *apupa*; this "implies a great advance in the art of baking," in that it is a cake baked on a flat vessel and a pan with a varying number of hollows resembling dishes, yielding a variety of shapes to the cake itself (Apte, 1939, pp.95-102). A stone with depressions is still in use in parts of south India to bake a type of rice *appam* called *kuzhi*. Several baking techniques recorded in the 17th century AD in Karnataka (*Sūpa Śāstra*, (a), p.268), but probably in traditional use much earlier, were: baking on a hot flat or concave griddle (*battala*); on a hot tile (*kencu*): between two plates with live coals placed both above and below; and directly on coals, after which the outer charred crust was discarded before consuming the cooked core.