Recipe for Kadhamba Vadai with vegetables

Ingredients:
Thuvar Dal/Toor Dal - 1 cup
Bengal Gram Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 4 nos
Red Chillies - 8 nos
Hing - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cashew nuts - 12 nos
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Grated Carrot - 1/2 cup
Finely chopped cabbage - 1/4 cup
Green Peas (Boiled) - 1/2 cup


Method:
Wash and soak the dals and rice for about 4 hours. Better soak Thoor dal and Bengal gram dal together, rice separately and urad dal separately. Drain well.


Grind urad dal first a bit coarsely without adding much of water. Grind other two dals along with red chillies, green chillies, salt, 1/2 of the curry leaves, coriander leaves and hing sprinkling just 2 tbsp of water. Before removing from the mixer add the coarsely ground urad dal and give a spin so that all the dals mix well nicely. Slice the cashewnuts thinly and mix it with the dal. Add the grated coconut and mix that too well. Cut the remaining curry leaves into half and add it to the ground mixture.


Slightly boil the carrot and cabbage or better steam or microwave it to make them soft. Add it to the ground dal mixture along with the peas. 


Mix well with hand again and pat them to make small vadais. You can also make them as balls and serve it as bondos. Fry them till they are golden brown. 


 Serve hot with tomato sauce, tomato ketchup or coconut chutney.

Recipe to make Kadhamba vadai

An easy to make tiffin item. Which also makes a different starter dish for parties. Kids will love it.
Ingredients:
Thuvar Dal/Toor Dal - 1 cup
Bengal Gram Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 4 nos
Red Chillies - 8 nos
Hing - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cashew nuts - 12 nos
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few

Method:
Wash and soak the dals and rice for about 4 hours. Better soak Thoor dal and Bengal gram dal together, rice separately and urad dal separately. Drain well.

Grind urad dal first a bit coarsely without adding much of water. Grind other two dals along with red chillies, green chillies, salt, 1/2 of the curry leaves, coriander leaves and hing sprinkling just 2 tbsp of water. Before removing from the mixer add the coarsely ground urad dal and give a spin so that all the dals mix well nicely. Slice the cashewnuts thinly and mix it with the dal. Add the grated coconut and mix that too well. Cut the remaining curry leaves into half and add it to the ground mixture.

Mix well with hand again and pat them to make small vadais. You can also make them as balls and serve it as bondos. Fry them till they are golden brown.

 Serve hot with tomato sauce, tomato ketchup or coconut chutney.

Idly - Every one's favourite

Idly is one dish that will not do any harm to any one. Right from toddlers to adults can have idly as their diet. Lactating mothers, ill people all are subscribed with idly if you are a south Indian. Idly digests very easily and as it is steamed, there is no need to worry about diet.

How to make idly batter:
This is the basic every one should know even before making idly.

Ingredients:
Par Boiled Rice  - 4 cups (You get good quality idly rice now a days in market)
Urad Dal (Whole) - 1 cup
Methi seeds - 1 tsp

Method to Make Idly batter:
Wash and soak rice and Urad dal separately. Methi seeds can be added along with the urad dal. Soak for about 6 to 8 hours. Grind Urad to a fine batter and rice to a coarse batter. Grind them separately. It is better to grind the urad dal first and then grind the rice. In a deep vesserl add a hand ful of rock salt and beat the batter thoroughly with hand, which will help in better fermentation.

Once ground, leave it to ferment for atleast 8 to 12 hours. (But now the summer is starting it will ferment within 2 to 3 hours itself normally). Refrigerate the batter. Before making idlies, bring the batter to room temperature.

Method to make Idly:
Wash the idly plates and smear them with gingelly oil. Pour the batter only up to 3/4th leaving place to raise. If pressure cooker is used, there is no need to use the whistle. Let it steam for about 15 to 20 mins. Remove from flame and let it cool. Before removing the idlies from the plates, sprinkle water on the plates so that the idlies will come off smoothly without sticking to the plate.

Serve hot with idly chilly powder, different chutneys or sambars.

Recipe for Kancheepuram Idly - Method 2

Kancheepuram Idly is a special prasadam offered to Varadarajaswami of Kancheepuram. This idly is different from the normal idlies and is a little bit spicy than the regular ones. Though the prasadam is a bit oily, if you are making it at home, it can b e made less oily.

Ingredients:

Parboiled rice - 2 cups

Raw rice - 2 cups

Urad dal - 2 cups (Better be black husked urad dal)

Salt to taste

Yogurt - 2 cups

Cashewnuts -10 to 12 pieces

Whole black pepper - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1  tsp

Ginger - a small piece

Ghee - 1 to 2 cups

Green chilly Paste -  1/2 spoon (optional)

Method:

Soak Urad Dal and rice separately for atleast 2 hours. Grind the Urad dal to a fine paste in grinder. Grind the rice separately in mixie coarsely. Add salt and mix all the 3 batter together. Let it set overnight. Add the yogurt to the batter and beat well. 

Break the cashewnuts into small pieces and roast them in a tbsp of ghee. Add the roasted cashew nuts to the batter. In another tbsp of ghee add black peppers, cumin seeds and the finely chopped ginger. Add this too to the batter.

Pour the batter in a basin type plate or a deep plate and pressure cook it for about 20 to 30 mins. Alternatively it can be added in idly plates also and steam in pressure cooker. Serve it hot with Tomato Kuzhambu, Coconut chutney and or mint chutney.

Kanchipuram Idly

Ingredients:
Boiled rice 1 cup
Urud dal 1 cup
Raw rice 1 cup
Ginger 1" piece
Pepper corn 1 tspn
Jeera 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee 5 tablespoon
Gingely Oil 5 table spoon
Curry leaves
Salt to taste



Method:
Soak rice and dal for 1 hr. Grind into coarse paste. Add salt. Allow it to ferment for atleast 10 hrs. Grind ginger, pepper, Jeera coarsely. Mix that paste along with asafoetida, curry leaves, oil. and melted ghee to the batter and mix well.

This idly will become very fluffy, so donot keep it in idly plates. Put it in small cups, (add the batter only up to half of the cup). Steam it for almost 20 to 25 cups. Or you can pour the batter into plates and steam it.