Green Idly

 Ingredients:

  

   Pudina leaves - 1 cup

   Coriander leaves - 1 cup

   Green chillies - 2

   Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp

   Idli batter - 1 cup

   Grated carrot - 1/2 cup

Grind all the ingredients to a paste except idli batter. Mix the paste well with the idli batter. Put one or two spoons of grated carrots into the idli plates .Pour the mixed batter into the idli plates on top of the grated carrots and cook it with steam. Serve hot with Vadai curry.

Recipe to make healthy Godhumai Idly or Wheat Idly by Uma Sridharan

Wheat Based contest entry posted by Uma Sridharan

Ingredients

Whole wheat 2 cups

Urid dhal

(Muzhu ulundh) 1 cup

Fenugreek 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Soak wheat, fenugreek seeds and urid dhall seaprately. soak them for 1/2 hour.

Start the grinder. Now add fenugreek seeds. Let it grind for 2 to 3 minutes. Now add urid dhall.

When urid dhall is half done, add soaked wheat and grind to a smooth batter. add salt.

Let the batter ferment for 8 hours.

Pour them in Idly moulds and steam them for 7 to 10 mts.

Serve hot with vengaya chutney or pudina chutney or veg kurma

Dal Idly - A different kind of idly without rice

A protein rich idly which can be had even by people with diabetics.

Ingredients:
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Moong Dal - 1 cup
Rawa - 1 tbsp
Carrots - 1/4 cup (grated or diced small)
Peas - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves - a little finely chopped
Curry leaves - a little finely chopped
Green chilly - 1 no
Red Chilly - 1 no.
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbs
Bengal gram dal - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Soak the dals for about 4 to 6 hours. Soak the rawa for 1 hour. Grind the dals together to a coarse paste. Add salt to it and mix the rawa to it. Let it ferment for about an hour. Add the curry leaves, coriander leaves, finely chopped green chilly, carrot and peas.

In a tadka pan add ghee and when it is hot add the mustard seeds when it splutters add the red chilly, Add it to the batter. Mix well and steam it in the idly plates.

This is a riceless idly.

Horse gram Idly

Ingredients:
Urad dal - 1 cup
Horse gram - 1 cup
Boiled rice - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Gingely oil to grease idly plates

Method:
Soak Boiled rice over night. Combine urad dal and horse gram, wash well, add enough water and soak them for about an hour.

Drain and blend to a smooth mixture. Grind boiled rice to a coarse paste. Mix both the batter well to a fine batter adding required quantity of salt. Let it ferment for about 6 hours (over night).

Grease the idly plates and pour the batter into it. Steam well. Serve hot with coconut chutney and or tamarind chutney

Idly and Veggie Fry-A recipe to make kids eat vegetables

Ingredients:

Idlies - 6 nos 

Carrot - 1 no

Beans - 4 to 6 nos

Potatoes - 2 nos

Peas - 1/4 cup

Mixed sprouts - 1 cup

Onion - 1 no

Tomatoes - 2 nos

Green chillies - 4 nos

Lemon - 1 no.

Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp

Cashew nuts - 4 to 8 nos

Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup (chopped finely)

OIl - 3 tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

Chop onion into thin slices, chop green chillies finely.

Dice the vegetables into very small cubes.  Heat water in a vessel. When it comes to boil add all the vegetables (this helps in preserving the crispness of the vegetables and also helps in retaining its colour).

Heat oil in a pan, saute onions and cumin seeds till onions turn soft. Add the blanched vegetables, mixed sprouts, green chillies and stir well they they all get mixed well and heat thoroughly. Add the chopped tomatoes and mix well. 

Cut idlies into thin strips. Add it to the pan and mix well till all the ingredients get heated thoroughly. Add salt to it and mix well. Close the pan and cook for a few mins. 

Remove from flame and garnish it with cashew nuts and coriander leaves. Squeeze the lemon juice to it. Serve it with fork and spoon. An ideal dish for lunch and also for evening after school time. 

Recipe for Rawa Idly

Ingredients:

Bombay Rawa - 1 cup

Sour Curd - 1 cup (beat well)

Gram Dal - 2 tbsp (optional)

Oil - 3 tbsp 

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Fruit Salt - 1 tsp

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 3 nos finely chopped

Cashew nuts - 8 nos finely chopped

Asafodeita powder - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)

Method:

Dry roast rawa in a pan and let it cool. In a pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, green chillies, cashew nuts, asafodeita and curry leaves. Add roasted rawa to it and blend well. Remove from flame and let it cool. Add salt, fruit salt and coriander leaves. Soak gram dal for an hour and drain it thoroughly. Add it to the rawa mixture.  Beat 1/2 cup of the curd well and add it to the rawa mixture along with 1 cup of water. Let the whole mixture soak for about 2 to 3 hours. Just before steaming, add the remaining 1/2 cup of curd after beating it thoroughly. Pour it in idly plates and or in cups and steam it for about 8 to 10 mins (if you are using pressure cooker, the steam must not be sticky). 

To make this Rawa Idly more colourful and kids friendly add vegetables like carrot, potatoes, peas etc to it. Carrot and potatotes should be grated or diced to very small pieces.

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.

Masala Idly Upma - A recipe with left over Idlies

Always we all have Idly with Chutney, Sambar or Milagaipodi. But this Idly upma is something really yummy.

Ingredients:

Idly 12 normal size

Onion -2
Green chilly - 4 or 5 medium sized

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - ½ sp.

Urad dal - 1 sp (full Urad Dal will give more taste and flavour)

Channa dal - 1 sp (Kadalai Paruppu)


Method to make Masala Idly Upma:

Cut all the idlies into small pieces.

Pour oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, make seasoning. Add chopped green chilies and cut onions. Fry well. Add cut idlies and salt. Mix well and remove from the fire. A nice tiffin is ready.

Though this is normally made with left over idlies I do make this with fresh idlies and kids like this when it is given in their lunch box.