Idlis (made with Par-boiled rice) and Peanut Chutney

I’m back for another round of Blogging marathon, BM# 16. Thanks to Valli for organizing and coming up with some very interesting and challenging themes. My theme for this week is “Show your Breakfast”. I have a variety of breakfast dishes lined up for this week. 

Breakfast in my house on a weekday is usually quick and simple – toast with peanut butter and jelly/ veggie cream cheese/ butter and jelly/ nutella or some Swiss Oats or quick-cooking oats. My policy is not to turn on the stove on weekday morning and only utilize the services of my trusty microwave and the toaster oven. On the weekends, the story is not drastically different: we usually end up waking up late and I’m the kind of a person who would rather have an early lunch than late breakfast, so we end up having a quick cereal or skipping breakfast altogether.

So when I saw that one of the themes for this month’s BM is breakfast, I thought it would be a nice change to treat my family with a hearty breakfast over the weekends (for a change). For Day 1, I made some good ol’ idlis – every south Indian’s comfort food. I’m sure there are a million ways/ recipes for making idlis, but I’ll go ahead give mine anyway. I started making idlis with par-boiled rice (idli rice) and found that they turned out much softer and fluffier. 

Here is the recipe that I usually use, but when I saw Nupur’s post with a different proportion of par-boiled rice, I wanted to try that too, to see the difference. I’ve to say there is a big difference in the texture and I would probably use my new measurements going forward. Check out Nupur’s post for mouthwatering chutney and restaurant style sambar recipes.

Ingredients: 

Urad dal – 1 cup 

Par-boiled rice (Idli rice) – 3 cups 

Poha (beaten rice) - 1/4 cup

Fenugreek seeds (Methi seeds) – 2tsp 

Salt – to taste 

Method: 

• Soak dal, rice (and methi seeds) separately for at least 4-6 hours. 
• Grind dal into smooth batter using as little water as possible. Next grind the rice into slightly coarser batter. Mix rice, dal and salt, add water to get to a buttermilk consistency. Cover and ferment in a warm place for at least 8hours (or upto 12-24hours. During winter I prep (soak and grind) the batter on Thursday evening and make idlis on Saturday morning). 
• Once the batter is ready – bubbly & fermented; lightly spray idli stand with cooking spray and pour batter into the indentations. Steam in a pressure cooker for 12-15 minutes without the whistle. 

Soft and pillowy idlis are ready to be served with the side dishes of your choice. I made Peanut chutney to go with my idlis. I have already posted a version of peanut chutney without onions here.

Ingredients: 

Peanuts – ½ cup (I prefer peanuts with no skin for their ease of use) 

Dalia (putnala pappu) – ¼ cup 

Grated Coconut – ¼ cup (fresh or dry) 

Green chilies – 3 

Garlic cloves – 2, minced 

Onion – 1 small, chopped 

Tamarind pulp – 1tbsp

 Salt – to taste 

Tempering: 

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Dry Red chili – 1, broken 

Curry leaves – 6-8 (I didn’t have any on hand) 

Method: 

• Dry roast peanuts until golden on all sides. Add dalia and grated coconut to peanuts and roast for just 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 
• Heat 1tsp oil in the same pan; add the chopped onions, garlic and green chilies and sauté until onions are lightly browned on all sides. Remove from heat and cool. 
• Once everything is cool enough to handle, grind peanuts and onions mixture with tamarind, salt and enough water into a smooth paste. 
• For the tempering: heat 1 tsp oil and add the mustard seeds, red chili and curry leaves; once the seeds start to splutter, pour the tempering onto the chutney, mix well and enjoy.

 

Let’s check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up for Day 1 of BM# 16.