Quinoa Oats Idli

Idli is one of my husband's favorite dishes, but me being lazy don't usually make them that often for him. Pulling out my Ultra grinder is a big chore for me and then the weather plays spoil sport and the batter doesn't ferment properly. Well whatever might be the reason I end up not making those idlis.

Here comes in instant idli recipes that don't need grinding batter and fermenting. I've tried a couple of different recipes (like this oats-rava idli) for instant idli, but these quinoa-oats idlis are the best of the bunch. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show and I made them right away.

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Jonna Rawa Idli (Jowar Idli) with Coconut-Almond Chutney

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: 3 Ingredient Recipes

Dish: Jonna Rawa Idli with Coconut-Almond Chutney

My theme for this week is quite interesting, it is '3-Ingredient Recipes'. Valli sure knows how to get our brain cells to working. We had done 5-Ingredient recipes in one of the previous BMs, but this 3 ingredient theme sure took some thinking and some googling to finalize the 3 dishes.

Today's 3 ingredient recipe is a South Indian staple breakfast but made with a healthier and nutritious ingredient swap. Idli rawa is replaced with a whole grain jonna/ jowar rawa.

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Masala Vegetable Idli (Idli with a twist)

Blogging Marathon# 41: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: E-N Breakfast Items
Dish: I for Idli -- Masala Idli

I picked an easy one for day 2, I for Idli. For those of you who have never heard the word idli, here's a little background info: Idli is a very traditional South Indian breakfast. It is a steamed cake made of fermented black lentils (urad dal) and rice.It is one of the most balanced breakfasts with the perfect combination of carbs and protein. Also the fermenting process adds good bacteria that aids in digestion.

I don't make idlis often since the batter doesn't ferment well in winters and I'm too lazy and forgetful to soak the lentil and rice for the rest of the year. Well anyway I made sure I remembered to soak, grind and ferment the batter. Thanks to the lovely warm weather we have been having lately, my batter fermented nicely in about 12 hours and the idlis turned out soft and fluffy.

Plain idlis are quite common, but today's masala idlis are a really nice variation. I saved an article on Idlis from a Telugu newspaper in 2006. One of the recipe in that article is this 'Masala Idli'. The addition of vegetables and the masala gives these idlis a nice spicy kick.

Ingredients:
For the Idli Batter:
Black Lentils (Urad dal) - 1cup
Idli Rawa - 2½cups
Fenugreek seeds - 1tsp
Salt - to taste

To make Masala Idlis:
Potato - 1 small, peeled & finely diced
Carrot - 1 small, peeled and finely diced
Onion - 1 small, finely chopped
Green Peas - 3tbsp
Tomato - 1 small, finely chopped
Cashews - 2tbsp, finely chopped
Green chilies - 3 (adjust as per taste)
Roasted gram (putnalu) - 1tbsp
Grated Coconut - 2tbsp (fresh or dry)
Cilantro - 3tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 8~10
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Make the Idli Batter: Soak urad dal & fenugreek seeds in a bowl and idli rawa in another bowl for at least 4 hours. Grind dal into a smooth paste. Drain and squeeze the water from the rawa and add it to the dal along with salt. Mix well and set the batter aside to ferment in a warm place for 8~12 hours.
• Make the Veggie Mixture: Microwave potato and carrot until tender. Alternately they can be boiled or steamed also.
• Grind the coconut, roasted gram, green chilies and cilantro into a smooth paste.
• Heat 2tsp oil in a saute pan; add mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves; once the seeds start to splutter add onions and cashews. Cook till the onions turn translucent.
• Next add tomatoes and the other cooked veggies. Cook until tomatoes turn mushy.
• Add the masala paste and salt. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
• Then add this mixture to the idli batter. Mix well and distribute the batter evenly in the idli molds, steam for 12~15 minutes. Serve hot with chutney of choice.

All the veggies tend to sink to the bottom, so here's the cross-sectional view of a masala idli :-)

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 41.

Kanchipuram Idli & Kara Chutney (Breakfast Thali from Tamil Nadu)

The month long mega marathon is still lingering in the air and I have quite a few posts in the drafts that I made and could not post. So here we are with a breakfast mini thali from Tamil Nadu that I wanted to post for Tamil Nadu, but changed and did this Chettinad Vegetarian Biryani.

Kanchipuram idli has been on my to-make list for a very very long time. I think I saw the recipe in a Telugu newspaper many many years ago and it stayed in my head, though it wasn't until very recently. I jotted it down for Tamil Nadu, but with the winter lingering around a little too long, I wasn't sure if the batter would rise. I waited till it started to get a little warm again to make the idlis. It took me 48 hours for the batter to ferment and the idlis turned out fluffy and delicious.

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Oats Rava Idli (Instant Oats Idli)

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Instant Idlis/ Dosas
Dish: Oats Rava Idli

Today we are starting 2ndvweek of BM# 34 and my theme for this week is 'Instant Idlis/ Dosas'. I'm one those lazy people who always forgets to soak dal and rice for idlis and dosas, but dreams of fluffy idlis and crispy dosas. I wake up one morning craving for a good homemade South Indian style breakfast, but alas somebody forgot make the batter(!!!!!) So most of the time I'm making these instant idlis and dosas to satisfy my cravings.

I mostly make adai (mixed lentil dosas) or pesarattu (moong dal dosas) which require minimum soaking time and no fermentation time. But for the next 3 days, I'm going to post recipes that require no soaking time to up to a maximum of 30minutes soaking time. They are great for mid-week or even mid-day idli/ dosa cravings.

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Rava Idlis using Instant Rava Idli Mix

I'm back to blogging for 3 days in a row this time with Blogging Marathon # 17 (BM#17). Slight change in the format, but same idea of cooking with a theme for consecutive days instead of a week. I'm joining the marathon for 2 weeks this time and my first theme is "Cooking with Ready made Stuff". 

I don't usually buy ready to cook food, even though I know some of them really good and they are fast and convenient. I try to make everything from scratch because I keep stock of the basic ingredients needed for most of the dishes and it doesn't seem cost effective to buy ready to cook foods again. But recently my work got a lot busier and I find that I don't have much energy left to make anything even over the weekends. So when I saw Valli's themes and saw this theme, I wanted to try some of the "ready to cook food" and see how they taste. 

For the first dayof BM# 17, I made Rava Idlis using MTR brand "Instant Rawa idli mix". These are super simple to make, all you need is some yogurt and chopped cilantro. I used greek yogurt mixed with water. The mix has all the seasonings, cashews, tempering ingredients and the final product was excellent, given the minimum amount of work put into it.

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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.

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Quick Tomato Peanut Chutney

I don’t know if I like weekends or not. It seems like they fly by faster than a weekday and I always end up wondering on Sunday night, what the heck I did in the last 48 hrs. My mind is buzzing with things to do for the weekend on Friday night, but come Saturday morning, all planning and to-do lists get scraped and NOTHING gets done. It’s like “Busy with no business”.

This post is not about my “nothing got done weekend”, but about “at last something got done weekend”. So I was very proactive on Friday morning; soaked some urad dal and parboiled rice for idlis, prepared the batter that night and left it to ferment until Sunday morning (With the cold Northeast winter weather, it takes about 24 hrs to have a nicely fermented batter).

But on Sunday morning I was short of time to make my usual peanut-coconut chutney, so I made this equally tasty and quick chutney that my mom usually makes. I keep store-bought unsalted roasted peanuts in my pantry all the time, but if you don’t have these, simply roast some in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes – 2 medium, chopped into big chunks
Green chilies – 2, slit
Garlic – 1 clove, crushed
Roasted Peanuts – ¼ cup
Tamarind extract – 2tsp (or more to taste)
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Dry red chili – 1
Curry leaves – 4-6 (I didn’t have any on hand)

Method:

• In a microwave safe bowl, take tomatoes, garlic and green chilies and microwave covered for 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes turn into a mush.
• Remove and cool for a little bit before grinding them into smooth chutney with the peanuts, tamarind extract, salt and water (use as needed).
• When I don’t have time to wait for the tomatoes to cool, I use my immersion blender and blend all the ingredients while still hot.
• Heat 1tsp oil in a small saucepan and add the mustard seeds and dry red chili; once the seeds start to splutter, add to the chutney, mix well and enjoy with your pillow-soft idlis* or crispy dosas.

Chutney keeps well in the fridge for at least 3-4 days.

* To make Idlis: Soak 1 cup Urad dal (Minapappu) and 2 cups Parboiled rice separately for 4-6 hours. Grind dal into a smooth paste using little water, next grind rice into a coarse paste. Mix them together with 1tsp salt and set aside until frothy and fermented (about 8-12 hours in warmer temps or up to 24hrs in colder weather).

Since this is a bookmarked recipe, courtesy Amma, I'm sending this chutney off to Aipi's Bookmarked Recipe-Every Tuesday event.