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Colorful Cocktail Idlis

Madhuram — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:28:16 +0000

I have had this idea of mixing chutney with the idli batter for long time now, especially when we pack idlis while going on a tour/picnic. I used to think that doing so, it’s easy clean up and no need to carry extra utensils, but never got to do that until recently. When SunshineMom announced that she is hosting this month’s Recipes for the rest of us – Starters event, I decided to try the idli idea. I also got the idea of trying it with different color chutneys.

The idea behind the event is getting newbies interested in cooking, so no exact measurements, complicated steps or special equipments should be used. What can be more easy than preparing chutney and steaming idlis? To make it even simple one can even buy idli batter from the store, prepare chutney spicier than usual, mix it and prepare the idlis. As simple as it is. Any chutney should be fine. For different colors you could use tomatoes, coriander/mint, beets, carrots etc. The only thing is you have to make it spicier so that when mixed with the batter and steamed the spice is right. Anyways I’m giving the measurements and recipe for preparing idly and chutneys.

Colorful Idlis

Ingredients

Idli batter (homemade or store bought) as needed

Any spicy chutney as needed

Procedure

1 If you are using more than one chutney divide the batter in two or three bowls according to the number of chutneys you are using.

2 Mix each chutney with the batter and combine it well. Taste the batter and check for salt and spice. If it’s not spicy enough add some chilli powder or ground green chilies. I added a spicy paruppu podi (dal powder which is mixed with rice) to increase the spiciness.

3 Grease idli moulds with oil/ghee. I spray it with a non stick spray. You could choose to use either mini idli moulds or the regular ones. If you have only the regular size idli moulds, pour the batter, steam it as usual (for 10-15 minutes). After sometime remove the idlis from the moulds and cut each idli into 4 pieces. Mini idlis can be served as it is.

4 Use a toothpick to skewer idlis, one of each color or arrange it in a platter.

My Notes

1 I had little leftover batter and chutneys the next day. So to the batter I added some rice flour, all purpose flour, semolina and all the chutneys and mixed it with enough water to get a pancake/dosa batter consistency. Then prepared dosas and it tasted so good with all the chutneys and spices together.

Idli Recipe

Ingredients

Idli Rava 2 cups

Urad Daal 1 cup

Salt as needed

Sesame oil 1 tablespoon

Procedure

1 Soak urad daal in water for 3-4 hours. You can either soak the idli rava or not. My grandmother used to soak it in lukewarm water. I have tried both methods and have not found any difference in the idlis. After at least 3 hours drain the urad daal, reserving some of the water.

2 If using a wet grinder, switch it on, add 1/2 cup of the water and let the grinder run. Then slowly add the urad daal. Grind it atleast for 25-30 minutes until it’s nice and fluffy.

3 Add the idli rava to the urad daal batter while it’s still in the grinder and let the grinder run a couple of minutes more so that everything is combined well.

4 Transfer the batter to a bowl, add salt and the oil and mix it well. Use a big size bowl so that there is enough room for the batter to rise while it ferments. Ferment it for at least 12-15 hours and use it the next day.

My Notes

1If using rice instead of idli rava, the measurement I follow is 2 cups of par boiled rice, 1 cup of raw rice and 3/4th-1 cup of urad daal. Soak the rice together. Soak the urad daal separately. First grind the urad daal as mentioned above and transfer it to the bowl. Then grind the rice to a coarse consistency. It should take only 5-8 minutes if grinding it in a wet grinder. Then mix both the batters, salt and oil and combine it well.

2 I also soak for adai whenever I’m going to grind for idlis. First I grind daal and rice for idlis, transfer the batter and in the same grinder grind for adai. So we have adai for dinner and idli/dosa for the next 2 days. So with extra 10 minutes of work 3-4 days’ dinner/breakfast is taken care off. Also less clean up, because you have to wash the grinder only once as against twice if you soak for adai and idlis on two separate days.

Chutney Recipes

Onion Chutney (for red color)

Onion, big 1

Red chillies (add 1 or 2 more than the usual) as needed

Tomato (optional, to get the red color) 1

Tamarind paste (if not using tomato) 1/2 teaspoon

Salt as needed

I had a dried red chili at home which is not at all spicy but gives only the color. I used that in addition to the spicy chillies to get the red color. So I did not use tomato. Grind everything together to a smooth paste. Usually I fry this chutney in little oil to get rid of the raw smell from onions. I didn’t do it this time because anyway I was going to steam it with the idlis.

Coriander Chutney (for green color)

Coriander 1 bunch

Green chillies (add 1 or 2 more than the usual) as needed

Tamarind paste (or lemon juice) 1/4 teaspoon

Salt as needed

Grind everything together adding little water as needed.

Coconut Chutney (for yellow color)

Coconut 1/2 cup

Green chillies (add 1 or 2 more than the usual) as needed

Turmeric powder as needed to get the color

Salt as needed

Grind everything together adding little water as needed.

These colorful idlis go to:

SunshineMom’s Recipes for the rest of us – Starters event. The event originally started by Ramki of One Page Cookbooks.

Trupthi’s Cooking for Kids – Rice. The event originally started by Sharmi.

Introducing “Your Recipe Rocks” – An Ode to the food blogging community!

Madhuram — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:03:54 +0000

Earlier this week my friend Smitha, left a comment in my blog saying that she tried the oven baked zucchini fries and it came out very well. Couple of weeks back she also mentioned that she tried the Easy Basundi for a party and it was a hit too. When I posted a recipe for making Easy Baklavas another friend SS prepared baklava the traditional method and sent me a picture also, telling that it was inspired by me. Last week another visitor A also mentioned that she tried the Zucchini Dal and Zucchini fries. Thanks a lot buddies.

I’m mentioning all this because, even though I started this blog as a hobby to pursue my passion for baking/cooking, I feel very happy when I read each and every comment and exhilirated when somebody tells me that they tried the recipes in my blog and it came out well. So I thought why not pass this happiness to other food bloggers too. Even prior to starting my own blog, I have visited many blogs and have kept bookmarking interesting recipes but tried only a very few. Call it laziness or lack of time. Since I have a food blog now, I know how happy I would be if somebody tried my recipe and complimented it. So I want to make a conscious effort to try at least one recipe every week from other blogs and hence this ode to the food blogging community. There are so many food blogging sites which have great recipes!!!

I know what you all are thinking, this is very similar to MBP (Monthly Blog Patrol) created by Coffee of The Spice Cafe. Yes it is, but I want to make it more current. Since we all know that there is a shortage of rice supply in the US, I thought why not try to go on a rice strike for atleast one meal every week. Even now in my family we eat rice only for lunch and it’s a light meal in the evenings. But again being a south indian our light meals are limited to idli, dosa, pongal, arisi (rice) uppuma and it also has rice as the main ingredient. I do make soups and salads regularly but considering the pressing issue of increase in the price of rice I wanted to do something more. So I thought why not try one more non-rice main dish from other food blogs once a week (more than 1 meal would be great too) and post the final picture/pictures every Sunday. This is my own way of thanking all the food bloggers for the wonderful recipes produced in their kitchens and reproduced in their virtual kitchen.

By cooking 4 non-rice main dishes a month we will not only limit our rice consumption but we will also be experimenting various other cuisines, food grains, and increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables which is healthy as well. More than anything we can bring a smile in the face of our blogging friends more often. I don’t want to call this an event, instead a tradition and name it Your Recipe Rocks (YRR).

The rules are:
1. Just make a conscious effort of recognizing your fellow bloggers’ efforts and make a Non-Rice dish you like from their recipes atleast once a week and post it in your site and link it back to the parent site and to this post. If you could mention “Your Recipe Rocks (YRR)” in the title of your post, it would be easy to check it out while browsing the entries in the RSS feed aggregators. Posting the recipe is not necessary, but mentioning any variations done to the original recipe should be fine. Also email me your name, recipe title, 125 x 125 pixel photo URL and the permalink of your post using the contact page.

2. It has to be a wholesome, stomach filling main dish without rice. Those who are already not eating rice and the main dish is either chapathis, parathas or bread, you can try different types of parathas from other blogs or a side dish in case of chapathis or add a salad/soup to your meal. The recipe should be from another food blog and not any cooking/recipe website. There are so many things we can come up with, like soup, salad, pizza, sandwich, pasta, bread, use couscous, quinoa, barley, oats, millets, beans etc.

3. As I have mentioned earlier you need not limit to one rice free dish a week, more than that is also fine.

4. If you don’t have a blog you can send the picture/pictures and links to the recipes you have tried via the contact page. I will do the round-up in the first week of the following month.

Anybody interested in joining me to start this small tradition?

P.S: Everything said I would like to add one final note. This is neither a competition nor compulsory. I know how tedious food blogging can get, having to cook/bake something interesting regularly and taking pictures, participating in so many food events and other stuff. So don’t stress yourself too much. It’s ok if you are not able to cook something new every week. Just consider what I have written and do it whenever you find time, and post it in your blog the following Sunday.

Dee, thank you very much for your time and support.

This week I tried Cham’s Idli Rava Kichidi. Cham had prepared this kichidi and chutney for JFI: Garlic. Instead of using idli rava I prepared the kichidi with regular rava (semolina), crushed tomatoes instead of fresh ones and added a handful of frozen peas while the water was boiling. The kichidi tasted very good. I added only one 1 garlic clove in the chutney to suit our palette. My husband loved the flavor of garlic both in the kichidi and in the chutney.

Thanks Cham for the wonderful recipe. Looking forward for many tasty recipes from you. Your Recipe Rocks