Udhi vada / Minapa garelu / Black gram fritters

This is another variety which is served as a tiffin in Southern part of India. Can be eaten as a snack as it is or with Sambar , chutney or even with rasam. You can prepare the vada by either making it on your palm itself or can use any leaf like beetle or banana leaf. As I don’t have any leaves and my palm is not big enough to hold the vada, I prepared them on a piece of plastic sheet. Most important thing is always keep a bowl of water next to you whilst preparing the urad daal vada to wet your fingures and avoid the stickyness of the batter.

Ingredients;
Urad daal – 1 ½ cup
Rice flour / ground rice – 2 tbsp
Onion chopped – 2 tbsp
Corriander chopped – 2 tbsp
Pepper corns – 1 tsp

Method:

Soak the urad daal for about 4 hours.

Drain the water and grind it into smooth paste. If necessary add 1 or 2 spoons of water, but try to avoid it. The batter should be stiff enough to form the vada shape.

Vada batter and water

Take the batter into a bowl and mix it with rice flour. Leave the batter in fridge for 30 minutes. Remove it from the fridge and allow it come to room temperature.

In the mean time heat a kadai / pan with enough oil to deep fry the vada.

Always test whether the oil is hot enough or not by dropping a small amount of batter into the oil. If the batter floats immediately, then the heat is perfect. If it settles down at the bottom or floats after a while, then heat the oil for some more time.

Wet your hands. Take small amounts of batter, place it on the piece of plastic sheet or any leaf. Just press it slightly, to make it flat and make a whole in the centre using your index finger.

Slightly wet your fingers and slowly transfer the batter onto your fingers and slip it into the oil. Repeat the same for the rest. Do 4-5 vadas at a time as per your convenience.

Serve them with Sambar and/or chutney.

Udhi vada / Minepa gaarelu with Coconut chutney and Sambar

Masala Idly

This is another variety of idly with added spices. This is very much similar to Rava idli. 

Masala Idly

Ingredients:

Urad daal - 1 cup
Ground Rice / Idly Rava - 2 1/2 cups
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp

For Masala:
Mustard - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5
Grated carrot - 2 tbsp
Cashews - 10
Channa daal - 1 tsp
Green chilli chopped - 1 tsp

Method:

Soak urad daal for 6 hours and grind it into fine paste.
Wash and drain the excess water from idly rava and mix it with the urad daal batter.
Mix well and allow it to fermant.
Once the batter is ready, then prepare the masala
Heat a small tava and add 1 tbsp of oil.
When the oil is hot enough, add mustard, cumin, channa daal, cashews, chilli and curry leaves one after the other.
Fry until carrot becomes transparent.

Idly masala

Just before making idly, stir the batter thoroughly by adding salt and baking soda, and the above mentioned masala.

Masala Idly mixture

Pour 1 ladle of batter into each mould and steam. for 15 to 20 minutes.

Masala Idly

Murukulu / Savoury snack

There is lots of crunchiness in the name itself. Aa ha going back to nostalgia. Mom always prepares them at least once in a month. Just to make her life easy, she always prepares them either before we wake up or after we sleep so that we can avoid the accidents in the kitchen.

My mom’s preparation starts with soaking the rice, drain and dry them under shade. Roast Urad daal and the shade dried rice and bribe one of us to go to the grinding mill (Pindi mara). She also adds coarsely ground roasted peanuts to give the extra nutty flavour and crunchiness. Unfortunately due to lack of time, now-a-days most of us end up with buying the ready made flours. I managed to find the ready made roasted flours in London.

Ingredients:
4 cups – Rice flour
1 cup – Roasted Urad flour
½ cup – sesame seeds - roasted
½ cup – pea nuts – roasted,skinned and coarsely ground
Salt – 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Oil to deep fry

Method:

Heat a kadai/ deep pan with oil to deep fry. Whilst oil is getting hot (Time management), sieve the flours along with salt and chilli. This is the easiest method I found to mix different flours with out much effort. If you don’t have the sieve, no worries. Just mix every thing with hand and add coarsely ground peanuts and sesame seeds. Once all the dry bits are mixed well, add about 3 ladles full of hot oil. Do not put your hands straight into the hot oil, instead, cover the hot oil with the flour and slowly try to mix every thing by adding water little by little until you get the dough consistency.

Muruku dough

Take the muruku mould and fill it with the dough.

Muruku mould filled with muruku dough

Apply pressure to squeeze the dough. Experts, they squeeze the dough directly into the oil, where as the beginners like me will squeeze the muruku on a butter paper or plastic paper. 

Slowly lift them into hand one at a time and slowly slip them into the oil. Fry them till golden colour. Remove them using slotted spoon. Drian and allow them to cool down. Store them in an air tight container.

Enjoy spicy muruku with hot chai

Note: If you feel, the dough is bit dry or hard, take part of the dough, sprinkle some water and then knead it again.

Sorgham /Jowar / Jonna Idly

As many of you know that idlies are integral part of South Indian cuisine and Rice is the main ingredient to prepare this. Most of us use the polished rice which has got no / less fibre in it. Not only that, rice has a tendency to increase the blood sugar levels very quickly which is not so good for diabetes. I thought to give a go using protein and fibre rich jowar instead of rice.

Benefits of Jowar:

Though the caloric value of rice is almost same as jowar, compared to rice, jowar is richer in protein. Jowar is enveloped with covering of bran that is rich in B complex vitamins, cellulose and a large quantity of Phytates. The excess of phytates interfere with the absorption of calcium and iron from other foods.

You can find more details here.

Jonna Idly

Ingredients:

Jowar – 3 cups

Urad daal / Black gram – 1 cup

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Boiled Rice - Handfull (Optional)
Rice Rava - 1/2 cup

Method:

Soak jowar separately and urad daal + Fenugreek seeds + Boiled rice separately for atleast 6 hours.

Grind the Urad daal mixture into fine paste and jowar bit coarsely.

Add salt and combine both the batters and allow to ferment for at least 8 hours.

When it is fully fermented , scoop the batter into idli moulds and steam for 15 – 20 minutes.

Jowar idly ready to melt with hint of ghee

Sajja Idly / Sorgham / Bajra / Pearl Millet idly

Among Millets Bajra is the predominant crop in India. It is also called as Pearl Millet in Western Countries, it is a wholesome grain which has high nutritive value. It is usually very popular in the States of Maharashtra and Rajasthan in India. Generally people eat in winter season. It has the same quantity of protein as wheat. Bajra is rich in Iron, B vitamins, Thiamine, Riboflavin and niacin.

Generally roties made from the fine flour are eaten with various vegetables as main dish. It has some medicinal properties when bread is eaten with honey in the morning.

 

I just want to try some thing different from the normal rotis. I have succeeded in making idlis. I have used urad daal with skin.

Ingredients:

Bajra / Pearl millet – 3 1/2 cups
Urad daal / Black gram – 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Baking Soda – ½ tsp (Optional)
Salt - 1 tsp

Bajra / Millet & Urad daal with skin

Method:

Soak bajra and urad daal + Fenugreek seeds separately for atleast 6 hours.
Grind the Urad daal into fine paste and bajra bit coarsely.
Combine both the batters and allow it to ferment for at least 8 hours.

A fully fermented idly batter

Just before making idly, stir the batter thoroughly by adding salt,baking soda (optional) and pour 1 ladle of batter into each mould and steam.

Steamed Bajra idly

Bajra idly with Coconut & Corriander chutney

If you don’t have idli steamer, you can still steam them in any big container with lid, even a deep pan will do. If you do not have idli moulds you can use any small cup like containers.

Rava Idly

Idly plays a dominant role in Indian kitchen. There are lots of variations in idlis. Rava idli is the easiest variety.

Click here for more useful tips.

Ingredients:

Urad daal - 1 cup
Ground Rice / Idly Rava - 2 1/2 cups
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Method:
Soak urad daal for 6 hours and grind it into fine paste.
Wash and drain the excess water from idly rava and mix it with the urad daal batter.
Mix well and allow it to fermant.
Just before making idly, stir the batter thoroughly by adding salt and baking soda, and pour 1 ladle of batter into each mould and steam.

 

I have used the below idly mould to prepare mini idly or button idly

Mini idly mould

Rava idly

Rava idly served in sambar

Note: If you don’t have idli steamer, you can still steam them in any big container with lid, even a deep pan will do. If you do not have idli moulds you can use any small cup like containers.

Chittor idly

The unique method of preparing the idlies is very famous in Chittor district (Andhra pradesh). My mom is an expert in making these sponges. Yes, I call them as sponges, as the idli will retain its shape back like a sponge when we squeeze and release.

Few useful tips:

Always soak the rice and daal separately for at least for 6 hours.

Once you grind them allow to ferment for at least 8 hours.

In cooler countries, always place the batter in a warm place like heated oven (turn on for 5 - 10 min and make sure to turn it off) or even place the batter vessel inside a hot pack or thermo pack to maintain the temperatures.

If the batter has not fermented enough then you can add baking soda by which idly will become fluffy.

Ingredients:

Rice of any variety – 3 cups
Urad daal – 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Cooked Rice - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp (Optional)

Method:

Heat water until it just starts boiling. Wash rice and transfer the rice into hot water and DO NOT CLOSE THE LID until the water gets cool. This is a true substitute for par boiled rice. Soak the urad daal separately.

Grind the urad daal and cooked rice into fine paste along with fenugreek seeds. Grind rice not too smooth and not too coarse and mix everything together and allow to ferment. It is not a big deal to grind the batter using wet grinder. But, it is a tough task to gring the urad daal in a mixer as urad daal is very sticky in nature, it get stuck when there is not enough water. I grind urad daal bit watery (Make sure not too watery). We do not require water to grind rice,so drain all the water from the rice and grind coarsely. Now add the grounded rice to urad daal and allow it to fermant.

When it gets fermented scoop the batter into idli moulds and steam them.

 

Usually it takes 12 - 15 minutes to steam idly. Leave them for 5 minutes, so that the idly becomes bit firm and we can scoop out easily with out disturbing the shape.

 

Idly with peanut chutney

Ponganaalu

This is another traditional element of South Indian cooking. In Rayalaseema, we call them as Ponganalu / Guntha ponganalu. Also this is a popular breakfast dish from the Konkan regions in the west coast with a different name 'Appe' with slight variations in ingredients.

How I plan my breakfasts is first day dosa and second day ponganam with the same batter.

You can also prepare the batter just for this purpose.

Ingredients goes like this

For the batter
1/2 cup Urad daal (Black gram)
2 cups - Rice

For mixing:
2 Onions - finely chopped
4 -5 green chilli finely chopped
Corriander - fist full
Curry leaves - fist full
Channa daal (Bengal gram) - roasted and soaked in water for 10 min
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Salt
Oil

Method:

Soak them together for 6 hours, grind it into fine paste and allow to ferment for 8 - 10 hours. For the ponganam, you need to have a special pan like this

Ponganala penamu

Mix all the above mentioned ingredients except oil

Batter, Chilli, onion, corriander, curry leaves, cumin and channa daal

Heat the mould with few drops of oil in each pit and pour the batter carefully into each pit and cook it till the outer surface becomes golden colour.

Turn each ponganam upside down using a fork or spoonso as to cook on the other side.

 

Repeat with the remaining batter to make more ponganalu. Serve hot with kobbari podi.

Ponganaalu with Kobbari podi