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This is the most famous Tiffin in South India, It is not only healthy but tasty too! As this Idlis are not cooked with oil and are steamed they are good for digestion. Doctors advice to eat idlis if somebody is not feeling well!, as it is not made of oil I suppose!!, Of course not with Sambhar & chutney!!, Idli tastes nice just as it is or with Ghee as the way my daughter loves eating it, I usually prepare idlis every week, as it is my daughter's favourite, The best thing is when ever we take my twins to resturants or hotels and ask them to order my daughter always asks for Idli,vada & sambhar and my son always asks for Masala dosa!! , They say they miss India for that....., well I use two methods to make my Idlis, The one below I have shown is like this.....

IDLI














Ingredients:

• 2 cups Idli Rice (Salem Akki)
• 1 cup Urad dal/Black Gram Dal
• salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Wash throughly & Soak Idli Rice and urad dal saperately for 4 to 5 hours,
2. Grind the rice into smooth batter, Take it out and Grind urad dal
3. Or you can grind them together also.
4. After the batter is ready add salt, mix together & leave it in a warm place to ferment
5. Fermentation process take place very soon in India, In cold countries leave the batter in a warm place such as near a heater, Depending on the weather conditions, within 1 & 1/2 to 2 days it will ferment.
6. Grease the Idli moulds with little oil , pour a ladle full of the batter into each of the mould and cook them in the pressure cooker for about 12 to 15 minutes, without putting the weight on the cooker.
7. Take out the idli moulds and leave it for a second & scrape out the idlies on to the plate & serve it with Sambhar, Chutney or Kadagpuli.

There are some utensils like the one my mom uses which is called the Idli cooker, which blows a whistle and the top of the cooker opens up on its own once the idlis are cooked. The one my Nan had was a big vessel made of brass and had 8 moulds in it we had to pour water underneath and 2 plates were fixed quite up & would cook the idlis really really soft...., My perimma used to cook idlis in plate & was called plate idli, Now a days they cook them in different ways to make them more attractive......They cook in small tumblers in Roti Ghar in Gandhi Bazar, I used to cook for my children button idlis which are also called small idlis, They used to love it...

The Idlis which I have shown above are made from Idli Tari (Akki Tari), Even though they taste the same. These idlis are made from Akki Tari and in super markets or in Indian shops you can ask for Idli Tari, from which you can make these Idlis which are more simpler & easier to make. My Radha Perimma always used to make Idli Tari on her own, It was quite a long process, she always made Thatte(plate) Idlis with coconut chutney or Kadagpuli, They used to be really soft and very nice. She used to soak the Rice, then ordinary Rice was used, their was no salem akki, she used to soak it for about 4 to 5 hours then drain it and dry it in the shade, then she used to roast it in a wok little by little just until they became quite warm and became white, then she used to put it in the Oral Kallu or the Grinding stone, which you find in most of the south Indian homes, before the mixie came we used to grind all the sambhar masalas,vada, dosa, Idli, poli etc.... all the pastes & batters in it......, I still believe that the Recipes taste give a spectacular taste if you use it to grind! She used to pound the rice in it and make a coarse powder using the seive now & then and mix it with the fine paste of urad dal!!!, Still my mom makes Rice Flour like that for making Gokulashtami Thindies!!!!.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Akki Tari or Idli Tari
• 1 & 1/2 cup Urad dal/Black Gram dal
• salt to taste

METHOD

1. Wash & Soak Urad dal for 2 to 3 hours
2. Just one hour before Grinding the dal in warm water soak the Akki Tari or Idli Tari. Do not add too much water, before soaking just wash it once and the water should be just 1/4 of an inch above the Idli Rice.
3. After grinding the dal into a smooth batter mix it with the Idli Tari & salt.
4. Allow it to ferment for 10 to 12 hours
5. Just follow the above said method to cook Idlis after Fermentation, and serve hot with a dollop of ghee, chutney, sambhar or kadagpuli.

SAMBHAR FOR IDLI

Ingredients:

• 100 gms Tuvar dal
• 1 cup of small onions (sambhar eerulli)
• 1 or 2 Tomatoes
• 1/2 lime size Tamarind
• salt to taste
• little bit of jaggery
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 4 to 5 sprig of coriander leaves

To Grind:

• 2 & 1/2 tbsp Coriander seeds
• 3-3 Red Chillies (Guntur-Badgi)
• 1 tbsp Urad dal
• 1 & 1/2 tbsp Channa dal
• 1/4 tsp Pepper
• 1/4 tsp Jeera
• 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
• 1/4' Cinnamon Stick
• 2 cloves
• 1 marati moggu
• pinch of Turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp of Khus Khus
• 4 to 5 tbsp of fresh grated coconut

METHOD:

1. Take a container, wash Tuvar dal with 2 glasses of water add a pinch of turmeric powder & Tomatoes, cook them all together in a pressure cooker.
2. Take a wok, Heat a tbsp of oil , once it is hot add mustard seeds, once they splutter add the peeled & thinly sliced Sambhar onions & fry them until they are soft.
3. Meanwhile the dals would have been cooked, pour them into a vessel, keep aside.
4. Take a pan, put a little bit of oil & except for coconut, put all the ingredients & roast them keep aside to cool down,
5. You can fry one by one which gives you more flavour, Grind them with coconut to a fine paste.
6. Mix the dal, tomatoes, roasted sambhar onions & the ground paste and allow it to boil for some time, or until a nice aroma comes out.
7. In Karnataka style they add gooseberry sized Jaggery in the sambhar when it is boiling, but some people do not like the sweet taste in their sambhars!.
8. It's the way the sambhars are in Bangalore Darshinis, hotels & resturants.
9. Season the sambhar with finely chopped curry leaves, coriander leaves & a tbsp of fresh grated coconut.
10. Serve it with hot with Idlis & Vadas...

KADAG PULI

This is a kind of Sambhar which I learnt from my Radha Periamma, You can do this with vegetables like the Violet Brinjals, Cabbage, Chow-chow. The best result is with Brinjals that is my favourite. Here is the recipe for this.......

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Kg of Brinjals
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 1 tbsp oil

To Grind:

• 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
• 2 tbsp Channa dal or Chutney dal
• 1 tbsp of mustard seeds
• 4 to 5 sprigs of coriander leaves
• a pinch of turmeric
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 4 to 5 flakes of Tamarind
• 5 to 6 Green chillies

Seasoning:

• 1 tsp of oil
• 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
• 1 tsp of channa dal
• 1 tsp of urad dal

METHOD:

1. Wash & cut the Brinjals lengthwise 1 & 1/2 inches, put it immediately in the water, as they turn brown in colour other wise!
2. Take a Wok, heat oil, add mustard seeds after they splutter, add the seasonings and curry leaves then add the cut brinjals without the water. Just like u do it for a dry curry.
3. cook it in a middle flame, until they all get cooked evenly.
4. Meanwhile when it is cooking, roast the channa dal with a little oil & grind all the other ingredients raw without frying them.
5. I have used the chillies & tamarind so that they balance, because the chillies of what i have used might be different from you use, so just remember to balance them.
6. Grind them all into a smooth paste and add it to the cooked brinjals add some water to make it like a sambhar consistency or you can make it like a vegetable gravy.
7. serve it hot with hot Idlis, The spiciness, tanginess and the vegetable is a good combo with Idli we all love it in our family. Hope you might like it to give it a try!!

IDLI MOLAGA PUDI (IDLI CHUTNEY POWDER)

In one of the above pictures I have posted is the Idli molaga pudi, This I learnt it from my Mom-in-law's House, My husband loves this, Like vivek's dialogue in Dhool ! Ippovu Rand Idli ki oru litre Idahayam Nallenne Oothi Saapdreengala.....!! that means for two idlis are you still pouring one litre Gingily oil, This is an advert she did for Idayam Nallenne Oh yes! he is just like Jyothika he takes a cup of Idli Molaga Pudi and pours a cup of Nallene mixes them together and soaks Idlis in it and relishes it....!!, First time I thought it was funny well, I think most of the people his relatives who come from Madras also eat it like that, well once no twice I have eaten it like this & it was absolutely fantastic and it was served by Saroja Mami, my sis-in-law's Mom, as I have already told when I did More Kolumbu that she is very good cook, she put this kind of Idlis in Muthugada Yele, packed them so nicely as if we had bought it! and gave Ravi & me when we travelled back from Madras to Bangalore. The second time was when we all went to Tirupati for our childrens first time Motte....!!!, My twins & her first daughter, we had packed it for travelling Lunch.

Ingredients:

• 5-5 (Guntur-Badgi) Red Chillies
• One fist full of Urad dal/Black gram dal
• 1 tbsp of channa dal
• a pinch of asafoetida
• Gooseberry sized Tamarind (optional)
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp Sesame seeds (optional)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds

METHOD:

1. Heat a little oil and fry all the ingredients until Reddish brown in colour except for Sesame Seeds.
2. Dry roast the Sesame seeds that is without using oil, Only thing you need to remember is if you are adding sesame seeds the powder cannot be kept more than 10 to 15 days.
3. Once all the ingredients are roasted, Grind them into a coarse powder.
4. The quantity of chilies & dhals can be increased or decreased according to your taste
5. Now the Idli Molaga Pudi is ready to be served.

VADA

I have made very small Vadas, as you can see in the plate, I always make them like that not with holes in them as you see in the Resturants as it is not allowed in my community because it is usually made only during death ceremonies. Even though it is only made with Black Gram Dal/Urad Dal, I add a tbsp of channa dal.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Black Gram Dal/Urad dal
• 1 bit coconut
• 2 to 3 Green chillies
• salt to taste
• 6-7 corns of Pepper
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 1'' Ginger

METHOD:

1. Soak the dhal for two hours. Grind into soft dough adding salt. Cut the coconut into small thin bits.
2. Add the whole pepper, finely cut ginger & curry leaves add all this to the batter.
3. Mix them all together and form into small balls & fry to reddish golden brown colour.
4. Note: Do not add too much water when you are grinding the batter, more water will absorb lot of oil when frying.
5. Now it is ready to serve hot with Chutney & Sambhar.