Kanchipuram Idli/Steamed Rice Cake

Kanchipuram Idli -  oooooh....those yum yum cakes....I have been making Idlis, but somehow K-Idli slipped off my mind all these time...Don't know why! I still remember my mom used to make the K-Idli, when we(me, my sis & bro) were young and it was a feast for us as its mess free and yummy. 

My Idli batter was little sour, so didn't fit for Dosa. Myself and my Mom decided to make Kanchipuram Idli. Thanks to my mother who reminded me the steps to make this healthy, and heavy filling recipe. 

I would like to tell you the whole process of the batter too. You could add 2 tsp of curd when you are preparing this Idli. This is a delightful Idli for kids too, as this is a steamed one and in the shape of cake. We had our toddler boy cut this cake and first he was surprised and gave a look at me why the cake is not sweet. But later when I told him this is Idli cake, donno what he understood. He sat down and had 2 pieces of cakes.

Ingredients:

Idli rice  - 2 cups

Urad dal - 1/2 cup

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Cooking soda - a pinch (optional)

Curd  - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

For Tempering:

Cumin Seeds/Jeera - 2 tsp

Hing - a pinch

Grated ginger  - 1 tsp

Cut Green Chillies  - 2 (optional) - I didn't add this

Pepper - 2 tsp

Cashews - 8 - 10 chopped

Curry leaves - Roughly chopped - 6 -8 

Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

Soak rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds for 4 - 5 hours.

Grind Urad dal/fenugreek seeds and rice separately into fine paste, then mix them together.

Add 2 tsp of salt into the batter and give a nice stir, ferment it overnight. (I put the batter container just inside the oven to have it fermented as its cold mostly here).

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan, add all the ingredients given under tempering.

The batter would have raised few inches after fermenting.

Now add salt, curd, a pinch of b. soda and give it a stir.

Mix the tempered ingredients into the batter, again mix.

Grease a steel bowl with Oil(I used gingely oil). Pour the batter into the bowl.

Pressure cook(no weights necessary-just steaming) for 20 minutes.

Cool it off for 10 minutes.

Use knife to loosen the sides of the steamed mould, then turn upside down on a plate.

Cut them and serve hot with chutneys or Idli Podi or Ketchup.

Note: If you have Idli batter thats sour, you could just add the tempered ingredients and steam it in a greased bowl. You could also add urad dal, mustard seeds  for tempering. Its all your wish!!

Sending this to  A.W.E.D. Indian event by DK, guest hosted by Ayisha,

Walking through the memory Lane event by Gayathri &  My Legume Love Affair #33 event by Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen

Masala Idly

Happy Holi to all my blogger friends!!
Potato is everyone's favorite at my home. Yesterday, I thought I would make Masala Dosa for dinner, but when went into the kitchen, slight change in the menu..he he...I made 'Masala Idly' - potato stuffed Idly. 
It was so good, you have to believe and easy to make, especially loved by my family.
Ingredients:
Idly Batter 
Potato - 4 nos
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt to taste
For tempering:
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Curry leaves - 5 -6 chopped
Method:
Boil the potatoes, Peel off the skin, mash them and keep it aside.
Heat oil in a pan, when hot, add mustard. 
Once splutters, add hing, curry leaves and turmeric.
Add potato, salt to taste.
Quick mix it and close with lid.
If you have Idly Cooker, Pour 2 tsp of Batter in the Idly plate, then put 1 tsp of  potato mixture on it and cover it with 2 tsp of the idly batter. Arrange this stuff in all the racks.
You can use small bowls if you dont have these plates to make them too. Pour out the batter in each of the plates in the same way as explained above.

Place it in a pressure cooker (no weights reqd.) with little water underneath ( take care since lots of water will make the idlis in the last plate soggy and too little water will burn the bottom of the cooker!) or use a steamer. Cook for 10 minutes in high flame and then lower it for the last 5 min.

They are done when a little stick/fork pricked in the middle comes out clean.

Cool them for 1-2 minutes and then serve warm with any chutney/tomato ketchup/sambar. We had it with Mango Chutney.

Masala Idly is not spicy and this recipe is great for kid's breakfast.

Note:
I made this unspicy Masala Idly especially for my kid. If you want it spicy, add cut green chillies in tempering. You could add Onion also. If you want cheesy, sprinkle cheese over the potato when stuffing into batter.


Sending this to a wonderful event Toddler's Breakfast Ideas hosted by Sowmya

Thavala Adai ( Rice & Dal Cutlet)

Thavala Adai is my Mom's recipe which we had very recently and even my son enjoyed eating it. I learnt from her last week when she was with me. I remember my mom making this when I was young as I don't like Rice Upma for some reason. Still now, I don't like it, so Thavala Adai is the next version of Arisi/Rice Upma in form of  cutlet.

 I want to thank my mom as she had so much patience guiding me through out this preparation & process!!
We prepared Orange peel kolambhu as a side dish for this. The combo was truly a heaven for all of us :-)
We could give this Cutlet to kids too as we are using Pepper instead of  red chillies. Its filling food and healthy too!!
Everyone from 2 yrs to 70 + could have this. I guarantee this as my 2 yrs old son and my Dad had fun having this Adai alias Cutlet (I introduced this Adai as cutlet to my son).
Now lets go to the recipe.
Ingredients:
For coarse grinding:
Raw rice - 2 cups 
Toor Dal - 4 tsp 
Chana Dal - 2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
For tempering:
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Grated Ginger -  1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5 - 10 leaves
Red chilli (optional) - I didn't use it.
Coconut (optional) - I didn't use it
Salt to taste
Water - 11/2 cup
Method:
Coarse grind the ingredients given under "For coarse grinding" - Rice, Toor Dal, Chana Dal, Pepper, Jeera(Cumin seeds).

Heat Oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once mustard splutters, add urad dal, hing, grated ginger and curry leaves. 

Add water and salt  & once it comes to boil, put the ground rice and dal mixture to it. Stir it till everything gets mixed and semi solid form(thick). 

Close it with lid and let it cool for 15 -20 minutes.
Once it is cool,  take out a ball and flatten it like the shape of ural dal vada (put a hole in the centre like that of donut).

Heat a pan and deep fry the adai's till golden brown on both sides (I used only less oil).

Serve hot with any chutney or podi or pickle or kolambhu or just eat it like a vada or donut :-) - my son is showing how to eat just like that!! LOL

I feel you don't need any side dish at all for Thavala Adai. I am so glad I made this Adai under her guidance and we cheered our memories while eating them!!
This is very easy recipe. You could coarse grind the rice & daal in the night and prepare this Adai for next day breakfast. 
Note: If you have time, you could soak the rice for 1 -2 hours and dry it, then coarse grind with the dal. Adding coconut and red chillies gives nice flavor and Spicy touch to Adais.


Sending this to  A.W.E.D. Indian event by DK, guest hosted by Ayisha, Walking through the memory Lane event by Gayathri and to the B for Breakfast event hosted by Charitha.

Also sending this to My Legume Love Affair #33 event by Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen and Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday (Volume 32) hosted by Aipi and Priya.

Being a kid's foodie, sending this to Toddler's Breakfast ideas hosted by Sowmya

Thanks to Charitha for Participation Award in the event :B for Breakfast event Round up

Milky VenPongal

I still remember going to temple in the early mornings during Margazhi (December) in my childhood especially for hot Venpongal :-)
Pongal is always been my favourite tiffin.
I made Venpongal recently, I thought I will share my method with you all!!  This is quite quicker and the milk added to the pongal enhances the taste and aroma.......
Ingredieants:
Washed Raw Rice - 2 cups
Washed Moong dal - 1 cup 
Curry Leaves - 10 -12
Butter - 1/2 stick
Whole Pepper - 1 tsp
Powdered Pepper - a pinch
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Cashews - 1 tsp
Ginger - chopped finely - 1 tsp
Milk - 3/4 cup (you can use 1/2 cup cream also)
Salt to taste
Water - 8 cups
For tadka:

Ghee - 1 tsp

Pepper - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 5

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Hing - a pinch

Cashews - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - chopped finely - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Take a vessel and add all the above under Ingredients.

Pressure cook for 6 whistles.
Heat ghee and add curry leaves, hing, pepper, cumin seeds, cashews, ginger. 

Once they are roasted, add them to the cooked Pongal. Yummmmyyyy!!!

Serve hot with chutney and Sambar.

Kothu Parotta (roti)

Kothu Parotta is a delicacy popular in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Its one of my favy dish. 
I had one full set of readymade rotis with me and I wanted to experiment kothu roti in my style.
And it came out so well, I got applause from my hubby too..I am sharing the recipe with you all!!!
Ingredients:
Onion
Garlic
Tomato
Ginger
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
bay leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise
Bell Pepper (I used mini sweet pepper)
Green chilli
Garam masala
Chilli powder
Ofcourse, rotis or parottas
Lemon
Method:
Fry minced onion, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise in kadai.Then add curry leaves, coriander leaves, bell pepper, green chilli.
Saute them for few minutes, now add tomatoes. When tomatoes gets cooked, add salt, garam masala, chilli powder.
Once the mixture gives nice aroma, add parotta/rotis into it and stir it few minutes. switch off the stove.
Squeeze lemon and serve hot with onion raita.