Gayathri Pai's Food Bytes: Urad Moong Dal Varai Idly.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Urad Moong Dal Varai Idly.

Udidu + Mooga Dali + Varai ghalnu Idly With Kolumbo Ani Avale (Mitta ghalele) Loshne Gooli / Urad Dal + Moong Dal + Indian barnyard millet Idly With Sambar And Brined Amla Garlic Chutney ...... A very healthy Idly ie. Diabetic and BP friendly Idly.

It’s a pleasure to prepare Idly of different combinations for me. My happiness grows in bounds when I see them come out perfectly and evenly without breaking. I keep experimenting with different combinations, as my hubby loves Idly sambar / chutney. These Idly’s are one more to treasure in my healthier versions of Idly’s. Here I have added Varai / Indian barnyard millet to the Idly which is considered very good for health. Varai or Indian Barnyard millet has a lot of dietary benefits of its own. Many Indian’s eat it during fasts too. This Idly can also served with simple dalitoy (A very well know regular GSB / Konkani Saraswat's preparation of Dal) or any spicy gravy as no spices have been added to the Idly. Again, this one too is highly recommended breakfast for every individual young and old alike and so also for those who are health conscious and diabetic or BP Patients too. I have already added a few versions before here in my blog too. Please check the same in the Idly section. This Idly turns out very soft and spongy and you will simple love this porous Idly. I recommend Sambar / Kolumbo here, coz., spices are not added to the batter. But then it's again an individual choice, you can serve the same with any dish of your choice.

Ingredients:

Urad Dal : 1 cup.

Moong Dal : 1 cup

Varai / Indian barnyard millet : 2 cups.

Salt to taste.

Wash and soak both urad and moong dal in plenty of water for 2-3 hours. Rinse well and drain off all the excess water. Wash and soak Varai / Indian barnyard millet in water for 30 minutes just before you start grinding the urad and moong dal.

Grind urad and moong dal to a fine paste with about 1 cup of water. I use wet grinder you can use any method. Add more water if necessary only. The batter should become very fluffy.

Remove and pour the urad + moong mixture in the vessel, add in the Varai / Indian barnyard millet after draining off excess water and mix well. The batter should be of thick consistency. Lastly add salt to taste, cover with a tight lid and keep aside near a warm place to ferment for 6-8 hours or overnight. The fermentation process defers from place to place. Where the weather is hot it may take lesser time and vice versa.

Once the batter has fermented mix it well once again. Gently pour the batter with the help of a rounded spatua into the moulds to ¾ th level only. You should leave gap on top of the moulds as the batter will rise when getting steamed.

I have used steel vati / katori here to get evenly small shaped Idly. Remember to apply oil to the moulds before adding in the batter. Applying of oil to the moulds ensures that the batter does not stick to it and comes off cleanly without crumbling once the Idly is steamed and cooled a bit.

Keep the Idly steamer with required amount of water to heat on high level. When it reaches full steam, lower the heat and gently place in the steel vaties / katori one by one and cover the lid tightly. Increase the heat and steam for 5-10 minutes or till you see steam passing through the sides of the lid, then lower the heat to medium and steam for 15 minutes.

Remove and cool a bit. Run a blunt knife through the edges on the inner side of the vati / katori and gently flip over and tap it a bit to bring out the steamed Idly in one go. Idly is usually served with sambar / dal / chutney or any spicy curry as an accompaniment. Idly is also served with Hinga (Asafoitida) water though this is almost a forgotten practice nowadays.

** Note: The proportions mentioned above of Varai / Indian barnyard millet is when using the wet grinder method. If using mixer then you have got to adjust the proportions as the result of grinding urad dal in wet grinder and mixer are not the same. Wet grinder yields in softer and bulkier quantity of urad when ground were as the mixer does not do the same. So you can decrease the amount of Varai / Indian barnyard millet by half glass if using mixer grinder method. Ie. 1 cup of Urad dal : 1 cup Moong Dal : 1.5 Varai / Indian barnyard millet.