"New Combination Idly : Urad Dal- Moong Dal- Kulith- Rice (Black Gram Dal- Green Gram Dal- Horse Gram- Rice) Steamed Idly and Panna Doddaka (Seasoned Pancake)" served with Coconut-Ginger Chutney and Ginger Tea (Adraki Chai) ... Been sometime since I experimented in my kitchen, was in full mood yesterday and after cracking my brains decided to try out this variation of Idly ... extremely pleased with the soft Idly's and the crisp textured seasoned doddaka ... with alle' (ginger) chutney and it was simply awesome ... Yummilicious ….
** Idly or Idli is a steamed delicious breakfast dish that is famous worldwide and has been picked up well by dietitians and nutritionists all round the world. There is an age-old debate on its origin, which I really do not want to run into, as the most important thing is that Idly as a breakfast Item has been extensively promoted by south Indians on breakfast menu. There are so many verities in which this dish can be prepared that one is confused with its combinations. I have always tried to make my own mix and match with lentils and I have turned out many of them successfully of which my friends vouch by. Though not a favorite of mine during childhood, as I preferred the crisp textured dosas to the soft spongy Idlies, these have now become my favorite bf item and I really love experimenting with different combinations. It is always a pleasure to dunk them in either chutney or sambar and relish to heart’s content. However, many a times in my home we relish the same with any spicy vegetarian or non-vegetarian curries too. Again, you can crumble them and season the Idlies with addition of some freshly grated coconut and relish the same, which we call usli and it tastes wonderful.
** It had been quite some months since I prepared or should I say experimented with any new combination of dishes. Somehow, the last few months have been not so good and I was not at all in the best of my moods to crack my brains into innovative ideas. It was only a few days back when in one of my friends get together event, that I realized I had not ventured properly into kitchen when my friend broached the subject “what’s new in your kitchen?” and I said “Nothing” and she was like saying I must be joking. The interest of preparing Khottos (Idly prepared in Jackfruit leaves baskets) had risen sharply in the last 2-3 yrs as I had access to the Jackfruit tree in one of our offices, however, the tree was trimmed down, and my mood also got trimmed off at the sight of my beautiful tree not within my reach anymore. You can always prepare Idly in Vati (small bowls) my husband cribbed at my lack of enthusiasm and brooding over for the tree. That’s it, I thought, you can’t have them all, you always need to make best of what is in hand and I have always believed in moving ahead in life come what may, brooding is not me, and finally I came up with this wonderful combination of Ingredients for soft, fluffy Idly.
** As for the Panna Doddak/ Seasoned pancake, I simple love relishing it with a large dollop of fresh homemade butter/ loni. It is simply Bliss, and definitely can’t ask for something better than this for sure. I always make it a point to prepare a few of these whenever I have leftover batter or simply make some extra batter to prepare the same the next day. These can be prepared with the very same batter as that of Idly or you can add in some ground kulith/ horse gram next day prepare the same too. I have added in many different types of doddak in the blog before in detail with step pictures too, to prepare these all you need is a small deep pan, in which you just add oil and temper with mustard seeds and then add on the thick batter cover and cook on low flame till almost done. Do try out this version, I am sure you will love the crisp outside texture and if you do not like mustard seeds on it, you can always use it sparingly or leave it out too, though it taste delicious with the same. I have included a picture of the teflon coated kadai I use to prepare doddaks in other posts, though you can use iron kadai too. I am sure children will love to eat these with a murmur so do give it a try.
** Here is the simple recipe for ... “Urad Dal- Moong Dal- Kulith- Rice (Black Gram Dal- Green Gram Dal- Horse Gram- Rice) Steamed Idly and Panna Doddaka (Seasoned Pancake)" My own style … My own Recipe …
** Ingredients :
Urad Dal/ Split Black Gram Dal : ½ cup
Moong Dal/ Split Green Gram Dal : ½ cup
Kulith/ Horse Gram : ½ cup
Idly Rava / Rice Rava : 1-3/4 cup
Methi/ Fenugreek Seeds : 1 tsp
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
** To Prepare Panna Doddak/ Seasoned Pancake :
Oil / Tel/ Tela : as required depending on the number of doddak
Mustard seeds/ Rai/ Sasam : about 1/2 to 1 tsp per doddak.
** Wash and soak urad dal and moong dal together in plenty of water for 3-4 hours. Once it has been soaked, remove and drain off the water and once again wash it well 2-3 times with water and then again drain off all the excess water.
** Meanwhile, about 30 minutes before grinding the dal add in the Idly rava in plenty of water in a bowl and keep it covered aside undisturbed. Then drain off the excess water that is accumulated on top gently by titling the vessel at 40 deg. angle till almost all the top water on top is drained away. Keep this ready aside.
** Soaking of Methi : Soak methi seeds in ¼ cup of water in a small cup for an hour or when you soak the dal itself, but separately. This is to be used while grinding the dosa batter. I do not add the methi along with the dal’s coz. When we drain off the water, the health and medicinal properties of methi seeds are also lost through it.
** Note : Almost everybody I know, even my Mom soaks the methi seeds along with the urad dal while soaking the same. So it is not necessary to follow my method of soaking separately. You may do so along with other ingredients too.
** Add the drained urad and moong dal in mixer grinder or wet grinder along with the soaked methi seeds and the water in which it soaked. Add in about half cup of water and grind to a very smooth and fluffy paste. Add in more water if necessary little by little. Do not add in more water as the batter will thin out and you will not get Idly batter consistency. So be very careful with water.
** Remove the batter into a large vessel and add in the soaked- drained and kept ready idly rava and mix well adding water only if necessary. Lastly add salt to taste, cover with a tight lid and keep it overnight or for 8 hours for fermentation. I always keep it overnight, say about 10 hours of fermentation.
** Pick and clean the horse gram as they always tend to have small stones in them how much ever clean ones we purchase. Wash well, and soak in plenty of water overnight or for 4-5 hours. Once again drain off the water and wash well in plenty of water and drain of all excess water. Put this in mixer grinder and grind to a coarse paste.
** There is no need to add water while grinding the horse gram as it leaves a little bit of water but if necessary and you are unable to grind, you may add in 1-2 tablespoon of water. Again, to not go to grind it to a very smooth paste. The grams should be ground at the same time it should be a coarser consistency.
** Remove and add the ground horse gram to the fermented urad-moong-rice batter and mix well. Check consistency and add water if necessary only. Beat the mixture well to get soft fluffy idlies. Now gently pour the mixture into the molds /vati upto ¾ th level only. You should leave gap on top of the molds as the batter will rise when being steamed.
** To Prepare the Steamed Idly/ Idlies: I have used round 1.5 inch deep vati/ cups/ tumbler/molds here to get rounded shaped Idlies, you may choose whichever is suitable to you. Remember to apply oil on the inner side of the molds before adding in the batter. Applying of oil to the molds ensures that the batter / mixture does not stick to it and comes off cleanly without crumbling once the Idly is steamed and cooled a bit.
** Meanwhile keep the Idly steamer/ pedavana with required amount of water to heat on high level. When it reaches full steam, lower the heat to minimum, and gently place in the steel vaties/ molds one by one in a single layer, then keep the separator and place some more vaties in layers and so on.
** I have a three tiered Idly steamer, where I can place four vaties in each layers in all adding to 12 Idlies. Cover the lid tightly. Increase the heat and steam for 5-10 minutes or till you see steam escaping through the side rim of the lid, then lower the heat to medium and steam for 20 minutes.
** The time for steaming process here depends on the size of the molds. Smaller one’s take lesser time while larger one’s should be steamed a little bit more for evenly cooked Idlies. If using larger molds you can steam for about 35-40 minutes in all ie. 10 + 25-30 Minutes. Never over steam the idlies or else they will not remain soft and turn hard on storing.
** To remove the prepared Idly from steamer, first open the lid and then off the gas, otherwise the steam will bounce back on top of the Idly and add droplets on the cooked Idlies creating a mess. Remove the Idly Vati gently and place it on even row on a table/ platform without toppling one each other and allow it to cool a little bit, say for about 5 minutes.
** Do not try removing the Idlies immediately when they are too hot else they will not come out in one smooth go and break up. Once slightly cooled, run a blunt knife through the edges on the inner side of the vaties/ molds and gently flip over Vati and tap it a bit to bring out the steamed Idly in one go. Keep it aside ready.
** To prepare the Panna Doddaka (Seasoned Pancake) : Heat a small deep rounded kadai (use Teflon coated to save on oil) with about 1-2 tsp of oil, when hot add ½ tsp of mustard seeds, when they begin to splutter, lower the heat to minimum and gently pour about 1 to 1-½ cups of batter into the kadai with the help of a rounded spatula.
** The batter should not cross ¾ th level of the kadai. There should be gap on top for the doddak to get it cooked properly. Cover the Kadai with a fitting lid and cook on slow (minimum) heat until crispy on the bottom. This does take time say about 7-10 minutes. However, it has to be cooked on slow as it has to be cooked within too.
** Now remove the lid and check if the top part of the doddak is cooked. For testing just touch slightly the top portion with fingers, if the batter touches the fingers then cover and cook for few more minutes. When done gently flip the doddak over and cook uncovered on other side too for few minutes say 3-4 mins only. Remove the doddak and keep aside. Continue the procedure with the remaining batter depending on the number of doddaks you want ready.
** “Urad Dal- Moong Dal- Kulith- Rice (Black Gram Dal- Green Gram Dal- Horse Gram- Rice) Steamed Idly and Panna Doddaka (Seasoned Pancake)" is done and ready to be served. Always serve the Idly hot with any Chutney of your choice or sambar while panna doddak can be served with chutney or a dollop of butter/ loni as it tastes delicious with it.
** I served both Idly and doddak with Coconut- Ginger Chutney along with hot strong ginger tea/ kadak adraki chai and it was simple a delicious breakfast to begin the day with. Do prepare and enjoy this dish with your family and friends. You can serve both Idly and doddak or either of the two depending upon individual choice.
** Note : You may be wondering why I have added on the horse gram ground to coarse paste the next day. Horse gram many a times gets over fermented giving out a smell that is not very appealing when left aside or a few hours and keeping it overnight actually creates problems. The urad batter needs to be fermented, so I prepare such batters in two parts and get perfect, fluffy, delicious Idlies.
** Note : I have added Idly Rava/ Rice Rava to the batter as it is easier and gives perfect Idlies. These are easily available in stores. However, if they are not available at your vicinity or you do not want to use the same. Then soak 1.5 cups of sonar masoor rice in water for 3-4 hours. Drain and wash well, grind to a grainy texture and then add to the ground Urad-Moong ground batter and it is done.
** I am sharing two links below, one is a common one to all "Chutney" dishes in the blog, so that you can choose that which appeals to you and the other is to the “Coconut-Ginger Chutney” Recipe which I have served the Idly and doddak with ….
** I am sure all of you know how to prepare a good “Strong Ginger Tea/Kadak Adraki Chai”, But if not, you can always go through th link given below …
** I am also again sharing three links below, one is to "Idly" the other for "Doddaks" while the third is to the one which shows the kadai picture for your reference …
** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of different types in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it or have a query, please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Do try out various types of dishes included in the Blog and Enjoy them with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible.
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