Idli and appe: One batter, two dishes! Meatless Monday.

As a working mom, I am always striving to feed my family, especially my children healthy meals. Weekends, I make it a point to make traditional breakfasts which also can become lunch items for the first couple of days of the week. Most Indian traditional breakfast items require some kind of batter to be made ahead of time and fermented. This means you have to plan ahead mid-week as to when to soak the rice and lentils and when to grind the batter and make sure there is enough time for fermentation. If I am making all this effort, I might as well make sure that I have enough for two breakfasts and many be even a few of the kiddos lunches through the week! Now obviously, nobody wants to eat the same breakfast two days in a row!! We all crave variety. So, I became creative and created variety.

My kids love idlis ( steamed rice-lentil cakes) that are usually served with sambar. When I make idli batter, I make sure that I make enough batter for two breakfasts! However the second day, instead of making idlis, I make appos ( paniyaram ) in a appe pan or ablesevier pan. Making appe is also a great use for idli/ dosa batter that has gone sour. I use the same chutney for both. You could even get creative with the appe by adding chopped onions, coriander leaves, bits of ginger and green chillies and may be even some finely chopped veggies! It comes out delicious!

Today, I am going to share the recipe for this batter and the technique for both.

You can find the recipe for the idlis here and the technique for appe here.

This is perfect for the lunch-box for the kids. You can even make mini-idlis instead of the regular big ones.

Mini-idlis with peanut chutney and blueberries

Mini-idlis with peanut chutney and blueberries

Hope this has helped you and you can come up with even more wonderful ideas!

Appe with peanut/coconut chutney and blueberries

Appe with peanut/coconut chutney and blueberries

I am bringing this to Throwback Thursday # 30, Fiesta Friday#111 and Saucy Saturdays. Angies's co-hosts this week are Naina @ Spice in the City and Julianna @ Foodie On Board.

Cooking made easy:

After making idlis, cleaning the idli mold plates can be quite a tedious task. You can make this chore easier by ensuring that you liberally grease the idli mold with butter or ghee( clarified butter), which also gives the idlis a nice flavor.

Tip for healthy living:

Giving kids home-made lunch is much healthier than pre-packaged processed stuff. Always make it a habit to include some fruit with your child's lunch.

Food for thought:

You don't know until you have tried. Suchitra

Please do share your thoughts. Your opinion matters!

Quinoa Idlis( Steamed Quinoa-Rice-Lentil Cakes)

I have been using quinoa for a year an a half now. I have a problem though. I CANNOT use it as a substitute for rice! I make salads, pilafs etc with it. Of course, my all time favorite is the Quinoa-Black Bean Salad. I absolutely love it. Funnily, I am yet to come across someone who has not liked my quinoa-black bean salad. It is a crowd pleaser each and every time! Anyways, off late I have been experimenting with it trying to use it in other food items. I recently made Quinoa pesto pasta and everybody at home loved it! I have also successfully used it in Dosas. My latest venture was making idlis with it which I must say was quite accidental! I generally make my idli/dosa batter Thursday or Friday night so that I have it for Saturday/Sunday. Recently, I had made a big batch of quinoa salad for a friend's barbecue party and had about 1/2 cup left in the bag. Now half a cup is not enough for anything... Not salads, not pilaf.Friday morning when I was soaking my Urad dal for idlis, I decided to add the half cup quinoa and take a chance! What is the worse thing that could  happen?I may not get a nice batch of idlis... in which case I would just have to improvise and make dosas out of it! Luckily, the experiment was a success and the result was soft, fluffy and light idlis! This is a great way to sneak more protein into my vegetarian children's bodies! They just love idli and dosas!

Different people make idlis differently based on how they like their idlis. Each one to their own. I like my idlis with a little bit if texture and not just a lump of steamed batter. I have just tweaked my original idli recipe to get the quinoa idlis. This is how I made them:

Servings: 6-8 ( makes about 32-36 idlis)

Ingredients:

Urad dal: 1 cup
Quinoa: 1/2 cup
Idli rava ( rice rava): 2  1/2cups
Leftover cooked rice: 1/2 cup
Water: 1-1 1/2 cups to grind urad dal.
Salt to taste ( approximately 3/4 tsp)

Method:

Soak Urad dal and quinoa together for atleast 5-6 hours( you could do overnight).

Wash idli rava/ rice rava thoroughly and keep aside.

Blend urad dal and quinoa together in a blender adding water little at a time until it rises to 3 times the volume you started with. When almost done, add the leftover cooked rice.Make sure you give the motor of the blender some rest in between. The consistency of the ground batter should be fluffy  and light ,not runny.
Pour the batter in a big bowl/ container.

Now mix the washed idli rava into the ground batter, cover and let it sit in a warm place overnight to ferment. If living in cold region, you can keep it in the cold oven/ microwave overnight.

Next  morning add  salt to the batter and mix well.

Ensure that the batter has fermented well. You can know this when the batter has risen a little in the container. Inadequte fermentation leads to poor quality idlis.

If the batter is too thick, add a little water. The consistency of the batter should be slightly thick ( thicker than dosa batter).

Heat adequate amount of water in the idli steamer/ pressure cooker, depending  on which one you are using. Grease the idli mold with ghee/ butter, fill it with batter until 2/3 full . Place the idli mould/ mould stand in the idli steamer / pressure cooker  only when the water inside is boiling. Steam for 10 minutes on medium- high flame. Note: if using the pressure cooker, do not put the weight/whistle on. Turn off the heat and let it cool down in the steamer for another 10 minutes before taking them out of the mold using a wide spoon.

Steaming hot  Quinoa Idlis are ready!

Serve hot with sambar/ chutney of your choice or both.
I have served with mixed vegetable sambar and dry peanut chutney.

Enjoy!

Cooking made easy:

The urad dal to rice ratio is 1:2 for raw rice rava and 1:2.5 for parboiled rice rava. This is the ratio that has worked for me . When I added quinoa and leftover cooked rice into the batter I increased the amount of rice that I added proportionately. I increased the ratio to 1: 2.5 for raw rice rava and 1:3 for parboiled rice rava.

The urad dal when ground in a stone grinder is fluffier and lighter. The fluffier the urad dal, the lighter the idli.

You know that the idli is done( well cooked) by testing it with a toothpick. Insert a toothpick into the center of the idli. If it comes out clean, the idli is cooked well.

Once you remove the idlis, place them in a airtight container/ hot box as idlis left uncovered tend to develop a dry hard crust  on the top.

I generally make double the amount of batter than stated above as I make idli Upma or fried idlis the next day for breakfast or evening snack.

Tip for healthy living:

If you are the type of person who has dry itchy skin, gets rashes easily try going on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet for 3 weeks. It generally helps cleanse the system.

Food for thought:

It is quality rather than quantity that matters. Lucius Annaeus Seneca