A - Z Idli Series ~ N for Navadhanya Idli

 

I had planned another traditional idli recipe from Karnataka for today but could not source an ingredient needed for it and had to discard the idea. I then went ahead and as an experiment, prepared these idlis using navadhanya. To be honest, the idea would never have occurred to me if not for this series and these protein rich idlis turned out soft and fluffy. Navadhanya refers to the nine grains used in Hindu religious rituals - Bengal gram, black gram, black sesame seeds, chickpeas, green gram, horse gram, rice, wheat, and white colored beans (I used black eyed peas for it). 

These idlis are simple to make though advanced planning is needed as the ingredients need to be soaked, ground and fermented before steaming the batter in the idli moulds. Though the process sounds tedious, the steps are quite simple and doesn't need much of one's energy. The idlis can be made in advance and can be refrigerated or even frozen to have a healthy breakfast ready in the morning rush hours with a simple step of reheating them in a microwave.

Navadhanya idli turned out fluffy with a subtle flavor to them, because of the wheat used in the recipe. These navdhanya idlis served with chutney and / or sambhar  make a filling breakfast or dinner option as they are super healthy, nutritious and vegan. Ours were served with peanut chutney and erra karam, Andhra style onion chutney.

I used navadhanya as I mentioned above but some ingredients may be substituted or omitted from the recipe as per preference. Brown rice can also be replaced with idli rice. Wheat can be completely omitted from the recipe as well if it's flavor in the idli is not to your taste. Whole black gram can be replaced with skinned variety as it needs only a couple of hours of soaking and also doesn't need thorough rinsing to get rid off the skins. Omitting one or two beans that are not on hand works too.

Some of the beans used here like chickpeas, black gram and horse gram need to be soaked overnight or for at least 8 hours. It is hard to sort out and soak the ingredients individually according to their soaking periods and therefore I soaked rice, wheat, Bengal gram, green gram, black eyed peas, chickpeas and horse gram in water in one container and black gram in another bowl. The black gram needs some thorough rinsing to get rid off the skins as much as possible and so they were soaked separately.

I soaked the ingredients overnight and ground the batter in the morning. The batter fermented quickly, in about 7 hours which never happens with my regular idli batter. It maybe partly because of the quantity of the beans used in the recipe and partly because of the weather the day I made these idlis, at 80 deg F / 27 deg C. I would recommend to grind the batter in the morning to keep an eye on the fermentation process. I am not sure but guessing that too much fermentation may cause the batter to start smelling foul because of the beans used here.

Ingredients: (Yield - 28 idlis)

1 cup idli rice 

1/2 cup brown rice

1/4 cup wheat kernels

1/2 cup + a handful of black gram *

6 tbsp. each - Bengal gram, green gram, black eyed peas, chickpeas, and horse gram **
Toasted black sesame seeds as needed
Salt to taste (I used about 2.5 tsp. salt.)

Water to grind the ingredients

Notes:

* I used whole black gram but it can be substituted with skinned black gram which takes only about 2 hours of soaking. 

** Some of the ingredients used here like black gram, chickpeas, horse gram need overnight or about 8 hours of soaking.

Directions:

1. Add idli rice, brown rice, wheat, Bengal gram, green gram, black eyed peas, chickpeas and horse gram to a container. Rinse them with water twice and drain. Add enough water and soak them overnight or for at least 8 - 10 hours.  

* Add black gram to another bowl and rinse. Drain and add water to the bowl and soak it also overnight or for at least 8 hours. (Or skinned black gram can be substituted which needs soaking for only a couple of hours.)

* After the soaking, drain the water from the rice - lentil container and rinse again twice with water and keep aside. However the black gram needs some thorough rinsing to get rid off the skins as much as possible. I used whole black gram since it is used in navdhanya but skinned black gram can be substituted to skip the rinsing part.

2. Add all the soaked and drained ingredients to a grinder. Grind them adding salt and enough water into a smooth and thick batter. If using a mixer then grind them in 2 batches. (The salt can be added just before making idlis if living in a warm climate. I add it while grinding since I live in a cold climate and the batter takes longer to ferment.)

* Transfer the batter to a container large enough to allow the batter to raise during fermentation. Cover the container and allow it to ferment for about 7 - 8 hours. (It took me about 7 hours to ferment the batter when the temperature was about 80 deg F / 27 deg C and it may take longer in  cold climate. Leaving the batter out after fermentation may turn smelly.)

3. The fermented batter looks like above in the picture 3. Refrigerate the batter if not using immediately and use within a couple of days. Leave the refrigerated batter on the counter for a couple of hours before using.

* Heat about 2 cups of water in a idli cooker base or a idli cooker or a steamer on medium heat. 

4. Grease the idli moulds with ghee / oil and sprinkle black sesame seeds over them.

5. Gently stir the batter a couple of times with a ladle. Pour the batter into the idli moulds carefully without spilling.

6. Place the idli stand in the prepared cooker / steamer and close the lid. Don't use the valve for the lid if using a pressure cooker.

* Steam the idlis on low heat setting for about 20 - 25 minutes or until done. (The idlis should not stick when touched with moist fingers.) Check the water level in the steamer base and add extra if needed.

7. Wait for about 10 minutes and then remove the idlis from idli stand. Remove the idlis by running a spoon around the edges.

Serving the idlis: 

* Drizzle melted ghee over the idlis and serve them with a chutney, and sambhar if preferred. Mine were served with peanut chutney and erra karam / Andhra style onion chutney.

What to do with leftover idlis:

1. Refrigerate the left over idlis and use in a day or two. 

2. Or they can be cooled down immediately after preparation and frozen to use later. Nuke them in a microwave, covered and enjoy hot, piping idlis when needed.

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Brown Rice Masala Dosa

Dosa, a common and popular breakfast choice from South India can be dubbed as the Indian version pancake albeit an eggless and flourless version and healthier to boot. The term 'dosa' usually refers to the ones prepared using ground and fermented batter of rice and black gram though there are a myriad variety of dosas that are prepared using fermented batters / ground but not fermented batters and instant version mixes. 

Among the wide range of delectable dosa choices, the supreme status undoubtedly goes to the masala dosa and is the most popular variety of dosas sold in south Indian restaurants. Dosas filled with a spicy and yummy potato masala and served with chutney and onion sambhar would make a very enjoyable combination for spicy food lovers. And a pat of butter on top, restaurant style definitely increases the flavor factor of a masala dosa. 

Substituting brown rice for white rice makes these dosas healthier and somehow we find brown rice dosas more flavorful than the traditional white rice dosas. The potato filling that is usually served in restaurants or homes is this version though I love and prepare this version more. Coconut chutney is commonly served at restaurants though peanut chutney would be a great substitution for it.

Ingredients for dosa batter:
2 cups brown rice
1/2 cup skinned black gram / urad dal
A fistful of split chickpeas / chana dal
1 tbsp. beaten rice flakes / poha
Salt to taste

Ingredients for masala dosa:
Dosa batter (Recipe below)
Oil / Ghee to make dosas (I use canola oil.)
Potato curry
Coconut chutney / Peanut chutney

 Preparing the dosa batter:
* Rinse rice, dals and poha in two exchanges of water and soak them in enough water to let the ingredients be submerged, for about 3 o 4 hours. Drain the water after the soaking period.
*  Grind the soaked ingredients into a smooth, thick batter using enough water as needed.
* Transfer the ground batter to a container, add salt and mix well. (Choose a container which can hold more than the ground batter since it is going to rise during the fermentation process.)
* Cover  the batter and allow it to ferment overnight or for at least 10-12 hours in a warm place. (I usually leave my batter in my convection oven overnight, with the light on. I don't turn my oven on. This tip really works, if you live in a cold place.)
* If the batter is fermented properly, there will be an increase in the quantity of the batter and appears frothy when stirred.

Making dosas:
* Heat a non stick shallow pan / griddle. When you sprinkle a few drops of water on the griddle, the water should sizzle and evaporate. This means the griddle is ready to use.
* Pour a ladleful of batter on the griddle and spread it into a thin circle with the help of the backside of the ladle. Spread about ½ tsp of oil around the edges of the dosa. Cook on low - medium flame until the lower side turns golden brown. Flip the dosa and cook it  for about 15 to 20 seconds  so that it is cooked on the other side too. Flip again and place about 3 to 4 tbsp. potato curry on one half side and fold the dosa. Remove the dosa with a spatula and repeat the process with the remaining batter.
* Serve dosas with chutney & onion sambhar.
 
This goes to Blogging marathon #69, under the theme 'Flatbreads'. Check here to find out what the other marathoners are cooking as part of the BM.

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Brown Rice Sweet Pongal ~ South Indian Sweet Rice Pudding

 
Majority of us at home love the sweet version pongal and it is therefore a regular feature in my kitchen apart from being a Sankranti dish. I keep substituting the white rice with other healthy alternatives like I did with brown rice for today's version or this quinoa one here. For a more creamier and yummier version, the water used to cook the rice can be replaced by milk in half or full portion.

Ingredients: (Yield 2 servings)
1/4 cup brown rice
2 tbsp. moong dal (Split, yellow one)
1/4 cup full fat milk
2.5 tbsp. powdered jaggery / sugar
2 tbsp. shredded, fresh coconut
Ground seeds from 2 cardamom pods
A tiny pinch of edible camphor (optional)
1to 2 tbsp. ghee
1 tbsp. cashews & raisins

Method:
* Wash rice and moong dal in two exchanges of water and drain. Add a cup of water to rice and dal and pressure cook until rice is almost cooked mushy. Brown rice takes longer to cook and so it will take more than three whistles to cook if Indian style cooker is used. 
If cooking in a sauce pan, try to go with a non stick one if you have one. Add rice, dal and a cup of water and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat to lowest setting and cook. Keep an eye while the rice is cooking and keep adding water intermittently as needed and keep stirring. Soaking the rice in water for at least a couple of hours prior to cooking will cut down the cooking time. More than a cup of water is needed if cooking in a sauce pan.
* Heat ghee in a pan and toast the cashews and raisins until they turn golden and plump respectively. Transfer them to a small bowl. Add the pressure cooked rice - dal mixture, milk, coconut and sugar to the same pan and cook until almost the milk is absorbed. Add the ground cardamom, edible camphor if using and the toasted cashews - raisins to the cooked pongal and stir to combine. Turn off the stove and serve the pongal warm.  

This is my entry to
1. Blogging marathon #58
 
2. Srivalli's Kids' Delight event, hosted by Kalyani this month under the theme 'Cooking with Whole Grains'.

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Goan Arroz Com Coco

From microwave to the table

Today happens to be the final day of this week long blogging marathon number 3.  So far, my culinary journey has taken me to
1. Maharashtra - Kothimbir Vadi
2. Sindh - Tosha
3. Uttar Pradesh - Nimona
4. Gujarat - Sev Tameta Nu Shaak
5. Bengal - KamlaLebur Kheer
6. Andhra - Mamidi Allam Pachadi

Check out the other bloggers doing this Blogging Marathon.

30 minute meals: Priya Mahadevan, Pavani

Salad: Ila, Divya Vikram

Entries for the ongoing events: Priya Suresh, Harini & me

Kid friendly dishes: Vatsala, Jay, Kamalika

Rice dishes: Veena KrishnaKumar, Padma Rekha, Priya Srinivasan

I had recently borrowed a cookbook titled "Indian Essence" by Mr. Atul Kochhar from my local library. A few recipes in there caught my attention and the first dish I tried was this "Arroz Com Coco" that is supposedly a Goan specialty. The name sounded so fancy though I knew what arroz meant. This dish is supposedly to be made with the local red rice and goes well with most of the curries of West Indian origin. Arroz com coco literally means coconut rice in Portuguese. Goa was under Portuguese power for centuries and so it seemed logical to have a local dish with a Portuguese name. So far so good.
Then I googled to see if I can find anything else about this mild, yummy rice. The search took me almost every time to a sweeter version from Columbia "Arroz Con Coco". M even enquired his Goan colleague only to find out that he had never even heard the name. LOL. :) And I began to wonder whether there was a printing mistake in the book until I found a similar recipe over the web with the same title labeled under Goan dishes.
After trying this dish, I thought what's in a name and when particularly it comes to cooking, what ultimately matters is how delectable or flavorful the dish is. The fragrant basmati rice cooked in rich coconut milk with mild spices is surely a treat. This "Arroz Com Coco" aka Coconut rice happens to be a tasty, mild base for any spicy curry and can be served to even little ones because it is not hot.

Ingredients (Serves 3 - 4) :
1 & 1/2 cups Basmati rice
2 onions / About 1 cup sliced onions
1.5 cups each - coconut milk & water (I used 1 coconut milk can + 1.5 cups water.)
3 tsp oil
2 one inch pieces of cinnamon / cassia bark + 8 - 10 pepper corns, 3 - 4 cardamoms + 2 cloves
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ginger - garlic paste (I used 1 tsp grated ginger)
Salt to taste (or about 2 & 1/4 tsp)

Method:
I prepared this dish in the microwave but it is generally done on stovetop.
1. Wash the rice in several changes of water and then soak in cold water for about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a microwave safe bowl and sauté the whole spices.
Then add the ginger garlic paste and sauté for a couple of minutes more. I actually added the ginger and spices together and sautéed them.
3. Next add the onions and cook until golden brown, stirring in between. It would take around 3 -4 minutes.
4. Add the rice and sauté for a minute.
5. Stir in the coconut milk, salt, turmeric and water. Cook uncovered, until rice is done. It took me around 22 minutes to cook in the microwave.

This goes to MEC - Rice event, guest hosted by Priya Mitharwal, an event originally created by Srivalli.

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Brown Rice - Ragi Idli

The saga of brown rice love continues and here is one more appealing breakfast dish using it. Our favorite idlis are in a new avatar because of the brown rice and ragi used in the batter.



Ingredients for around 45 - 50 idlis:
3/4 cup brown rice
3/4 cup urad dal
3/4 cup ragi
Salt to taste
Oil / ghee to grease the idli moulds

Making Idlis:
* Soak the first three ingredients separately in plenty of water for at least 4 hours. You can combine the rice and urad dal together to soak but always soak ragi individually.
* Grind dal and rice using as little water as possible in a mixer / grinder smoothly. Transfer the batter into a container. Then add the ragi to the mixer and grind smoothly adding water as needed. Add this and salt to the dal - rice batter and mix well. Let the container be big enough to allow the raise in batter after fermentation.
* Leave the batter to ferment overnight in a warm place such as a lighted oven.
* In the morning, grease the idli moulds, pour the batter into the moulds and steam cook them in an idli cooker or a pressure cooker with out the weight on.
* Serve them with chutney and sambhar.

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Brown Rice Dosa

                                    Brown rice dosas served with chutney powder

After starting Jihva work out, I am using more brown rice in my diet than before. I have started to replace white rice with it even in breakfast items like dosas and idlis. Using brown rice does not change either appearance or taste of dosas.
Breakfast these days mostly is a brown rice dosa and a fruit.

Ingredients to make dosas:
Brown Rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/4 cup
Chanadal - 2 Tbsp
Methi/Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp
Salt as needed

The 'How' part:
Soak rice, dals and methi seeds in plenty of water for at least 4 hours. Drain the water and grind the ingredients into a smooth batter adding as little water as needed. Add salt and mix well. Allow the batter to ferment overnight in a warm place.
Make dosas with the fermented batter in the morning.
For fermenting tips, look here and for making dosas, check here.

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Pear Smoothie, Brown Rice Bisibele Huli and Jihva Workout Vratham

I thought of being a part of Jihva work out vratham that is being performed at Indira's place this month. Though I would not be able to stick to the exercise routine due to my own reasons, I am putting efforts to stay along with the diet part.
I am going to log what I would be cooking/eating during this process.

May 1st:
Breakfast: (Around 10 AM)
Woke up late and it was around 10 am when I had my breakfast. Made breakfast for the family, got ready the little one for gymnastic class and then had my breakfast. While the family had scrumptious dosas, I had a custom made smoothie :) and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I blended a well - ripened d'anjou pear + 1/2 cup homemade fat free yogurt + a pinch of cardamom powder for flavor (optional) with out any additional sweeteners. The pear smoothie was sweet enough.
The above quantity yields 1 cup of smoothie and adding some crushed ice during blending sounds good on a hot summer day.



Lunch (2 pm)
Then with housework and brief online chatting with my SIL and an aunt, it was around 2 pm when I had lunch and by the time I was almost starving. 2 medium - sized pesarattu with a cup of carrot sambhar satisfied my hunger.
Dinner (8pm)
I returned just before 8pm after 4 hours of shopping and was completely exhausted and starved. Didn't have energy / time to prepare any thing for dinner. Again had pesarattu with sambhar. Churned 1/4 cup fat free, plain yogurt + 1/2 cup water, made majjiga and had it too.
After thought: This menu did not work well since the day started with only smoothie and I was really hungry just after an hour and so. Also didn't have any evening snack. Felt hungry again 2 hours after dinner.

May 2 :
Worked around 1 hour in the garden.

Breakfast:
1 cup sprouts
Lunch:
1 cup of bisibele bhath - Prepared with brown rice, lentils, carrots, green beans, peas and spice mixture sans ghee and cashews.
1 cup majjiga / buttermilk
Snack:
10 almonds + a small fruit
Dinner:
1 cup Bisibelebhath
After thought: Was full whole day. Didn't feel the need to snack in between.

Bisibele huli anna / Bisibele Bhath using Brown rice:
In Kannada, Bisi - hot (as in temperature), Bele - lentils, , Huli - Tangy, Anna / Bhath - rice



Ingredients for 4 -5 servings of Brown rice bisibelehuli:
1 cup brown rice (for the regular version, go with white rice as sona masuri variety)
1/2 cup lentils
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 cups mixed veggies. (Usually I go with chopped carrot, bean, potato, chayote, peas and 2 tomatoes)
Water - 4 to 5 cups
Bisibelebhath powder, homemade or use a good brand like MTRs - 4 Tbsp or as per taste
Salt as needed
For tadka: 3 -4 tbsp ghee, 2 tbsp cashew nuts, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 10/12 curry leaves
(I don't use tamarind when tomatoes are tangy. If the dish needs to be tangier, use tamarind juice as well.)

This wholesome, signature dish from Karnataka can be prepared in a jiffy, if the spice mixture vital for the dish is prepared in advance and when a pressure cooker / pan is used for cooking. When I have time to prepare bisibele bhath leisurely, I would opt to cook it in a pot on stovetop so that the rice - lentils attain almost a creamy texture and all the flavors mingle well. If in a hurry, I sometimes use the short cut method and go with a pressure cooker.
Put rice, lentils, veggies (if in a hurry, go with frozen stuff), turmeric powder and water directly to a pressure cooker or a pressure pan and cook till done. When the valve pressure is gone, remove the lid.
In the mean time, melt some ghee and toast cashews till they turn golden brown. Remove them with a slotted spoon and then add mustard seeds and curry leaves to the same ghee. When mustard seeds start to splutter, turn off the heat.
Add the tadka mixture, bisibelebhath powder and salt to the cooked rice - mixture and stir well. Turn on the stove and simmer for a couple of minutes more.
Serve hot with papad /chips.

This Brown Rice Bisibelebhath goes to Twenty - 20 cooking event.
And the yummy Pear Smoothie goes to
Priya's Cooking with seeds - Cardamom Seeds
Srivalli's Thanda Mela.

Other variations of bisibelebhath:
Cracked Wheat Bisibele Huli
Poha Bisibele Bhath

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