Cornmeal Idli

Idlis are a classic south Indian breakfast item that are prepared with skinned black gram (urad dal) and parboiled rice or cream of rice. My version today is a twist to the standard version, using cornmeal. Cornmeal is ground, dried yellow corn which ranges from coarse to fine textures. Mine is the coarsely ground version, similar to idli rava aka cream of rice typically used in idli preparation. 

Corn is naturally gluten free but be sure to read the labels since other gluten products may be processed in the same facility. Cornmeal is a good source of carbohydrates, phosphorous and iron. These idlis are obviously vegan and gluten free and make a great breakfast or dinner option. Serve them warm with some side dishes like chutney and sambhar for a filling meal. Ours were served with vegetable saagu and chutney. 

Ingredients: (Yield - about 20)

1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup skinned black gram / urad dal
3/4 cup water
1.5 tsp. salt or to taste

Directions:

1. Rinse black gram / urad dal thoroughly twice with water by rubbing between fingers. Drain and soak in water in a container for about 3 hours. Similarly rinse cornmeal with water and soak in water in another bowl. 

2 & 3. Drain the water from both black gram and cornmeal containers. Squeeze out the water from the cornmeal as much as possible.

4. Add black gram, salt and water (as needed) to a blender and grind finely. (It took me less than two minutes to grind in the blender. Skip adding salt while grinding if living in a hot climate. Add salt to the fermented batter before making idlis.)

5. When the black gram is ground, add cornmeal to the blender.

6. Run the blender for a couple of minutes just to blend the mixture.

7. Transfer the batter to a container and cover it. Leave it in a warm place to ferment overnight. The final batter should be of thick, pouring consistency.

* If living in a cold place, leave the batter container in the oven with the light on. Don't turn on the oven. The batter may take 8 - 10 hours to ferment in a warm place. It may take longer to ferment in cold climate. 

* Heat water in a idli cooker / pressure cooker / steamer base on medium heat.

8. Stir the fermented batter with a ladle.

* Grease the idli plates and fill the moulds with the batter. Place the idli stand in the steamer and close the lid. Don't use the pressure valve if using pressure cooker.

* On low medium flame, steam for about 20 - 25 minutes or until when the surface of the idlis don't stick when touched with moist fingers. Turn off the stove and let sit for about 10 minutes.

* Run a sharp spoon around the edges of idlis and remove the idlis.

* Serve them warm for breakfast drizzling some melted ghee over idlis, along with coconut chutney and/or sambhar. Ours were served with vegetable saagu and chutney. 

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Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge

 

This Caribbean cornmeal porridge could be a great breakfast alternative to a bowl of oatmeal or if one is looking for a serving of whole grain in the morning. This creamy bowl of porridge is full of flavors and quite a filling one. It is a classic comfort food from the Jamaican region and is also called 'cog' or 'pop' there. Some of the versions of this recipe use a small quantity of flour also added along with cornmeal.    
 
Recipe Source: Here
Ingredients: (Yields 1 generous serving)
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 one inch pieces of cinnamon 
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
A pinch of ground nutmeg
1 to 2 tbsp. sweetened condensed milk or any other sweeteners

Method:
* Heat water, coconut milk and cinnamon pieces to a pan and bring it to a boil. 
* Next add cornmeal and stir well to prevent to form any lumps. 
* Cover and cook on low flame, until done, about 10 minutes.
* Add vanilla extract, nutmeg and sweetened condensed milk to the cooked cornmeal and mix well.
* Add extra milk / water and adjust the consistency if the pudding appears too thick.
* Discard the cinnamon sticks and serve the pudding warm. Add sliced fresh fruits, dry fruits or nuts as garnishes if desired. (My daughter enjoyed it with a sprinkling of some brown sugar, raisins and nuts over the porridge.)
 
This goes to Blogging marathon #85, under the theme 'Breakfast Recipes'. Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.

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Cornmeal Cookies (Ivory Coast)

Initially I had planned to participate in the 'baking' themed April mega marathon and I had diligently prepared the list. I even baked some when it dawned on me that I was the one who was going to end up eating all those goodies if I made it through the list. The kid who supposedly was to devour them and share the calories with me was away from the home and the kid who was at home wouldn't look at the sweet stuff unless it is laden with chocolate. And so, I finally gave up the idea of baking marathon though I ended up baking a few dishes for the first time. 

These simple, sweet cornmeal cookies from Ivory Coast was one of them and they would be a great pick for a picnic menu. I actually tried these cookie two times, halving the recipe both times. The first time, I tried to shape the cookies by patting the dough into perfect circles and they spread like crazy while baking though they held the shape. The second time, I dropped dough by spoonful and they were chubby (as shown in the pictures) while the first batch ones were thinner and bigger. These crispy, crunchy cookies fall under the easier to prepare variety cookies.
 
Source: Here

Ingredients: (Yield 50)
1 & 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
5 to 6 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup + 2tbsp. sugar
1 flax egg or 1 egg substitute
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:
* Mix 1 tbsp. flax meal and 3 tbsp. warm water in a small bowl and keep aside for five minutes.
* Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper / aluminum foil and keep aside.
* Combine flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
* Beat butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg substitute and vanilla and beat again. Slowly add the dry ingredients from the above step and mix well.
* Drop dough in spoonful onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until they are done.
 
This goes to Blogging marathon #76, under the theme 'Picnic Recipes'. Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.

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Whole Wheat - Corn Muffins

Both my appetite for eating and blogging diminished considerably in the past couple of weeks and hence the hiatus. If not for the events I have signed up, I would still be on a break. :)

I prepared these subtly sweet muffins inspired from here for this month's Magic Mingle # 3 - Wholewheat & Corn.

Ingredients: (yield 6 - 8)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup honey (Can increase the quantity if a sweeter version is preferred.)
2 Tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup raisins and walnuts (optional)

Method:
* Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease or line a muffin pan.              
* Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add banana puree and stir in milk, oil, honey, raisins and walnuts.  Pour the mixture into the muffin pan filling up to 3/4th of each cup.               
* Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the crown of a muffin comes out clean, 20 - 25 minutes.    
           


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Cornmeal - Veggie Dosa

I added recently cornmeal dosa to my list of dosas after an experiment. To give a nutritional punch, I added grated carrot and potato to the dosa batter.
I had learnt a lesson from my earlier experiment. I had cooked potato in the microwave before adding to the batter. It became all gooey and sticky and the dosas got stuck to the griddle. So, this time, I was careful enough not to repeat the mistake and added grated potato directly to the batter without cooking.
The recipe for these yummy, crispy dosas is given below. These ingredients would make 10 – 12 dosas.

Ingredients:
Cornmeal – 1 cup
Rice Flour – ¼ cup
All Purpose Flour/Maida - ¼ cup
Onion - 1
Carrot – 1
Potato – 1
Green Chillies -2
Few sprigs of cilantro
Salt - as needed
Water
Oil to make dosas

Making dosas:
Peel the skins of the potato and carrot. Grate them.
Chop the onion, green chillies and the cilantro finely.
Make a batter using all the ingredients and water. (Add water as needed so that the batter is not very thick or watery. The consistency should be in between.)
Heat a griddle and pour a ladle full of batter on it. Don’t try to spread it as the traditional dosa and add a tsp of oil around it. Turn down the heat a little bit and cover the griddle with a lid. Let it cook for a minute or two. Then flip the dosa, spread oil around the dosa again and let it cook on the other side too. Repeat this with the remaining batter.
Serve hot with chutney.

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Cornmeal Upma

Cornmeal’s semolina like texture and its orange – yellow hue instantly attracted me when I saw it for the first time in a grocery shop. I promptly bought one box of cornmeal and did what any Indian would do, if she had a bag of semolina. Prepare upma, of course. From then onwards, Cornmeal upma has been on my breakfast list. Here follows my recipe for the cornmeal upma. To add a little boost of protein, I used some frozen soybeans /edamame in the upma.

 

Ingredients for Cornmeal upma:
Cornmeal - 3/4 cup
Onion & tomato – 1 each
Fresh soybeans – 1 / 4 cup
Green chillies – 4 (I used small, serrano peppers)
For tadka - 2 Tbsp oil, a few curry leaves, 1 tsp each of chanadal, urad dal, mustard seeds & cumin seeds
Water – 3 cups

Preparing Cornmeal Upma:
Dry roast the cornmeal for about 5 minutes in a wok / pan and set aside. Finely chop onion, tomato and the green chillies. Heat the oil in a wok / pan. When the oil is hot, add chanadal, uraddal, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves in that order. When the chana and urad dals turn red and the mustard seeds start to splutter, add green chillies and fry for a few seconds. Then add chopped onion and stir. Lower the heat and close the lid. Keep stirring in between and when the onion turns almost translucent, add tomato and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add soybeans, water and salt and increase the flame. When the water starts to boil, add the cornmeal and lower the heat. Cover the lid and cook till it is done. Serve warm with chutney or chutney powder.

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Cornmeal Coconut Halwa

It appears an Herculean task, when I am in quest of some ingredients (at the local, desi shops here) essential in Indian cooking. But, I should admit the fact that I have been introduced to many new foods and cooking ingredients in USA. There have been some pleasant additions in my pantry. Cornmeal is one of those permanent additions. I use Cornmeal in various preparations. Cornmeal halwa is a result of one of my experiments. It's inspiration is our good old Semolina/Sooji halwa.

Ingredients required :
Cornmeal - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 ½ cup
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Water - 2 cups
Cardamom - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp or more
Raisins and Cashew Nuts - 1/4 cup
Few Saffron Strands

Preparation:

Dry roast the cornmeal (as sooji) in a thick bottomed or nonstick pan. Set aside.

Heat water and sugar in a pan and let it boil till all the sugar melts. When it is boiling, add grated coconut, crushed cardamom powder and saffron strands. Lower the heat and add cornmeal. Then stir the mixture so that it is uniform through out without any lumps. Cook the mixture on low heat, stirring in between to avoid sticking, till it is done.

Take a small pan and heat the ghee till it melts. Toast the cashews and raisins in the ghee till cashews turn golden brown and the raisins turn plump. Add the cashews, raisins and the ghee to the cooked halwa.

Serve warm or cold.

Note:

Fresh or dry coconut can be added. I think dry coconut makes it more tastier though.

Use a nonstick pan to avoid any sticking.

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