Millet Idli

My mother made idlis using idli rava at home. Weekends mostly. I remember waking up to the smell of sambar and the aroma was motivation enough to scramble out of bed, rush through everything to arrive at the table, hungry as a hunter. 

 We used to love them! I still do. In fact, these were the only ones I used to make until I got my wet grinder. And then the game changed. The previously loved idli rava idlis became a thing of the past. They are great, but there is something so perfect about the idli rice, idlis. They are heavenly! And so, I kept churning out soft pillowy idlis, week after week and enjoying every single morsel.

Every couple of weeks I make idli batter. I look forward to making soft melt-in-the-mouth Idlis. The process is simple, though time consuming. Its a great option for a quick meal or to pack in the lunch box ( for the husband, who can heat them in his office). 

The highlight of our summer (2017) was my parents visiting us. They came in time for my son's birthday and stayed for mine. Oh what a wonderful time it was! Their love and good food was the best part of last year. I cooked a lot, clicked pictures on my phone and well, they're still there. I guess I'll work on the posts this year. LOL! 

During this time, I tried a variation on the regular idlis and they did not disappoint.

Instead of rice, I used millet. Hulled millet is available packaged in most grocery stores and in the bulk bin section as well.

Pic courtesy : Google search

You need:

1 cup Gota Urad Daal 

3 cups Millet 

1 tsp Fenugreek seeds

Wash the Urad daal in several changes of water (scrub lightly with your fingers. The water will turn very cloudy. Drain it, add fresh water, repeat till the water runs clear). Soak the urad daal in plenty of water. Add the fenugreek seeds.

Wash the millet and soak it in a separate container in plenty of water.

Soak the daal and millet overnight.

Before grinding, discard the soaking water. I also give both ingredients a quick rinse under running water.

Begin with grinding the urad daal. 

If using a wet grinder or a blender, add the urad daal and start grinding. Gradually add little water. Do not add too much. You don't want a runny daal paste. That will ruin the idlis. 

Grind till the urad daal turns a pale color and looks 'fluffy'.

Remove to a container.

Grind the millet now. Take care not to add too much water. This will take a bit longer to grind. Be patient. 

Once the millet turns to a smooth paste, add it to the ground urad daal. Mix well.

The batter should have a dropping consistency. Too runny- the idli will be flat and gummy, too thick (where you need to give the ladle a shake to make the batter fall into the mold) will make rock like idlis, better used as hockey pucks.

There are two options now: 

1.  stick the pot in a warmish oven and let the batter ferment (between 10-12 hours )
2. Pour the batter in the inner steel pot of your Electric Pressure cooker /  Instant Pot and set it to 'yogurt' mode for 8 hours on seal mode. 

Once the batter is fermented, make idlis as usual.

If you are making idlis for the first time: 

Add some salt to the fermented batter and fold it in gently. 

Before making idlis, add water to the idli cooker and set it on the stove. 

Once the water is bubbling, grease the idli molds with either oil / oil spray or ghee.

Ladle idli batter into the molds ( do not overfill) and place the stand in the steaming water. Close the lid and steam the idlis on high ( on a dial from 0-10, keep the heat at 8-8.5). Continue cooking for 15-18 mins ( when you open the lid- carefullllly- the idli tops must be plump and not sticky.

Switch off the heat and using a thick kitchen towel or baking mitten, remove the idli stand and set it aside for a couple mins. 

Carefully unmold the idlis, these should slip out easily, if not use a spoon or a butter knife to loosen the sides and transfer to a  container.

Serve idlis with chutney or sambar or both. 

I made this zuchhini chutney for my family and they enjoyed the combination very much. I unfortunately couldn't eat it as it has peanuts.

Notes:

These idlis are very tasty. But do not compare them to the regular rice idlis,

The batter can be used to make dosa as well.

These are a very good alternative to rice idlis, specially for people who avoid rice in their diet.

These idlis can be steamed in the Instant Pot as well, but I am not very comfortable doing that. I just haven't learned how, strange as this sounds. If you have, please share the method with me.

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Kid approved Vegetable Cutlet

Saturdays were special. I had half day school. oh! it was a curse getting up early in the first place. 

You have to understand, my regular school timings (Mon-Fri) were 11:00 am to 5:00 pm and Saturdays, 7:45 am-12:30 pm. so you can guess how annoying it was to wake up very early.

But early dismissal meant at least one good thing, going to meet Mommy! 

My Mother worked for the RBI. They had half day working on Saturdays too!

Sometimes I'd go to meet her at her office and then we would go shopping, Crawford market, Fashion street, Khau Galli were some of our stops. 

Our meeting spot was always the same. V.T Station ( now called CST Station), platform number 1, wait by the weighing scale ( *near* the scale, not on it, that would be embarrassing! ). 

I would come home from school, dump my bag, fling off my shoes, hastily change in to a 'good' outfit, grab money that was kept for me in a purse and race off to the station to get my 'return' ticket. 

I'd walk past the book stall on the station and glance at the 'headlines' on Mid-Day, look at all the glossies with glamorous film stars staring haughtily at me in their garish make up, which at that time (late 80-90's ) looked fine! and decide between 'Chandamama' or 'Tinkle' comic book, buy it with the spare money and settle down to read it before the train came. 

When I reached V.T station ( the last stop) I'd get down and dutifully wait next to the weighing scale. My Mom would hurry in at the appointed time and we would happily start our afternoon. Many a times, I'd just rush from home, without eating anything and in those cases, I'd be hungry as a hunter! I would make a beeline for a small booth that sold greasy food packaged by Railway Canteen. I always picked the cutlet. Teardrop shaped and brown colored. I liked these cutlets. Packed with a slice of bread, nestled on a small paper plate. I wonder if they still sell these cutlets... 

It's been about 2 decades  that I have not tasted those cutlets or stood next to the weighing scale in anticipation of an afternoon of fun and shopping, but those memories linger and today, I was inspired by those cutlets, tasted so many, many years ago.

My version is  Panko coated and pan fried and has vegetables peeking out here and there, unlike the deep brown deep fried version at the Railway snack booth. but I believe mine is healthier.

You need:

3 medium Potatoes  (I used the white skinned ones)

1/2 cup green Peas ( frozen)

~ 8 Baby Carrots, grated

1/2 cup Corn ( frozen)

2 Green chilies ( adjust to suit your tolerance)

1/4 cup Cilantro

1/2 tsp - 3/4 tsp Jeera / Cumin seeds

1 inch Fresh Ginger

2 cloves Garlic

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Amchur powder (optional)

2-3 hefty pinches Garam Masala ( I used Badshah Rajwadi Garam Masala)

2 slices Bread (stale works best)

Panko Bread Crumbs to coat

Oil to shallow fry

Boil/pressure cook the potatoes. Cool, peel and mash.

In a mixie (chutney jar) or chopper, pulse the green chilies, ginger, garlic, cumin.

Pulse the bread slices, if using, and make them into crumbs. Add it to the mashed potato

Grate the carrot and place in a microwave safe glass bowl, add 2 Tbsp. water and microwave for approx. 2 mins to soften the carrot. 

Add the green peas, corn kernel and carrot (ensure that you drain any water left over after microwaving) to the potato and bread mash and mix well. 

Heat oil in a wok, add the pulsed green chilies, cumin, ginger & garlic and saute for 30 seconds (the garlic should not smell raw).

Add the potato- vegetable medley and mix well to distribute the spices.

Season with salt and amchoor ( dry mango) powder.

Sprinkle in the garam masala. Mix everything evenly and cook until the mixture is dry-ish. That is  there is no moisture in the mix.

Last, add the chopped cilantro. mix well and set aside to cool.

In a shallow plate, add the panko crumbs.

Set a pan/ cast iron skillet on on the stove ( medium heat)

Scoop a part of the mixture and shape it into a tear drop or round shape (whatever ou like, go on, shape them like hearts! ) 

Coat with Panko crumbs.  Spray or drizzle some oil on the skillet and gently place the patty on the hot skillet

Repeat the procedure for remaining patties. 

Do not over crowd the skillet when shallow frying the patties.

After a couple of minutes, flip the patties and cook on the other side. When cutlets are golden brown on both sides, remove and drain on paper towels.

Serve warm with ketchup or cilantro chutney 

My little one enjoyed these and made me the happiest Mommy on earth! Point to note, he is fussy and would not eat if he could spy vegetables, but he polished off this cutlet! 

Notes:

You can substitute with vegetables of your choice,for ex: cauliflower, beans, cabbage 

If you like, add a tbsp of chopped mint leaves along with the cilantro. 

I have used white skinned potatoes, these mash easily and are a tad sticky and therefore I added a couple of slices of bread. If you use red potatoes or russet, you may not need the slices, use your judgement.

Slap the cutlet between  hamburger buns, add chutney, lettuce leaves, tomato and cucumber slices, cheese slice and your Vege. burger is ready! 

If you do not have panko bread crumbs, use fine rava/ semolina instead.

These freeze well. 

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Thalipeeth and recreating the magic at home!

One of the nice things  of living away from the home country is that you learn to appreciate the variety of food that it ( home country) offers. The second best is to make it and glorify in the fact that you made it and more importantly, made it well!! 

When I was new to this country, I missed the variety of breakfasts / snacks made at home, the time I did not have to think twice about making anything (or how Mom made them) mixes, spices were (are still are) readily available and in the quantity required and the convenience! if we ran out of a couple of items, all we had to do was make a call to the grocery store and they would  take the order and have their delivery lad bring those things home and at no extra charge. 

Those are the conveniences I miss even today. If I miss out on an item in my shopping, I have to go a mile to get it  or make do till the next week or if I need just 1 or 2 cups of something, I have to buy 2 lbs. sigh! 

Eep! How did I go from a start of ' nice things' to whine!!? Let me go back on the  'nice' track....

One of my favorite breakfast items is thalipeeth , in fact I like it anytime, breakfast, lunch or dinner. It was one of my favorite lunch box items when in school. I'm sure my Mother also favored this. The flour mix ( BhajaNi)  is readily available and all it needs is adding salt, water, chiles, cilantro and onion, or to take a shortcut, water, salt, red chile powder, mix a dough , pat it with your palms/ fingers and shallow fry on a hot skillet and you are set in a matter of 15-20 minutes! 

A friend had  given me their stock of bahjaNi when going back to India and after that my Mother got me some packets  when she visited and my Mother in Law also got me a couple of packets when she came last year. But those packets weren't much (just 250 gms each) and  were polished off in one weekend breakfast.

So finally the MIL came up with a brilliant idea, 'Make your own bahjaNi mix' ! Now we're talking! 

So on one weekday she  taught me a super easy thalipeeth flour mix. 

Here is what you need :

1 Cup Wheat flour (atta)

1 Cup Jowar (Finger Millet flour)

1/2 Cup Urad  flour

1/4 EACH Besan and Rice flour 

1 small cup (what we can call 'amti vati') full Coriander seeds

1 small cup / amti vati ( take off 2 Tbsp. from top) Jeera / Cumin seeds

In a wok, over med- high heat , individually roast all the flours. Do not mix the flours and then roast

Roast the flours lightly, just until the aroma wafts and they turn a shade or two dark

Roast the coriander seeds

Roast the cumin seeds

Cool the roasted seeds and powder them in a spice mill or coffee grinder

Mix  the cumin-coriander powder with the roasted  flour and mix thoroughly

Store and use as and when required.

To make  Thalipeeth:

I usually pick fistfuls of the flour and proceed.

Take 2-3 hefty fistfuls of the flour mix

Add a tiny drizzle of oil ( 1-2 tsp) 

Add salt as per taste

Add finely chopped green chile or red chile powder to taste 

Add finely chopped onion (1/2 medium sized onion)

Add finely chopped cilantro

I usually eyeball the ingredients, this is a very easy and forgiving  recipe. Tastes great every time.

Add water slowly to make a dough that is not too soft but pliable.

Divide the dough into balls (2-3 big sized or 4-6 to make smaller thalipeeth)

Smear oil or spray oil on a non-stick griddle and  pat a ball of dough on it, using palms and fingers, lightly pat the dough in to a circle ( I make thin thalipeeth) make a hole in the center and add a small drizzle of oil

Switch on the stove ( med-high heat) and cover and cook

My MIL cooks the thalipeeth on one side only. This makes the thalipeeth very soft and no, the dough does not remain uncooked.  

Covering and cooking  over a medium flame / heat setting ensures that it is fully cooked.

I prefer cooking on both sides, however,  I too like my thalipeeth soft and so, I cook it on the second side briefly, just until the side is lightly blistered

Serve hot with a  pat of freshly churned butter (loNi or makkhan) or a pat of butter and  a side of pickle  or thick home made yogurt

I use a pizza slicer to make wedges of the thalipeeth and serve with both butter and yogurt, my guests can choose the accompaniment they want.

I am thinking of re-visiting some of my old recipes and posting different versions that I have tried and liked.  Do you all have any special recipes that you have re-visited or re-evaluated?

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