Idli-dosa batter is like a hidden treasure that we can produce from scratch any time. A special bit of fun about being a South Indian outside of South India is the way you can win people over with the most staple of staple foods, idli and dosa. And for the truly smitten (and aren’t they all?), idli-dosa batter.
We’ve made idlis and dosas with little millet, kodo millet, proso millet, pearl millet, foxtail millet, finger millet and even made them with teff, which it turns out, is also a kind of millet. Oh, and of course we have made them with paddy rice. (Our millet-farming friends insist on calling what generally goes by the name of rice, “paddy rice” to distinguish it from some of the millets which in the local language are actually called varieties of rice, e.g. సామ బీయ్యము or वरी चावल (little millet rice), కొర్ర బీయ్యము (foxtail millet rice), सामक चावल (barnyard millet rice). In this case the term “rice” is used not as a name for the grain but for the whole form of the grain, as opposed to cracked grain (ravva), flattened grain (poha) or flour (atta).
I decided to make idlis using all 11 of these ingredients – 10 grains plus 1 legume.
Sometimes our millet dosas remind us of injera, a traditional Ethiopian dish we ate a few years ago when visiting friends in Boston. Khiyali and her friends enjoyed chanting, “eat the plate! eat the plate!” The injera was the edible plate on which the various toppings were served. After tearing off pieces of injera and scooping up the steamed and stir-fried vegetables, the rest of the plate, which had absorbed some of the flavors from the toppings, was fun to eat up all by itself.
Out of curiosity I bought a bag of teff at David’s Natural Market when I was in Maryland but did not get around to finding out how to make anything with it. By the time I left for India the bag was still unopened so I brought it along with me. When I searched for recipes for injera it seemed I needed teff flour and not whole teff. Of course this grain is so tiny it is almost like flour but anyway that gave me the free pass to try using it like all the other grains in my collection – to make dosas! How different could they be?
Teff and Urad, ready to get soaked.
Tri-Millet Idli – made of Ragi, Sama and Proso millet along with Urad (Black Gram).
In Ragi Idli and Dosa, Take 1, I tried using whole ragi (finger millet) to make the batter used for idli and dosa. Since I’d never done nor seen any one do it before, I used part ragi and part rice along with the urad (black gram). Pleased with the results, I tried using only ragi and urad in my next attempt, Ragi Idli and Dosa Take 2. To my pleasant surprise, this batter also rose well and produced tasty idlis, albeit heavier than even my usual idlis which, being always whole grain, tend to be denser than white idlis, just as whole wheat bread is less airy than white bread.
Now that I have made idlis and dosas using just about every kind of millet I have been able to get my hands on – little millet (sama), kodo millet (arikalu), proso (varigalu), pearl millet (bajra) and finger (ragi), I thought, why not mix them up? Read the rest of this entry »
¡Si se puede! I exclaimed when I saw the dough the morning after grinding it. It had risen. At last I could report to the naysayers, who thought that whole ragi and whole urad couldn’t be trusted to make a good idli, oh yes they can!
Bajra-Kodo Idli
Picked up some bajra (సజ్జలు | pearl millet) from the Farmers’ Market and thought, let’s see if we can make idlis with these too. Since it was my first time trying it I used some millet as well. I didn’t use any rice. My proportions were:
1 cup bajra (సజ్జలు)
1 cup kodo millet (ఆరికలు)
1 cup urad (మినువులు)
Soak in water for 8 hours, grind to a smooth batter, allow to rise overnight, add 1/2 tsp salt and make idlis as usual.
I will take pictures next time I make bajra idli and update this page with step-by-step instructions. Meanwhile, for a detailed description and pictures of the process see any of the following:
Bajra from Paryavaran Mitra (at Farmers’ Market) and Urad from EcoFresh (via Chembur)
Proso Millet Idli and Dosa
Kodo Millet Idli and Dosa
Swanky Little Millet Idli & Dosa
Whole -grain idli and dosa
Since when are idlis white?
Not more than a few generations. And if you look at all things that have become white over the past century, one by one they are regaining their color. White bread, white pasta, white flour, white sugar, white rice are now recognized as more or less empty calories and are being replaced by their whole counterparts, on the brown to black side of the color spectrum. It is time for idlis to do the same.
Black Gram (Urad): Soaked and ready to burst out of its skin! Urad or Black Gram attracts wild yeast from the air. As it ferments, the yeast makes the batter rise.
What are idlis made of? Black gram and rice. Or black gram and millets. Read the rest of this entry »
See the bubbles that have formed as the dough ferments.
Look at that bubbly batter! I was thrilled when I opened the oven this morning to check whether my dough had risen and indeed it did! Marvellously. It was my first time soaking, grinding and fermenting amaranth and to be on the safe side I used equal parts of amaranth, rice and urad dal to make batter for idli and dosa.
Use equal parts of rice, urad dal and amaranth.
The recipe is quite simple. Read the rest of this entry »
My friend Hema in New Jersey asked me, how can I use local grains in the United States? While there are several wonderful cookbooks featuring such American staples as buckwheat, barley, rye it is not as easy to find recipes using millet and many recipes using these traditional yet less common grains call for even more specialized ingredients. Of course it is well worth the effort, but what if you want to make something simple with millet right now?
Proso Millet Idli
One way to jump right into using locally grown millets is to make idlis with them. Black gram, water and salt are the only other ingredients you need. Read the rest of this entry »
Well well well, aren’t we getting adventurous? These Swanky Little Millet Idlis have no rice at all, not that we don’t love rice, but if you were looking for ways to eat more millets (aren’t we all?) I can’t say enough about సామలు known in English as Little Millet and in Punjabi as Swank. Yes, Swank. So here are the names in various languages – check if your store has them so that you can get your swank on!
Little Idlis made of Little Millet and Urad.
Hindi: Kutki, Shavan | Gujarati: Gajro, Kuri| Kannada: Same, Save
Marathi: Sava, Halvi, Vari | Oriya: Suan
Punjabi: Swank | Tamil: Samai | Telugu: Samalu
The idlis are very easy to prepare. Note that the grey color comes from the chilka (peel) of the urad and not from the millet which is an off-white or beige color. You can use the same batter to make dosas or uttappams. Read the rest of this entry »
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