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Posts Tagged ‘idli / dosa’

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Proso Millet Idlis (and Dosas)

In Recipes on 6 July 2015 at 6:23 pm

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

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 »

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Swanky Little Millet Idli & Dosa

In Recipes on 1 March 2015 at 1:28 pm

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!

sama and urad mini idlis4

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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Kodo Millet Idli and Dosa – easier done than said

In Recipes on 15 January 2015 at 11:32 am
Kodo millet idli served with pacchadi and sambar

Kodo millet idli served with pacchadi and sambar

If you were looking for a way to eat more and different millets, then you have come to the right place.   After years of talking about millets I realized I had only been using finger millet and more recently foxtail millet whereas there are so many more kinds of millet!  Was I ready to expand my millet horizons? Read the rest of this entry »

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Whole Idlis: smooth transition to whole & diverse grains

In Recipes on 17 February 2011 at 3:55 pm

We grew up on white bread, white rice, white idlis, white dosas, etc. We would like to switch to whole grains, especially now that our baby has started eating solid foods as well. But it is going slower than we had hoped. Any suggestions?

– parents of a 9-month old in Hyderabad
Soak 1 cup brown rice and 1.5 cups whole urad or urad dal with peel intact. Grind and allow to rise overnight. Steam in idli plates as usual. Shown with avakayi and idli poDi.

Soak 1 cup brown rice and 1.5 cups whole urad or urad dal with peel intact. Grind and allow to rise overnight. Add 1/2 tsp salt to taste. Steam in idli plates as usual. Shown with avakayi and idli poDi.

Why not go for whole grain idlis? I have found these get past some pretty picky palates, including folks who eat white basmati rice daily – they too enjoy these idlis made of brown rice and unpeeled urad dal. Let me add that these are great for beginning eaters. Even before she had teeth, my daughter resisted anything that looked like “mashed food” or <gasp> “baby food.” But since in this dish, the ingredients have already been mashed up, she could enjoy the same food as the rest of us.

Next on Amma’s agenda is to diversify the idlis and dosas with even healthier grains. Lovely recipes are there at ReStore (organic produce bazaar in Chennai).

New!  Kodo Millet Idlis!

Millets are not only healthy, they are hep and happening! Have you seen Jab We Millet?