Idli

Idlis are a huge south Indian favorite! Steamed flour and lentil dumplings are a lovely comfort food for breakfast, lunch, a snack or even dinner. Usually the idlis are eaten with a spicy chutney, milagai podi (a spicy blend of roasted spices) or sambar.

Its difficult to find perfectly soft idlis, even in the heart of southern India. Here is a sure-fire recipe to get that perfect texture.


Idlis

(makes approximately 20 idlis)

2 cups Idli Rice. This is a special kind of rice, available in most Indian supermarkets.
3/4 cup Urad Dal
2 tbsp Rock Salt, or ordinary table salt.
Soak the rice and dal separately for 2 hours each.Strain and wash the dal well. Grind with minimal water for about 45 minutes, sprinkling water every 10 minutes and scraping down the sides. The dal will double in volume. Keep aside.

Now strain and wash the rice well. Grind with minimal water for about 30 minutes, sprinkling water every 10 minutes and scraping down the sides. The ground rice will have a coarser texture than the ground dal.
Mix the ground rice and dal together and add about 2 tablespoons of rock salt. Mix well while simultaneously dissolving the rock salt in the mixture.Keep aside covered in a warm place for about 8-10 hours, depending on the warmth. Warmer the better. The batter will double in volume.



Heat a deep steamer with about 2 inches of water at the bottom. Oil the idli plate (see picture), and add one ladle of batter for each idli. Place the idli plate into the steamer, making sure the water doesn't reach the pan. Close and steam for 10 minutes or until idlis are firm (when a skewer is inserted into the middle of the idli, it comes out clean).

Scoop out the idli with a spoon after it has slightly cooled down.
Enjoy with your favorite accompaniment.

Pongal

Pongal is a popular south Indian breakfast. It consists of lentils and rice cooked together and then seasoned with spices. Its usually eaten with a spicy curry of some sort, but tastes great with a sprinkling of sugar as well.

This is quite a meal on its own, and though its popular for breakfast, we tend to mix up all our foodstuffs here. Just like dosai, or upma, pongal makes for a great lunch or dinner as well.

Pongal

3 cups Rice
1 cup Moong Dal (Split Green Gram)
6 cups Water (or as needed)
1 tsp Black Peppercorns
2 tsp Cumin Seeds

Cook the rice, dal and water together with some salt.

Heat a pan with some oil. Add peppercorn and cumin and let them brown a little. Coarsely crush this into a powder.

Add the crushed spice mixture to the cooked rice and dal and mix well until fully combined.

Gram Flour Curry

This is a shortcut, quick curry made with gram flour and yogurt. Its delicious with rice and tastes a lot like a more (buttermilk) kozhambu.


Gram Flour (Besan) Pachadi

1 tbsp Gram Flour
1 cup Yogurt
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal/ split Black Gram
2 Green Chillies
4-5 Curry Leaves
a pinch of Asoefetida
2 tbsp Rasam Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt, to taste
a spring of Coriander Leaves, chopped, for garnish

Mix salt, gram flour and yogurt. Heat some oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, green chillies, asoefetida and curry leaves. Heat for 2 minutes.

Add the rasam powder and turmeric powder. Stir and remove from heat.

Kali Dal

Though I prefer a simple yellow dal seasoned with a blend of spices, once in a while, I love to indulge in this rich dal made of black lentils, and finished off with dollops of cream! This is a perfect accompaniment to naans.


Kali Dal

Ingredients A:
250 g Whole Black Urad Dal (Black Lentils)
Salt, to taste
5 Tomatoes, chopped fine
1/2 tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Cumin Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 1/2 tsp Oil
1/2 tsp Ginger, minced
1/2 tsp Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder

Ingredients B:
1 1/2 cups Cream
1/2 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped
6 Green Chillies

Seasoning:
1 Onion, sliced
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
5 Red Chillies
1 tbsp Ghee (clarified butter) or Butter

Wash the lentils. Do not soak. Put the lentils and Ingredients A in a stock pot with enough water to cover plus a little more.

Cook until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Add Ingredients B. Cook for a further 35 minutes or until lentils are completely cooked.

Heat ghee in a small frying pan. Fry onions, cumin seeds and red chillies. Pour over prepared dal. Serve hot with naan/ rotis.

Kootu #3

And ta-da, another popular kootu. As you might have noticed, its really a very simple way to make a curry and is packed with vegetable and lentil goodness.


Kootu # 3

2 tbsp Bengal Gram/ Kadalai Paruppu
1/2 cup White Pumpkin, cubed
1/2 cup Yam, cubed
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp ground Pepper
Salt, to taste

3 tbsp Coconut
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds

Seasoning:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
3-4 Curry Leaves
2 tbsp Coconut
A pinch of sugar

Cook the bengal gram in a little bit of water and keep aside.

Cook the pumpkin and yam with turmeric, chilli powder, pepper and salt. Keep aside.

Grind together the coconut and cumin seeds. Keep aside.

Heat about a tablespoon of oil and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and coconut and saute until a brownish color. Add the ground coconut and cumin mixture and keep frying until brown. Now add the sugar and brown. Add the cooked bengal gram and vegetables and cook until you get a thick curry.

Serve warm with cooked rice.

Kootu # 2

Here we go with the next kootu in the series, called, very imaginatively....


Kootu # 2

2 tsp Urad Dal (split Black Gram)
1/2 tsp Black Peppercorn
2 Red Chillies
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds
1/4 cup Coconut
1/2 cup Moong Dal (split Green Gram), cooked
1/2 cup Vegetables, cooked with water (here I've used carrots and peas)

Pan fry the urad dal, peppercorn, red chillies, cumin, coriander seeds and coconut until golden brown. Add water and blend together in the blender. Add 1/2 tbsp moong dal and blend.

Cook the moong dal and veggies and mix together.

Seasoning:
Heat some oil and add urad dal, cumin, curry leaves, asafoetida and red chillies. When golden brown, add to the cooked dal.

Kootus

Kootus are a form of south Indian curry. Usually had with rice and featuring vegetables and lentils cooked together. There are several ways to make kootus and any number of combinations of lentils and vegetables. Here, I'm going to give you a series of three popular kootus that we make at home.

When I was learning how to cook, my aunt gave me this simple recipe to make a basic kootu. Good vegetables to use for kootus are gourds, beans and peas.


Kootu # 1

1/2 cup Vegetables, chopped and cooked (here I've used snake gourd)
1/2 cup Moong dal, cooked
3 Green Chillies
1/2 tsp black Peppercorn
1/4 cup Coconut
2 sprigs Coriander Leaves, chopped

Cook the vegetables and dal together with some water.

Grind the rest of the ingredients and add to the cooked dal and vegetables.

Stay tuned for Kootu # 2 coming up soon...

Vegetable Adai

Adai is a sort of thick pancake made with lentils usually. Here, I have added vegetables to give it a healthier twist. This is a wonderful breakfast - packed with protein and vegetable goodness.


Vegetable Adai

1 cup Parboiled Rice
1/4 cup Urad Dal
1/4 cup Toor Dal
1/4 cup Bengal Gram Dal (Kadalai Paruppu)
6 Dried Red Chillies
1 tsp Asoefetida
3 tbsp Coconut, shredded
1 Onion, chopped fine
1 Tomato, chopped fine
1 Carrot, cooked
1/4 cup shredded Cauliflower, or cut into tiny pieces, cooked
1/4 cup Peas, cooked
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 cloves Garlic
Salt, to taste
1/4 cup Cilantro Leaves, chopped

Soak the rice and the dals for 2-3 hours. Grind the soaked mixture to a grainy consistency after washing well.

Heat some oil and add the garlic, coconut, mustard seeds, cumin, onions and saute well. Add the vegetables and continue to saute. Add this mixture to the ground rice and dals. Add the tomato, asoefitida, salt, cilantro and mix well. If needed, you can add a 1/4 cup water to get the batter to a pouring consistency.

Heat a dosa/ crepe pan. Pour a ladle-ful of the batter onto the heated pan. Wait for a few minutes for one side to brown and then flip it over and cook for a few more minutes. Repeat the flipping every couple of minutes for about 6-8 minutes.

Serve with chutney or sambar.

Adai

Adai is a form of south Indian crepe, sort of like a dosa, but made with a larger proportion of lentils, and hence far healthier than dosas. Dosas also need to ferment, while adais can be made as soon as the batter is mixed together.


Adai

2 cup Raw Rice
1 cup Channa Dal (split Chick Peas)
1 cup Urad Dal (split Black Gram)
1 cup Toor Dal (Pigeon Peas)
6 Dried Red Chillies

Salt, to taste
Chilli Powder, to taste
A pinch of Asoefetida
2-3 Curry Leaves, chopped fine

Soak the rice, dals and red chillies for 4-5 hours. Drain the water from the soaking mixture, and grind to a coarse texture.


Add the salt, chilli powder, asoefetida and curry leaves to the batter.

Heat a flat pan (such as a dosa pan or an omelette pan). When hot, spread a ladle-ful of the batter onto the pan in a circular motion.


When one side is golden brown, flip over carefully and let cook for a further two minutes.


Serve warm with chutney or jaggery/ palm sugar/ brown sugar.

Sambar

An important part of a south Indian breakfast is sambar. We eat it with rice, dosas and idlis. It's almost a competition between the rasam people and the sambar people (ie those who like rasam vs those who like sambar). I'm a rasam person myself - I find it has a subtler flavor and is light and delicious. But when you have a good dosa in front of you, you've just gotta have sambar!

Sambar can be made with any and all vegetables. My favorite is carrot sambar, but the shallot kind is probably the most popular.


Sambar

1 cup Shallots, peeled
1/2 cup Toor Dal
1 Tomato, chopped
1 tbsp Oil
4-5 Curry Leaves
1 cup Tamarind Water (about a marble sized piece of tamarind, dissolved in 1 cup warm water)
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

For the Spice Powder:
3 tbsp Split Yellow Lentils (Moong Dal)
1 tbsp Coriander Seed (Dhania)
3 Red Chillies
1 tsp Cumin Seed
1 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seed
1/4 tsp Peppercorn
1/2 tsp Asafoetida

For Tempering:
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 Red Chillies
2-3 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Oil

To make the spice powder: Heat a pan with the oil and add all the ingredients for the spice powder. Roast on medium-high heat until golden. Grind to a fine powder and set aside.

Cook the toor dal in 2 cups of water and mash very well when cooked. Keep aside.

Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil. Add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the shallots and tomato and fry for a couple of minutes. Now add the turmeric and tamarind water. Allow it to come to a boil and continue to keep it at a boil for 5 minutes.

Add the ground spice powder and stir to combine. Let it continue to boil for 5 minutes. Add the cooked toor dal and boil again for 5 minutes. Add salt, to taste. If it is too thick, mix in some hot water. When it has reached a thick soupy consistency, remove from heat.

Serve with rice or dosas or idlis.

In this same method, you could substitute shallots with your favorite vegetable - some of the common sambar vegetables are drumsticks, carrots, eggplant, bell peppers, onions and okra.


Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Dosai

Sundays are sacred to most people. Its always the day for relaxation and getting re-energized for the upcoming week. And a way for the family to spend time together, away from busy lives. For us, when I was growing up, Sunday's food was always the same. And something we always could count on and look forward to.

For breakfast we always (and when I say always I mean for 40+ years now) had dosas and shallot sambar, with chutney and milagai podi. For lunch it was spicy potatoes, rasam, any left over sambar (from breakfast), a veggie (most often carrots and peas), and rice. It's incredible that even now sunday breakfast and lunch is sacred to me, and something I look forward to.


Dosai

2 cups Rice
3/4 cup Urad Dal
1 tsp Fenugreek Seed
1 1/2 tbsp Salt

Soak the rice in a bowl and the urad dal and fenugreek in another bowl, in water for 2 hours. Drain well and wash completely.

Grind the soaked urad dal and fenugreek with a little bit of water to a smooth consistency. Keep aside. Grind the rice now, with a little of water, to a smooth consistency. Keep aside.

Mix the two together and add salt. Stir to incorporate the salt. Cover and keep in a warm area of the house for about 8 hours or overnight. If not using right away, the batter can be kept in a closed container in the refrigerator for a week.

Heat a crepe pan (cast-iron works best; the heavier the better - but I've made it on a non-stick $2 flimsy pan and it worked fine :-) ). Make sure the pan gets very hot (test it by dropping a little water, if it sizzles at once, the pan is ready).

Pour about a 3/4 cup amount of dough onto the center of the pan, using a soup ladle (the ladles work really well for me), and very quickly spread the batter using the back of the ladle and a gently touch so that it starts to resemble a circular shape. Here's a video from a road-side dosai-making chap! And here's a picture:


When the bottom is browned, flip the dosai over and brown the other side.


Fold in two or three (letter style) and serve with sambar, chutney and milagai podi. This is a quintessential south Indian breakfast.


Dosais can be had either plain or with a filling of your choice - some people choose to break an egg onto the middle of the dosai (like the chap on the video), or you can fill it with spicy potatoes and make a masala dosai, or spread a thin layer of milagai podi on the inside of the dosai and have mysore dosai! It's going to be delicious regardless! :-) Now I can't wait for Sunday!


Here are some other popular types of dosais: Tomato Dosai, Neer Dosai and Pesarat.

This is off to Srivalli @ Cooking 4 All Seasons for her wildly popular Rice Mela.

Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Simple Dal

Dal, usually made with cooked and mashed lentils, is a staple in the Indian diet. Made with a variety of lentils, it's a very important protein source in a vegetarian diet. As in most Indian foods, the dal is also personalized to each person's taste patterns. The most famous Indian dal is a Dal Makhani made with black lentils, mashed and made rich with the addition of cream and/or butter.


A simpler dal is one made of yellow lentils or moong dal. Here's a very simple dal that we make for breakfast almost every morning to get that much-needed protein boost. We add vegetables too, but you can skip that if you'd like.

Simple Dal
(serves 2)

2 tbsp Split Yellow Lentils (Moong Dal)
1 - 1 1/2 cups Water (depending on how watery you want the dal)
Salt, as needed

1/2 Carrot, chopped fine
1 Tomato, chopped fine
1 Green Chilli, chopped fine
5-6 pieces Green Beans, chopped fine
1 Onion, chopped fine

For tempering:
1 pinch Mustard Seeds
1 pinch Cumin Seeds

Cilantro, chopped, for garnish.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan. When hot, add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard begins to pop, add the veggies and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add the water, salt and the lentils and let it come to a boil. When the lentils are cooked through, remove from the stove.

Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with idlis, dosas or as a lentil soup for a healthy, satisfying meal.


Check out my fellow recipe marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Bengali Dal

West Bengal's food is characterized by a slightly sweet and spicy taste. It's absolutely delicious! I've had this several times at restaurants and friend's houses, but this was the first time I made it at home. And it was wonderfully flavorful and comforting.


Bengali Dal
(recipe from Bong Mom's Cookbook)

1 cup Masoor Dal or Split Red Lentils, washed
1 red Onion, sliced
1 Tomato, chopped fine
2-3 Green Chillies, chopped fine

1 1/2 tsp Panch Phoron, for tempering

4 tsp Lime Juice, for garnish
1/4 cup Cilantro Leaves, chopped, for garnish

1/2 tsp or less Sugar
1 pinch Turmeric Powder
Salt, as needed
Oil, as needed

Cook the lentils with about 2 1/2 cups of water and the turmeric. Once cooked, mash well, and keep aside.

Heat some oil in a saute pan, and add the Panch Phoron mixture to temper. Add the sliced onions and fry until translucent. Add the chillies and tomatoes until the tomatoes are soft and pulpy.

Now add the cooked lentils and mix well. Let them cook and combine together. Add salt, sugar and 3-4 cups of water (depending on how watery you'd like the dal). Stir occasionally. The dal will begin to thicken. Continue to cook to the consistency of dal that you desire.

Remove from heat. Garnish with lime juice and/or cilantro.


My fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Mulligatawny Soup

Mulligatawny in Tamil means Pepper Water (Milagu + Thanni). When the British came to rule India, they enjoyed the local rasam very much and decided to tweak it a bit to make it suit their palettes, as well as trying to make it an appetizer or entree on its own. The version you see on restaurant menus these days is an anglicized version of rasam or pepper water.

We enjoy it on cool nights when you need just a bowl of hot soup and some bread. Be warned that this is a heavy soup and a bowl can be had as a complete meal.


Mulligatawny Soup

1 tsp Peppercorn
1 Onion, sliced
250 g Moong Dal (split yellow lentils)
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 Bay Leaves
2-3 Curry Leaves
1 Apple, skinned and chopped
1/4 cup shredded Coconut
1 Carrot, chopped
1 clove Garlic
small pinch Garam Masala
Salt, to taste (about 1 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp Oil

In a heavy saucepan, cook the lentils with 2-3 cups of water.

In a skillet, saute the onions, carrots, bay leaf, peppercorn, apple, curry leaves and coconut together. Once the carrots are cooked through, add the sauteed ingredients to the cooking lentils. Add the garam masala, turmeric and salt and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes or until lentils are completely cooked.

Remove from heat. Hunt for and fish out the bay leaf and curry leaves (you don't want those blended in - they make the soup bitter). Put the soup in the blender for a few minutes and strain.

Garnish with lemon juice, chopped fresh cilantro and/or cooked rice.

This is for Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen for October's No Croutons Required featuring Vegetarian Soups.

Lentil Salad

I make this healthy salad for breakfast atleast 2-3 times a week. I've experimented with different kinds of sprouts and lentils, and each one has such unique tastes that it's not really possible to pick a favorite.

I've found the easiest lentils to sprout, though, are the Green Gram lentils and the Turkish Gram or Moth lentils. They take an average of 16-24 hours in the hot Chennai weather, so I'm assuming a little longer in other parts of the world. For more on sprouting lentils, please see here.

Quick and Easy Lentil Salad

1 cup Sprouted Lentils of your choice (I used Green Gram sprouts, which are super healthy and delicious)
1/2 cup Cucumber, skinned and chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
1 Onion, chopped (optional - I prefer shallots or spring onions - they lend a less intense flavor)
1/2 tsp Lemon Juice

Dressing: I used a chutney made of grinding together green chillies, cilantro and gram dal (also known as pottu kadalai).


Combine all the above and enjoy a healthy and tasty meal.

This is off to Lisa at the Vegetarian Kitchen for No Croutons Required's Soups and Salads, which features lentils this month.

Pesarat

Pesarat is a dosa made of green gram lentils and is absolutely delicious and nutritious. I'm always looking for ways to make my favorite staples healthier and tastier, and this combines both. The green gram provides a big protein punch, which is so important to us vegetarians. And it adds a bit of a nutty texture to regular dosa, which, to me, makes it tastier as well.




1 cup Green Gram Whole lentils, soaked for 1 hour
3 Green chillies, chopped fine
2 Onions, chopped fine
1 Bunch Coriander leaves, chopped fine

Grind the lentils to a pancake dough-type consistency with a little water. Add the chopped green chillies, onions and coriander.

Spread like crepes on a heated pan. Turn over when slightly brown and cook the other side for a minute or two.

Serve with chutney.

This is my contribution to Srivalli @ Cooking 4 all Seasons's Dosa Mela