Urad Dal Idli

Idli or idly (/ɪdliː/ ⓘ) (plural: idlis) is a type of savoury rice cake, originating from South India, popular as a breakfast food in Southern India

History

A precursor of the modern idli is mentioned in several ancient Indian works. Vaddaradhane, a 920 CE Kannada language work by Shivakotiacharya mentions "iddalige", prepared only from a black gram batter. Chavundaraya II, the author of the earliest available Kannada encyclopedia, Lokopakara (c.1025 CE), describes the preparation of this food by soaking black gram in buttermilk, ground to a fine paste, and mixed with the clear water of curd and spices.

Today we are going to make Veg Idli made from Chana Dal for breakfast. This will be a very tasty and nutritious breakfast. This vegetable filled idli will be ready in a jiffy. With this we will make peanut and coconut chutney. So you too make a nutritious breakfast with this easy recipe and enjoy its taste with your family.

Summarised Preparation

Washed urad lentils are soaked overnight and ground into a batter for the Vada, then cooked in hot oil. The hot deep-fried vadas are first put in water and then transferred to thick beaten yogurt. The vadas are soaked for a period of time before serving. Additions to the batter may include golden raisins. Vadas may be topped with coriander or mint leaves, chilli powder, crushed black pepper, chaat masala, cumin, shredded coconut, green chilies, boondi, thinly sliced fresh ginger, or pomegranate. Sweeter curd is preferred in some places in India, especially in Maharashtra and Gujarat, although the garnishing remains the same. A combination of coriander and tamarind chutney is often used as a garnish. The batter can be made using chickpea flour too.

How to make Idli

Step-by-Step Guide

Process of making Batter

Wash ½ cup of chana dal and ½ cup of rice thoroughly and soak in water for 3-4 hours. When the time is up, remove the water and put chana dal and rice in the mixer jar. Then add ½ cup of curd to it and coarsely grind it. After grinding, take it out in a bowl.

Then add ¼ cup of finely chopped capsicum, ¼ cup of chopped carrots, ¼ cup of finely chopped tomatoes (seeds removed), ½ inch grated ginger, 2 finely chopped green chilies (seeds removed) and a little more than 1 tsp of salt. Mix them well.

Now to give it a better taste, heat 2 tsp of oil in a tadka pan. Put ½ tsp of mustard seeds in hot oil and reduce the flame to low and let the seeds crackle. Then add ½ tsp of urad dal and fry it till it becomes light brown. After roasting, turn off the flame and put 10-15 curry leaves in it by chopping them coarsely. After mixing, add the tadka to the batter and mix it well, the batter will be ready.

Process of making Chutney

Put ¼ cup of roasted peeled peanuts, ½ cup of grated fresh coconut, 2 green chilies, ½ tsp of salt, 1.5 tsp of lemon juice and ¼ cup of water in a mixer jar. Coarsely grind them, take it out in a bowl and pour some water in the jar and take out all the chutney.

Then put 1 tsp of oil in the tadka pan and heat it. Put ¼ tsp of mustard seeds in hot oil and let it crackle. When it crackles, add 6-7 curry leaves and 1 whole red chili and mix it. Then pour this tadka inside the chutney, in this way the chutney will be ready.

Process of cooking Idli

Put a mesh stand in the pan and heat it by adding 2-2.5 cups of water. Meanwhile, take bowls and grease them with oil, add ¾ tsp eno fruit salt to the batter and mix well. Then put the batter in the bowls.

When the water comes to a good boil, keep the bowls on a mesh stand. Then cover the pan and cook it for 12 minutes on medium flame. There is no need to check them when the time is up as they are completely ready in 12 minutes.

Take them out and let them cool slightly, then with the help of a knife, remove them from the edges first. Take out the idlis by inverting the bowl on the plate, in this way take out all the idlis. Chana dal tadka idli is ready, serve it with peanut coconut chutney. This single idli is very heavy, so serve it at breakfast and enjoy its taste with your family.

Ingredients

Ingredients for Chana Dal Idli

Gram Dal - ½ Cup (100 grams)

Rice - ½ Cup (100 grams)

Curd - ½ cup

Capsicum - ¼ Cup, finely chopped

Carrot - ¼ Cup, finely chopped

Tomato - ¼ Cup, finely chopped

Ginger - ½ inch, grated

Green Chilli - 2, finely chopped

Salt - Less than 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Mustard Seeds - ½ tsp

Black Gram - ½ tsp

Curry Leaves - 10-15 nos, chopped

Eno Fruit Salt - ¾ tsp

For Chutney

Peanut - ¼ Cup, roasted

Coconut - ½ Cup, grated

Green Chilli - 2 no

Salt - ½ tsp

Lemon - 1, small size

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard Seeds - ¼ tsp

Curry Leaves - 6-7 no

Dry Red Chilli - 1

Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)