idli vada sambhar chutney

idli

Many people use Idli rava (rice sooji) for making idlis. But in this
method rice is used directly.

Ingredients

* Urad dal – 3/4th cup
* Rice – 2 cups
* Poha/puffed rice – 1/4th cup
* A pinch of salt
* Baking soda

Method

* Soak rice and daal in separate containers for 4-5 hours (preferably previous afternoon)
* Just 15 minutes before grinding, soak poha.
* Grind the urad daal to a very smooth batter (Do not add too much water, just add as much as needed).Set this aside.
* Now grind the rice and poha. Again dont add more water. Grind this till you get a very fine rava-like consistency of the rice in the batter.
* Now mix the 2 batters, add some salt and keep the batter overnight in a warm place.(Take care to use a big container here as the volume of the batter increases after fermentation)
* In the morning add a little baking soda 15 mins before cooking.
* Grease the idli-stand with a little oil and steam the idlis for about 15 minutes. Open the idli cooker after 5-10 mins and the idlis are ready !!!

Preparation time: 30 minutes + Leave overnight
Cooking time: 20 minutes

vada

Idli seems somewhat incomplete without the thoot-vada (vada with hole)
and so here is the recipe.

Ingredients
* Urad dal – 1 cup
* Green chillies – 2
* Ginger – half an inch
* Pepper – 4 to 5 grains
* Small and thin slices of coconut – about 10
* Salt
* Baking soda
* Oil for frying

Method

* Soak urad daal for 2 hours and grind it to a very smooth and thick batter. Add water just enough for the mixer.
* Grind ginger, chillies and pepper to a coarse mixture and add it to the batter.
* Also add the coconut pieces,salt to taste and a little baking soda.
* Take some of this batter on your left palm and make a small hole in the centre and carefully place it in the kadai with hot oil.
* Deep fry on a low flame till a reddish brown colour is reached.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes

sambhar

I use bisibele-bhat powder for making this particular sambhar. However any of the regular/homemade sambhar powder
can be used for the purpose

Ingredients

* Toor dal – 1 cup
* Onion – 1
* Tomatoes – 2
* Bisibele-bhat powder/sambhar powder – 3 teaspoons
* Green chillies – 2
* Red chillies – 2
* Curry leaves
* Coriander leaves
* Mustard – 1 teaspoon
* A pinch of hing/asafoetida
* Oil for seasoning

Method

* Cut tomatoes,onions and green chillies to small pieces and pressure cook with toor daal.
* Now add sambhar powder, finely chopped coriander leaves, salt to taste and bring to boil. Simmer for a few minutes.
* Now for seasoning heat a little oil and add mustard. After it stops sputtering, add red chillies, hing and curry leaves in

that order and pour it over the sambhar.

Time : 30 minutes

chutney

I am sure that there is no need to write about the method for making chutney. But even then I am
writing it to make the article complete.

Ingredients

* grated coconut – 1 cup
* Green chillies – 3
* Tamarind –
* Red chillies – 2
* Curry leaves
* Mustard – 1 teaspoon
* Oil for seasoning

Method

* Fry green chillies with a little oil.
* Grind coconut,green chillies, a little tamarind and salt with the required amount of water.
* For seasoning heat a little oil and add mustard. After it stops sputtering, add red chillies and curry leaves in that order

and pour it over the sambhar.

Time : 10 minutes