CUISINE

Hello everyone

I always found South Indian foods a real comforting food. Everyone likes idlis, doses, uttapams, sambhar etc and I too a big fan of these soothing and light comforting food. As I always try to make little healthy changes in my regular cooking, in my previous idli recipe I used Dalia and this time going to introduce you with oats idlis but made in traditional way as soaking and fermentation is included in whole process. So why not give it a try, recipe is given below.

TRADITIONAL IDLI, DOSA AND UTTAPAM WITH OATS

Serves: 4-5

Time: 2 hrs( excluding soaking and fermentation time)

Ingredients

1 cup split urad dal

1 cup oats

2 cup rice ( idli rice or any old variety rice)

1 tsp fenugreek seeds( methi)

1 fistful cooked rice or soaked poha ( flattened rice)

1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Soak oats, rice +fenugreek seeds and dal separately for 3-4 hrs. Then grind dal using little water till light and tiny bubbles are visible in it. It will take nearly 15-20 mins for grinding each batch of dal, so have patience, as it's needed for good soft and spongy idlis. Now grind oats and rice + cooked rice or poha + methi to a smooth paste. Now mix all together and add salt. Give it a good stir and let it ferment overnight in a quit big vessel to avoid overflow of batter.

Always use little water at a time for grinding other wise you may end with runny batter. Idli batter should be as thick to be fall as a blob.

When it get nicely fermented it will become frothy. Ready your steamer or cooker with rolling boil water .Now grease idli molds and fill 2 tbsp batter in each of them and steam for 8-10 mins. Let it rest for 2 mins after done ,then scoop out warm idlis with wet spoon. Serve with your choice of chutneys and sambhar.

If you wish to make uttapam out of this batter then dilute a little. It's batter should be little thinner than idli batter and thicker than dosa batter. Thick pouring consistency batter. Now heat a non stick pan on medium heat, Apply some oil on it and pour 2-3 ladle full of batter on it and spread like a thick dosa. Sprinkle some finely chopped veggies ( grated carrots, finely chopped onions, tomatoes, capsicum,coriander leaves, chilies etc) over it and press lightly with a spatula so that they get nicely stick to batter. Cover it with lid and cook till upper sides looks dry, then flip it and cook for another 1-2 mins.

Now your steaming hot spongy uttapam is ready to be served.

For making dosa, dilute batter further more till dosa batter consistency. Now heat nonstick dosa tawa on medium heat apply some oil and wipe it with tissue paper. Pour 1 ladle full of batter on it and spread with light hand in circular motion outwards. Let it cook till brown patches are visible , then fold and serve with chutney and sambhar.

Your crispy, crunchy dosa is ready. You can also stuff it with your choice of stuffing.

If you are soaking dal and rice over night then try to soak oats in the morning, it will be ready in 1/2 -1 hr. Overnight soaking of oats may leads to smelly batter. Don't over ferment your batter , once it's done try to use it or keep it in fridge. Before using it let it come to room temperature for best result.

Your all the three South Indian delicacies are ready with the same batter, either enjoy at a time or have three times, different breakfast ,lunch and dinner .