Winter Idlies Galore

Go to any south Indian household (especially a tam-bram agraharam) and you would find idlies (Steamed rice-lentil savory cake) to be the most common breakfast served with sambar and chutney. Idlies are soft but are often bland. You always extract the spice and flavors from sambar or chutney served along with it.

I personally am not very fond of idlies as it is bland and sometimes dry to be swallowed early in the morning. I have not once made idlies since I have got married (Avi doesn't like it either). We have a snow storm warning and suddenly I felt like eating idlies. I called my mom and asked her for tips, as in winters, the batter doesn't ferment enough to make soft and fluffy idlies. My mom was vexed at my request as she said, "you never have idlies in India and now you feel like making them at peak winter?". I grinned and explained to her that the mind always wants a change and wants something that is not there. She told me to add a satchet of yeast just before I make the idlies to the batter so that the idlies get fluffy. In excitement, I made so many idlies that they lasted for 2 meals :).

It does work, but I have heard adding too much of yeast is not all that good for one's health. Please do let me know how you make your idlies at -20 C .

Here is my idli batte rand how to make idli recipe. For 3 cups of batter I add 1 dry yeast sachet. I also add salt after the fermentation as iodized salt kills the yeast naturally formed. Let me know if you guys have some other winter idly secrets. Click here for the coriander-coconut chutney's recipe shown in the pic.

Idli Upma:-

Ingredients:-
6 idlies (not fresh) cut in 0.5 inch cubes
1 small onion chopped finely
2 green chillies chopped fine
5-6 broken cashews
1-2 tbl spn grated carrot
1/4 tsp curry leaf powder
1/2 tsp of grated ginger
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1/2 tsp of urad dal/ husked black gram
1 tbl spn of oil
pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 tso red chilli powder/ any karam podi (according to your taste)
salt to taste
few coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:-
Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Add mustard seeds and allow to crackle.
Add urad dal and fry till golden brown
Add the onions, green chillies, cashewnuts, grated carrot and ginger. Fry well till onions are transparent and cashews are golden brown.
Add the chopped idlies, salt, turmeric,curry leaf powder and red chilli powder.
Mix well and let the idlies cook in medium flame to imbibe all flavors for about 5 mins.
Stir it every 2 mins to avoid sticking and burning.
Garnish with coriander seeds

Rasa-Idli:-

This is super easy and yumm. Just pop in one idli in a bowl hot rasam (any kind of hot lentil soup) and wait for 5 mins before you serve, so that the rasam penetrates into the idli and the idli is flavorful.