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Idly and Bhaji

 Idly and bhaji is a popular combination in the north canara region of Karnataka. It's prepared as a breakfast atleast once in a fortnight, alternatively served with Bhaji, Coconut chutney with asafoetida,  coconut chutney with seasoning. 

One can find the Idly - bhaji combination in the hotels in this region. Now a days it's replaced with sambar , probably due to the influence of other parts of South India.

Here we go with the Ingredients & step by step procedure -

Idly recipe :

Ingredients :

1 Cup urad dal

2 cups rice rava (Idly rava)

Salt - per taste

Steps 

1. Wash the urad dal thoroughly. Soak 1 cup of urad dal in water for about 5- 6 hours. (For the preparation of the breakfast, it's preferred to soak the dal in the afternoon, so the batter can be made in the late evening.

2. Grind the urad dal to make the batter in the grinder (The grinder with stones are preferred). The mixer grinder can also be used, however there is a variation the Idly texture that turns out to be. 

3. Now keep the rice rava ready and wash it thoroughly and add this to the ural dal batter. Mix well with hands or a ladle. The batter is ready and now time to leave it for fermentation. 

4. The batter should get fermented for about 7 - 8 hours at a room temperature of 23 deg F. However, the fermentation time depends on the geographic location. The batter should not be runny, it should be thicker than the dosa batter. If it's too thick, you may add water at this stage.

5. After the fermentation is done and about to be steamed, add the salt. Mix well. 

6. Grease the idly moulds with coconut oil and pour in the batter. Steam the idly for 15 minutes on a medium flame. 

Note : I always let only the 75 % of the batter to ferment & rest of it I refrigerate and add it to the fermented one just before I steam it. This is to avoid the idly's turning out to be sour due to over fermentation. This is based on the multiple trials, where it yields me very good idly's. 


Bhaji :

Ingredients :

1 tsp coconut oil

1 cup fresh grated coconut

1 medium size potato

1 large / 2 medium onions

3 - 4 pods of garlic

1 medium tomato

tamarind - small 

Coriander leaves

Salt - per taste

To fry in oil -

2 tsp coriander seeds

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp poppy seeds

1 tsp dagad phool (stone flower)

4 cloves 

1' cinnamon piece

4 peppercorns

6 dry red chillies

Preparation :

1. Fry the ingredients mentioned in 'To fry in oil' section on a low flame in a kadai with one tsp of coconut oil. Keep stirring and fry until it leaves the smell or turns out red. Keep aside.

2. Dry roast the fresh grated coconut on a low flame until it's about to turn red. Switch off the flame.

3. Once the above fried items are cooled down, add sufficient water and tamarind to make the ground masala in a mixer grinder.

4. Chop the potato, onions and tomato into small pieces. remove the skin of garlic pods and crush it with mortar pestle. Chop coriander leaves.

Method :

1. In a large vessel, add the chopped onions and add water. Once it's half cooked, add the chopped potatoes and let it cook. Add the chopped tomato and let all cook for 5 more minutes or until well cooked.

2. Add the ground masala to the above vessel, add sufficient water for better consistency. Add salt. Let it boil. Add the chopped coriander leaves and cook for half a minute.

Idly & bhaji are ready to be served hot :)

Note : I have skipped adding dhagad phool many a times, where there was no stock at home. But definitely, this adds on to the taste. 

Detailed pics - I will post shortly !

Comments

  1. ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಬರೆದಿರುವೆ
    ಒಮ್ಮೆ‌ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುವೆ.

    ReplyDelete

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