Varagu Idli and Dosa

The next in line with kodo millet is our beloved idli and dosa - the staple breakfast of tamil nadu. Sometime back I read somewhere that idli is the best breakfast recipe from all the breakfast recipes available all over the world. This is because - idli is made from fermented batter, the fermentation process breaks down the starches so that they are more readily metabolized by the body. Idli has black lentils (de-husked) as one of the ingredient which imparts lot of strength to the body and idli is made by steaming. So no oil and steamed foods are considered the best when compared to other ways of cooking. 

Actually I should have tried idli / dosa first. Somehow this struck me a little late. Nevertheless I decided to post varagu idli and varagu dosa as one post - since the batter is the same. Only the preparation differs. I didn't tell at home that the batter is prepared with varagu. They all ate heartily and didn't find any difference. The idlies were so soft - the same like we prepare with rice. The dosas also came out crispier. So another easy way to squeeze millets into our diet. Do try it out.

Ingredients:

Varagu | Kodo Millet   3 cups    
Urad dal        1 cup    
Poha | Aval    3 tblsp    
Salt     to taste

Method:

Batter

• Wash the varagu rice , urad dal and poha nicely and soak it separately for 4-5 hours.
• Grind this in a wet grinder or a mixie separately (you can mix poha and varagu). After grinding mix well with hands for about 10 minutes. Add salt while mixing. Ferment this for 8 to 9 hours till the batter raises to almost double the quantity.

Idli

• Grease the idli plates and pour one ladle ful of batter in each of the rounds.
• Steam the idlis for 10 minutes in a medium flame.
• Let the idlis sit for about 5-10 minutes so that they cool down little.
• Carefully take it out with the help of a spoon.
• Soft idlies are ready to be served.

Dosa.

• I made the batter a little more watery when compared to the batter used for idli. Lets say added about 1/2 glass of water for 10 ladles of batter.
• Keep a dosa tava on flame. Grease the dosa tava with little oil. Pour a ladle full of batter and spread it in a nice round shape.
• Cover and cook the dosa for two minutes. Flip the dosa and cook covered for another minute.

Dosas are ready!! Enjoy with chutney and sambar.

Notes:

• If you want crispy dosa then make the dosa very thin and at last cook uncovered for about a minute.
• Adding poha makes the batter soft. DO not miss it. Alternatively you can add cooked rice.

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