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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Varagu Adai

The next recipe I tried with Varagu is Adai. I just replaced varagu instead of rice in the traditional adai recipe and it turned out nice. Such replacements are a good technique to include millets in our day to day food. This adai was spicy, crunchy and a very healthy option too. I had the adai as is without any side dish and loved it to the core. For others I served it with tomato chutney.

Ingredients:

Varagu - 1 cup
Channa dal / Kadalai paruppu - 1/4 cup
Toor dal/ Thuvaram paruppu - 1/4 cup
Urad dal - 2 tblsp
Moong dal - 2 tblsp
Poha/ aval - 2 tblsp
Red chilli - 6
Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp
Onion - 1
Coriander leaves, chopped - 2 tblsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Ginger, chopped - 2 tsp
Salt - As needed

Method:

• Wash and soak varagu separately and other dals, poha together for about 3 hours. 
• In a mixie, first powder red chilli, salt and asafoetida.
• To the powder, Add soaked varagu, drained from water. Grind it to a little coarse paste. Transfer to a bowl.
• Add soaked, drained dals and grind coarsely.
• Transfer to the bowl. Mix well and set aside for about 2 hours. 
• Add all the other ingredients, chopped onion, curry leaves, coriander leaves, ginger just before making adai.
• Heat a dosa pan, grease with oil and make small thick adais. Cook in medium flame and flip, cook until golden in colour and the ends turn little crisp.

Varagu adai is ready!!! Enjoy with some nice chutney

Notes:

• We can also add 2 tablespoon of cooked rice instead of poha. Poha / cooked rice makes the adai soft. Don't miss it.
• The adais can also be made little thin like dosa. In that case add more water to the batter. But traditionally adais are thicker ones.
• Of course the best side-dish for adai is jaggery.

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Varagu Kanji | Porridge with kodo millet

The second recipe I tried with Kodo millet is a simple kanji. H had running nose one day and preferred to have some hot kanji. Instead of making it with the normal rice, I made it with varagu.  I made this kanji just similar to vendhaya kanji we make with coconut milk. But I used normal milk instead of coconut milk. Since garlic cooked in milk is good for common cold, I chose this recipe. And it was very soothing to have it hot. I made it with just 1/2 cup (125 grams) of varagu and the quantity was huge. We both had it for about 3 times. This would be a very good option for a healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:

Varagu / foxtail millet -1/2 cup

Milk -1 cup

Water -1/2 cup

Garlic -4 flakes

Pepper powder -1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds / jeera - 1/2 tsp

Salt -As needed

Method:

• Wash and drain the kodo millet.
• In a pressure cooker add the varag (millet), milk, water and peeled garlic.
• Pressure cook in medium flame for 1 whistle and then cook it in low flame for 10 minutes. Once done, mash it well.
• Add more water or milk and salt. Bring to boil and continue until you get the desired consistency.
• Add crushed cumin seeds and pepper powder at last.

Varagu kanji is ready!!!

Notes:

• Milk is optional. You can make this kanji with plain water too.
• You can add curry leaves or coriander leaves also.

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