Soy Beans Dosai and Idlee

I grew up on a steady diet of Idlee and Dosai. Along with the fallback "tiffin" of Upma,  the meals were mostly Sambar, Rasam, Rice, Yogurt and an array of vegetable sides. An amazing array.

Anyway, possibly as a result of the intimate connection with Idlee and Dosai during my childhood, my affinity for them has increased exponentially since the kids arrived.

Plus, I greatly appreciate what an easy yet healthy meal option it is for the kids: good protein, low fat, plus the goodness of wild fermentation; and for the cook: a batch of batter lasts several days if stored in the fridge; and as it ages it can become onion oothappam, or diluted with some roasted cream of wheat to make rava dosai, and if indulgent, hot fried appam can come about as well.

Not many South Indian kitchens are without an Appa Karal which is a traditional apparatus resembling the pancake puffs maker that was the rage a few years ago.

Dollops of gracefully aged idlee batter - with some chopped chilies, coconut, onions, maybe some soaked and softened chana dal - typically fried crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside when made in the appa karal - a great tea time snack during monsoon season.

The traditional idlee and dosai get made often, as do brown rice dosai and idlee; but every once in a  while I change things up a bit in the spirit of experimentation and just for the fun of it.

That's how these protein-packed Soy Bean Dosai (and Idlee) came about. Between the soy beans, urad dal, moong dal and chana dal, there is plenty of protein.

And with the wild fermentation, we get the pleasantly sour flavor, with nutrients intact. As Sandor Ellix Katz describes in his book, "Fermentation not only preserves nutrients, it breaks them down into more easily digestible forms. Soybeans are a good example. This extraordinarily protein-rich food is largely indigestible without fermentation. Fermentation breaks down the soybeans’ complex protein into readily digestible amino acids,..."

I am not a nutritionist or a dietician, but, am always conscious of what we consume - at least what I feed my kids. And Idlee and Dosai have certainly earned a permanent place in their diet and what's more, they relish it.

Ingredients
½ cup split white urad dal (skin removed)
½ cup dry soy beans
¼ cup chana dal
1 cup whole green moong dal aka mung beans

1½ cup idlee rice (or brown rice)

Combine the ingredients, wash well, soak overnight or up to 12 hours.

Drain the water and grind to a fine batter, almost as thick as pancake batter.

The batter will not be smooth and silky as with flour batter - it will be a bit gritty and coarse-textured.

Leave the batter in a warm place covered with a cheese cloth or any breathable cloth overnight, for about 12-16 hours, to ferment naturally; even up to 18 - 24 hours. In a cold place like mine, I warm the oven to a low temperature, turn off the oven and leave the batter in there to ferment.

A pleasantly sour smelling batter that develops frothy bubbles when stirred indicates that it is ready for consumption. On cold days, I leave the batter out, but on warmer days I refrigerate it at this point for later use.

Chop up or mash any vegetables as desired and add to the batter before steaming the idlee or making the  Crêpe-like dosai. Serve it with a few chutneys and potato masaal or cabbage and potato alicha for a fusion Ethiopian.

I prefer to start with the basic thick fermented batter for idlee - but dilute it a bit for the dosai as needed to make thin crisp 'paper roast'. Serve it as breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner - it is a versatile meal.

Quick Vegetable Idlees

Before the kids arrived, I used to dutifully soak and grind and have batter fermenting for either Idlee, Dosai, or Adai, pretty much back-to-back. Just a habit I picked up from my mom. The batter keeps well in the fridge and is handy for quick breakfast or snack.

But, over the last couple of years, I have started relying on quick alternatives that are still healthy, but may not have the traditional process and taste. And, one such short-cut is quick idlees made with urad dal flour, rice idlee rava with suitable rising agents.

Years ago, I didn't think twice about the endothermic reactions my mom taught me (being my Chemistry teacher) but now that I use it a lot to create the rise in idlees, I just smile quietly and thank my mom. The endothermic reaction of Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) with Citric acid* in water creates the required rise in the form of Carbon Dioxide that is released.

Grated carrots, beets, ginger, even corn kernels, cilantro, onions can be mixed in with the idlee batter to add a boost. Sometimes, I throw in a handful of quick cooking rolled oats to the batter (adjusting water to get the right consistency).

In winters, for the yeast rise (rather than citric acid+baking soda reaction), I allow the batter to ferment for an hour or so in warm place (usually by the heating vent).

The batter consistency determines the quality of idlees - too thick a batter results in hard, dense idlees while soupy batter results in mushy goop. The quantity of water given here has worked well for me, but, feel free to experiment.

If idlee steamer is not handy, can use muffin mold pan. Steaming apparatus can be a pressure cooker minus the weight, or a large pot of boiling water with lid.

Ingredients
¼ cup urad dal flour
¼ cup all purpose flour
½ cup rice idlee rava
½ tsp citric acid
½ tsp baking soda
1¼ cup water†
½ tsp salt (or less, if preferred)

Grated vegetables (optional)
† Add one cup first and then add the rest as needed after the 10-minute wait, to get the right consistency

Preparation

1. Combine the ingredients, stir well and allow to sit for 10 minutes
2. If preferred divide the batter it into two parts, or make two batches separately as above. Stir in grated carrots, beets, ginger into one batch and corn kernels, ginger, onions, cilantro for the other. Or use any favorite vegetables, or none at all
3. Steam in the traditional idlee cooker for about 10 minutes or till done. The quantity given here makes about 8 standard size idlees(about2½ inch diameter)
4. Serve with favorite chutneys. My favorites for idlees are spice tomato-chili chutney and milder coconut-cilantro chutney, besides the staple Idlee Molaga Podi ( a home-made spice powder), of course [recipe to come] :)

An alternate recipe, using yeast:
½ tsp rapid rise yeast
1¼ cup warm water
¼ tsp sugar
¼ cup urad dal flour
3/4 cup rice idlee rava
½ tsp salt

Bloom the yeast in sugar+water till frothy (about 5 minutes). Then mix in the rest of the ingredients and allow to sit in a warm place for 1 or 2 hours before steaming.

*Some people are sensitive to citric acid as-is, but not to the end product of the citric acid+baking soda+water reaction.

cornmeal rava idlee

I've been making minor variations of my regular recipes, nothing spectacular to post, but, I was quite surprised by this batch of experimental idlee batter that I decided to note it down here.

It is a variation of the rava idlee, with cornmeal and rice idlee rava, plus some starter for fermenting the batter. The starter is optional. I had it handy from the Lemon Fruit Cake recipe and wanted to see if it would stay active and ferment this batch of batter. And it did! In about 24 hours.

The idlees came out quite fluffy and mildly sour, just the way I like it:)

Serve warm with chutneys of your choice, or even sambar.

Ingredients
1 cup bread starter* (optional)
1 cup rosated coarse sooji rava
1 cup rice idlee rava
1 cup coarse cornmeal or cornbread mix
1 cup buttermilk
½ tsp sugar (only if using the starter)
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
plus water as needed to make a fairly thick batter

tempering: 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp mustard seeds

*if not using the starter, can use 1 Tbsp rapid rise yeast instead; or, simply leave out the yeast and allow for natural fermentation, which might take longer than 24 hours depending on where you live.

Preparation

1. combine the batter ingredients, (all except baking soda and salt) in a ceramic or plastic bowl, the batter can be thick at this point, stay conservative with the water till ready to cook; cover and set aside in a warm place to ferment overnight or for 24 hours
2. when ready to make the idlees, get the tempering ready: heat the oil in a pan, add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown add the urad dal and when it turns golden brown add the mustard seeds, when mustard seeds pop turn off the heat and add it to the batter, stir well
3. taste the batter and add salt as needed; stir in the baking soda and add water to desired idlee consistency
4. grease the idlee moulds, pour the batter and steam till done

Rice Idlee

I had resisted posting a recipe for idlee for almost a year now, since I started blogging because, to me, it felt like posting a recipe for cooking plain rice... I mean, agreed, different varieties of rice need different handling, different amounts of water and such, but basically, it is nothing much to get excited about.

But, ever since my mom gave me this rice-cooker/idlee-steamer apparatus, and ever since I discovered a short-cut of sorts for the batter that works consistently, idlee has become a favorite at home.

Simply put, idlees are steamed savory rice cakes, a staple in most South Indian households, ubiquitous and mostly uncelebrated. Many prefer Dosai (rice crepes) to idlees, at least in my close circle.

The nice thing about this electrical gadget my mom gave me is it takes the guesswork out and consistently delivers perfectly done idlees - it comes with a measuring cup to add water for each batch of steaming and has an on/off light to indicate if it is done. Otherwise, I usually steam it in a pressure cooker (minus the weight) or a stove-top idlee-steamer.



The batter to make idlees is fairly standard but each family usually adds its own little touch to make it different. The traditional process is to soak the rice and urad dal overnight, in proper proportion, then grind it to a fine batter and let it ferment till fluffy. Once the batter is ready, add salt to taste, pour into idlee molds and steam them.

Now, at home, my mom always made the batter smooth and silky so that the idlees were soft and spongy. Whereas, every now and then, when we went to restaurants, the idlees there had a certain coarse texture (yet fluffy, not dense) that I liked better than the soft and silky home-made ones.

Over the last 5 or six years, I've been doing the soaking-grinding-fermenting for idlee/dosai batters as much as I can.

But, to save some time and labor, I started using what I creatively call the "Short-cut Method": use urad flour, rice flour and rice (idlee) rava^† for making the idlee batter. This eliminates the soaking and grinding phase and I can just jump straight to the fermentation phase and have the batter ready easily.

^†rice/idlee rava is sold in most indian stores as rice meal or rice farina - it is coarse grain rice (almost like cornmeal texture) - and adds some body and dimension to the idlees that I like better.

Now, fermentation is not easy when weather is not hot enough... so, I try to help the process along by adding a touch of active dry yeast and leaving it by the heating vent in Winters.

Idlees are usually served with an array of chutneys like mint chutney, coriander chutney, coconut chutney, tomato chutney and so forth; as well as with delicious sambar; but, my mom's favorite side always is the idlee milaga podi (recipe coming shortly) - a ground spicy dal powder mixed with gingelly oil.

Ingredients
1 cup urad flour
1½ cups rice idlee rava
2 cups rice flour
1 tsp active dry yeast
1½ cups warm water
½ cup buttermilk
salt to taste
1-2 tsp gingelly or canola oil for greasing the idlee molds

Preparation

Mix the dry ingredients and stir in the buttermilk and water a little at a time till a thickish batter is formed.

Cover and set aside in a warm place to ferment for about 24 hours - I start it tonight, and leave it fermenting to be ready for dinner tomorrow night.

When batter is fermented well it turns fluffy and bubbly and acquires a mild sour smell and taste which is perfect.

At this point, the batter consistency can be adjusted by adding a little water at a time to get it to pour-able consistency, like thickish pancake batter.

Gently stir in salt to taste without losing the air pockets - over-stirring punches down the batter flat and sometimes can leave the idlee hard and dense.

Pour into greased idlee molds and steam for about 10-12 minutes till done - i.e., a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

p.s: thanks to Ashaji's comment reminding me about RCI:Karnataka, I would like to enter this post for the same! Yay!