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December 22, 2011

Oats Barley Idli Recipe - Barley Recipes

Oats barley idli recipe
I have always wanted to try some barley recipes apart from barley water.When i was browsing for the same,I got an idea of making barley idli from here. I followed the same recipe.Idli came out super soft and tasty. I was not able to find i added barely.Thanks Aruna Smile.Nowadays i make this idli very often.We can make crispy barley dosa as well.I wanted to make some changes to the recipe by adding oats and tried yesterday.My husband was surprised & asked me whether i’ve added oats and barley because there was no change in taste or smell from the usual idli recipe.Only the color of idli was different.He was very happy to have this idli for breakfast and dinner.I made dosas too. It was crispy and yummy.I have updated the pictures with step by step pictures.Hope it will be useful.Lets see how to make this healthy oats barley idli,dosa recipe.Check out my 12 Idli varieties HERE.

OATS BARELY IDLY

Barley oats idli recipe


Barley oats idli recipe Oats barley idli recipe - Healthy breakfast recipe
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Breakfast
Serves: Serves 4
Prep time: 10Hours
Cook time: 15 Minutes
Total time: 10H 15Minutes


INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 200ml
  • Barley - 1 cup
  • Idli rice – 1 cup
  • Urad dal - 1/4 cup
  • Quick oats - 1/2 cup
  • Salt & water – as needed
METHOD

    • Wash and soak all the above ingredients for 5 hours. Before soaking , rinse and drain for 2-3 times to remove the dust in barley. Grind it smooth by adding the required water and salt.
oats-barley-idli-step1
    • Ferment it for a minimum of 12 hrs or over night.
    • The next day,batter would have raised or sometimes doubled. (based on weather)
oats-barley-idli-step2
    • Make idlies by steaming in idli pot.It takes about 15-20 mins for cooking. Check it by inserting the tip of the spoon. If it comes out clean,idli is cooked.
oats-barley-idli-step3
    • U can make crispy dosas also by adding water to the batter. Dilute the batter,mix well and make dosas.
    Enjoy soft,healthy idlies with sambar or chutney !!

Note
  1. Please rinse the barley and other ingredients for a minimum of 3 times to remove all the stones and debris before soaking. Please soak barley for 5 hours at least.
  2. if  u want , u can soak and grind urad dal & methi separately and then grind rice , barley , oats  together .Finally mix both the batters and keep it for fermentation. Being lazy , i soaked and ground everything at once.Winking smile
  3. Also while grinding add water in small quantities whenever needed.It takes 25-35 mins for grinding. The consistency should be of normal idly batter consistency.
  4. If u want to reduce the quantity of rice , u can make it to half cup and follow the same recipe.
  5. U can increase the quantity of oats and try the same .
  6. Please don’t reduce the ratio of urad dal as it gives the soft idly.If u want to use less urad dal , try adding rice flakes or cooked rice for softness.
  7. Fermentation is very important here. If it doesn’t ferment properly , i cant guarantee u about the taste and softness. Winking smile

Oats-barley-idli
Oats-Barley dosa
Oats barley dosa recipe


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December 19, 2011

Dal Palak Recipe With Masoor Dal - Spinach Dal For Roti & Rice

I tried this dal palak recipe from Mrs. Mallika badrinath’s kurma book. I have tried with masoor dal. I googled so many recipes before trying this one but I found most of the recipes used toor dal / moong dal . I used masoor dal as mentioned in the cookbook.It’s a nice combination for roti. I made slight changes in the actual recipe according to our taste buds. Lets see how to make Dal palak with masoor dal / Spinach Dal Recipe.
dal palak

INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 200ml
  • Masoor dal – 1/4 cup
  • Palak / Pasalai keerai – 2 bunches  (hope u all the know the size we get in india) (roughly 2-3 cups after chopping)
  • Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
  • Salt and water – As needed,
To grind
  • Green chilly – 2 –3 nos
  • Ginger – 1 inch piece
To temper
  • Cinnamon – 1 small piece
  • Cloves – 2 nos
  • Methi seeds – 1/4 tsp
  • Jeera – 1/2 tsp
  • Red chilly – 1 no (pinched into two)
  • Garlic cloves – 5 nos (chopped finely)
  • Big onion – 1 no (chopped)
  • Tomato – 2 nos (-do-)
  • Curry leaves – a few
METHOD
  • Pressure cook masoor dal and palak with turmeric powder for 2 –3 whistles. The dal should be mushy.
  • Grind the ingredients given under “grind” to make a smooth paste by adding required water.
  • Now heat a kadai and temper all the items given above in the same order.
  • Add onions and tomatoes and saute till tomato turns mushy.
  • Add the ground masala and saute well for few mins.
  • Then add the cooked masoor dal & palak mixture and add the required water .
  • Allow it to boil well for few minutes.
Serve with roti.!!
Note: If u want to serve this for rice , just omit the cinnamon & cloves and try the same.

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December 9, 2011

Coriander Leaves Chutney Recipe - Restaurant Style Kothamalli chutney

green chutney hotel style

I call this coriander leaves chutney as hotel green chutney. I’ve already posted hotel white and red chutney long back. This is also the same as white chutney but I added little coriander leaves. U can combine mint & coriander leaves in equal ratio and try the same. It tastes great with idli. I've given two versions. Please refer the notes section for the second version. Let’s see how to make this hotel style green chutney recipe.

Coriander leaves chutney recipe


Iyengar milagu kuzhambu Coriander leaves chutney/Green chutney recipe for idli, dosa!
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Chutney
Serves: Serves 2
Prep time: 5 Minutes
Cook time: 5 Minutes
Total time: 10 Minutes


INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 250ml
    • Grated Coconut – 1/2 cup 
    • Green chilly – 3 - 5 nos ( add more for spicy chutney)
    • Dalia/ fried gram dal / pottukadalai – 1 tsp
    • Coriander leaves – 1/4 bunch
    • Turmeric powder – a big pinch
    • Garlic cloves – 3 nos
    • Tamarind - 1 small piece ( just 2 pinches)
    • Salt & water – As reqd.
    To temper:
    • Cooking oil – 1 tsp
    • Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
    • Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
    • Red chilly – 1 no (pinched into two)
    • Curry leaves – A few
HOW TO MAKE HOTEL STYLE CORIANDER LEAVES CHUTNEY - METHOD

    1. Take all the ingredients given above and grind it to a smooth paste by adding sufficient water. In a kadai, temper all the items given under “to temper”. Add to chutney.
    2. Serve with idli adding sesame oil
Enjoy !
Note
    • To get a good green colored chutney, Just saute the coriander & mint leaves in little oil for sometime, add a pinch of turmeric powder and then grind with other ingredients.
    •  Instead of sauting the leaves, you can just add a pinch of turmeric powder to get nice green color.
    • I make the same chutney in another way too.
METHOD - 2

I add little oil in a kadai and saute the green chillies, mint& coriander leaves, little dalia and finally coconut. Just saute everything one by one , mix well and grind together with salt and water. Do the seasoning. This is also a restaurant style green chutney. Do try this way too :)


    • The same chutney can be done using mint leaves or coriander leaves alone.
    • U can try the second method by just sauteing the leaves alone and grind with the other things raw.
    • At the end, add little lime juice for tanginess.

  • Check out my other versions of green chutney here & here.

hotel green chutney

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December 2, 2011

Thenkuzhal Murukku Step By Step Recipe With Video - Diwali Snacks Recipes

Thenkuzhal recipe

Mostly we all make thenkuzhal murukku for diwali or some special occasions. I love this murukku since my childhood days. I used to do all the pre preparatory works for making homemade murukku maavu like buying rice and urad dal, grinding it in flour mill, sieving etc. I sit with my mom & aachi when they make this for diwali especially to get the last batch of murukku. My mom make a batch of half cooked murukku ( we call it “arai vekkaadu” in tamil) for me. I love this murukku more than the crispy ones. I eat it hot immediately after taking out from the oil. 

Even today, my MIL make this specially for me. How sweet !!. I saw so many thenkuzhal recipes in blogosphere with different proportions of rice and urad dal. I wanted to share my version too. Hope this post helps beginners. Please go through the Notes section too. Now coming to my version with step by step pictures and video.



“””PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT THE “POINTS TO REMEMBER” BEFORE STARTING..”””Thenkuzhal

Thenkuzhal murukku


Thenkuzhal murukku White thenkuzhal murukku for Diwali !
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Snacks
Serves: 25 nos
Prep time: 15 Minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes
Total time: 35 Minutes


INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 250ml
  • Raw rice/Maavu arisi - 5 cups
  • Round urad dal - 3/4 cup
  • Fried gram dal/Pottukadalai - 1/4 cup
  • Butter – 4-5 tbsp (1/4 cup)
  • Asafetida / hing – 1/2 tsp
  • Jeera / cumin seeds or Black sesame seeds – 2 tbsp
  • Salt & water – As needed.
  • Cooking oil – for deep frying.
For small quantity : 1 cup = 250ml
  • Rice flour - 1 cup ( Storebought dry rice flour)
  • Roasted urad dal flour - 2 tbsp
  • Melted Butter - 1 tbsp
  • Hot oil - 1/2 tbsp
  • Hing - 2 pinches
  • Cumin seeds or sesame seeds - 1 tsp
  • Salt & water - as needed
  • Cooking oil - to deep fry
METHOD

  • Heat a kadai and dry roast urad dal slightly without changing its colour. Roast till nice aroma comes from urad dal. Switch off the flame and add the fried gram dal. Now mix the rice, roasted urad dal and fried gram dal. Grind in flour mill or powder it in mixie. If you use mixie to grind the mixture, please don’t forget to sieve the flour. Flour should be very fine in texture. This is called “murukku maavu”. If you have store bought readymade murukku maavu, you can use it. OR you can use store bought dry rice flour and make urad dal flour at home. 
  • Melt butter and set aside. You can add soft butter at room temperature as well. 
thenkuzhal
  • To this murukku maavu, add salt, melted butter, hot oil, hing, jeera or sesame seeds and water to make a non sticky dough. Take the murukku press and mould with one whole. Fill the dough and set aside..
thenkuzhal-recipe
  • Heat the oil in a broad kadai and and press the murukku in circular motion directly in oil or press the murukku in a polythene sheet or in the back of ladle separately and then drop in hot oil. This way you get a nice shape. If the string gets cut while pressing, either urad dal flour is less or water is less. So add 1 tsp more urad dal flour and drizzle some water, mix well and try it.  After you press the murukku , please stand a few feet away from the kadai. Sometimes, very rarely murukku may burst like seedai . If it doesn’t burst, then proceed.
thenkuzhal-recipe-1
  • Cook for sometime. Flip and cook for some more time till the hiss sound and bubbles ceases. Do it in medium flame. Adjust the flame whenever needed. Remove and drain in a paper towel.. Store in an air tight container after it cools down.

thenkuzhal-recipe-2

Don’t forget to try the half cooked murukku in the last batch. For this, after you press the murukku in oil, just flip immediately and remove in 10 secs.. Eat it hot !!
White colored, crispy thenkuzhal is ready to enjoy !!

Note
  • When you make murukku in large quantities , make the dough in batches to avoid the dough from drying. Also cover the dough with a damp cloth or a lid while cooking murukku. This helps in getting white colored murukku for all the batches. Otherwise color may vary for the last batches.
  • If murukku breaks while pressing, there may be less water in the dough or urad dal flour is coarse. In that case, you can sprinkle some water to the dough and mix well OR add little hot oil and try pressing. It may come out well. 
  • We have added fried gram dal and butter to get the crispness & white color . But usually fried gram dal is not added in thenkuzhal. Its purely optional.
  • Adding too much of butter makes the murukku look oily and becomes soggy very soon. Shelf life gets reduced.
  • Adding more urad dal flour or too much of roasting the urad dal results in dark colored murukku.So make sure u roast the urad dal without changing the color..
  • The murukku flour should be very fine in texture otherwise it may burst while cooking. So I always sieve the flour for safer side. 
  • Use enough oil for deep frying. Add more oil after few batches if necessary.
  • Drop or press the murukku only when the oil becomes hot. U can find this by dropping a pinch of flour. It rises up quickly. This is the correct heating point. Do not let the oil fume. Always keep the flame in medium for even cooking.
  • Instead of pressing in oil directly, you can try pressing it in the back of ladle greased with oil or greased polythene sheets. This way you’ll get nice shape.  
  • After cooking when you break the murukku, you can see a hole in the middle of the murukku like  funnel. This denotes the murukku is perfect !!
Thenkuzhal murukku

Perfect thenkuzhal must form a hole. Can you see the hole in the broken murukku piece ? :))
Thenkuzhal-murukku
Catch you all in my next post. Bye. Have a gr8 weekend.

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