Instant Dhokla

Instant Dhokla

Ingredients:

For Batter

rice flour – 1/2 cup
besan flour – 1/4 cup
rawa/sooji – 3/4 cup
Salt – to taste
Sugar – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – a pinch
lemon juice – 1 tsp
ENO(fruit salt) – 1 tsp
yogurt – 1/4 cup
oil – 2 tbsp
Ginger paste – 1 tsp
green chilli – 1 no chopped or 1/2 tsp chilli paste

For Tempering:

oil – 2 tsp
mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Dry red chilli – 2 no
Asafoetida – A pinch
Curry leaves – 5 no

For garnishing:

Finely chopped cilantro
Sugar 1 tsp diluted in warm water

Instruction:

1. Mix together all the dry ingredient except the fruit salt
2. Now mix wet ingredients (use water little by little) to make batter(Not too thick or thin)like bhaji batter.
3. Keep the steamer hot and add the fruit salt into the batter and mix well.
4. pour it into a greased pan or idli plate and steam for about 15 minutes or till toothpick.
5. For the tempering, heat the oil in a small kadai and add the mustard seeds, red chilli, curry leaves and asafoetida and pour this over the steamed dhoklas.
6. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro and diluted sugar.
7. Cut into pieces and serve with green chutney or spicy chutney.

Masala Idli

Masala Idli

The infuriating thing about cooking is that sometimes you cook more than you need because you never know exactly how to allocate for each person and this gets worse if you have guests. We get overwhelmed with thoughts of running out of food and end up making more. So, definitely bound to have leftovers. And if there’s any king of all leftovers, then it would be none other than Idlis…. which anyone least expect for a meal. Throwing or discarding leftovers is never on my cards and I often find ways to utilise them for the next meal in a such a way that they are appetizing. Here is one way to recycle your leftover idlis……

Ingredients-1

6 nos        Idlis

2 no         Onion

1 no         Tomato

1 inch Ginger (crushed)

4 clove Garlic (crushed)

1 no        Green chili (minced)

¼ tsp Cumin seeds

¼ tsp Mustard

¼ tsp Fennel seeds

10 nos Curry leaves

¼ tsp Split black gram

¼ tsp Turmeric powder

½ tsp Red chili powder

1 tsp        Coriander powder

5 stks Coriander leaves

4 tsp       Oil

½ tsp Black pepper powder

¼ tsp Salt(or to taste)

Instructions

Roughly chop the idlis or cut them into big cubes. Some deep fry the idlis and then add to the masala but I prefer plain idlis tossed in masala. For the masala, heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard, cumin, fennel, split black gram and curry leaves. Add chopped onions, green chilies, crushed ginger and garlic. Fry them till slightly browned. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until it mashes. Now add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder and salt. (Remember: Idli already has salt in it, so add whats necessary for the gravy) Fry until the masala cooks, add the chopped idli pieces and toss over medium flame until the masala coats well.  Garnish with coriander leaves and switch off. Serve them hot or pack it for lunch. Great for kids evening snack, picnic parcels or any quick fix.


Notes

Yield: 2 adult servings.
Adding little garam masala gives a new twist but optional.