Whole Black Urad Idli with Onion Sambhar

Idli by itself is healthy and melt in the mouth but this recipe takes the healthy a notch higher. I made this batter using whole urad dal so we get the extra fiber. The color obviously is not white but a beautiful grey.

For this you will need -

1/2 cup - Whole black Urad Dal
1 Cup - Idli Rava

Method -
Soak the whole urad dal for 6-8 hours in normal temperature water. If the water is too cold it will take longer to absorb the water and soften. Then grind it to a fine paste with water. To this mix the idli rava and give it a very good mix. Mix for at least 5 minutes to incorporate as much air as possible. The consistency of the batter must be like a thick smoothie. Enough water to allow the batter rise but not too much to disturb the fermentation process.

Leave the mixed batter in a warm spot for 8-10 hours. The batter should rise nicely. Now, you can pour the batter into idli moulds and steam. Tastes best with piping hot onion sambhar and a dollop of butter.

For the onion sambhar -

1 Onion - Sliced
1 Tomato - Cubed
1/2 cup  - Toor Dal soaked for 30 minutes
1 tspn - Mustard Seeds
1 tspn - Asfoetida
2-3 tspns -  Sambhar Powder
1 sprig - Curry Leaves
1 tspn - Turmeric Powder
1 tspn - Roasted Fenugreek Powder
1 tspn - Tamarind Extract
1 tspn - Jaggery
2 - Dry Red Chilies
Salt as per your taste
3 tspn - Ghee

Method -

Pressure cook the dal and keep aside. In the meantime, in a thick bottomed vessel, heat ghee, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. Now add the red chilies, curry leaves and asfoetida. To this add the sliced onions and fry till they are translucent. Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt and sambhar powder. Fry for a minute. Add the cooked dal, mix well. Add the tamarind extract and enough water to get the consistency you like. This sambhar must be a bit thin so it can be poured on to the idlis. Give it a good boil, for about 4 - 5 minutes. Finally add fenugreek powder and jaggery and mix well.

Alternately, you can season the sambhar in the end by heating ghee and adding mustard seeds, a couple of red chilies, few curry leaves and asfoetida. And adding this on top. 

Mysore Pak

The quintessential sweet for all occasions. A melt in your mouth delicacy from Mysore, this sweet is made with just three ingredients. But it is only an experienced cook who can get the consistency just right. A minute delayed in taking it off the flame and it will be hard as a stone and a minute early will end up sticky and gooey.

Practice and be patient and once you learn to make this, you will be deemed the best cook in the family!

For this you will need -

1 cup - Gram Flour (Besan)
2 cups - Pure Ghee (melted)
1 3/4 cup - Sugar

A plate that is greased with ghee on to which you will transfer the mysore pak to cool.

Method -

Take a thick bottomed kadai and roast (no oil/ghee added) the gram flour on low heat till it emanates a beautiful aroma. For one cup, it should take about 3-4 minutes. Once done, transfer this to a bowl.

In a deep bottom pan, take the ghee and keep on low flame.

In the same kadai, take the sugar and just enough water to just submerge the sugar. Heat and bring to a syrup consistency. An easy way to check if the consistency is right is take some water in a shallow dish and pour a drop of the syrup in it. It should remain as a syrup and not dissolve away. Or another way is take a drop (once you blow and cool) between your thumb and index fingers and when you separate them there should be a thread of sugar between your fingers.

At this point, add the roasted gram flour and keep stirring ensuring no lumps are formed. A few small lumps are inevitable and benign :) Keep stirring for about 4-5 minutes. Now start adding the hot ghee, one ladle at a time and keep stirring. So the ghee will get incorporated into the flour mixture. Keep adding and keep stirring till all the ghee is incorporated. If a little bit of ghee is left and you think you have added enough, let it remain. Once all the required ghee is added, keep stirring and after a few minutes it will start to bubble and froth and leave the sides of the kadai. At this point, transfer it to the greased plate. You will have a window of about 2-3 minutes.

Once on to the plate, just pat the entire plate on the floor/ kitchen platform to flatten the burfi. After a minute, cut them into desired shapes, ensure you cut it when it is hot else you won't be able to :)

Once cool, eat and enjoy!

Raagi Halbai

This is a traditional authentic sweet from Karnataka. It is made with just three ingredients and a lot of patience. A healthy and scrumptious dessert I think it is!

For this you will need -

1 cup - Jaggery (powdered or broken into small pieces)
1.5 - 2 cups - Coconut Milk
4 - 5 tablespoons - Raagi flour
Optional -
Pinch of cardamom powder (I didn't add this)
2 teaspoons - Ghee

A plate smeared with ghee (on to which the ragi halbai will be poured to set)

Method -

I recommend using a non stick kadai or a thick bottomed vessel.

Heat the jaggery with about 1/4 cup of water to form a syrup. In the meantime, mix the raagi flour with the coconut milk little by little ensuring no lumps are formed. Once the jaggery has all melted, strain it if you think the jaggery has impurities. I didn't have to strain it.
Reduce the flame and mix the coconut milk, raagi flour mixture to the jaggery syrup and mix well. On a medium high flame, keep stirring this mixture till it thickens. After about 10 minutes, the whole mixture will develop a beautiful shine and it will glisten, stir for another 5 minutes. It is important to continuously stir or else you will end up with a lumpy yucky mass. At this point if you wet your fingers and touch the mass, it shouldn't stick to your fingers. This means raagi halbai is ready. The mixture will also begin to form like a dough and not stick to the kadai any more. At this point you can add the cardamom powder and the two spoons of ghee. Give it a final mix and pour the semi fluid mixture on to the greased plate. Allow to cool and cut into desired shapes!

Serve chilled.