Instant Idli and Beet Dosai With Nigella Seeds

Idli and Dosai are staple food for people in South India. If I give explanation about Idli and Dosai to a South Indian, it would be silly, but for others they definitely need an explanation. A small conversation which I had with one of my Pakistani friend about Idli.
Friend: What did you have for breakfast today morning?
Me: Idli
Friend: Is it something with cheese?
Me: What? It's Idli, it's like a steamed cake made with a batter of lentil and rice
Friend: Oh! alright, I thought it's Italy


When I first heard her saying this it was really fun for me, then I realized I'm not familiar with different cuisines either. So I thought it would be good to have a few words about Idli and Dosai before going to the recipe.
Idli's or Dosai's are generally made with rice and lentils, they soak the rice and lentils, and then grind them to make a batter. This batter is then allowed to ferment naturally. And the batter is then steamed in special types of plates particularly designed for Idli's. This is a traditional way to make Idli's. There are also other different types of Idli's like semolina idli with vegetables. And now in the wonders of blogging there are so many different types of idlis you can find it from our talented Food Bloggers. There are also few interesting information and history about idli's in wikipedia, click here to read that.

Instant Nigella Idli

Ingredients:
Semolina- 1 cup
Yogurt- 11/2cups
Nigella seeds- 2 tsp powdered
Curry leaves- 1 stalk
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Urad dhal- 1 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- 1 tsp
Oil- 2 tsp
Method:
Powder the Nigella seeds in a blender, you can also use the whole nigella seeds. Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard, urad dhal and curry leaves, fry it for 2 minutes. Then add the semolina and roast till a nice aroma release from the semolina. At this you can allow it cool down, and store it in an air tight container for later or use it immediately.
Take a large bowl, add the semolina mixture, add salt and bicarbonate of soda. Then add 1/2 cup of yogurt and mix well, then add 1 cup of yogurt and mix well. After mixing the yogurt, use it immediately, don't let it rest for too long.
Grease the idli moulds, pour spoon full of batter in the mould. Steam the idlis in normal cooker or rice cooker, until it's done. To check the idli's are done, just prick it with a fork, if there is no batter in the fork, then the idli's are done.
Serve the idli's with chutney and sambhar.
To see step by step instructions for the idli's check my Celery Idli here.

Beet Nigella Dosai

Ingredients:
Rice- 2 cups
Urad dhal- 1/2 cup
Beetroot- 2
Sago- 1/4 cup
Nigella seeds- 2 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Oil- to grease the pan
Method:
Soak the Urad dhal, sago and rice for 3 to 4 hours. Grind them in a grinder or blender. When it's completely ground, add the peeled and chopped beetroot and grind it together. Finally add the nigella seeds, salt and water to make it to a batter consistency and mix well. Let it sit for 3 to 4 hours.
Grease a non stick pan, pour laddle full of batter and swirl it around. Cook it on one side, after 2 minutes, turn it to the other side and cook it for another 2 minutes.
Serve the dosai hot with chutney and sambhar.

These both recipes goes to CWS- Nigella seeds hosted by me, started by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.

Beet Nigella Dosai goes to Healing Foods- Beetroot hosted by Priya started by Siri.

Instant Idli goes to my own event Any One Can Cook.