Idli & kosamalli

Tamilian traditional breakfast is Idli & sambar/chutney. One of the thing, we don’t forget to pack as a luggage to US along with homemade spices “The wet-grinder”. This appliance “ wet grinder” plays a predominant role in tamilian kitchen. It helps make some soft idlis to crispy vadas.
When we have the Idli batter in stock, it is just a matter of seconds to prepare many varieties.
Fermenting the batter is the crucial thing when you live in cold place. But, I found it easy when we use the heating system in winter. I just place the batter near the heat went (the heat should be indirect to ur pot)… Till now, I never had any problem to fermenting the batter (touch wood)…I even lived many years in snowing area and the fermenting job was a huge success…

Once the batter is ready, first two rounds, it would be idlis, after that; I mix little water to the batter to make it thin and prepare some Dosas. When the batter turns sour, time to do Uttapam with some minced onion & chillis, which balance the sourness. Or if u mix the onion, chillis and pour in special paniyaram pan it turns into Paniyaram. With only one batter, all the tiffins are created day by day!
Any blogger, help me out if I forgot to mention any items from the idli batter!
Few tips to grind: The rice should be parboiled rice/idli rice soaks it at least 4 hours. Make it little coarsely not fine batter….
The grinder should not heat up! In US, we use the converter so the machine heats up easily, don't let the batter turns hot , the result, you get some hard rock not soft idlis. Stop every 15 to 20 minutes – give a break to the appliance! I know it is time consuming, but u save ur precious appliance and the batter will be perfect.

For Urad dhal: Soak only 1 or 2 hours. Yes, It doesn’t have to be soaked for long time. The urad dhal batter should come out like butter…. If you re doing in blender sorry the outcome is not the same! The ratio for blender should be little different try to add little more urad dhal….

Idli & Kosamalli

Ingredients:

Rice (Idli rice or parboiled rice):

4 cups (u can even use small tea cup but try to use the same cup for urad dhal also)
Whole Urad dhal (dehusked) : 1 cup
Fennugreek seeds: 2 tsp

Soaking time :
Urad dhal + fenugreek seeds 2 hours soaked in plenty of water
Rice (parboiled or idli) 4 hours minimum soaked in plenty of water

Grinding:
Rinse well and start with urad dhal and grind into smooth batter.
Rinse the rice and ground into coarse batter, keep sprinkling water so you can end up making thick rice batter which is key to have fluffy idlis , if the rice batter is watery, the idlis re thin!
Mix well the two batter together with 1 tbsp of salt.
Let ferment the batter for at least 10 to 24 hours until it raise little high! (US only) or Depend you room temperature.
Once the batter is ready, can make idlis with idli mold/Idli plate.

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For the side dish, I prepared Kosamalli which is a Chettinad Classic side dish. Got tired of sambar, chutney, this gravy is light and had a mild spices. When I say Chettinad dish, many bloggers are already awared it originated from Solai’s True Chettinad cuisine. She recommended trying this classic dish. One of the must try recipe by everyone, the taste cannot to be compared to our sambar/chutney. I didn’t made any modification to the recipe except to add few more chillis, replaced pearl onion to normal small one to my curry. Her recipe is fool proof; I want to keep the recipe for my reference. All the credits go to her blog.

Kosamalli:

Brinjal (used purple small): 4 counts
Potato: 1 medium (for US size)
Tamarind: A small piece or like ¼ tsp of paste
Onion: 1 medium
Tomato: 1 big
Green chillis: 6 num – could be less or more depend what kind of chillis u use.
Salt: 2 tsp or more –less

Seasoning:
Oil: 1 tsp or more
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Red chillis: 2 num
Curry leaves: few leaves



Method:

Cut the brinjal and potato into big chunk and steam in pressure cook for 2 whistles. Once the pressure is released, take out , peel the skin for brinjal and potato and mash it.
Soak the tamarind in 4 cups of water with salt . Extract the juice or dissolve the tamarind paste, add the mashed vegetable.
Heat a pot with oil; add the mustard seeds followed by red chillis and curry leaf. Add the onion and tomato, green chillis, doesn’t need to be cooked, pour the tamarind vegetable mixture. It will should be watery so don’t panic! When the mixture starts to boil, switch off the stove and garnish with cilantro leaves.

The dish is watery and can be easily served for 4 adults, goes well with iddiapam/idli or dosa. Thank you Aunty to share such an authentic recipe.

Note: Tamarind is a key ingredient, less is better! If u want to make for just 2 adults, cut the recipe by off. As it is a classical dish don't try to modify ! U may end up with different taste!


This curry is ending to Srivalli's curry mela! And WBB-combo breakfast , hosted by Latha, event originated by Nandita .