Tag Archives: idli/dosa batter

Power Packed Pancakes – Whole Grain Dosais!

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power packed grains and lentils

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top – brown rice, yellow corn and black chick peas

bottom – black gram, green gram, finger miller and pearl millet.

 

Idlies and Dosais for Stress-free life/life style…

 

Why not start a series on different kinds of Dosais/pancakes? With less intake of White Rice recommended, the wide variety of whole grain Dosais would not only contribute to the overall well-being of the family, but also in relieving Stress in terms of what to provide the next morning as breakfast on the table… Healthier, Yummier and less stress on the Home Cook! Just a bit of pre-planning required of course.
  

Whole Grains and Lentils

The different grains and lentils grown in the southern part of India marks the usage of those grains in the form of Dosais. Check out the link for the recipe!
  

 

Kezhvaragu/Keppai – Finger Millet
Kambu – Pearl Millet
Makka Cholam – Corn
Vellai Cholam – Jowar/Sorghum
Varagarisi – Kodo Millet
Samai – Little Millet
Thinai – Foxtail Millet
Godhumai – Wheat
Muzhu ulundhu – Black Gram
Kollu – Horse Gram

  

Above are a few grains that are used in making Dosais and sometimes Idlies/steamed cakes too! But Dosais are comparatively easier, as Idlies have the risk of not rising well if the combination goes wrong or the fermenting ingredient is less or more. This list is apart from the usage of red rice and other lentils in making Dosais.

and this is varagarisi/kodo millet
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I might have left out a few here. Also, the photo display has only a few grains, those which are available with me at present.

The grains are not only used in their original form, soaked and ground; they are also used as powders, milled – sprouted or not sprouted. These powders are available in specific stores all over Tamilnadu.

These are 100% traditional foods. With today’s’ medical advancements proving their health benefits, the almost lost grains in the cities are slowly becoming power packed foods with soaring prices in the retail market.

The list of Dosais/Pancakes are all traditionally still part of South Indian cuisine – more specifically that I am sure of in Tamilnadu cuisine and in the homes of believers of traditional food.

The usage of grains may not only be in the form of pancakes, but in a varied forms like kanji/porridge, idiyappam/string hoppers, grain balls/urundai, kali/halwa and many more …

or the storable batters that end up as Idlies/rice cakes or Dosais/pancakes!
  

Stress-free Cooking with Dosais
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In today’s world, everyone is busy – an infant, toddler, pre-schooler or a school going kid, a teenager, youngster or an adult … ‘Busy’ is synonymous to ‘Life’. While ‘Stress’ stands for over-burden, who can categorize the stress level of each person?

Now, What is Stress?
an unmanageable kid – stress for a working mother,
a lazy employee – stress for a Boss,
heavily demanding boss – stress for a subordinate
troublesome daughter-in-law – stress for a mother-in-law,
complaining mother-in-law – stress for a daughter-in-law,
a serious patient – stress for a physician,
not so serious physician – stress for a patient,
And
not so caring wife – stress for a husband,
a self-centric husband – stress for a wife

The list is endless. This list may not categorize the true stress levels… Mostly the opposite or other extreme of these could also be stress factors.

Why talk so much about Stress? Having Good, Healthy Food and Serving Good, Healthy Food are stress factors attached to the Kitchen Cabinet – whoever is in charge be it male or female.

  

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I am one of those who takes her work serious and so the Stress too! It’s my feeling that Home is my Office, Kitchen is my Cabin and my work load in terms of a Chef without Hat at home is to provide Good, Healthy Food to my family.

So, whatever be my above mentioned stress, an unmanageable kid or a lazy caretaker, I want to do my Duty without much flaws! Especially, ensuring the best possible nutrients in homemade GOOD FOOD – ‘GOOD’ in its true sense – Stressless or Stressful!

Luckily for my family – COOKING is my Stress Buster!
  

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That is where I find Idlies – Rice cakes and Dosais – pancakes make my life stress free – of course with the tiny bit of stress making the batter before hand. But, stress free as they can be stored for even five days in the refrigerator. Every morning and evening, only a few minutes to make them, leaving the stress of making chutney or Sambaar only! That’s ok.. the side dishes are manageable and can be stored in the freezer too.
  

Frozen Batter
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Any batter for Dosais- pancakes (basic idli/dosai or lentil or whole grain batters) can be frozen. Make your batter, ferment it and freeze it in small portions or in two portions. Take out one portion and place in the refrigerator section overnight. Next morning keep it out for a few minutes to an hour. Or defrost in the morning. Batter is ready to make Dosais! What else do you want for a lazy weekend brunch or early dinner? Team the pancakes with chutney or left over curries too!

In fact, whenever we were traveling in Europe, with my daughter who was 3-5 years of age or sometimes with my septuagenarian mother-in-law who would prefer Dosais to sandwiches, I used to freeze a huge quantity of batter which would yield at least 30-40 Dosais enough for all for 3-4 days. Our favourite car trunk used to be filled with frozen food! After a long day’s tiring travel and touring and lunch with sandwiches, the thought of coming back to our kitchenette and having Dosais with thawed chutney or curry was such a soothing affair only South Indian tummies can explain!

In an apartment that wasn’t ours, in some of the most beautiful parts of Europe, in a kitchen that wasn’t mine, making our own Dosais, used to be a wonderful feeling, leave aside the work before and after… Washing the utensils and winding up the kitchen (that was not ours too) even during a holiday!
  

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But an important point to remember, dosaikal or the pan to make Dosais cannot be adjusted with any other pan! One needs to carry the same pan… Pans used for Dosais alone can make the best of Dosais without the batter sticking to pans.

I think back after a couple of years now and feel exhausted even at the thought of having done that for the three years of delightful tours in Europe. But, not letting my three year old sleep with only half or quarter tummy full or the whole family long for home cooked meal after a couple of days has been a Soothing Effect for my heart!

Have I become so much older that I feel exhausted even at the thought of it? But that’s not the issue. The fact is that dosai/pancake batters can be stored for long or frozen too! So flexible to maintain a healthy diet with minimal stress!
  

Breads, Parathas and Dosais

Different kinds of breads or pancakes for the western world;
Different kinds of parathas for northern India;
Dosais or pancakes stand for the South Indians!

1. these can be made from various ingredients – whole grains, lentils or a combination of these
2. some fermented and some non-fermented
3. unlike yeast or other baking-aid ingredients, basically black gram or dehusked black gram is used for the fermentation process
4. as kneading the dough is needed in both breads and parathas, here washing, soaking and grinding involves more time.. Time involved is more than the work involved with the aid of electrical equipments
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Unlike breads or baguette those need to be baked and kept on the breakfast table, the North Indian Parathas and South Indian Dosais taste best from a live kitchen with an on-the-spot chef who makes hot/incomparable stuff. Of course, they can also be made beforehand and stored in hot cases. But not as same as breads!

  
A Series

In the forthcoming posts, I shall try to post a few of the whole grain dosais or power packed pancakes as I call them. Some would be the soaked grain version and a few would be the powdered version as per stock at home.

  

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A gentle reminder

Now, if reading this article was a stress or one feels making dosais can be a stressful affair, do not worry! This free world is full of options – make your food yourself or buy or order it yourself, it is your decision. Anything ‘Stressfree’ is the need of the hour!!

But, if you decide that, making the power packed pancakes at home is going to be less stressful than reading this post of mine, just continue … the next few posts I promise would be truly a – Power Packed – Healthy series!

Idly/Dosa for two!

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This batter would be just enough for two persons. I also tried making the batter in a mixer/blender.

These are some details about Parboiled Rice.  Parboiled rice is produced through the process of parboiling or partially boiling. Harvested paddy or rice with husk is hydrated and then steamed, before drying them. Once dried, the husk of the rice is removed. Traditionally, the husk of rice is removed manually and not mechanically. The process of parboiling makes it easier for the husk to be removed by hand. Another advantage of parboiled rice is that, the process of steaming or heating the hydrated paddy, forces the nutrients in the bran (especially, vitamin B1) to get absorbed into the grains, making the rice, nutritious. While, parboiling, the broken kernels inside the husk may get glued together, thereby reducing the number of broken grains. Parboiling process helps in the sterilization of the harvested rice, which may contain impurities and insect eggs. Parboiled rice takes longer to cook and is not sticky. Once cooked, the rice will be firmer and retain its shape too. Apart from being nutritious, parboiled rice tastes delicious. Parboiled rice is said to be more nutritious than white rice and at the same time, easily digestible, as compared to brown rice. ( http://www.buzzle.com/articles/parboiled-rice.html)

Among the parboiled rice varieties, the rice to be cooked and consumed directly is different from parboiled idli rice. The normal cooking rice looks more polished. Parboiled idli rice has more brownish tan on it. To choose the best rice, go to an indian shop – if it is a shop familiar with south indian food items, ask specifically for idli rice, they would mostly have parboiled rice.

parboiled rice

 

Idli/Dosa for two (makes approximately 22 idlis or 15 dosais)

  • parboiled rice – 2 cups
  • urad dal – 1/2 cup
  • fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp
  • salt – 3/4 tsp

 

soaked parboiled rice

 

soaked urad dal 

 

 Method of Preparation

  1. Wash and soak rice and urad dal separately for 6 hours or overnight
  2. Wash fenugreek seeds and add to urad dal before soaking
  3. Grind urad dal and fenugreek seeds first to a smooth paste
  4. Remove from blender
  5. Grind soaked rice to a smooth paste
  6. Mix dal and rice together adding salt
  7. Always mix with hand
  8. Cover and leave this batter for a minimum 12 hours so that it ferments well
  9. During colder temperatures, the batter can be kept in an oven at warm position overnight
  10. Generally if the batter is ground in the evening hours, it is fermented and ready to make dosais or idlis next morning during summers
  11. After each time of using the batter, it should be stored in the refrigerator
  12. For more on basic batter see https://dosaikal.com/2011/09/16/basic-idlidosa-batter/
  13. After the batter is well fermented, make idlis or dosais as preferred
  14. Serve them with chutney of choice (https://dosaikal.com/category/chutneys/).

grinding it in a blender

fermented batter

Basic Idli/Dosa Batter

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Idlis and Dosais/Dosas are the most common and popular breakfast snacks of south india and especially tamilnadu. The soft and fluffy quality of Idlis or the crispy crunchy texture of Dosais – all depends on the perfect consistency of the batter. Par boiled rice and dehusked black lentils soaked, ground and left to ferment for a minimum of 6 hours or overnight – sounds like a tedious process! But having done this, there is no problem every breakfast or dinner time or even when we come back after a tired day’s work – the batter is handy for a quick breakfast or dinner or even inbetween hunger pranks!

The ground batter is used as Idli for the first day. The second day, when the batter becomes more sour is fit for making dosais. But I make dosais out of the first day batter too. The fenugreek seeds in the batter brings out the colour of the dosais.

parboiled rice

 

 dehusked black gram

 

 

 Basic Idli/Dosai/Dosa Batter

Ingredients (makes approximately 50 idlis or 40 dosais)

  • Parboiled Rice – 4 cups
  • Dehusked Black Gram (Urad Dhal) – 1 cup
  • Fenugreek Seeds – 1 tsp
  • Salt – 11/2 tsp

Method of Preparation of Batter

  1. Wash Urad Dhal and Rice separately until clean
  2. Soak the Black Gram (Urad Dal) and Parboiled Rice in water separately for minimum 6 hours or overnight
  3. Add the fenugreek seeds to the Urad Dhal before soaking
  4. First, grind the soaked Dhal and fenugreek seeds
  5. Use the soaked water for grinding to make a foamy batter – use only required water to make the batter foamy
  6. When it comes out foamy and soft, remove it in a big vessel
  7. Next, using the same soaked water, grind the rice until smooth
  8. Here too, use only required quantity of water for grinding
  9. Add salt to the big vessel and mix ground dhal and rice well with hand
  10. Cover and leave this batter for a minimum 12 hours so that it ferments well
  11. During colder temperatures, the batter can be kept in an oven at warm position overnight
  12. Generally if the batter is ground in the evening hours, it is fermented and ready to make dosais or idlis next morning during summers
  13. After each time of using the batter, it should be stored in the refrigerator

Stone wet grinder with batter

 

 well fermented foamy batter

 

Things to remember while preparing batter

  1. The quality of ground dhal makes all the difference – it should be foamy, silky and very soft
  2. Quality check – Dip your hand in water and immediately give a soft touch to the batter. If the batter doesn’t stick to your hand, it is ready and is right time to remove from grinder or blender
  3. Rice should be ground smooth without any granules
  4. Always mix salt to the ground dhal and rice with your hands. Body temperature helps in proper fermentation
  5. Make idlis or dosais only after batter is well fermented – it should rise well.

Storage of Dosai/Dosa Batter

  1. Once the batter is done and fermented, it should be stored in the refrigerator
  2. Each time idli or dosai is made, take the needed quantity in a separate vessel and keep the rest back in the fridge again
  3. Do not mix water to the whole batter to make the consistency better. Each time you take out the required quantity of batter, adjust water accordingly
  4. While making batter in more quantities, after it is fermented and ready, mix it well from the bottom of the vessel, transfer it to two separate bowls
  5. The bowl with the top part of the batter should be used later
  6. The bowl with the bottom part of the batter should be used first as it may contain more of the rice paste settled at the bottom and it may make the batter thicken and sour faster
  7. Once the first bowl is over, even after a couple of days, the second bowl is fresh enough to make fresh idlis like the first day batter
  8. This is how my mother and grandmother uses the batter made from huge wet grinders.