Welcome aboard!

Indian cuisine is a riot of colours, flavours, and spices. Every state has its own unique culture- ingrained taste bud. And, to many of us staying within familiar tastes is a sacrosanct act. Of course an occasional trip to a speciality restaurant that serves another fare is ok. But, as a matter of routine ...at home...NO!

One of the benefits of being born to parents who dared an interstate marriage (am talking about India of the 70's) was being able to widen a regional taste bud to accept, experiment and, relish eclectic cuisines :-)

I love food! Be it traditional or fusion, cooking is all about turning out fare that is tasty and healthy.I welcome all lovers of good food to come on aboard and share your kitchen adventures.

If you like what you see, do leave a comment. If you don't, please leave a suggestion to help me make this better.

You can also request for any recipe you want. Just leave a note in a comment box.

Happy cooking!

Dershana

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Rava-burghul (bulgar) idlis and a warning note

After obnoxious comments, comments left in strange languages, anonymous comments, here is one, which I feel, takes the cake!

How about something that when one reads sounds perfectly nice and resounds appreciation but if you click on the commenter's profile opens up websites that promote steroids, androgen boosters, brain chemical enhancers to even cedar chests and cabins!

I've never had trouble with anonymous nasties simply because I've disabled the option for anonymity in my comment form.True it also prevents readers who want to leave maybe a genuine comment of appreciation but don't have a registered ID and thereby cuts down on my overall number of comments (and hence 'popularity' as a search engine might view it ;-). But never mind! But of late my blog has been getting comments of the new kind that I mentioned before. It's only through habit that I always click to check a new profile name that comments on my posts. Otherwise it would've been so easy to have allowed these "lovely" comments to be published (easily past moderation) and hence inadvertently promote whatever these sites seek to promote.

Hope fellow bloggers too watch out for these wolves in sheepskins!

Long back, during my preggie days, I posted my Rava and Oats Idli
which I find has turned out to be one of the most popular posts on my blog. Back then someone had commented that I could even try substituting the rava with broken wheat (burghul). Thought it was a good idea but decided to substitute oats with the burghul once in a while. The idlis came out quite good though with a little more bite than the oats-rava combo.




Broken wheat (dhalia/burghul/bulgar/broken wheat) - 1 cup
Rava (semolina/cream of wheat) - 1 cup
Low-fat Curds (yoghurt) - 2 cups
Roasted and skinned peanuts - a handful
Soda bi carb - a pinch
Salt to taste

For tempering
Ginger - 1" piece (peeled and grated)
Green chillies - 3 Nos (finely chopped)
Bengal gram (channa dhal/kadalai paruppu)- 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds (Kaduku/Rai)- 1/2 teaspoon
Indian curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Warm a thick bottomed pan and add in the rava. Dry roast on small flame stirring frequently to ensure even roasting. Brown speckles and an aroma from the rava denote the grains are roasted enough. Spread out on a plate and cool. Transfer to a bowl. Whip the curds with a fork and add to the roasted rava and burghul to form a thick batter. Let stay for about 2 hours.
Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan and add the bengal gram. When it starts to turn a light brown , add the mustard and let crackle. Add in the finely grated ginger and chillies. Add the curry leaves. Saute for a minute. Add into the batter along with the roasted peanuts and salt. Blend in the soda bi carb. If the batter has turned too thick because of the rava having swollen up add in a little water. But remember that this batter should be considerably thicker than the ordinary rice idly batter. Pour into into idli moulds and steam for 15-20 minutes.

I served these idlis with fiery mulaku chammanthi (chilli chutney) the recipe of which will soon follow!

PS: Please do not mind the rather dull looking picture. Blame it on bad photography skills, wrong light, and hunger !!

Sending this over to Show me your whole grains event on at Divya's Dil se till April 30th.

20 comments:

Preety said...

rava idlis looks perfect..love to make these anytime as they are simple to make and ready in no time..

I am reading about all these anonymous comments on several blogs..thanks for sharing, we should be more careful

Unknown said...

healthy and delicious..

Sushma Mallya said...

ya your right dershana it has happened in my blog too...they keep promoting these things...And your oats idli looks yum, Lovely way to have oats and that too such healthier way...looks delicious...

Indian Khana said...

Thanks for the warning...shall look out...and this looks good...trying soon

Priya Suresh said...

Thats i have changed the comment section coz of all those nasty fellows..

Btw idli looks super soft and terribly healthy, thanks for sharing.

Raks said...

Idlies sounds a great idea,will try out for BF soon :)

PranisKitchen said...

broken wheat idli looks delicious.i think its a healthy one too
read about the anonymous comments .too bad..we sould be careful right..
btw new to ur blog.came through rak's kitchen.lovely space u have..
do visit my blog too

Usha said...

Broken wheat idlis look soft and fluffy ! I had to disable anonymous comments on my site too.....

Malar Gandhi said...

Long time, no see...how are you?

Anonymous comments, thats awful. I get lot of negative/hate comments...usually saying that I shld cut down my fish intake...well comment moderation is fine.

These idlies looks wonderful, nice healthy adoption.

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Idlis looks healthy and yummy.

Rachana said...

Idlies looks so wonderful and yumm...

FH said...

Hi D. Thanks, good to be back too.
I had the same problem, Japanese comments everyday and I did the same...disabled the "anonymous" comments at Aroma blog. What a relief! So far they haven't caught on to FH blog, hope they don't.

Wonderful looking Bulgar Idlis, must try!

Hari Chandana P said...

Yum Yum Yum.. looks tempring and delicious.. Thanks for visiting my blog dear.. Gr8 job!!

Unknown said...

great i know it, it is rava idli
my mom do this
it was delicious
lovely post

take care see you soon

Unknown said...

wow beautiful photography.
talented photos

all photos are amazing

Ammu said...

Looks perfect. Photos are cute.

Sarah Naveen said...

athey malayali anennu enikku ariyillayirunnu :)

Sarah Naveen said...

Happening in my Blog too :(
Idli looks so soft and spongy...Healthy and yummy!!!

Padhu Sankar said...

Idlys look healthy and yummy!!

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear Dershana
How are you? Just trying to catch up with all the great recipes that I have missed.
You are right all of us must be very careful on clicking on comments, anonymous commenter must be avoided always.
I like the recipe but cant substitute Rava with Dalia. Rave flavor and texture taste every thing is superb!!! I shall make your original one ha ha
have a nice day

 
Blog Blog