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I love nothing more

than twisting the traditional. I find myself constantly experimenting (I guess it makes sense because I am a scientist!) with food. And the one thing I love to make over are the idlis- my favorite dish in the whole world. When I am feeling low or when I am supremely exhilarated- the one that calms me down: idli-sambar. When I go home on vacation and on occasion when ma is too busy to make breakfast- dad hops on his hero winner (now this deserves a post in itself), gets to his favorite food joint nearby (either saravana bhavan or vasantha bhavan) and gets me sooda-sooda (hot-hot) idli-medhu vadai-sambar combination.

Ingredients

2 cups idli rice
1 cup brown rice
a handful methi seeds
1 cup urad dal
1/2 cup whole urad dal with skin
1/2 cup green gram sprouts
2 tbsp wheat germ
2 tbsp ground flax seeds

Method

Soak the rice, dal and methi seeds separately (you don't have to soak the sprouts) for about 4-5 hrs
(next time on-I am going to soak it longer)

Grind the dals first along with sprouts, methi seeds, ground flax seeds and wheat germ

Then grind the rice- mix the ground dal and rice together

Add a pinch of salt and let it ferment for 12-24 hrs depending on the temperature (I leave it in the oven)

To make the idlis, you will need an idli stand. Make sure the dough is not too runny (you will need runny dough for crispy dosas)- the dough for idlis is more like the pancake batter or may be even a bit thicker too.

Oil the idli pan (I use sesame oil)- add about a spatula-ful of the dough. Pressure cook it for about 12-14 minutes and you are done!

Serve with pretty much anything you like- the wise guy had made some really YUMMY thakkali thokku (tomato chutney/pickle)- so kept making idlis to polish off the thokku!

Judgement
In my book- one can never go wrong with idlis and the fact that it allows so much room for experimentation is something that gets me everytime. I am sending this off to Twist the traditional event started and hosted by Satya of My Innovative Kitchen.
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