Idli w. Coconut Chutney

South indian food has a special place in my heart & belly. When my favorite S. Indian restaurant in NYC shut its doors, I decided to try & recreate some of the standouts on my own. Here is a relatively easy (but time consuming) recipe for making the breakfast/snackin item Idli:

Mix 1 cup of urad daal (soaked in water for 8 hours) + 2 cups of grounded up rice (cream of rice) and ferment for 8 hours or overnight.

Once the batter is ready, you can start filling up the idli stand (that’s what it looks like above. I purchased mine at Patel Bros). Make sure you grease the molds before adding batter.

Place idli stand in pressure cooker with about an inch of water, so that it collects just beneath the lowest rack on the idli stand.

Cover pressure cooker but don’t put the weight (whistle) on. Steam for 15 minutes…and your End Result:

Idli with some coconut chutney. All you need for the coconut chutney is: 1 cup shredded coconut, 1 tsbp hummus, 3 small green chillies, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp urad daal, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp salt, & 1/2 cup water or more depending on your preferred consistency.

As I said before, this was pretty time consuming to make. I suggest you set aside a few days on the weekend. Yes, I said a few days. But the taste is worth it. Or you could get one of those ready-to-make mixes. But what would be the fun in that?

Music for idli making: Lata Mangeshkar - Panchi Bannoo Urthi Pirhoon