Vegetable Suji Idli /सब्जी और सूजी की इडली /Semolina vegetable Idli

Vegetable - Suji Idli with Peanut Chutney 

Idli and dosa are traditionally made of rice and urd daal. Urd daal is called Black Lentil in English. It's botanical name is Vigna Mungo. 

But many variants of idli, dosa are made, like Sabudana dosa, suji dosa, suji idli etc. In this post I am going to explain how suji idli with the goodness of vegetables is made. Suji/Semolina idli is easy to digest. When vegetables are added to batter then these idlies become more tasty and nutritious. Paired with coconut chutney /peanut chutney and Sambhar it becomes healthy, nutritious, tasty full meal. 

Preparation Time : 4hrs. Soaking time included 

Cooking Time: 20 minutes 

Servings : 20 Idlies (approx) depends upon the size of idli slots in idli stand. 

Nutritional Value  of whole idli mix from given ingredients : (approx. Values) 

Calories : 1600

Carbs : 285 gm

Proteins: 65 gm

Sugar : 16 gm 

Iron : 14 mg

Fats : 20 gm

Dietary Fibers : 16. 5 gm

Folates : 612 mcg 

Calcium : 300 mg

Potassium : 2452mg

Sodium : 1gm

Vitamin C : 10mg

Vitamin A:According to Cooks.com,

30941.91 IU 

For nutrional value (approx) of one idli divide the given values with the number of idlies you make from the idli mix. 

Ingredients Required for Suji Idli :

• Suji/Semolina :  200 gm or 2 bowls (measuring 150 ml.) 

Suji/Semolina 

• Carrot grated : 100 gm. Or 1bowl 
• Beans : 3-4 Finely chopped 
• Cauliflower grated : 1/2 bowl 
• Peas : 1/2 bowl 

Grated Carrot and Cauliflower 

• Fresh Coriander leafs finely chopped :  2Tes spoons 
• Curry leafs : 6-8 
• Grated Ginger : 1teaspoon 
• Dhuli moong daal (Yellow moong daal) : 2 teaspoons 

Dhuli Moong Daal 

• Mustard seeds : 1 Tea spoon 
• Cooking oil : 2 Tea spoons 
• Salt : 1 Tea spoon 
• Curd : 250 gm or 2 bowl 
• Eno : 1sachet 

or 1teaspoon baking powder +1/4 tea spoon cooking soda 

• Lemon juice : 1 Tea spoon 
• Oil for lining idli stand 

When measurement is done by bowl or cup then it should be same size bowl or cup for all measurements. 

Directions For Making Suji Idli : 

• Wash moong daal and soak it in water for at least 30 minutes. Once daal is soaked drain and keep soaked daal aside for further use. 
• Dry Roast suji till it gets light golden color. 
• Shred curry leafs. 
• Take a thick bottom cooking pan. Put 2tea spoon oil in it and heat. When the oil is hot add mustard seeds. 

Mustard seeds sputtering in hot oil 

• When mustard seeds start sputtering add shredded curry leafs and grated ginger . Let it cook for 10 sec. max. 

Curry leafs and Ginger added 

• Immediately add:

1. Grated carrots 
2. Finely chopped beans 
3. Grated cauliflower 

Beans, Cauliflower and Carrots added 

• Cook on low flame with continuous stirring till the beans and carrot become tender and change color. It will take 2-3 minutes. 

Vegetables cooked nicely 

• Add roasted suji (Semolina), mix and cook for 1-2 minutes with continues   

Suji/Semolina added to cooked veggies 

• Add : 

1. Salt 
2. Turmeric 
3. Kashmiri mirch

•  Mix nicely and cover. Cook for a minute. 

• Add soaked drained moong daal, mix and cook for a minute. 

Moong daal added 

Mixture with cooked Moong daal 

• Mash green peas and add to the mixture. Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes. 

Mashed Green Peas added 

• Add finely chopped coriander leafs. Mix and switch off the heat. 
• Cover and let it cool. This will infuse the flavor of coriander in suji mixture. 
• Once the mixture is cooled it can be used immediately or stored in fridge for future use. 

Idli mix is ready 

• To the cooled cooked mixture of suji and vegetables add the curd (200 gm) and mix nicely. Keep it aside for at least for 1/2 hr. Or till suji gets soaked and becomes soft. This mixture can be used immediately or can be kept in fridge. for 2-3 days for further use. 

Curd added to idli mixture 

Curd mixed nicely 

Idli mix nicely soaked in curd suji is soft 

• To make idli stir the soaked mixture nicely. It will be thick so add about 50-100 ml water in small batches . Mix nicely. 

Water added to bring it to correct pourable thick batter 

• Coat the idli stand with oil. 
• Fill 500 ml water in idli steamer and keep it on high heat. 
• Add Eno/cooking soda +baking soda and lemon juice. Mix in circular motion but in one direction only. Either clockwise or anticlockwise for 1minute. 

Eno added

Thick pourable Idli batter 

• Immediately pour the prepared idli mixture into idli slots and place the idli stand inside idli steamer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat.

Batter in Idli stand 

• Lower the heat. Remove the lid and poke any one idli with clean knife or long needle. If it comes clean then idlies are cooked. If any thing sticks to the knife /needle then cook for another 5minutes. 
• Remove the idli stand from steamer and let it cool slightly. Pry the idlies from edges and take out from idli slots. 
• Serve hot suji-vegetables idli with chutney and Sambhar. 

Vegetable - Suji Idli ready 

Tips : 

• Preferably take suji (Semolina) of bigger grain size.
• Curd and water requirement may vary little depending upon the grain size of suji(Semolina).  I use big grained semolina/Suji 
• If your curd is not thick then lesser amount may be required. 
• Make sure the water inside steamer is near boiling before Eno /baking soda +cooking soda is added to suji mixture
• If using cooking and baking soda make sure it is mixed evenly else brown spots will appear on idli. 
• I prefer Eno. 

Suggested Variations : 

• Green chillies can be chopped and added to idli mix as per taste. 
• Thin curd or butter milk can be added instead of water to soaked idli mix for bringing batter to correct consistency. 
• Break cashews into two halves. Place one half on idli stand then pour the idli batter. Cook. Idli with cashew on it looks beautiful and appealing. 

Enjoy healthy Idli for breakfast /lunch /snacks /dinner. 

Kharapodi/ खारापोड़ी (Spicy Tangy Red Powder)

Kharapodi

Kharapodi is red hot tangy powder primarily taken with idli and dosa. This version of Kharapodi is made in Andhra Pradesh. It is mixed with either ghee or cooking oil to make a paste before eating with idli/dosa. I and my family love it so much that with every meal it is taken as an accompaniment. Since we do not take extremely hot food thus the amount of chili is comparatively less as compared to the Kharapodi made in Andhra. 
I use more coconut and comparatively less chilies, coconut provides much required oil and thus this powder unlike its original form can be eaten without mixing with ghee/oil also, though for best taste mixing it with warm ghee is suggested.

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Roasting Time: 30-40 minutes
Grinding Time: 30-40 minutes 
Servings:  1.250 Kg(Approximately)

Ingredients Required For Making Kharapodi : 

• 250 gm Tamarind (Without seeds)
• 500 gm. Whole Red Chili
• 200-250 gm. Dry coconut
• 100 gm. Coriander seeds
• 100 gm. Chana Dal
• 100 gm. Dhuli Urd Dal (Split-chaffed Urd Dal)
• 100 gm. Salt /To taste

Directions For Making Kharapodi:

• Remove the stalk and seeds from the red chilies.
• Grate dry coconut.
• Check tamarind for seeds, if any remove them.
• Dry roast chana dal, Urd dal on low heat to light pink color. Both dal should be roasted separately not together. I use non-stick wok for roasting.
• Remove and keep aside to cool.
• Dry roast red chilies on low heat till they change color to darker shade and become crisp. Remove from wok and keep aside to cool.

Roasted Red Chili

• Dry roast coriander seeds on low heat  to light brown shade. Remove from wok and keep aside to cool.

Roasted Coriander Seeds

• Roast coconut powder on low heat to light pink color. Since coconut has oil and even after removing from heat the hot oil in it will cause it to cook more so do not roast coconut to darker shade. Remove from wok and keep aside to cool.

Roasted Dal and Grated coconut

• Lastly in the hot slightly oily (due to coconut roasting) wok add tamarind and bring the heat to medium and roast with continuous stirring for 5 minutes. Tamarind will stick to the bottom of the wok, it is normal so do not worry. Switch off the heat and remove the wok from the heat. 
• Remove tamarind from wok and let it cool.

Roasted tamarind

• Put water in hot wok to remove tamarind stains.
• Mix roasted Chana dal and Urd dal. Pulse it till it is converted to fine powder.

Dal Powder

• Add roasted tamarind to the dal powder in small portions and pulse. Repeat till all tamarind is mixed with dal powder and pulsed to coarse powder.
• Sieve the mixture and pulse the remaining coarser part. Repeat till whole thing is converted to slightly grainy powder. It will not be fine powder, but little grainy.

Dal and tamarind Powder

• Grind roasted coriander seeds to fine powder.
• Mix coriander seed powder to Dal-Tamarind powder and pulse once or twice to make uniform mixture. 

Dal,Tamarind and Coriander Powder

• As the amount will grow grinding/pulsing in one go will not be possible so divide the whole amount to two three portions and then put in grinder / mixer to grind.
• Grind roasted red chilies to fine powder. Add 2-3 teaspoon of salt while grinding red chilies, this will help converting chilies to fine powder.
• Mix powdered chili to the mixture of Dal-Tamarind-Coriander seed powder. Pulse together again.

Dal,Chili,Tamarind,Coriander and Red chili Powder 

• To roasted coconut add remaining salt and grind to get fine powder.
• Add coconut-salt powder to the mixture of Dal-Coriander seed-Chili-Tamarind powder and mix.

Kharapodi

• Pulse this mixture for 1 minute so that the mixture becomes uniform and all ingredients flavor also infuses nicely. Pulsing the whole mixture is must to get proper flavor in Kharapodi. Since the amount is large now it may require to be divided to two or three portion for pulsing.
• The change in the color of powdered mixture can be seen just after pulsing it after adding salt-coconut powder. 
• Kharapodi is ready. Let the it cool to room temperature (It will become warm due to grinding/ pulsing).

Kharapodi Ready to be stored

• Store in airtight container.
• Mix little Kharapodi with ghee/cooking oil and enjoy with Idli/ Dosa/ Uttapa, Dal-Rice, Curd-Rice,
• Sprinkle Kharapodi on buttered slice, in sandwich. I love to have it with crisp-hot pakoras, there are unlimited options.

Tips:

• Use of non-stick wok will make roasting and later on cleaning easy.
• Roast coconut in just before roasting tamarind this will make the wok slightly greasy and roasting tamarind will become easy.
• Grind the roasted ingredients in the given order for ease and best results.
• Pulsing the mixture at all the steps is very important, because this causes the flavors of all ingredients to mix nicely. 
• Remove seeds from chilies, else the powder will not be dark red in color.
• Check the hotness of the chili and change the amount accordingly to suit your taste.

Suggested Variations:

• Instead of roasting Chana and Urd dal, roasted Black gram (available in market) can be powdered after removing chaff, 
• Powder of roasted curry leafs can be added to the mixture before final pulsing.