Idly with Idly Rice, Sprouted Quinoa and Urad Dal / Quinoa Idly

Its an evident fact that nowadays people are looking at various ways to stay fit, grow younger and maintain a healthy living. They have started considering options and try to incorporate the new findings in our Indian cuisine. Recent additions in the present Indian Kitchens include Quinoa, Oats, old style millets, etc., I have never withdrawn myself from trying out new healthy options in my kitchen. Recently, one of my good friend hema treated me with her homemade sprouted quinoa idlies and horsegram dosai. I loved the texture and taste of her quinoa idlies and felt better than the quinoa idlies i was making then. I tried her recipe and came out with fluffy quinoa filled idlies. She made her idlies with sprouted quinoa and grinded them along with the Idly rice, Urad dal and fenugreek seeds. Generally I notice a slight aroma in quinoa idlies which some people might like or dislike. But in her version, that aroma was missing though which was perfectly fine for me.

Try this recipe with Idly rice, Urad Dal, fenugreek seeds and sprouted quinoa. Serve with any spicy chutney of your choice and sambar. An ultimate breakfast to kick start the day.

Ingredients

Idly Rice - 1.5 Cups
Urad Dal - 1.5 Cups
Sprouted Quinoa - 1.5 cups
Fenugreek Seeds - 2 tsp
Water - Enough to grind the Idly batter
Salt - As Required
Gingelly Oil - Enough to spread over the Idly Moulds

Method

• Wash the Quinoa twice and allow them to sprout by covering them for a day or two. Make sprouts just like how you make sprouts with other beans and lentils. It might take a day or two to get some good quinoa sprouts.
• Wash the idly rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds thoroughly and soak them together for 4-5 hours.
• Grind them in a mixer grinder along with the sprouted quinoa seeds together into a thick fluffy Idly batter.
• While grinding, add little water at intervals so that the batter gets fluffy and grinded properly.
• Once you notice a good fluffyness in the batter, transfer them to an airtight container for fermentation. Add required amount of salt at this stage.
• After 6-7 hours of fermentation, gently mix the fermented idly batter.
• Pour them over the oil smeared Idly moulds and steam them for 6-7 minutes.
• Switch off the flame. After 4-5 minutes, carefully take out the idlies from the moulds and serve them with spicy chutney and a cup of sambar.

Tips / Observations

• Soak them together and grind them together in this version. It eases the process and also the helps with the cleaning part.
• Do not add more water while grinding which might make the batter watery. In this way, your idlies might be flat and not fluffy.
• Good fermentation really helps in getting softer, fluffy idlies so try to ferment them in a good air tight vessel.