Steamed Couscous Sandwiches -AKA Idlis

Idlis are often referred to as steamed rice cakes - However these have assumed several variations over the  years and people (self-included) have tried my hand at making these staple south Indian delicacy with grains other than rice. Couscous is one of them.
Couscous has replaced many a rice meal in our home and I have blogged the recipe for couscous idlis before - see here - but the kids were wanting a pizza for lunch 2 sundays ago - I did not want to make or buy pizzas - FYI each slice of pizza store/restaurant bought averages 450 for minimum to a max of 750 and beyond even depending on what the toppings are. We have been on a caloric ride all summer and the start of school signifies the change of diet as well - back to healthy, yummy, low calorie meals. This was a really yummy sandwich idli - I added the toppings of a veggie pizza - onions, tomatoes, bell peppers & green chili all sauteed into a dry curry.
For this version, I dispensed with all the thadka and made it simply with 2 cups of couscous and 2.5 cups of butternilk (actually 1 cup of yogurt and 1.5 cups of buttermilk) These babies can soak up as much buttermilk as you want to put in them - so all you need to is make the batter and cook asap.

Here are some pictures: Enjoy these idlis, for lunch, brunch, tiffin, breakfast or dinner.

these are beautiful dippy plates that we use to steam the Idlis

These babies can also be served with a freshly ground Coconut chutney, another staple side from South India - recipe to follow soon
Here is a sneak peak at it :)

Paneer-yarams with Creamy Fennel dip

Just when I thought I'd exhausted all my ideas for leftover idli atta, of course, kuzhi paniyarams struck me. When I posted on Facebook for ideas with Fennel greens, I had a wonderful list of things I could do with it from a bunch of friends, each one of them gems which i plan to make-
But the easy and delicious one which was immediately executable was Priya's suggestion of a dip - Then I decided I would also chop the greens and the bulb and use for the kuzhi paniyarams - had a block of paneer sitting around and decided to grate that into the kuzhi paniyarams making for delicious paneeryarams :)) Nothing like a little twist to tradition, what say?

I used
1/2 a bulb of fennel,
2 stalks of fennel greens,
1/4 red onion, 1 green chili,
1/2 tsp of turmeric
3/4 cup of grated paneer,
1/4 cup of grated cheddar.
I lightly sauteed the fennel, greens, onions. turmeric and chili in 1 tsp of olive oil.

Batch 1

First batch I made, I tried to do a sandwich with the cheeses. It tasted great but made for messy pouring - so I simply incorporated the paneer & cheddar into the batter and poured the second batch like that - result = awesomeness!

Batch 2

Fennel Dip
3 short stems of fennel greens chopped fine
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1tbsp low fat yogurt
1tsp of Tzatziki herb mix
1tsp salad spice mix (this is like paprika)
mix in and serve with hot Paneeryarams.

Showcasing dip and my peeling nail polish :)

Idli Manchurian

This part 2 of the leftover idli saga :) So those of you who read my post on Idli Bajjis, I saved some of those Idli Bajjis and made an Indian- Chinese dish out of it - Please do try - I assure you that you will LOVE it.

I added 1 tbsp each of  Spricy Szechwan stir-fry sauce and Asian hot sauce;
2tbsp each of garlic chives and spring onions
3 spicy red chilies
1 tsp of sesame oil

Prepare
Saute the above ingredients (except the sauces) in hot oil and add the idli bajjis and stir.
Add the sauces last and mix it in well -
Hear the sizzle of the sauces evaporating  - its time to switch off the stove. Serve piping hot :)

There you have it - the new and exotic avatars of a rather seeda sada and chammathu idlis :)

Couscous Idlis for Blog Hop Wenesday

Add caption

This Blog Hop Wednesday, a wonderful event started by Radhika of Tickling Palates, is a wonderful way to interact with our fellow bloggers and browse their each others blogs in greater details and in a more systematic way – On one such quest, I had the greatest pleasure to go through Harini’s Blog – Tamalapaku – the name was unique and I googled it to find that it meant betel leaves – something many Indians have after a satisfying meal to help with digestion – and the recipes I saw in her blog always erred on healthy which is what my blog mantra is too and I loved the many uses of grains and lentils. I was not sure which one to go with, but I did settle on something that I’ve been cooking with more recently – couscous – you many recall the couscous salad that I posted not too long ago – so my pantry has a full supply of this – And to make our South India charmer Idlis with it was like the best of both worlds for me –as in cooking with couscous and using it for a traditional recipe.

Many Many thanks to you Harini for introducing me to these idlis, they were soft, spongy and incredibly tasty and will be a staple at our home now.  And this was the most pleasurable time because my newly turned 3yr old helped me with the whole process J

The original recipe is here - I doubled the quantities to serve my family of 5


Here is my version with a few slight changes

Ingredients - 

To make for a family of 4 or 6

1 cup of couscous

1cupof sooji

2 cups of yogurt +2 tbsp of buttermilk

Carrots & cilantro finely chopped/grated 1 cup

Dried Nuts Coarsely Chopped 3 Tbsp (I used peanuts, almonds and cashews)

1 green chili

Baking Soda 1.5 tsp

Salt as per taste

Turmeric 1/4 tsp

Olive Oil 1 tsp

Curry leaves, cumin and mustard seeds, urad dal with a pinch of asafetida for tempering

Preparation

Mix the sooji and the couscous in a wide mouthed dish

Add the baking soda and salt and mix into dry batter

Crush the nuts and add and mix in

Add the grated carrots raw (I did not cook it like the original recipe calls for)

Crush cilantro

Add about 1tsp of salt

Now add the yogurt and mix in well

Temper the mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, chili and the asafetida and some roughly torn curry leaves

Add this to the batter and mix in well

Spray your idli plates with non-stick olive oil or other and steam idlis for 10-12 minutes – that’s all it took for me

Healthy, hearty and delicious idlis good to go J

For those of you who missed the blog anniversary giveaway post, it's not too late - please click here