Ragi idiyappam

Idiyappam / string hopper is a breakfast item popular in Tamilnadu, kerala and Srilanka. Usually it is made with rice flour and pure white in color. (Click to see my idiyappam with rice flour recipe). Nowadays we can easily buy them in dried form like pasta from Chinese stores (rice noodles). Also in Tamilnadu one can see vendors in cycles selling idiyappam in the early morning. Households with little kids and elders are the regular customers for these cycle-walas. Idiyappam , a steam cooked meal is easy to digest and hence it is preferred as dinner also. Recently idiyappam with ragi flour has become popular among dieticians and they recommend it to many.  So we can see readymade dried ragi idiyappam also in stores. It is very convenient for a quick meal. Making fresh idiyappam is also very easy and here is my recipe for ragi idiyappam.

Ragi idiyappam with shredded coconut.

My new screw type idiyappam maker....easier than pressing and I love this very much.

preparing idiyappam dough

Ragi idiyappam for my neighbor aunty ...food exchange Fridays :)

Ingredients:
Ragi - 1 1/2  cup
water - 2 cup (nearly)
salt - 1/2 tsp
ghee  - 1/2 tsp
cardamom powder - a pinch
for serving:
sugar - as per need
shredded coconut - as per need

Method:
Dry roast the ragi flour in a kadai (wok) , till it smells nice and a mild red. Add cardamom powder.
In a separate vessel, bring water to rolling boil with salt, ghee.
Pour little by little over the roasted flour and mix to get a soft chapati dough stage.
Divide into 3 equal portions.
From one part, take a handful and stuff inside the idiyappam press (idiyappam nazhi).
Grease an idiyappam plate or idly plate with a drop of ghee / oil.
Squeeze the strings in continuous fashion. Place inside idly cooker or idiyappam steamer.
(I use pressure cooker for both idly and idiyappam. Pour 2 cups water in the cooker.Leave the bottom-most plate empty and keep the idiyappam plate above it. This will ensure the idiyappams to get cooked without getting wet. I keep it for 10 minutes in high steam WITHOUT  the weight valve).
Take out once it is cooked and serve immediately or store in airtight containers.
Likewise steam all the idiyappams.

Serving suggestions:

Serve ragi idiyappam as dinner or breakfast.
I keep the leftover as a sweet snack or dessert.
The popular side dishes are shredded coconut with sugar, coconut milk mixed with jaggery solution and cardamom or sugar.

Tips:

Dry ragi idiyappam is commonly available in market as instant ragi semiya or idiyappam.
Dry roasting the flour and adding cardamom powder will make a flavorful idiyappam.

Sambar mini idly

Sambar mini idly / ghee idly / nei idly/ Saravana bhavan special 14 idly with sambar.

This is a special kind of idly dish served in popular Indian restaurants like Saravana bhavan of Tamilnadu, India. In saravana bhavan they serve 14 mini idlies in a bowl with their special Saravana bhavan sambar with a generous spoon of ghee (melted butter). With the popularity of this dish, the idly vessel makers started selling these cute mini idly stands and every mother would rely on this little angel to make their kids eat the idly:)  The batter I use is the same as the regular idly batter. I always make vengaya (shallot onion) sambar just like the Saravana bavan hotel to soak those cute fluffy idlies. But we can make any kind of sambar for that.

Sweet notes:

I bought a similar idly stand while in India especially for my hubby. In the beginning I had to make very unique attractive breakfast menus for him to bring him in to that 'never skip a breakfast schedule' :). Then I couldn't bring it here just like most of my kitchen gadgets and bought one 'mini idly maker' here:)

For mini idly:

Idly batter - 1 cup
ghee - 2 tbsp
mini idly stand
idly cooker or a pot to steam the idly.
vengaya sambar - a lot:)
soup bowls and spoon.

Method:

Grease the idly plates with very little ghee.
Pour the batter in the idly holes using small spoon.
Heat the pressure cooker (idly cooker if any) with 2 cups of water and place the idly stand carefully inside.
steam the idlies for 7 to 10 minutes without keeping the pressure valve.
Then let the idly loose the heat for 10 minutes and scoop out the idlies carefully using a spoon. Keep them warm and tightly closed in a casserole till we serve.
Just before serving place 14 idlies in each bowl.
Bring the sambar to 'piping hot' stage.
Pour the sambar over the idlies.
Add a generous tsp of ghee over each bowl.
Decorate with cilantro and serve hot.
Sambar mini idly is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Serve as breakfast or any meal.

Karuppatti aappam

Karuppatti - palm jaggery / panai vellam. Palm jaggery is a kind of sweetener used in South India. In my native place, palm jaggery extraction is a well known cottage industry. It is used in preparing many Indian medicines especially the Tamil medicines and healthy food. When mixed with tamarind extract and dry ginger, it is believed to treat UTI and kidney stones. It is also believed to be a healthy and less calorific sugar for everyone. From the root to the top, the whole tree can be used for one purpose or another. Some of the useful things we get from palm tree are, palm root (panan kilangu), thavun (germinating seed), panan kuruthu (tender edible leaves), fuel from leaves and trunk, strong wood for construction, neera / pathaneer (palmira juice), palm leaf fan and some crafts, nongu/nungu (unripe palm fruit), a very sweet palm fruit and of course the palm jaggery also. The best part is this tree won't need much irrigation or attention, so it can be cultivated in hot arid conditions also. As the whole tree serves the humans in many ways, they call it as karpaga virutcham (a mythical tree that can give whatever we wish for). The coffee made with this karipotti, will taste great even without milk. Because of lesser awareness and negligence the palmyra trees are fast vanishing from our farms. Moreover the Tamilnadu government's policies on palm products,  export,  license etc made this farming extremely difficult, which ultimately resulted in high price tags on this otherwise cheaper palm jaggery.

Last month I got a pack of Gur, (a Bangladeshi palm sugar made from date palm) from an Indian grocery stores. It resembles the South Indian palm jaggery, but the one I am talking about tastes more like a caramel syrup. Apart from eating it raw as snack, I prepared some palm jaggery aappam and started drenching in those memories:)

Here are some links on palm trees.
news , uses,

Karuppatti appam served with coconut milk.

Palm jaggery is prepared by pouring hot (pathaneer) palm syrup in coconut shells.

Gur, I got in Indian stores.

Appam making pan.

Vellai appam batter and karupatti appam batter.

Appam batter after fermentation.

I have already posted the recipe for a traditional karuppatti aappam when I started blogging. But I didn't have any images then. Click here to see the recipe.

Here is an alternative / short cut method to prepare aappam using left over dosa batter.

Ingredients:

Sour dosa batter - 1 cup
rice flour - 1 cup
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
yeast - 1 tsp
(optional if you don't have it. But yeast makes the aappam tasty)
salt - 1/2 tsp,
baking soda - 1/4 tsp.
Palm jaggery / Karupatti (in tamil)- 1/2 (150 gms)

Preparation:

Grind the coconut and add it to the dosa batter, rice flour, yeast, salt and add very little water to make a thick batter. Keep it closed and place in a warm place for 6-8 hours or Let it ferment overnight.
( I make this batter at night by 9 pm and leave it inside the oven (warm but turned off). The next day morning when I take it out my kitchen will be filled with a nice aroma).

There will be bubbles on the surface and the batter would have risen and become more watery.
Now take 1/2 - 1 cup of water and add the palm jaggery . Heat it until the jaggery gets dissolved.Allow it to cool. Then take the top layer jaggery solution leaving behind the sandy bottom.
Add this mixture to the aappam batter. Add the baking soda, mix well  and now we are ready to make aappam.

Method:

We may need a special aappam pan for this. But can also be done with a curved bottom non stick pan, with lid.
Heat the aappam pan and wipe a drop of coconut oil all over the pan by using a clean cloth.
Check the thickness of aappam batter now. It should be have a thin consistency than that of dosa batter.If not so add some water.
Pour a big ladle over the pan and shake the pan in a circular motion so that the flour spreads and expands along the edges, so that the aappam is thick at the center and very thin along the sides. (The cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion). Cover tightly, reduce flame and let it cook in it's own steam. (I wait to hear a mild "dropping/ cracking" sound of water) .Now we can be sure that the aapam is cooked.Open the lid.Then by using a dosa spatula gently take out the aapam.

Aappam is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Extract some coconut milk. First place the hot aappam on the dinner plate and drizzle a few tsp of white sugar over it. Then pour a ladle of coconut milk over it.
Enjoy the karuppatti aappam soaked in coconut milk.

Makes nearly 15 number of aapam.
We can store the rest of the aapam batter in fridge and use it later if you dont need this much number of aapams.
If you don't have palm jaggery , then skip that step and prepare white aappam without any sweetener, which can be served with any spicy kuruma.

Murugal dosai

I didn't realize the need for this post, until one of our friends asked . Dosa is the staple food for any South Indian family .  Just like many of you , the very sight of the dosa batter-container in my refrigerator always gives me a feeling of relief. It is the best friend at supper time, if I can't think much. So I always make a big batch of batter on Fridays, so that the weekends go smoothly :)

The paper roast dosai we get in restaurants is the yummiest version of all dosais. Mom used to call it as 'murugal dosai' (Murugal - crispy) and I like that name very much. Amma's kaipakkuvam (mom's touch) and the 'kalchekku' nallennai (Extra virgin sesame / gingelly oil) along with that perfectly fermented batter would make the house smell heavenly. Even now the same kind of flavor floating from some unknown chimney lifts up my spirit.

How to choose a dosa tawa and maintain it?

Many people add a teaspoon of channa dhal to get the golden brown colored dosa. Below ratio is the one we use. No harm in using whatever works out the best for you. But the real secret lies in the selection of the dosa tawa (dosa girdle).
Indian grocery stores or Indian vessel stores are the best places to get one. Buy an iron dosa girdle of at least 10 mm thickness and as large as 1 feet diameter. The thickness helps in uniform heating, which results in very thin crispy dosas. I am not good at non stick dosa tawas. But the non sticks are great for making soft doas (like pancakes).
Ok, as soon as we buy that thick dosa tawa, immerse it in a solution of rice washed water or water strained out while cooking for 24 hours. After that wash it and heat once uniformly apply a coating of sesame oil over it and put a lid on it. Switch off flame and  let it remain over night. The next morning, gently wipe off the oil and start making dosas.
The rule number one is never use that precious dosa tawa for making chapathi / roti or any other purpose like dhum biryani making etc:) This will spoil fine layers (at molecular level) of the dosa tawa and it will take a lot of time to get rectified.
Keep your dosa-turning spatula clean and sharp. Try to use an ever-silver spatula to turn the dosa, as they are always sharp.  Wipe off the excess batter after every use.

Dosa batter uniformly spread on the conventional dosa tawa.

Golden brown dosa after flipping.

Crispy Murugal dosai served with Coconut chutney.

Ingredients:

Idly rice - 3 cups
black gram dhal - 1 cup
(In India the urad dhal is very fresh so 1:4 ratio is enough. Other than that 1:3 works the best while using an aged dhal or Indian mixie. If using an Indian grinder the ratio can be 1: 3 1/2)
fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
salt - 3 1/2 tsp (1 tsp for each cup of rice and 1/2 tsp for a cup of black gram)
Sesame oil - 50 ml

Batter preparation:

Soak rice separately for 5 hours. Dhal and fenugreek seeds need to be soaked together for about 3 hours. After that grind dhal till it becomes very smooth and fluffy. The batter should be thick like softened butter. Transfer it to a big bowl. Then grind the rice to a very smooth texture.Do not add lot of water. Add salt and by giving several strokes.
Store this in a large vessel so that there is enough space for batter to rise. Grinding and storing of batter should be done the previous day, preferably in the night so that the batter would be ready the next day. The batter should be allowed to ferment for about 15 – 18 hours.
(If the outside temperature is below 85 deg C, then keep it inside a mildly warmed oven to get warmth). The next day, mix the batter well and it can be used to make idly or dosa.
Generally people prepare Idly with the first day batter and the remaining batter can be used to make dosa. Moreover dosa comes out very well if the batter is more fermented. we can add a dash of yeast to the freshly ground batter to enhance fermentation of the batter.The remaining batter can be preserved in tight containers in refrigerator.
A well prepared batter can remain good for almost a week.

Dosa preparation:

Heat a dosa tawa. Check the heat by sprinkling a drop of water. It should be sizzling hot. For the first dosa, Spread the sesame oil uniformly using the special wooden tool we use for spreading oil or a piece of fresh cloth. Wipe off excess oil. There should be almost no oil now.

Take a ladle of batter and pour it gently over the tawa and spread it to get crepe.
Keep the heat in maximum. Drizzle a tsp of sesame oil over the dosa. After it starts turning red, flip and take out immediately.

From the next dosa, start pouring the batter directly. No need to brush oil at first. But feed the dosa with generous quantity of sesame oil. Serve immediately, as it becomes soggy with time.

Murugal dosai is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot with sambar, chutney.
Makes 40 dosa.

Approximate calories:

(Click to see source)
1 large home made murugal dosai (10 inch dia)
From batter - 80 to 100 Kcal
from sesame oil (1 tsp) - 40 Kcal
Total 140 Kcal.

Kuzha puttu

Puttu - A breakfast item common in Kerala and Southern TamilNadu.Generally rice flour is steamed with shredded cocount and served with sugar / banana / spicy kadalai curry.

Kuzha puttu - A puttu resembling a pipe.

There are many ways to steam this puttu. We can use a simple cloth over hot steam or idly making plates or this special tool 'puttu kudam' for steaming the flour.
The most authentic and tasty variety of puttu is made by using the red rice flour (rose matta arisi or sivappu samba rice).

I used the store bought ready made red rice flour (double roasted). Instead we can roast the ordinary white rice also.Some people prepare the flour from scratch by soaking and dry grinding the rice.

Puttu maker in box along with the ingredients.
Recently I bought this puttu maker from an Indian store. Love it very much:)

Puttu kuzhal and puttu kudam with ingredients .
Puttu maker consists of 2 main parts: The puttu kuzhal (to fill the processed rice flour) and kudam (to fill water and generate steam).


Puttu served. The white coconut is the frozen shredded coconut and the darker one is what I got from fresh coconut:)

Ingredients:
(For 2 kuzha puttu)
Red rice flour - 1 cup
(If not readymade, roast it till we get a pleasant smell and the grains look very flowy)
salt - 1/4 tsp
Shredded coconut - 1/2 + 1/2 cup
(Coconut should be almost equal to that of rice flour.We can reduce it too, but we can't get the real taste.)

Method:
Fill the puttu kudam (the broader vessel) with water to its 3/4 th. Close the top with the given lid that has the nozzle.
Start heating it.

In the same time bring to boil 1/4 cup water along with the salt.

Place the roasted rice flour in a mixing bowl.
Slowly sprinkle the boiling water and mix well without any lumps.
The consistency should be such that we should be able to make a solid with the flour, but the solid should be breakable in to flour when touched gently.
Totally we should get a wet flour but not any lumpy.

Now mix 1/2 cup shredded coconut to it and mix well.

Take the puttu kuzhal. Fill the bottom with 2 tsp shredded coconut. Then put the prepared flour and fill half way very loosely. Again spread 2 tsp coconut and fill the pipe with prepared rice flour.

Now check if the steam starts hushing out of the puttu kudam.

Close the puttu kuzhal and fit it over the nozzle.Make some holes in the filled flour using the stick given.

Heat till we see steam out of the top of puttu maker.
Then continue heating for 5 minutes and switch off.

Carefully take out and serve immediately.

Kuzha puttu is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with sugar and banana.
Other combination are channa masala (kadalai curry), green gram chundal etc.

Note:
Try to serve the puttu immediately otherwise it may turn hard. Reheating in microwave helps a bit.

Vada curry

Vada curry is a very simple side dish available in the street side shops of TamilNadu , served along with 'set dosa' or any breakfast item.Mostly the day after diwali, we can see people preparing this vada curry with the left over paruppu vadai and vegetable kuruma. It is my younger brother's favorite too. Oh, yeah! if I didn't mention him here, I will get enough from him:) After having it in his teacher's house he started pestering us for this curry and we too tried our best after festive days without wasting the vadais:)

But Vada curry entered my life in full swing after marriage only. Hope some of my friends know our adventures while dating :) We treasure those memories a lot. After marriage Xav took me to all the restaurants and places he enjoyed during his bachelor days. I simply love the way he describe his entertainments like the frequent movies, late night dinners,the way he waited for my phone call or letter, funny stuff with friends etc. Slowly it became the habit for us to enjoy his favorite road-side food shops. Most of the Sundays we used to buy the breakfast (carry home pack) from a nearby shop (KK Nagar) along with his favorite News papers , magazines etc after attending the 7 Am mass. Nowadays I started making my own vada-curry, from scratch.

Enjoy with your loved ones:)



The short cut is to make use of the left over vadais and kuruma. But we can prepare it from scratch too. Click the links to get the complete method.

Ingredients:
Masal vadai - 6 (big size)
Vegetable kuruma (with lesser vegetables) - 2.5 cup
Fennel - 1/2 tsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
cilantro - a handful
mint leaf - a handful
curry leaf - 1 sprig
oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Take the vadais and crush gently with hand to get small pieces.
Heat oil in a wok and add fennel, cinnamon , curry leaf.
Then add the crushed vadai pieces and fry a little.
Now add the kuruma and bring it to a boil.
Switch off and garnish with mint , cilantro etc.

Vada curry is ready!

Variations:
We can make the vada or dumplings by steaming also. Some time I do them over dosa tawa and its also worth the try. If you make the vada curry from scratch, then make small pakodas (fritters) instead of vada.

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with sponge dosa, poori or chapati.

Azhagar Kovil Dosai

About Alagar Temple / Azhagar kovil: Azhagar means charming person. Here it represents a beautiful God Krishna. Azhagar Kovil (Alagar temple),is a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu (aka., Lord Krishna) situated 21 km from the city of Madurai, which lies in the Tamil Nadu state of India.It is situated on a very beautiful hill with lush herbal forest. Specialities: Dosa: As Panchamirtham in Palani and Laddu in Tirupathi, in the Kallazhagar temple, Dosa is very famous. The grains donated to the temple are ground and made to dosas and offered to the visitors as prasadham (divine food) here. Noopura Ganga or Silambaru: This is a perennial river flowing from the feet of Rakkayee Amman from a cave in the temple. The theerthamn (holy water) from a spring inside the Temple is believed to run through so many rare herbs. So it is considered as a healing water for so many uncurable diseases. The lamp in the temple is kept burning for ever. Azhagar Kovil dosai: In the madapalli (the vegetarian kitchen to prepare offering for God), they prepare a crispy and unique dosa for offering to God and then distribute it to visitors. Actually they deep fry the dosai batter in ghee. But I have modified the preparation technique to suit our life style. I tasted this in my childhood while my chithappa (Gandhi chithi) worked there as temple EO.  Ingredients: Whole black gram (with skin) – 1 cup Raw rice (pacharisi/ unboiled rice) – 2 1/4 cups Fenugreek seeds – 1 tbsp Salt – 2 tsp whole Black pepper - 2 tbsp cumin seed - 1tsp curry leaf - 2 brig asafoetida - 1/8 tsp mixture of ghee 1 tsp + sesame oil 1 tbsp Batter preparation: Wash and soak rice separately for 8 hours or overnight. In another vessel wash and soak the urid dhal and fenugreek seeds together for about 8 hours. Grind dhal to coarse texture. Rice should be ground separately and finely. Don't add lot of water. The batter should be thick like softened butter. Add salt and mix the ground urad dhal with the rice mixture . Store this in a large vessel so that there is enough space for batter to rise. Grinding and storing of batter should be done the previous day, preferably in the night so that the batter would be ready the next day. The batter should be allowed to ferment for about 15 – 18 hours. I usually keep it inside the oven to get warmth. Home made Azhagar koil dosai: Grind the black pepper, cumin seed, curry leaf to a coarse powder.Just before we start preparing the dosa mix the asafoetida powder and the ground powder and mix well with the batter. Heat a dosa tawa (non stick or iron).Drizzle 2 drops of sesame oil+ghee over the pan. Using a clean cloth or wooden spatula rub the oil uniformly over the tawa. Take a ladle of batter and pour it gently over the tawa and do not spread it or press it.Reduce the flame to medium heat. Generously pour a 1/2 tsp oil+ghee around the dosa. You can add more ghee for kids:) Turn over the dosa when it starts getting mild red. cook both sides and take out the dosa . Again increase the flame, apply oil and repeat the above process to make more. Serving suggestions: This Azhagar koil dosai won't even need any side dish. But we can serve it with idly podi or butter or coconut chutney or idly sambar. Event: Sending these Azhagar kovil dosas to Divya Vikram's Show me your breakfast event. Note: Water should not be added the next day after it ferments. Dhal should be ground preferably in a grinder for at least 20 minutes and rice for 30 minutes. The batter can also be made using an "Indian Mixer". keep the remaining batter refrigerated.

Rava Idly

Rava Idly / Semolina Idly is a kind of Idly served in TamilNadu restaurants. It is much easier to prepare and a delicacy to serve along with sambar or tomato chutney.
I tried making this Rava Idly many times and failed to get that fluffiness. I got something like uppuma:)
Then got the recipe from a old magazine. They insist on grinding urid dhal.Many people do not use urid dhal. But it gives a wonderful texture and it resembles much like original Idly.



Ingredients:
Rava - 2 1/2 cup
urid dhal - 1/2 cup
curd - 1/2 cup
water - 1 cup
To temper:
oil - 2 tbsp
cashew - 10
ginger - 1 inch
green chilli - 2
mustard - 1 tsp
channa dhal - 1 tbsp.
curry leaf - 1 brig
cilantro - a handful
salt - 1 1/2 tsp

Method:
Soak the urid dhal for 1 hour.
Dry roast the rava till you get a nice aroma.
Grind the urid dhal to a fine paste and mix it with the rava along with salt, curd and yeast.
I didn't have a sour curd, so I added a pinch of yeast to the batter for fermentation. There is no need to add yeast during summer. Do not add a lot of water.
The consistency should be like a pan cake mix / urid dhal vadai batter.
Keep it inside oven or any warm place and let it ferment for 8 hours.
Just before making idly, we need to add the tempering.
Chop the green chilli, cilantro, ginger and curry leaves.
Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil .Add the channa dhal and mustard.
Let the mustard crackle.
Then add the cashews , chopped green chilli, cilantro, curry leaves and ginger.
Fry them for a while and mix it with the fermented batter.
Coat the idly vessel with little oil and pour the batter.
Steam cook the idly for 10 minutes (Do not put 'cooker-weight' if you are using a pressure cooker).
Take the idly vessel out , keep it out and scoop the Rava idly after 2 minutes .
Rava Idly is ready.

Serving suggestions:
We can microwave the idly before serving.
Serve Rava idly hot with tomato chutney or sambar.
Makes 14 fluffy Rava idly.

Rava Idly has black gram (Urid dhal) . So it goes to Legume affair hosted by Srivalli and Susan.

Idli (Plain/ traditional)

Idli , sambar, vadai, coconut chutney

 

Idli with mutton leg paya kulambu

Ingredients:
Black gram dhal – 1 cup
Idly rice – 3  1/2cups
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tbsp
Salt (rock) – 3 tsp
(This measurement is for those who use Indian Mixer . If you use an Indian grinder take 4 cup Idly rice and 1 cup urad dhal, 1 tbsp fenugreek / methi seeds)

Method:

Soak rice separately for 8 hours. Dhal and fenugreek seeds need to be soaked together for about 3 hours. After that grind dhal till it becomes smooth. Add ice cold water while grinding to get soft idly. Rice should be ground separately.Don't add lot of water. The batter should be thick like softened butter. Add salt and mix the ground urad dhal with the rice mixture .

Store this in a large vessel so that there is enough space for batter to rise. Grinding and storing of batter should be done the previous day, preferably in the night so that the batter would be ready the next day. The batter should be allowed to ferment for about 15 – 18 hours. In India the room temperature is enough to ferment. But here, I usually keep warm the oven , switch off and keep inside overnight. Some people keep it inside microwave too. Both are good, the thing is we need to prevent cold air to come in contact, that's it. The next day,the batter will double. Mix the batter well and pour in to greased idli plates and steam for 10 minutes in a pressure cooker (without pressure valve).

Water should not be added the next day after it ferments. Dhal should be ground preferably in a grinder for at least 20 minutes and rice for 30 minutes.
The batter can also be made using an "Indian Mixer". It will take only 10 minutes.

Tips:
Adding a very little yeast solution will help in winter times (USA). I don't use yeast.
Before making idli on the first day,  mix gently and divide it in 3 small containers, if we want idly everyday.
From second day, adding 1/4 tsp baking soda to the batter will give very soft idli and dosa.

Serving suggestions:
Makes about 40 idlis, vary ingredients to reduce or increase number of Idlies.
If you want to make Idlies for 3 days, then just separate the batter in to three portions on the first morning itself and keep them refrigerated.
Serve hot steamed idlis with coconut chutney or Sambar.
See my recipes for coconut chutney and sambar here: Coconut Chutney.Idly sambar

Approximate cal:
1 Idly gives 60 Kcal.

Palm jaggery / Karupatti aappam from scratch

This is a very old recipe from Tamilnadu. We use palm jaggery (karpatti) instead of white sugar whenever possible, as we are the largest producer of the same:) Here is an aappam recipe using karupatti. Any puzhungal arisi ( par boiled rice ) can be used too.

 see my recipe for making aapam with rice flour , which is much easier.


Ingredients:
rice - 2 cups  + 1/4 cup
urud dal - 2tsp,
fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp(this is to make it soft),
salt - 1/4 tsp,
coconut milk or tender coconut water - 1 cup,
yeast - 1 tsp
baking soda - 1/4 tsp.
Palm jaggery / Karupatti (in tamil)- 1/2 cup crushed

Preparation:
* cook 1/4 cup of rice.
soak the 2 cups rice,urid dal and fenugreek seeds together for 3-4 hours.
Then add the cooked rice and grind nicely.
* Add coconut milk/tender coconut water, salt and  yeast to the flour.

Keep it closed and place in a warm place for 6 hours. I used to make this batter at night by 9 pm and leave inside oven (turn off oven) and in the next day morning when i take it out my kitchen will be filled with a nice aroma.There will be bubbles on the surface and the batter will have risen.
Now take 1 cup of water and add the palm jaggery . Heat it until the jaggery gets dissolved.Allow it to cool. Then take the top layer jaggery fluid leaving the sandy bottom.
Add this mixture to the aappam batter.
Add baking soda just 10 minutes before making aappam each time.
Now heat the aappam pan and wipe a drop of coconut oil all over the pan by using a clean cloth.
Check the thickness of aappam batter now. It should be in the more thin in consistency than that of dosa batter.If not so add some coconut milk or water.
Pour onto griddle, heated medium to low, to form thick pancakes about 4 inches across. Then Shake the pan in a circular motion so that the flour spreads and expands along the edges.(If batter is too thick and does not spread, add a little more milk or water ). The cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion. It is then covered and cooked in it's own steam over gentle heat.I wait to hear a mild "dropping/ cracking" sound of water(condensation of steam) .Now we can be sure that the aapam is cooked.Open the lid.Then by using a dosa spatula (dosa karandi) gently take out the aapam.


Serving suggestions:
Aapam goes fine with coconut milk.Take coconut milk 1/2 can and dilute it with equal amount of water.Spread 1 teaspoon sugar over aapam and add 2 tablespoon coconut milk over the aapam. Enjoy your aapam.
We get nearly 15 number of aapam. You can store the rest of the aapam batter in fridge and use it later if you dont need this much number of aapams.
Aappam can also be served with egg curry or chicken curry or channa dhal curry or even sambar.