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Steamed Rice & Bulgar Cakes – aka Idlies

28 June 2010 21 Comments

Healthy breakfast

Steamed rice cake a.k.a Idly is endorsed by many as the healthiest food one can have as breakfast . With practically no oil or any other fat content in it, it surely is any health conscious delight.

The only limitation to the normal white idly is that it has  high GI and gets digested very fast thereby raising the blood sugar levels. The wise option would be to include it in the dinner when the metabolic rate is at the lowest. Or add wholegrain in the preparation of idlies such as broken wheat (Bulgar),  Ragi and the like, to lower its GI and make it a healthy breakfast option.

healthy breakfast

Ingredients for Normal White Idly;

  • 3 cups of raw rice or (2 cups of boiled rice and 1 cup of raw rice)
  • 1 cup of de-husked black gram(urad dal)
  • 1 tsp of fenugreek seeds (optional)
  • Water as required

Method: I normally mix brown rice in all my rice preparation, which adds the fiber content and other benefits of wholegrain. Wash the rice and urad dal and soak it for 3 hours with fenugreek seeds (methi). Grind the urad dal and methi seeds for nearly 40 minutes in the grinder or about 30 minutes in a mixie by adding water as and when required. Do not make the batter too runny. Grind till the urad dal is light and frothy. Remove from the grinder or mixie and then grind the soaked rice for 5-10 minutes till it resembles rawa consistency.

Mix both the ground ingredient in a big vessel, add 1/2 tsp of salt, cover it and keep it aside in a warmer place to let it ferment for nearly 15-20 hours.

healthy breakfast

Note: The softness of idly comes by the method of grinding ie. stone grinding Vs mixie. The light and fluffy texture of urad dal, which is responsible for soft idly, comes in the grinder easily. In south of India people use big grinders with heavy stones inside, which makes the work easy and more perfect. A normal mixie can also be used to grind the above ingredients, but the result may not match the output of a grinder.

Bulgar Idly

The following recipe is to add wholegrain in the batter of Idly and make it more healthy with low GI.

Healhty breakfast

Ingredients for Bulgar Idly;

(For 4  idlies)

  • 1 cup of fermented idly batter
  • 1 tbsp of Bulgar (dalia/broken wheat)
  • 1 tsp of curd
  • salt as desired

Method: Soak 1 tbsp of bulgar in the curd for 10 minutes.

Healthy breakfast

Mix in the rest of the ingredients, take an idly mould, grease it lightly with oil. Pour a ladle the above mixture in the moulds.  Pour a cup of water in the pressure cooker and keep it on the stove, let the water start boiling. Put the Idly mould in the pressure cooker and steam at high flame for 10 to 12 minutes. Off the flame and check the idlies, it should be firm to touch. Take out the mould and let it cool before removing the Idlies.

Serve hot with coriander chutne or any other accompaniment of your choice.

Note: Bulgar idlies take a little longer time to get cooked than the normal white idly which can be cooked in 7 to 8 minutes.

healthy breakfast

Kids Lunchbox: Get small Idly moulds and make small size idlies. Add grated carrots or any veggie of your choice to make it more nutritive and kids friendly. Pack these with tomato sauce or chutney.

Idly

Combine your nutritional knowledge with cooking skills and make a healthy living. A little improvisation of the traditional dishes can make them more nutritive and keep alive the flavors of our tradition as well.

What other healthy variations you use to your breakfast table? Do share with us.

Eat right and stay healthy!

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21 Comments »

  • sushma mallya said:

    That looks very healthy and delicious too

  • srividhya ravikumar said:

    Hai .. rice cake looks awesome.. colourful.. do visit my site whenevr.. following you..

  • swathi said:

    Steamed rice cake looks really nice one.

  • Treat and Trick said:

    This is really healthy and thanks for the useful info about iddly….

  • varsha said:

    Delicious! and the photographs are amazing!thanks.Big fan of idlys.
    Fermentation of foods make them easily digestible too.

  • Srivalli said:

    Wow sangeeta, the site has come up really wonderful!..the new layout is very neat..and what a nice idea of making idlis with bulgar..

  • sanjeeta kk said:

    Thanks Sri for your sweet words. Keep in touch.

  • Krishnaveni said:

    looks too good and super healthy breakfast, lovely clicks… great

  • Meenakshi said:

    Hi,

    Wonderful! site has come up with blossoms.
    Give some tips to prepare colorful kids lunch box menu.

    Sanjeeta kk Thanks Meenakshi. Will surely give. Keep coming and checking the updated posts.

  • KARUNA said:

    HI
    YOUR WEBSITE HAS AN AWESOME LOOK. THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW SITES THAT HAS GOOD PRESENTATION.

  • Suman Singh said:

    WOW..idly looks awesome..surely a healthy delight..never thought you can make idly with daliya too..looks yummm!

  • praniskitchen said:

    really deliicous and healthy idli.. liked this combination.. so yummy one

  • Priya said:

    Bulgur idlis looks super healthy and delicious…looks yummy..

  • Ramya said:

    Wow pics are so alluring…..Idli looks fluffy and spongy,very delicious …Got to try this…

  • Rosa said:

    What lovely and healthy rice cakes! An interesting speciality!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  • Mango Recipes said:

    I came here to know whether you were writing about ‘puttu’, which is also called Steamed Rice Cake.
    Pleasantly surprised that it isn’t. Learned something new. Perhaps I should try these one of these days. Great blog you have here.
    Best Regards
    SunSeven

  • renuka said:

    i’m a south indian and i make idly in the same way.If u have little batter left,u can add rice powder to it.Then saute cumin and hing in a kadai and saute chopped onion and green chillies.Add this to batter and mix few coriander leaves chopped.In a non stick appachatty,smear little oil and pour batter and cook.U can get tasty paniyaarams without sticking and it can be a best evening snack for kiddies.

  • sanjeeta kk said:

    Thanks Renuka for the recipe. I do the same for kids quite often. And they love these Treats .
    Keep sending such useful and healthy recipes of yours. Best wishes.

  • Y said:

    Oh I LOVE these! Haven’t had them in so long and never was brave enough to try making my own.

  • DC said:

    Thank you for the bulgur idli recipe. Is there an alternative to adding curd? We don’t eat dairy.

    Thanks!

  • sanjeeta kk said:

    @DC, curd serve the purpose of moisturizing the hard Bulgar and also give softness to Idlies. You can replace plain water to soak the Bulgar and follow the same recipe.

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