Delicious Ancient millets
Cholam / Jowar Idli
As Indians, it is safe to assume our plates our filled with rice or wheat or a refined form of wheat in the shape of bread, buns, pasta. Grains and millets such as Ragi, Bajra/Kambu, Vellai Cholam/ Sorghum that have been part of our food culture for centuries, have been replaced by generic rice and wheat. Not only are these grains delicious when cooked well, they are very healthy. In these times of water scarcity, climate change and unpredictable weather, millets make huge sense, as they take up only a fraction of the water needed to grow rice , wheat. They are naturally more pest-resistant , so do not need pesticides or fertilizers for nourishment. Sowing and harvesting them, takes up less labour than rice or wheat.
If you know of people who have turned vegan/ vegetarian for environment reasons , please point then to the way of millets - which are the truly eco-friendly grain. They are cheaper than rice too and keep you fuller for longer compared to rice or wheat.
Millets are delicious, low maintenance, more nutritious and cheap.
But if all this environment banter means nothing to you, try biting into these uber soft Vellai Cholam idlis with some home made Idli podi. They melt in the mouth and you will down them by the dozen.
Vellai Cholam /Sorghum Idli, with my Ellu Idli Podi
(Native makka cholam, is wonderful to eat on the cob, boiled and salted or roasted over fire with salt and lemon. It has sadly given way the overly sweet "American Sweet corn", but more on that later)
Vellai Cholam / Sorghum / Jowar, is the grain in the picture below. It is an ancient grain that dates back centuries.
Vellai Cholam /Jowar is naturally gluten free
It is high on protein and fibre - which make them a great addition to your regular diet.
To make Cholam idli you will need:
Cholam - 2.5 cups
Idli rice - 2.5 cups
(preferably hand pound or any boiled traditional rice. I have used regular idli rice)
Whole Urad Dal - 1 cup
(I have used a mix of unpolished and regular urad here)
Methi seeds / Vendhayam - 1 tablespoon
Soak the rice and cholam after rinsing till the water runs clear - for about 5 hours. Wash and soak Urad dal with vendhayam
Grind the Urad first in the grinder, then rice and mix into a homogenous batter. More on the process of grinding and mixing in this post . Not elaborating on that here.
http://sangeetharajan.blogspot.com/2020/06/karuppu-kavuni-101.html
Here is beautiful bubbly fermented batter
Knock out the bubbles with a vigorous stir, before making the idlies / storing in the fridge
For the fluffiest idlies, steam them on a perforated idli plate with a cloth on top
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