Kollu or Horse Gram can be used to make soft and fluffy steamed cakes. Other millets used previously to make Idlis were grains and Horsegram is a lentil. Hence, the lentil here is combined with rice to make Idli, the staple breakfast/dinner food of Tamilnadu.
Kollu Idli/Steamed Rice Cakes with Horsegram
Ingredients (makes approximately 25-30 idlis)
kollu/horsegram– 1 cup
puzhungal arisi/parboiled rice or idli rice – 2 cups
uppu/salt – as needed approx. 1 tsp
Method of Preparation
Wash and soak horse gram and rice separately in enough water for 6-8 hours
2. It is important to soak both rice and gram separately for idli. To make dosai, soaking and grinding together doesn’t alter the crispness or softness of pancakes
3. First, drain excess water and grind the horse gram into a smooth batter. It would be super foamy
4. Important point to note in Kollu Idli batter is, horse gram should be ground with minimum water needed. If excessive water is used, the final batter cannot be used to make Idli or steamed cake. Only Dosai/Pancake can be made
5. Remove horse gram batter from the blender and grind soaked rice separately to a smooth batter
6. When both batters are ready, add salt and blend well with a ladle or by hand. Do not use blender to mix both as batter will become watery
7. Leave the batter to ferment for 8 hrs or overnight
8. Millet or Gram batters do not need as much time as Rice Idli batter. They turn sour sooner
9. 8 hrs in a warm place is enough; If the climate is too hot, check after 6 hours; In an air conditioned environment, I place it in the oven overnight with the oven light on
10. Once fermented, mix the combined Idli batter well
11. Always keep the batter refrigerated for further use
12. Steam Idlis in the mould and serve them hot with chutney of choice.
Next in the steamed millet cake series is Thinai/Foxtail Millet. As 200th post of Dosaikal, I had shared two desserts with Foxtail Millet – Thinai Sarkkarai Pongal and Thinai Payasam.
As mentioned previously, all millets can be used in making several staples like idli, dosai, idiyappam, pongal etc. They taste awesome as desserts too.
Try the millet cakes as Podi Idli too. These are stir fried Thinai idlis in spicy gun powder and gingelly oil ….
Thinai Idli/ Foxtail Millet Steamed Cakes
Ingredients (makes approximately 25-30 idlis)
thinai/foxtail millet – 3 cups
ulundham paruppu/deskinned black gram – 1 cup
uppu/salt – as needed approx. 1 tsp
Method of Preparation
Wash and soak millet and black gram together in enough water for 6-8 hours
Drain excess water and grind them into a smooth batter
Once the batter is done in the blender, add salt and blend well
Leave the batter to ferment for 8 hrs or overnight
Millet batters do not need as much time as Rice Idli batter. They turn sour sooner
8 hrs in a warm place is enough; If the climate is too hot, check after 6 hours; In an air conditioned environment, I place it in the oven overnight with the oven light on
Once fermented, mix the batter well
Always keep the batter refrigerated for further use
If left to ferment more than needed, the batter might turn too pungent to make idli or dosai
Steam Idlis in the mould and serve them hot with chutney of choice.
In the Millet Idli Series, next is Varagarisi/ Kodo Millet. It’s going to be simple from now on. The ratio of millet to black gram also being the same, all Millet Idlis have the same method of preparation of batter.
So, let’s move on to Varagu Idli.
Varagarisi Idli/ Kodo Millet Steamed Cakes
Ingredients (makes approximately 25-30 idlis)
varagu/kodo millet – 3 cups
ulundham paruppu/deskinned black gram – 1 cup
uppu/salt – as needed approx. 1 tsp
Method of Preparation
Wash and soak millet and black gram together in enough water for 6-8 hours
Drain excess water and grind them into a smooth batter
Once the batter is done in the blender, add salt and blend well
Leave the batter to ferment for 8 hrs or overnight
Millet batters do not need as much time as Rice Idli batter. They turn sour sooner
8 hrs in a warm place is enough; If the climate is too hot, check after 6 hours; In an air conditioned environment, I place it in the oven overnight with the oven light on
Once fermented, mix the batter well
Always keep the batter refrigerated for further use
If left to ferment more than needed, the batter might turn too pungent to make idli or dosai
Steam Idlis in the mould and serve them hot with chutney of choice.
The health benefits of Millets in general, have been written about extensively in almost all posts in the Power Packed Pancakes Series. Hence, I haven’t rewritten those facts. Additionally, useful details of information are available in the internet in abundance. A blogger’s job, especially that of a food blogger is simplified to crisp menu cards and videos. That gives much more space and time for conveying several other like minded ideas isn’t it??
Millets, like rice, are versatile cereals. Cook them like Rice and have with curries; flavour them with lemon, tamarind, coconut or yoghurt; make desserts with jaggery; or enjoy as spicy Pongal on a rainy day. With pound millet flours available in stores, make Puttu (steamed cylinders) or Kozhukkattai (sweet and savoury dumplings) or Idiyappam (string hoppers) – all staples of Tamilnadu.
Since, this series comes after many years of posting Millet Dosais, there might be repetition of facts. I have tried to take care in avoiding that. Bear with me for any unknown recurrence of thoughts.
Among the variety of millets, Samai Idli can be an exact replica of White Rice Idlis due to its color. It is sometimes softer than Rice Idli and puffs up better.
Samai Idli/ Idli with Little Millet
Ingredients (makes approximately 25-30 idlis)
samai /little millet – 3 cups
ulundham paruppu/deskinned black gram – 1 cup
uppu/salt – as needed approx. 1 tsp
Method of Preparation
Wash and soak millet and black gram together in enough water for 6-8 hours
Drain excess water and grind them into a smooth batter
Once the batter is done in the blender, add salt and blend well
Leave the batter to ferment for 8 hrs or overnight
Millet batters do not need as much time as Rice Idli batter. They turn sour sooner
8 hrs in a warm place is enough; If the climate is too hot, check after 6 hours; In an air conditioned environment, I place it in the oven overnight with the oven light on
Once fermented, mix the batter well
Always keep the batter refrigerated for further use
If left to ferment more than needed, the batter might turn too pungent to make idli or dosai
Steam Idlis in the mould and serve them hot with chutney of choice.
Way back in April 2014, I had started a series on ‘Power Packed Pancakes’. The introduction post focussed on how having Dosai/Dosa batter at home can be a stress free affair, and the importance of including whole grains and millets for a Healthy Lifestyle.
How far the post was successful with regards to a stress free read …. not for me to decide.
From Power Packed Pancakes, now, its time to move on to Power Packed Idlis or Steamed Cakes. What the Tamils call Idli is generally described in English as Rice Cakes. Specifically, these are Steamed Rice Cakes. This time, the steamed cakes are with Millets and no Rice included. Hence, they are truly Power Packed and Healthy.
I don’t prefer to mix Rice in the Millet Idli batter, especially if the purpose is to cut down the Rice intake. A pack that reads ‘Whole Wheat Bread’ or ‘Brown Bread’ in the shelves of supermarkets, tricks the consumer to believe it is 100% original Whole Wheat bread. The soft and tasty bread is certainly a combination of White flour and Whole Wheat, or many a times 70-80% whiteflour with the inclusion of Wheat Bran.
Rice is a wonderful Grain, in comparison to the empty caloried White Flour. But, I’d like to keep my Millet Dosai or Idli, without the inclusion of Rice.
Hence, I use the best suited Millets for Idlis, as simple as that. Other Millets which don’t turn out soft and fluffy (that’s expected from a Steamed Cake), can be made as Dosai. The batter is rigidly the same, devoid of Rice.
Why are we talking about Rice here?
Well, there a two basic ways of making Idlis with millets. One – making the Idli batter with Millet and Black gram and NO Rice at all; the other is to substitute one portion of rice with millet. Certain Millets like Thinai (Foxtail Millet – one of the oldest millets of the Tamils), Samai (Little Millet), Varagu (Kodo Millet) or Kuthiraivali (Barnyard Millet) are best suited to make fluffy soft Idlis, with NO Rice at all. A few others like Kezhvaragu (Ragi/Finger Millet) or Kambu (Bajra/Pearl Millet) don’t create the best steamed cakes with millets alone, they need the addition of Rice.
But, Horse gram, which is a lentil and not a Millet, should be treated like the black gram in Rice Idlis. That’s why, Rice and Horse gram are blended to make Steamed Cakes.
This series aims at providing an alternative way to incorporate millets in our diet. Having included them in our daily life style for several years now, I strongly feel this has been one of the healthiest changes I’ve adapted. Also, one that makes me stay very close to a few of the countless traditional foods of my soil. Especially, when there is written literary document that proves these were consumed by my ancestors several thousands of years ago.
Love and Valour have been the main sources of Life and Literature of the Tamils for more than 2000 years (Sangam Tamil Literature dates back to 3rd century BCE to 3rd century ACE).
‘Ilavattakkal’ -roughly translated as ‘the stone of the youngster’ – is an almost forgotten symbolic stone of the Bridegrooms among the Tamils Community. It is a huge stone which was used as a means to judge the physical and mental strength of the ‘Groom in Talk’ for their daughter. To lift the heavy, slippery, beautifully round stone needed great valour, fearlessness, manliness and tonnes of courage. This was an unambiguous assessment of the stamina of the Man, who was seeking the hands of their Daughter. The process was carried out in front of the village elders. The strong man gets the girl.
There are several stages in lifting the ‘Ilavattakkal’.
1. First, the man sits in squatting position
2. and tries to hug the (huge) stone closer to the chest
3. Slightly gets up and moves the stone down till his knees
4. Standing erect, lifts the stone slowly back to the chest
5. Then moves the stone gradually upward to shoulders
6. Holds the stone at shoulder position
7. Beyond holding the stone, taking a circumambulation of the temple or the village pond is another act to prove extra valour.
Now, what is the match between Ilavattakkal and Mappillai Samba Rice, the next native rice variety we are talking about?
The Tamils who have been cultivators of thousands of varieties of rice for the two or three millenia, the trail of mankind has been traced – have classified different rice varieties for different purposes. A few are listed below.
Mappillai Samba Rice was supposed to be a strengthening rice for ‘Mappillai’ or the groom ready for marriage.
Kavuni Rice was a variety meant to be consumed after marriage.
Poonkar Rice was meant to be consumed by women during Pregnancy.
Paal kudavaarai was given to women after child birth, for sufficient milk production. (paal means milk in tamil).
Vaaran Samba was given to babies after sixth month.
Hence, the name ‘Mappillai Samba’ is derived from the person the rice is given to -The Groom to be – for strength and health . Maappillai or Mapillai means Bride-Groom in Tamil.
Additionally, this rice boosts immunity and helps tackling Diabetes, among several other health benefits.
Mappillai Samba Kanji or Porridge made from this rice is a sort after tasty simple dish. I tried making Dosai and here is how I made them.
Mappillai Samba Arisi Dosai/Pancakes
Ingredients (makes approximately 10-12 dosais)
• maappillai samba arisi/rice – 1 ½ cups
• karuppu ulundhu/black gram – ½ cup
• vendhayam/fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
• kal uppu/rock salt – ½ tsp
Method of Preparation
Making batter-
1. Wash well maappillai samba arisi and black gram.
2. Add fenugreek seeds and soak overnight or minimum 6 hours in water
3. Grind well in a grinder or any blender
4. Once ground into a fine batter add rock salt and mix well or grind the rock salt in the end.
5. Leave the batter overnight or until fermented well.
6. Dosai batter is ready for use.
Making Dosai-
1. Heat dosaikal or the pancake pan on stove
2. Pour a ladle of batter and spread into perfect round pancakes – preferably thin
3. Pour droplets of gingelly oil on the sides of the Dosai for easy lift of pancake.
4. Turn the Dosai to the other side and let it cook
5. Take out once done- remember it would take just about 30-50 seconds to cook one side of thin Dosai. If one keeps it longer, the texture of pancake would be lost.
Let’s make dosais/pancakes with Kullankar Arisi – another of the native/indigenous rice varieties of Tamilnadu.
A few health benefits of Kullankar Arisi-
High in antioxidants and hence boosts immunity
Aids in Insulin Secretion and hence tackles diabetes
Helps in weight reduction
Kullankar Arisi Dosai/Pancakes
Ingredients (makes approximately 12-15 dosais)
• Kullankar Arisi/rice – 1 ½ cups
• Karuppu ulundhu/black gram – ½ cup
• Vendhayam/fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
• Kal Uppu/rock salt – ½ tsp
Method of Preparation
Making batter-
1. Wash well Kullankar Arisi and black gram.
2. Add fenugreek seeds and soak overnight or minimum 6 hours in water
3. Grind well in a grinder or any blender
4. Once ground into a fine batter add rock salt and mix well or grind the rock salt in the end.
5. Leave the batter overnight or until fermented well.
6. Dosai batter is ready for use.
Making Dosai-
1. Heat dosaikal or the pancake pan on stove
2. Pour a ladle of batter and spread into perfect round pancakes – preferably thin
3. Pour droplets of gingelly oil on the sides of the Dosai for easy lift of pancake.
4. Turn the Dosai to the other side and let it cook
5. Take out once done- remember it would take just about 30-50 seconds to cook one side of thin Dosai. If one keeps it longer, the texture of pancake would be lost.
6. Make Kullankar Arisi Dosai crisp or soft as preferred.
The next in the traditional/native rice varieties on our list is Kaattuyaanam Arisi. This is a red rice variety.
The name of the rice has an interesting connotation. The name has two parts –
Kaattu is a derivation of KAADU which means forest
Yaanam is a derivation of YAANAI which means elephant
In Tamil Language.
The rice grows quite fast, tall up to 7 to 8 feet that even if a forest elephant enters the rice field, it would be hidden in the tall grass and be unnoticed. Hence, the name denoting both forest and elephant remained with the variety. Additionally, due to the ability of this rice to boost immunity, thereby providing an elephant’s strength to the body, the name has stood for centuries.
Health Benefits of Kaatuyaanam Arisi
This rice is blackish red in colour –
provides relief of knee ailments
tackles diabetes
reduces risk of cancer
strengthens heart
Now, let’s move on with the making of Dosai/Pancake out of this native rice that makes the body strong and disease free.
Kaattuyaanam Arisi Dosai/Pancakes
Ingredients (makes approximately 12-15 dosais)
• Kaattuyaanam Arisi/rice – 1 ½ cups
• Karuppu ulundhu/black gram – ½ cup
• Vendhayam/fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
• Kal Uppu/rock salt – ½ tsp
Method of Preparation
Making batter-
1. Wash well Kaattuyaanam Arisi and black gram.
2. Add fenugreek seeds and soak overnight or minimum 6 hours in water
3. Grind well in a grinder or any blender
4. Once ground into a fine batter add rock salt and mix well or grind the rock salt in the end.
5. Leave the batter overnight or until fermented well.
6. Dosai batter is ready for use.
Making Dosai-
1. Heat dosaikal or the pancake pan on stove
2. Pour a ladle of batter and spread into perfect round pancakes – preferably thin
3. Pour droplets of gingelly oil on the sides of the Dosai for easy lift of pancake
4. Turn the Dosai to the other side and let it cook
5. Take out once done- remember it would take just about 30-50 seconds to cook one side of thin Dosai. If one keeps it longer, the texture of pancake would be lost.
6. Make Kaattuyaanam Arisi Dosai crisp or soft as preferred. The Dosai also comes out beautifully crisp that you can shape it yourself.
7. A dollop of new/clarified butter is an extravagant addition to the beautiful Dosai.
8. Enjoy with any kind of thuvayal or chutney. We had with these three-
Another research file on native rice varieties shows that –
In terms of the Glycemic Index (GI) it is seen that all indigenous varieties have a GI that lower than the modern variety.
When the GI of the indigenous variety is compared to the modern variety White Ponni, on a scale when the GI of White Ponni is 100, it was found that the GI of Kullakar, Kovuni, Karungkuruvai and Kalanamak are in the range 50-55 while Mapillai Samba and Kudaivazhai are in the range of 66 – 70.
These websites provide insights regarding native rice, along with those activists who have been greatly encouraging the spread of such native rice varieties among common people. These enthusiasts have been influential in introducing the grains to farmers, which has been gaining support and confidence among various groups to give a new boom to indigenous rice varieties.
What we need to know about these native rice varieties is that, these are all unprocessed brown, red or black rice. When we say ‘unprocessed’, it suggests that the nutrient value of the rice is intact and not polished away with the polishing of rice. When the western world subscribes to a particular health ideology – the learned community of the various developing countries give respect to those ideas, not knowing their native food habits have referred to the same, several centuries earlier. If we were smart enough to withstand the introduction of refined ready-made foods like pizza, pasta, burgers, noodles, parathas or the South Indian parottas- which are all made with refined flour – either from restaurants or made at home– we would have been a healthier society with less degenerative and life style related diseases.
The above mentioned fact would easily translate as being stuck to native and traditional food practices, an easy way to healthy life and healthier generations.
The indigenous wheat flour was replaced with white flour – refined flour (maida)
Cane, Palm and Date Jaggery – the unrefined sugars were replaced with processed white sugar
The unpolished black, red and brown rice varieties were replaced with polished white rice – devoid of many essential nutrients.
The list would go on and on … White might be synonymous to flawless cleanliness – but certainly not for healthy living and healthy off springs to extend stronger branches to consecutive generations. This level of survival of our society is due to the strong roots provided by our ancestors. But, healthy survival of our off springs lies in the changes we would adopt towards fighting obesity and junk food habits. We haven’t yet realized that junk is filled in our kitchen cabinets in its purest form – WHITE.
Let’s move on in our journey of healthy native rice based pancakes/dosais – this time – Kudavazhai Arisi Dosai.
The health benefits of this rice being, as per published articles –
Rich in Anti-oxidants
Fights diabetes
Rich in fibre
Fights intestine related ailments
Aids in tackling constipation
Kudavazhai is considered to have been derived from two Tamil words –
Kudal – Intestine and Vazha – revival or to make live
In other words, the rice variety which aids in well-being of intestines and protects against related ailments was named Kudavazhai or Kudavaalai.
Dosais with Traditional/Native rice varieties
Kudavazhai Arisi Dosai/ Pancakes with Kudavazhai Arisi
Ingredients (makes approximately 15 dosais)
• Kudavazhai Arisi/rice – 1 ½ cups
• Karuppu ulundhu/black gram – ½ cup
• Vendhayam/fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
• Kal Uppu/rock salt – ½ tsp
Method of Preparation
Making the batter-
1. Wash well Kudavazhai Arisi and black gram.
2. Add fenugreek seeds and soak overnight or minimum 6 hours in water
3. Grind well in a grinder or any blender
4. Once ground into a fine batter add rock salt and mix well or grind the rock salt in the end.
5. Leave the batter overnight or until fermented well.
6. Dosai batter is ready for use.
Making Dosai-
1.Heat dosaikal or the pancake pan on stove
2. Pour a ladle of batter and spread into perfect round pancakes – preferably thin
3. Pour droplets of gingelly oil on the sides of the Dosai for easy lift of pancake
4. Turn the Dosai to the other side and let it cook
5. Take out once done- remember it would take just about 30-50 seconds to cook a side of thin Dosai. If one keeps it longer, the texture of pancake would be lost.
6. Make Kudavazhai Arisi Dosai crisp or soft and enjoy with any Thuvayal/chutney. The Dosai comes out beautifully crisp that you can shape it yourself.
Horsegram has wonderful health benefits in reduction of cholesterol levels and aids as a relaxant during chilly cold weather and cold related ailments.
Different foods are prepared with Kollu, in different parts of India. In the south of India, Kollu Rasam (spicy soup), Kollu Paruppu (cooked lentil curry) are a few delicacies.
The most favourite and tastiest usage of Kollu might be the Horsegram Pancakes. They have an exclusive flavour and crispness unlike other millet based dosais. There is an important difference though. All other millets are replacements to rice and are hence used instead of rice. Here, Kollu or Horsegram is a lentil and is placed instead of black gram and is combined with Rice.
Horse gram can best be considered a reddish brown legume that is full of numerous health advantages. It can benefit with a number of health issues since it is a grain that contains a good as well as rich quantity of vitamins, proteins, as well as iron. Along with weight loss, it will help in lowering of excess fat through the body. Horse gram is full of B-complex vitamin and proteins. It will help in purifying menstruation as well as cures and helps prevent arthritis. The existence of adequate dietary fiber within the gram will help balance sugar glucose as well as blood pressure levels.Listed here are some health advantages related to horse gram. https://www.healthbenefitstimes.com/health-benefits-of-horse-gram/
The heat that Kollu produces in the body after consumption is something to be taken note of. Since it is a high heat-producing food, it is combined with rice which goes smooth on the system. Additionally, rice aids in easy digestion of Horsegram too. To tackle the heat of the lentil, thuvayal or chutneys made with shallots or tomatoes are a great choice.
Kollu Dosai is preferably a breakfast meal. All millet based/lintel based pancakes are suitably taken for breakfast to aid in easy digestion. One has to keep in mind that, all high fibre, power packed pancakes are low in calories compared to plain rice or wheat based foods, yet they take longer to break up in the digestive tract, which makes them more suitable as breakfast foods.
Kollu Dosai/Horsegram Dosai
comes out really crisp
Ingredients
idli Arisi/idlis rice – 2 cups
kollu Paruppu/Horsegram – 1 cup
vendhayam/fenugreek seeds. 1/2 tsp
kal Uppu/rock salt – ½ tsp
Method of Preparation
Making batter-
the light foamy paste is proof of light weighted idlies or dosais, exclusive to kollu
Wash well idli rice and kollu/horse gram separately.
Add fenugreek seeds to washed horse gram
Soak both idli rice and horse gram overnight or minimum 6 hours in water in different utensils .
Grind separately like the normal idli batter in a grinder or any blender. The stone grinder brings a beautiful foamy batter out of soaked horsegram.
Once ground into a fine batter add rock salt and mix well or grind the rock salt in the end.
Leave the batter overnight or until fermented well.
Dosai batter is ready for use.
Making Dosai-
Heat dosaikal or the pancake pan on stove
Pour a ladle of batter and spread into perfect round pancakes – preferably thin
Pour droplets of gingelly oil on the sides of the Dosai for easy lift of pancake
Turn the Dosai to the other side and let it cook
Take out once done- remember it would take just about 30-50 seconds to cook a side of thin Dosai. If one keeps it longer, the texture of pancake would be lost.
Enjoy Kollu Dosai with any Thuvayal/chutney.
Have a glass of Mor or Buttermilk that cools the system and aids in digestion.
Buttermilk: always to be had with Kollu Dosai
Take 1/4 glass of thick yoghurt, 3/4 glass of water, salt, fenugreek powder, asafoetida and blend well to a smooth liquid. This is the basic buttermilk. Buttermilk can be made flavourful with addition of coriander leaves, curry leaves, green chillies, mint leaves and so on. Feel free to add your own flavourful agents.
Dosaikal 