The word idli conjures up images of delicious steamed rice dumplings, white in color. Here is a recipe for a little known variation of the popular idli. Chances are that you will never get to eat this in a restaurant, but it is a popular dish in many Konkani homes. Kuleeth Idli is made with horsegram, a legume. As the name indicates, this legume is used as cattle feed but is also popular in certain regions of India due to its high nutritional content as well as unique taste. Horse gram is now available in Indian stores in the US. Here then is the recipe of kuleeth idli.
Ingredients
- Urad daal/Split black gram with the skins removed - 1 cup
- Idli rava/rice rava/cream of rice - 1 1/2 cups
- Kuleeth (horsegram) - 1 cup
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Wash and soak the urad daal in water for 5-6 hours.
Blend the urad daal till smooth in a wet grinder. Sufficient amount of water should be added to help in the grinding of the daal. Do not make the batter too watery.
Soak the rice rawa for 30 minutes.
Wash Kuleeth (horsegram) and using a blender, blend it to a smooth paste.
Drain the water from the soaked rice rawa and mix all three (ground urad daal, Kuleeth and rice rawa) together. Add salt to taste. Mix well. Set aside in a warm place to ferment overnight.
Next morning, like you do with regular idlis, mix the batter well again and pour spoonfuls in the idli mold and steam in the Pedavan/steamer/cooker for 8-10 minutes. Serve hot with coconut chutney.
Note:-
- My Mom doesn’t soak the Kuleeth for long, she just washes it well and blends it.
- I used to think that Horsegram was eaten predominantly in South India, however when I lived at Dehradun, our neighbours used to make awesome “kulath” parathas. They were from Garhwal and they said that horse gram was popular in their region too.
- Rajesh says that when he was a little boy, his mother would tell him that if he ate horsegram, he would be able to run as fast as a horse! That was reason enough for him to eat kuleeth idlis without any fuss!
1 Comment
Navdeep
December 15, 2013 at 12:00 amAs someone fortunate enough to have enjoyed steaming hot Kuleeth idlis from Aparna’s own kitchen many times, my family and I can say without any doubt that these are the best idlis we know of ! Thanks for sharing a great recipe.