Special Buttermilk for Breakfast With IDLI

Introduction: Idli is considered as one of the healthiest breakfast in the world for following reasons:

a) Idlis are made using rice and urad dal (black gram) hence rich in carbohydrates and proteins.

b) Made by steaming the batter, therefore it does not have oil or fat.

c) It is fermented hence easy to digest, has fewer calories and low glycemic index.

d) Idlis are served with coconut chutney and sambar which add fiber and vitamins.

Here in this article we are going to introduce one more item as accompaniment for Idlis. That is special buttermilk. Even though coconut chutney and sambar are traditionally served with Idlis, both these items increase the calories contents of the dish. Coconut chutney contains saturated fats. During sambar preparation, some amount of cooking oil is used. Hence for those who do not want to consume even small amounts of fat or oil, special buttermilk can be a good alternative. Most importantly, the combination of buttermilk and Idli, tastes very well. As buttermilk is digestive in nature, this combination becomes very healthy and easy to digest.

Ingredients: Following items are required for making special buttermilk (see Fig. 1)

1) 500 ml Buttermilk OR 250 ml Plain Yogurt or Curds

2) ½ tea spoon Ginger paste

3) 1 tea spoon Green Chili paste

4) 1 table spoon chopped Coriander leaves

5) ½ tea spoon Mustard seeds

6) 1 tea spoon Cumin seeds

7) 1 tea spoon Curry Leaves

8) ½ tea spoon Asafetida

9) Black Salt to taste

10) 1 tea spoon Oil for tempering

11) 1 kg Ready batter for making Idli

Take ready fresh buttermilk in a bowl. If you do not have ready buttermilk, take plain curds or yogurt. Add some water to it and whip in mixer, and the buttermilk is ready.

Figure 2 shows the tempering process. Keep a small tempering pan on low heat. Pour one tea spoon oil and allow it to get heated up. Once oil is hot, first add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds start crackling, add cumin seeds and let it fry for some time. Add curry leaves and allow it to fry for some more time. Turn off the heat and then add Asafetida powder. Mix well.

As shown in Fig. 3, to the buttermilk add required quantity of green chili paste. Then add required quantity of ginger paste. Add black salt to taste. Then sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Finally add the tempering and then mix well as shown in Fig. 4. Special buttermilk is ready.

Keep steamer vessel on the stove. Pour some water in it. Take Idli batter and add little salt to it. Pour the batter on the Idli making stands as shown in Fig. 5. Keep the Idli stands filled with batter inside the steamer vessel. Cover the vessel and allow it to steam for about 10 minutes. Turn off the stove and take out the Idli stand. Allow it to cool down for 10 to 15 minutes. One by one remove Idlis from the stand using a spoon.

Serve hot Idlis with special buttermilk as shown in Fig. 6. Fig.7 shows Idlis served with special buttermilk, rasam and coconut chutney. The special buttermilk presented here makes a great combination with Idlis. Its taste blends nicely with Idlis, and is very light on stomach. It is digestive so, good for health. During summer days, serve fresh Idlis with chilled special buttermilk.