Spinach is one of my favourite leafy vegetable- nutritious and versatile. There are a gazillion recipes in various Indian cuisines. Here's my take on idlis with spinach.
Ingredients
- 11/2 cup rice flour
- 2 tbsp Urad daal
- 2 tbsp Chana daal
- 2 tbsp Mung daal
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 cup frozen Palak /spinach (thawed). You can also use fresh spinach. Blanch it in hot water for five minutes and squeeze the excess water.
- 1 green chilli (optional)
- a pinch salt(optional)
- 1 tsp Eno/ fruit salt
Special equipment
Idli mould (available in any Indian grocery store)
Pressure cooker/ steamer.
Method
 |
| Rice-daal soaked in yogurt |
- Grind the urad, chana and mung daal in a grinder into fine powder. I find a coffee grinder works best, but a regular grinder should also work.
- Mix the ground daal into rice flour in a medium sized bowl, and soak it in yogurt. The consistency would be very dense. Add a little water if you feel the batter is still not moist. Let it soak for 4-5 hours.
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| Palak paste |
- Grind the palak /spinach and green chilli with a pinch of salt to a smooth paste.
- Add palak paste to the Idli batter and mix gently.
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| Rice-Daal batter and palak paste - before mixing |
- Fill pressure cooker/ steamer with 1-2 inch water, and set on medium high heat.
- Add Eno into the batter, and mix gently. Tiny bubbles should form in the batter.
- Grease idli mould and pour 3/4th in each cavity of the mould.
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| Palak Idli batter in the idli mould |
- Place the mould carefully in the steamer and cover. If using pressure cooker, do not use the whistle/ pressure. Steam for 10-12 minutes.
- Palak Idli is ready. Serve with coconut chutney. It is great as an appetizer or even a nice healthy lunch.
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