How to make Idli and dosai from the Kavuni Arisi / Black Rice 

Black Rice is also known as Kavuni Arisi in Tamilnadu which is mainly used to make sweets in Chettinad Region of Tamilnadu. Other than that, to my knowledge, i never seen anyone using the black rice for any other dishes in Tamilnadu.

Recently i have seen a lot of recipes online for making idli & dosai using the black rice, so i too got interested in trying out idli batter using the black rice. To make the batter, i have used a combination of idli rice and black rice and the result was too good. 

I didn't expect such an amazing output for the first attempt itself. The idli was so soft and spongy and the dosai also turned out  super crispy. In addition, it looks so appealing and that purple color is really eye-catching. So i was super thrilled !!  In the past three months, i made this batter for about 4-5 times and every time it turned out so good. 

Black Rice 

Black rice is rich in antioxidants and high in fiber so include them regularly to keep your diet balanced. I'm not a dietician but i strongly believe that including varieties of foods in moderation truly benefits your health. 

In addition to the health benefits, i personally love the color of this rice when it's cooked. It's so vibrant and kids would love it for sure. 

There are different types of black rice  available in the markets nowadays; some are glutinous and some are not. It's difficult to differentiate unless you're well familiar with it.  So to make the idli/ dosa batter, always use the mix of idli rice and black rice so that the idli and dosa won't be sticky. 

Making the idli/dosa batter

Black rice is a little hard to grind compared to regular idli rice so soaking it overnight helps to grind the batter smoothly without running the mixie/blender/wet grinder for a longer time.

I have used my blender to grind the idli/dosa batter, but you can use the Indian mixie or wet grinder to make the batter. 

Depending on the rice varieties, the batter color would change from mild purple to dark purple-brown. So don't worry if your batter doesn't look like mine!

For more tips on how to grind the idli batter in general or how to ferment the batter in cold temperature, do check out this post. It has tons of information and it would be really useful if you're a beginner in cooking.

Idli and Dosai

Like regular idli/dosai batter, i have used the same batter for making both the idli and dosai. Once the batter is fermented, it's good to make idli right away ! The idli would be soft and spongy. 

For the dosai, dilute the same batter with little water and make the dosai as usual, the dosai would be crispy and super delicious.

Storing the Batter

The batter can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Once the batter is fermented, take the needed amount of batter for use and keep the remaining batter in the refrigerator immediately. 

Also don't mix the whole batter with the ladle once it's fermented. It will deflate the batter. Making idli with deflated batter would be hard. However the dosa would still turn out crispy.

Now, let's check out how to make Black Rice / Kavuni Rice idli dosa batter.

Kavuni Arisi Idli & Dosai | Black Rice Idli & Dosa

Preparation Time : 12 hrs | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Kavuni Arisi Idli Batter,Kavuni Arisi Idli,Kavuni Arisi Dosai,Black Rice Idli Batter,Black Rice Dosai Batter, Black Rice Idli, Black Rice Dosai Kavuni Arisi makes a soft and spongy idli as well as crispy dosa. With one batter, you can make both idli and dosai.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Kavuni Arisi / Black Rice - 1 cup

Idli Rice - 1 cup

Urad dal - 1/2 cup

Salt - to taste

Water - as needed for grinding & soaking

Procedure

In a bowl, add the black rice, idli rice and urad dal. Wash the rice and dal well in the water for thrice and then add enough water to soak the rice and dal. Let it soak for 6-8 hrs or overnight.

Next day, discard the soaked water and then add the soaked rice and dal in a mixer jar/wet grinder, add water as needed and grind into a smooth batter. 

Pour the batter in a large bowl(make sure that the bowl is large enough and have enough room to ferment and raise the batter) and add the salt.

Mix the salt into the batter with your hand and then cover the bowl with a lid and let it keep it in a warm place for 6-8 hrs to ferment.

Once the batter is well fermented, grease the idli plate with sesame oil and pour the batter in the idli plate and steam it for 8-10 mins.

Soft and spongy kavuni arisi idli is ready.

In the same batter , add a little bit of water to dilute and make dosai like regular dosai. Delicious Kavuni Arisi Dosai is also ready.

Serve Kavuni Arisi Idli and Dosai with Sambar and/or Chutney.

Related : Side dishes for idli/Dosai

Notes:

• The batter stays well for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
• As always, take the needed batter in a separate bowl and store the rest in the refrigerator once it's fermented so that the batter stays well for a longer time.
• I didn't use any fenugreek seed for this batter, but the idli turns out so soft.

Look how spongy the idli is !! 

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Chettinad Kuzhi Paniyaram, a South Indian recipe made from fermented rice and urad dal batter which is quite popular in Chettinad region of Tamilnadu and it's usually served as breakfast/dinner or even as evening tiffin along with chutneys and/or sambar. 

Kuzhi Paniyaram can be made with the leftover idli/dosa batter. I often make that way for an easier and quicker version. But when I want a really delicious paniyaram, I would make the batter especially to make both sweet and savory paniyaram.

As far as i remember, Amma never uses idli/dosa batter to make paniyaram. In our school days, she used to make this batter on weekends and make both sweet and savory paniyaram as our breakfast. In those days, I was fond of  sweet paniyaram only and never even tried those savory paniyaram.

Adding a little bit of raw rice in the batter gives such a crispy outside to the paniyaram and it totally elevates the taste of the paniyaram to a whole new level. 

Ok, now in today's recipe, i'm sharing only the savory paniyaram recipe but as i said you can use this batter for making sweet paniyaram too. 

Related : How to make sweet paniyaram / karupatti paniyaram

Chettinad Kuzhi Paniyaram | Kuzhi Paniyaram Batter Recipe

Preparation Time : 8 hrs | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 4 
Recipe Category: Breakfast/ Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Kuzhi Paniyaram Batter, Kara Paniyaram,Kuzhi Paniyaram,Kara Kuzhi Paniyaram Kara Kuzhi Paniyaram, a famous South Indian recipe made from fermented rice and urad dal batter which is usually served as breakfast/dinner or even as evening tiffin along with chutneys and/or sambar.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

For Batter

Idli Rice - 1 cup

Raw Rice - 1/4 cup

Urad dal - 1/3 cup

Fenugreek seed - 3/4 tsp

Water - as needed (to grind)

Salt - 1 tsp

To Saute

Onion(small) - 1/2 

Channa Dal - 1 tsp

Mustard & Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few
Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

Procedure

In a bowl, add idli rice, raw rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. Wash it thrice or until the water runs clear and then soak it with water for overnight. 

Next day, drain the soaked water &  put a batch of soaked rice and urad dal in a blender/mixie/wet grinder along with fresh water and grind into smooth batter.

Pour into a vessel and add the salt. Mix it well with your hand. Cover it with lid and let it ferment for 6-8 hrs.

For making the paniyaram, finely chop the onions, curry leaves & coriander leaves and keep it ready. Heat a kadai with oil, add mustard & urad dal, let it splutter.

Then add channa dal, onions,salt & curry leaves one by one.

 Once the batter is well fermented, take the needed batter in a separate bowl. Then add the sauted onion mixture and some coriander leaves, mix the batter well.

Heat the paniyaram pan with little oil in each hole. Pour the batter in each hole.

Cover(optional) cook it for few mins.And then gently flip into the other side with small wooden stick/skewer.

Cook till it's golden brown. Remove on to the plate.

Tasty Kuzhi Paniyaram is ready to serve ! Serve it with chutney and / or sambar.

Related : How to make Tiffin Sambar

Related: More Chutney and Sambar Recipes

Notes:

• Don't add more raw rice than the mentioned, it will affect the softness of the paniyaram.
• Cook it on medium flame for even coloring on the paniyaram.
• I have used sesame oil for making paniyaram.
• In addition to the tempering, you can add 1 tbsp of grated coconut & carrot also for more flavor and taste
• Adding chana dal gives nice crunchiness  but it can be omitted totally if you don't like it.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup | Dinner Soup Recipe

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, a delicious, and healthy soup with wonderful aroma. Though today is the last day of summer, here it's already started to feel a lot like fall weather for the past couple of weeks. 

So all we need is some warm bowl of soup for dinner, and this roasted butter squash soup is one of my favorites, and i have been making them since last fall season. It's super easy to make, doesn't need any cream or thickening agent and finally very light on the stomach. What else you need for mild dinner on fall days, right?  

As i mentioned in my previous radish paratha post, the new changes in blogger broke the "recipe schema markups " for my drafts / new posts. So i have been waiting for the fix before posting any new recipe since i didn't want to post a recipe without recipe schema markups which lead to the error in the search console.

Finally the fix was updated last Friday and now i'm here with the post which is sitting idle in my draft folder for a while :-) . Ok, now let's check out on how to make this healthy roasted butternut squash soup.

 

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 50 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Soup | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Butternut squash soup, Roasted Butternut squash soup, healthy,dinner ideas Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, a delicious, and healthy soup with wonderful aroma. Perfect for fall and winter weather.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Butternut Squash(small size) - 1
Onion -1/2
Garlic - 4 
Nutmeg - 1/2 tsp
Maple syrup - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - to taste 
Water - 2 cups
Vegetable Stock - 2 cups 
Olive oil - 1 tsp for brushing
Butter - 2 tsp

Procedure

Cut the butternut squash vertically into half and remove the seeds and fibers. Place it on the parchment lined baking tray and brush the squash with oil on both sides. 

Keep the skin sides on top and preheat the oven at 450 F.

Place the baking tray in the oven and bake it for 35 -40 mins or until the skin of the butternut squash have some brown spots and tender. After around 20 mins ,take the baking tray and add  the onions and garlic with skins into it and brush them with oil and put it back into the oven.

After 40 mins, remove from the oven and let it cool a bit. Remove the skin of the onions and garlic, it will fall off easily.

Next scoop out the butternut squash flesh and add into the blender / mixie jar along with onions and garlic. Grate some fresh nutmeg into it.

Add the maple syrup and grind into smooth puree. Transfer the puree into the sauce pan. 

Wash off the mixie jar/blender with water and add into the puree and then add the vegetable stock and heat the soup. 

Add enough salt & butter and heat it through until steam comes through it. No need to boil.

That's it, tasty & healthy Butternut squash soup is ready. Serve it with sprinkle of pepper powder. 

Related:How to make Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Notes:

• I have used red onions here, shallot or yellow onion also works well.
• Depends on the thickness of the butternut squash, baking time varies. Check the flesh are tender and take it out from the oven.
• For extra richness, you can add couple of tsp of cream. 
  

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Muttai Dosai, a delicious & filling dosa recipe with egg. There are so many variations in egg dosa, here i'm gonna share the simple recipe that you can make in no time. This recipe comes handy on busy morning or when you run low on dosa batter and gives you a fulfilling breakfast. Though egg dosa is quite common in our house hold for breakfast/dinner, don't know why i haven't posted this recipe so far, may be thought that it's too simple to make a post.  

Dosa batter and egg are the only two main ingredients that you need to make this delicious dosa. For seasoning, you can use whatever the spice powder you like, here i'm using idli podi and that's our favorite to sprinkle on egg dosa. Simple salt & pepper also works well. In addition you can sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves on top. Even some people like to add thinly sliced onions on the top, so it's really up to you how you want your egg dosa. Now let's see how i have prepared my egg dosa.

Egg Dosa | Muttai Dosai

Preparation Time : 0 mins | Cooking Time : 5 mins | Serves : 1 
Recipe Category: Dosa | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Egg Dosa, Muttai Dosai,Muttai Dosa,Egg Dosai,Easy Breakfast, Leftover dosa recipe Muttai Dosai, a delicious & filling dosa recipe with egg. Dosa batter and egg are the only two main ingredients that you need to make this delicious dosa.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Dosa batter - 1/4 cup
Egg -1 
Idli podi - 1/2 tsp
Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Heat the dosa pan and make dosa as regular, crack open a egg on the center of the dosa.With the help of spoon, spread the egg all over the dosa. Sprinkle idli podi on the top and drizzle oil on the sides of the dosa.Once the bottom gets brown, gently flip the dosa and cook on other side wellThat's it, Tasty Muttai Dosai / Egg Dosa is ready to serve. It taste good as it is or you can serve it with sambar and/or chutney. For more breakfast item check out here 

Notes:

• Instead of idli podi, you can sprinkle salt and pepper on top also.
• If you find it difficult to spread the egg with spoon, then whisk the egg in a bowl and then add into the dosa.
• Idli podi and sesame oil goes well together & gives great flavor to the dosa.
  

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Moongil Arisi Dosai | Bamboo Rice Dosa | Dosai Recipe

Moongil Dosa, a very flavorful and tasty dosa made from the Bamboo rice. Few months back, when my parents and my brother's family went to kodaikanal, Amma bought this moongil rice from there after heard all the benefits from the locals. Later she asked me(i feel really very proud whenever amma ask me for the recipe :-)) for the recipe using moongil rice, honestly that was the first time i heard about that rice, so quickly did search on google and told her that kanchi(porridge), payasam(kheer) and dosai can be made from moongil rice. 
As a starter, she had tried kanchi and it didn't turned out as expected. She said it was really chewy and took forever to cook. So she kept that aside for a while without touching. Now when i'm here, she tried this dosa with equal proportion of idli rice and this moongil with very less expectations, but to our surprise it turned out super delicious, everyone in our family liked it so much.    

P.S: Will update the step by step pics soon

Moongil Arisi Dosai | Bamboo Rice Dosa

Preparation Time : 6 hrs | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 3 or 4  
Recipe Category: Breakfast/Diner | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Bamboo/Moongil Rice - 1 cup
Idli Rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Fenugreek seed - 1 tsp
Salt - as needed
Water - for soaking and grinding
Oil - for making dosa

Procedure

Wash and soak the moongil rice for 4-6 hrs. Wash and soak the idli rice,urad dal and fenugreek seed for 2 hrs.
In a wet grinder, first put the moongil rice and grind it for 10 mins, then add the soaked idli rice, urad dal and fenugreek seed, grind it till smooth.
Transfer the batter from wet grinder into vessel and then add the required salt and let if ferment for 4-6 hrs.
After fermentation, take the needed amount of batter, if needed add water and making it as pourable consistency. 
Heat the dosa pan, pour the batter and make the dosa,drizzle the oil on the sides. 
After around 2 mins, flip the dosas and cook it on other sides also.
Tasty Moongil dosa is ready to serve. Serve it with chutney or/and sambar.

Notes:

• Bamboo rice takes longer time to soak.
• Bamboo rice has given wonderful flavor to the dosa.
• Instead of flavorless oil, use sesame oil for making this dosa to enhance the flavor more.

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