Kanchi Idli - కంచి ఇడ్లి - Andhra Recipes Telugu Vantalu - గాయత్రి వంటిల్లు

Preparations:

Take black gram and fenugreek seeds into a bowl and add water and wash well. Add sufficient fresh water to soak the dal mixture. Take rice and parboiled rice into a bowl and add water and wash well. Add sufficient fresh water to soak the rice mixture. Soak the dal and rice mixture for 5 hours. Remove water from the rice mixture and keep it aside. Drain water from the dal mixture into a bowl and save it for grinding.

Take the dal mixture into a mixie jar and add some sea salt. Grind the dal mixture to a smooth texture adding sufficient water from the dal soaked water. Take the batter into a bowl and add rice mixture to the mixie jar. Adding very little water grind the rice mixture to a coarse texture. Here it took 90ml water in total to grind the dal and rice mixture. Mix the ground dal mixture and ground rice mixture well. Cover the bowl and keep it aside to ferment overnight.

Method:

When batter ferments make other preparations as mentioned below.

Take bengal gram into a bowl and add some water and cook on high flame till water starts boiling--It took one minute for the water to boil. Then lower the flame and cook the dal till it is properly cooked---It took 14 minutes to cook dal on low flame. Once dal is cooked drain any excess water and keep it aside.

Crush black pepper to a coarse texture using mortar and pestle and take this into a plate. Similarly crush cumin seeds slightly using mortar and pestle to bring out the aroma. Add the crushed cumin to the crushed pepper.

Make powder of dried ginger using a mortar and pestle or grate using a fine grater.

Melt ghee and keep it aside.

If curry leaves are big chop them finely.

Take batter and mix well and add sufficient water (35ml) to bring it to right consistency. Then add melted ghee, dried ginger powder and cooked bengal gram and mix well.

Add water to Idli Patra or a steamer and heat it. Allow the water to boil in the patra or steamer.

Heat a pan and add oil and heat oil. When oil is hot add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter. Then add curry leaves and asafetida and mix. Switch off the flame and add crushed black pepper and crushed cumin seeds into the seasoning and mix well. Add this seasoning to the batter and mix well.

Take a cylindrical vessel and grease it well adding ghee liberally. Pour batter into the greased vessel. When water is boiling in the patra or steamer then switch the flame to low and place the batter vessel into the steamer and cover the steamer. Cook the idli batter in steamer for 15 minutes and then check by inserting a wooden skewer in the centre---insert fully till the bottom of the vessel. If batter sticks to the skewer then cook for few more minutes and if the skewer comes out clean then it is done. Here it took me 45 minutes to make this kanchi idli---I checked after every 15 minutes. Once done, remove the vessel from steamer and keep it aside for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edges and carefully invert the Idli from the mould into a plate. Cool for few minutes and then cut into thick slices using a serrated knife for better results. Serve kanchi idli with pappula podi or coconut chutney---for recipes visit www.gayatrivantillu.com

Points To Notice:

Grind dal and fenugreek mixture to a smooth texture and rice mixture to a coarse texture. While grinding, add salt first and then add water and grind. Add dal soaked water to grind batter. Grind batter using wet grinder or a mixer grinder. As the quantity is small I used mixer grinder to grind batter.

Allow the batter to ferment fully.

Originally bengal gram is added in raw form to the batter and mixed and then the batter is allowed to ferment---this way the bengal gram gets soaked well. When bengal gram is soaked in batter, the next day itself we need to make the kanchi idli as soaked bengal gram spoils faster and hence spoils the batter. If batter is made in large quantity take a portion of the batter that would be used the next day and then soak bengal gram in that portion of batter---do not add bengal gram to the entire batch. To ease this process I have cooked bengal gram till it is JUST cooked and then added to the batter---this way we can add bengal gram as and when we are making the kanchi idli.

Crush black peppers, cumin seeds just before making kanchi idli. Similarly make powder of dried ginger freshly and then add to batter. The fresh aroma of the spices enhances the taste of kanchi idli.

Adding huge amount of ghee is a must for making kanchi idli. Do not skip this quantity to get great taste.

I have added sea salt in this recipe and hence added it while making batter. If iodized salt is used add it after fermenting the batter as the chemicals used for free flowing of salt prevents the batter from fermenting properly.

Add sufficient water to steamer and boil the water before placing the batter vessel in it. Cook kanchi idli on low flame only. Ghee in the batter, somewhat fries the batter when it is steam cooked on low flame---the batter gets steam cooked and also gets slightly fried which gives the special taste to this kanchi idli. The traditional Kanchi Idli comes cylindrcal in shape and packed in banana leaves.

Prepare the vessel for steaming the kanchi idli. Grease the vessel and then stick banana leaf inside the vessel and also at the bottom of the vessel and then grease the leaf in the vessel well with ghee. Adding banana leaf helps in easily removing the kanchi idli from the vessel. If banana leaf is not there aluminum foil also does the job well. Here I have not used any banana leaf or foil and hence greased the vessel liberally with ghee---however I was skeptical when removing the cooked idli from the vessel---but it came without breaking. Ideally, to remove the cooked kanchi idli from vessel, use banana leaf or foil.

To give the traditional get-up I put the batter in a cylindrical mug (known as LOTA in Telugu as shown in the picture) and cooked it.

Serve this kanchi idli with pappula podi and coconut chutney.

Acknowledgement:

I have tasted this Kanchi Idli 23 years back at Mrs. Durga Venugopal, my neighbour and friend while we were in Bombay in 1992. Her mother Mrs Swarna Lata Aunty made this idli during one of her visits and invited me to taste it. It was excellent. Next day I went with a pen and paper to write the the recipe. Aunty obliged and told me the ingredients, measurements and the procedure to make this recipe. At that time, never did I imagine to have a cookery website and would be hosting this recipe. To my surprise I have forgotten about this recipe until recently when we again met in 2015 at Mumbai as our husbands got transferred to Mumbai (Bombay) again. Seeing Aunty I immediately remembered the tasty kanchi idli and decided to make this recipe. I was skeptical that it may not turn the way Aunty made, as I was not confident of my noting made 23 years back. I cross checked the recipe once again with her before attempting. But to my surprise the outcome tasted exactly the same as it tasted 23 years back , in my first attempt. Now I regret as to why I have wasted so much time in making this tasty dish! As I am confident with the recipe, would be making it as a special delicacy. I wish my viewers would also give it a try. As a tribute to Aunty I dedicate this recipe to her.

Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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