Celery Cilantro Oats Idli

Its been a while since I had time to make idli/dosa batter. I have been really busy and haven’t had the forethought to soak the rice and dhal. The downside to that is to always have to think what to make for dinner. The upside though is that its been a great opportunity to try out new recipes. 🙂

When I saw the recipe for ‘Oats and Celery idli’ at Umm Mymoonah’s blog ‘Taste of Pearl City’ and immediately fell in love with it. I have modified the recipe a bit and made it to be ‘Celery Cilantro Oats Idli’. It turned out to be really delicious and a healthy variation to the regular idli/rava idli. Thanks Umm for the wonderful recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup sooji
1 cup rolled oats
4 long stalks of celery(each approximately 1 foot long)
1/2 cup cilantro stems/stalks, chopped
2 red chillies
2 cup cultured low fat buttermilk
1 tsp salt or to taste

Seasoning:
2 tsp canola oil
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp cashews, broken

Method:
Grind the oats to a coarse powder using the blender. Remove and mix the powdered oats along with the sooji, salt and baking powder. Heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the urad dal, cumin seeds and cashews. Fry until golden brown. Remove and add this to the oats sooji mixture. Mix thoroughly with a fork. At this point, you may store the mixture in the fridge for upto a month and use whenever you need it. I made this a couple of days in advance.

On the day of, I made the chutney and in the same blender, ground the celery, cilantro, red chillies to a puree. Add the celery cilantro puree and the buttermilk to the oats, sooji mixture. Mix thoroughly. Batter should be thick and pourable.

Ready the idly steamer and grease the idli plates. Pour the batter in the idli moulds and steam for about 12 minutes over medium heat. Remove. Serve hot with coconut and tomato chutney.

This yields about 16 idlies, which was more than we needed for 2 people. Reduce quantity to suit your needs. These idlies tasted the same after reheating, so leftovers are not so bad. 🙂

Verdict: These idlies were soft and spongy thanks to the addition of the buttermilk and the baking soda. The cilantro and celery along with the red chillies gave it a great masala flavor, almost like the chutney was mixed in with the idly batter itself. These don’t require any side dish. You could just eat these idlies just by themselves.

Sending this to ‘Tried and Tasted: Taste of Pearl City’ , event by Lakshmi, hosted here @ Oh Taste n See and to Bookmarked Recipes – Every Tuesday Event – Volume 26 event.

Also to CWF – Oats, a series by Kiran and Twist the Traditional – Idli and Food Palette -Green event.

Related posts:

Mung Bean Idli with Celery Walnut Chutney Sago Rava Idli(Sabudana Idli/Javvarisi Idli) Oats Coconut Chutney Vegetable Masala Oats/ Savory Oats Porridge Idli upma Quinoa Idli with Spicy Red Pepper Kuzhambu