Mega Idli's !

I have never been a big fan of cooking unlike eating, :)

Anyday I prefer eating over cooking. However over time for survival needs I had to learn cooking as eating out is not the best survival method. So I was talking to Shyam the other day and he suggested that I start writing about my experiments. It was worth giving a thought to this advice, since I will have a record of what I made and what I did to make it. Since none of my dishes (or whatever I cook) ever turns out like the previous.

The basic principle behind anything I cook is - simple, straight forward, easy, QUICK !

These days you get almost everything in half cooked stage. For e.g., MTR or GITS dosa or idli powder. And I take full advantage of the half done things. I personally prefer MTR over any other south Indian brand.

I get the cravings of eating good once in a while and I need to eat it right then. Hence I do not have too much room for starting from scratch. So packaged half cooked things ZINDABAAD.

Ok, so here is a quick recovery of my memory of Mega Idli's and chatnii. I had already cooked sambar day before yesterday while making dosa. So will go over it when I write about dosa. For now only Idli and chattni -

1. Mix the MTR Idli powder with water and curd in th emorning while having tea.

2. When you come back at home in the evening, mix the above thing once again. Add some fresh corriander and curry leaves for the flavor if you want.

3. Pour the whole thing in plastic tupperware dishes and microwave it for 6 mins. Depending on your tupporware size and shape you can have square, round or oval idli's of different size. My Idli's were as big as the red bowl in which I cooked them :)

4. As the idli gets cooked in the microwave, get grinded coconut (available again in packet)

5. Unfreeze it in the microwave for 1 min. Put the amount you want into the mixer. Add dhaniya chattni (available in bottle), add 1 - 2 green chilly as the chatni already has some in it, few roasted groundnut (I microwave these too), Salt and lemon. Mix it well. Your chattni is ready in 1 min.

6. Tadka to the chutney - In oil and ghee, fry red chilly, hing, methi seeds, mustard seeds, currey leaves. Fry it just enough to get the smell of curry leaves. And before it burns off pour the whole thing in the coconut chutney mix. Your chuttney is READY :)

The whole thing does not take more than 15mins to get ready :) And you can have a full fledged south Indian meal ready for you after a long day.. without much effort and having to wasting money to eat out.

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How different does this taste from making idli/dosa starting from scratch?

Dosa, tastes different. But Idli tastes the same. This way or other way. So I will stick with this method for Idli for sure.