Idli & Peanuts Chutney

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day yet, that is the most neglected in my house. U doesn't eat breakfast and I just munch on some junk. Lately, instant oatmeal and cream of wheat have become my saviors. They have become my favorite, not for their taste but for the ease of fixing them.

Since we don't eat breakfast regularly, I am not an expert in preparing breakfast. The best breakfast that I make is undoubtedly pooris, as that is the most prepared item in my house, at least until last October. Since then, I only made them once about 10 days ago.

Idli, dosa and vada make it to the table only once in a blue moon. Yes, yes, although I am a South Indian, I make them once a year or once in 18 months. Just this past Monday, we decide that we would eat good, proper breakfast on weekdays and on weekends, will think about it then.

We made a chart and every Mondays & Wednesdays it is Chicken and rotis, Tuesdays it is Idli, Thursdays it is either Wheat Upma or Murmura and on Fridays it is going to be dosa.

Since we made this menu on Monday, I did not have time to prepare Idli batter for Tuesday, so I swapped Idli with Upma, and this morning I made Idli. This is the first week and so far so good! Lets see how long we will stick to our weekdays breakfast menu!

So it was idli, pappu charu and peanut chutney for today's breakfast. I made pappu charu, chutney and idli batter last night and fermented idli batter overnight. I am not an expert idli maker but will still go ahead and give the recipe here.

Idli Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 cup Urad Dal (rice cooker measuring cup)
• 2 ¾ cup Idli Rava (rice cooker measuring cup)

Preparation

• Wash and soak rice and idli rava in the morning, in separate containers, for at least 4-5 hours.
• In the evening grind urad dal to fine paste adding some water and little bit of salt. Don't make the batter very watery. Transfer it into a big container that would hold the batter, rava and enough room to let it rise during fermentation.
• Wash the rava and add it to the dal batter, mix well, cover it and put it in a warm place to ferment.
• Next day, grease the idli moulds with ghee or oil. I used oil. Pour batter in the mould and steam it for 10 -12 minutes in a pressure cooker or a covered pot. If using a pressure cooker, no need to put the whistle or the weight. Let it sit for 5 minutes before removing from the moulds. Serve hot with chutney, sambar or pappu charu and a dollop of ghee.

Peanut Chutney

Ingredients

• 1 cup Peanuts (regular measuring cup)
• 2-3 teaspoon Oil
• ½ teaspoon Cumin
• ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
• 5-7 Curry Leaves
• 10 – 12 Green Chilies slit into two (adjust to your spice level)
• 2-3 Cloves of Garlic
• Turmeric
• Salt to taste
• 1 small Lime juiced

Preparation

• Dry roast the peanuts and remove the skin. If you wish, can leave the skin as it is. Grind to powder using a spice grinder. Powder need not be fine as we will be grinding it with spices again. I grind it to powder as it is easier to wet grind it later on with rest of the ingredients.
• In a pan, heat some oil and add cumin and mustard seeds. Once they start sputtering, add curry leaves and green chilies. Be careful here, green chilies might pop up and if required, cover the pan.
• Once the chilies change color, add cloves, turmeric and fry for a minute. Add peanut powder and remove from fire. Add salt to it and let it cool.
• Grind to fine paste by adding some water and also the lime juice.
• If one wishes, the chutney can be tempered with some oil, cumin, mustard seeds, red chilies and turmeric powder. I skip this step.
• Garnish with cilantro.