Barnyard millet is one of the best millets to include in our everyday diet. It has a considerable amount of fiber that helps maintain satiety. Apart from this, this millet is a rich source of bone-building minerals like calcium and phosphorus.
Its good antioxidant profile helps in improving the complications of non-communicable diseases and degenerative disorders like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc. Therefore, it can be considered as an ideal replacement for rice in dosa/idli/dhokla batters. (credit: truweight)
Barnyard millet is also known as Kuthiraivali(in Tamil), Sanwa/ Samvat Ke Chawal(in Hindi), Udalu/Kodisama(in Telugu). Barnyard millet idli tastes exactly like our regular rice idli. But the difference I noted in barnyard millet idli is, it is a little denser than our regular rice idli. Also, the color of the idli is slightly dull and not as white as our regular rice idli. Yet it is soft, spongy, and tastes delicious. Now let us see how to prepare this recipe.
Enjoy the video of Barnyard Millet Idli. Subscribe for more videos.
- 2 cups Barnyard Millet/Kudiraivali
- 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seed/vendayam
- 1/2 cup Cooked rice or Poha/Puffed Rice
- 1/2 cup Urad Dal/Uluttam Paruppu Whole white
- salt to taste
- Wash and soak barnyard millet and fenugreek seeds together in a vessel for 2 hrs. Soak urad dal separately in another bowl for 2 hrs. (if using poha, soak poha separately in another bowl for 1 hr). I used cooked rice instead of poha.
- Once soaked. drain the water completely. In a mixer jar, add soaked barnyard millet, fenugreek, cooked rice, and grind to a slightly coarse batter by adding ice water little by little. Transfer ground batter to a bowl.
- Now grind urad dal using ice water little by little. Do not pour all water at the same time. Also, run the mixie in short intervals until urad dal is ground to a smooth batter and puffed up. Now transfer this batter to the barnyard millet batter bowl. Add salt and mix it thoroughly.
- Let it rest for 8-10 hours to ferment. I usually grind it in the evening and let it ferment overnight. You can see how well the batter is fermented from the video. Now mix the fermented batter thoroughly. You can adjust batter by adding water if it is thicker in the consistency.
- Use an idli container or steamer or cooker. Add 1 inch of water and bring it to boil. Grease idli plate with oil and pour the batter. When the water bubbles place the idli plate inside the steamer and steam it for 8-10 minutes. Once done, remove the idli plates and let it cool for 2-3 minutes. Then sprinkle little water, use a spoon, and remove the idlis from the mold and serve hot.
- Wash barnyard millet 4-5 times to get rid of the impurities.
- Also, be careful while straining the barnyard millet as it is very small compared to rice and it can escape the strainer.
- Use good quality urad dal.
- Instead of cooked rice, you can also replace it with poha. (Both helps in getting the soft spongy idly)
- Fermentation is important to get soft spongy idli.
- As we are grinding in a mixie, it very often gets heated. So add ice cold water to grind the batter.
- You can use this same batter to make dosa, uthappam, or paniyaram too.
Soft and spongy Barnyard Millet Idli is ready to relish.
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