Tricolour Idli

Looking for something special to celebrate Independence Day? Tricolour Idlis are your answer!

In a country as diverse as ours, Independence Day is one of the few national holidays that unite Indians across the nation. This is The Vegetarians’ Kitchen‘s first I-Day and to celebrate it, I wanted to try something different. However, I didn’t want to use artificial colours and this created a dilemma for me. How do I recreate the colours of the national flag without using artificial colours?

As I pondered about it, I got the idea for the tricolour idli. Orange carrots and green peas against a backdrop of white idlis made the perfect combination – they were the right colours and the dish is a quintessentially Indian one too. Best of all? It tastes pretty good too!

Hopefully, by the time Independence Day comes around next year, I’ll figure out how to get something natural and blue in there too. Fingers crossed 🙂

(If you are looking for something sweet, check out my recipe for Gajar (Carrot) Halwa!)

Tricolour Idli recipe
Makes 12 idlis

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups idli rice
1 cup urad dal
2 tsp boiled peas
3″ piece of 1 carrot, very finely chopped, boiled
Salt to taste

Method:
Wash the idli rice thoroughly 2-3 times and soak it in water for about 8 hours.

In a separate bowl, wash the urad dal and soak it in water for 1.5 hours to 2 hours.

Grind them separately. In a large bowl, mix them together.

Add salt and set the batter aside to ferment for 6 to 7 hours.

Take an idli cooker and fill it with water about 2″ high. In each mould of the idli plate, place a few peas and pieces of carrots.

Stir the batter well and pour a ladleful (or so, depending on the size of your idli plate) on top of the vegetables. Pile the plates inside the cooker, cover and steam on medium flame for 10 minutes.

Switch off the flame and wait for another 10 minutes or so before you begin to remove the idlis from the idli plate.

Transfer to a serving plate. Serve hot with chutney and sambar.

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”

– Francois de la Rochefoucauld