Idli Masala/Idli Chaat (With the Arusuvai surprise ingredient) & Muchore

" Shall I make this??!!?".... "How about making that dish?!?!"... "Maybe I could make this with my arusuvai ingredient".... "That old recipe might go good with my arusuvai ingredient, don't you thing?!???"....

Yes... Arusuvai ingredient has been the only thing on my mind for the past 10-12 days! All I could talk about was Arusuvai!! Like I had said in my earlier post about Arusuvai ingredient, Vanamala from My Kitchen World sent me "Chutney Pudi" as a surprise!! As you all know, Chutney Pudi is a versatile ingredient and can be put to use in many ways. It can be had with dosas, idlis, sandwiches or just hot rice and ghee!! So, after a lot of thought process and "discussions" with Naveen.... ( Yeah!! I bugged him so much, that he was forced to take interest and give his suggestions :D... ) I decided to make "Idli Chaat"! I had very little hopes with this recipe, but surprisingly it turned out quite good!!! It was just perfect as an evening snack with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Thanx VM, for sending across such a wonderful ingredient!! :)

Continuing the Arusuvai chain, I will be sending surprise ingredients to Kamala from Mom's Recipes and Swathi from Sanjeevani. While Mom's Recipes is a food blog, Sanjeevani is a general blog where Swathi writes about various topics like travel, her snow experience and some recipes too!! Thanx for offering to continue the chain, girls!! I will be sending across the ingredient in a couple of days...I hope you both enjoy being a part of the chain as much as I did!!!! Will move on to the recipe now.....

Ingredients:

3-4 Left over Idlis

1/2 - 3/4 Onion, medium sized (chopped finely)

4-5 Dates/Kharjura (de-seeded)

1-2 tsp Chutney Pudi

2 tbsp Curds, beaten

1 tbsp Sev

5-7 Papdi , crushed coarsely

1-2 tsp Butter/Ghee

3-4 strands Cilantro, chopped finely

Salt as per taste

For the Tamarind Chutney:

1/2 - 3/4 tsp Tamarind paste OR 1 big lemon sized pulp soaked in warm water

1 - 2 tsp Jaggery

1/2 tsp Red Chili powder

1/2 tsp Jeera powder

Salt as per taste

Method:

1. Heat butter/ghee in a pan; Keep aside a few spoons of chopped onions for garnishing and add the rest to the pan; Saute for about a minute. Note that the onions need not be cooked completely. I added onions at this point because they blend better this way with the idlis.
2. Crush the idlis coarsely with your hands or the back of a spoon and add to the pan; Mix well and saute until the idli is coated well with butter.
3. Add chutney pudi and mix well; Add salt and chili powder, if required.
4. Remove from stove and transfer into separate plates; Add few pieces of crushed papdi.
5. Pour few spoons of tamarind chutney and curds all over the idli; Garnish with remaining onions, cilantro, sev and serve immediately.

Tamarind Chutney:

1. Soak dates in 1/2 a cup of warm water for about 10-15 minutes (If you are using tamarind pulp, you can use the same tamarind juice for soaking dates)
2. Add tamarind paste, jaggery and microwave for about 2-3 minutes OR until the dates become soft and the jaggery melts.
3. Blend the mixture to a smooth paste with a blender; Add chili powder and jeera powder and mix well.
4. Boil further for another minute to get the desired consistency.

Note: If you are too lazy make this elaborate tamarind chutney, you could just add some sugar, chili powder and jeera powder to the tamarind juice and boil for a minute. Though not as good as the traditional chutney, this one is a pretty decent work around!! :)

Prep Time: About 10-15 mins (excluding idli making time)

Serves: About 2 pople

Muchore (Mu - cho - ray)

One of my readers mailed me the other day asking me if I had any information about muchore.... Well yes, I do... Here is a quick recipe! I do not have any pictures to go with it, but I guess that okay... :)

Muchore is very similar to chakli. The difference is in one of the ingredients that goes into them! While urad dal is used in making chakli, yellow moong dal is used in muchore. So, if you have the muchore mix ready, all you have to do is

• add a couple of spoons of ghee/butter and knead it into a thick dough using water. Adjust salt and chili powder according to taste.
• Press into circles using the usual chakli press.
• Heat oil and deep fry muchore until crisp and golden brown.

Traditionally, the "bille" (the circular, detachable bottom portion of the press containing perforations, through which the dough oozes out) used for muchore contains three star shaped perforations, while the bille for chakli contains only one.