Saamai (Little Millet) Idli & Dosai (Without Rice)

Category: Breakfast / Millets
Soaking Time: 8 Hrs / Overnight  
Fermentation Time: 6- 8 Hrs    
Cooking Time: 10 mins /batch; 2 mins/dosa

Saamai Idli & Dosai

Millets are very nutrient rich grains. These super grains were forgotten for a while and now they are making a coming back. Saamai is known as little millet in English. For those who want to skip rice or need to try an alternative to the regular rice based Idli or dosai, Little millet is sure a healthy choice. This is also an excellent option to feed millets to the kids and toddlers.

Saamai (Little Millet) Idly

Before I try this Idli with Saamai and without any rice, I was bit skeptical about the texture of Idli. Because I never tried Idli without a portion of Idli rice, even with Ragi Idli or any other Idli varieties, I have used some Rice. But to my surprise, the Saamai Idli is super soft and tasty. Only the colour will be little dull but taste wise not much difference. Saamai Dosa is crispy and flavorful.

Saamai (Little Millet) Dosai

One thing to keep in mind is, the batter becomes sour faster than or regular Idli batter so I would suggest to use the the batter within 2 or 3 days.

Ingredients:

• Saamai/ Little Millet - 2 cups
• Whole white urad dhal - 1/2 cup
• Fenugreek seeds - 2 tsp
• Salt - To taste
• Sesame oil - for making dosa

Dosai Pizza / Pizza Uthappam

Category: Kids Recipes
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Servings: 3 servings

Yummy Pizza Dosai

Dosai Pizza / Pizza Uthappam is just making Pizza with the Dosai as the base :) Whenever kids crave for pizza but we didn't have time to make one, we can prepare this Pizza dosa. 

As a south Indian, we always stock up Idli Dosa batter. But kids often got bored with the regular foods. We need to find ways to make our regular foods look fun and fascinating for the little ones 😅

Dosai Pizza

Toppings are purely of our choice, We can use Onions, Bellpepper, Mushrooms, Olives, Baby corn, Sweet corn, Paneer, Zucchini, etc., Since we are cooking in low flame and only for short amount of time, the veggies can be sauted in little oil until they gets cooked just right.

If we want thin base, we can make this with normal thin dosa too.

Ingredients:

• Idli/Dosa batter - 2 cups
• Pizza Sauce / Pasta Sauce - 1/4 cup
• Mushrooms - 4-5, sliced
• Bell pepper / Capsicum - 1/4 cup, thinly sliced
• Black olives - few, sliced
• Sweet corn - 2 Tbsp, boiled
• Mozzarella cheese - 1/2 cup, grated (Use as needed)
• Italian seasoning - to taste
• Chilli flakes - to taste
• Garlic powder - a pinch (Optional - I like to flavour up the mushrooms)
• Salt - to taste
• Cooking oil - as needed

Mixed Vegetable Dosa Waffles

Category: Kids Recipes
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Servings: 2 servings

Dosa Waffle Sticks

As a south Indian, we always stock up Idli Dosa batter. But kids often got bored with the regular foods. We need to find ways to make our regular foods look fun and fascinating for the little ones 😅

Mixed Veg Dosa Waffles

So how about making our dosa more interesting and attractive by adding colorful veggies and cook it in the waffle maker 👍 

These dosa waffles are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. With the addition of veggies, Doesn't it look tastier?

Dosa sticks or Dosa squares?

While serving for toddlers and small kids, we can cut them up into strips or even squares.

Bite sized foods are always liked by the kids, so lets be creative 😊

Ingredients:

• Idli/Dosa batter - 2 cups
• Idli Podi - 1 Tbsp (adjust as needed)
• Big Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Carrot - 1 big, finely chopped
• Green beans - 10, finely chopped
• Green chilly, split - as needed

Vegetable Mini Dosa for kids (Colourful Coin Dosa)

Category: Breakfast / Tiffin /Kids Recipes
Cooking Time: 1-2 mins / dosa

Veggie Mini Dosa!!!!

These vegetable mini dosas are not actually a recipe but its a great way to make kids eat their meal:)  We can add any preferred vegetables to get those vibrant colours. 

In the same way, we can make mini Idlis too and serve it using skewers :) Also we can make delicious podi idlis as a snack.

With the dosa, the one advantage is that we can even make these into any fun shapes our kids like.

I'm sure it puts a smile on your kids face :)

Here I used my Sponge dosa batter so I didn't flip and cook the other side. You can find the recipe for the batter here: Sponge Dosa

So Colourful & Healthy!!

Ingredients:

• Sponge Dosa batter - 2 cups
• Baby Spinach - 1 cup, loosely packed
• Carrot - 1 small, grated
• Beet root - 2 small wedges, grated
• Salt - if needed
• Sesame oil - for cooking dosa

Variations:

Onion Uthappam

Category: Breakfast / Dinner
Preparation Time: 5 mins     
Cooking Time: 15 mins    
Servings: 2-3 servings

Onion Uthappam

 Ingredients:

• Idly / Dosa Batter - 2 cups
• Small Onions - 12-15 nos, finely chopped
• Sesame Oil / Ghee- as needed

Method:

1. Finely chop the small onions and keep it ready; Small onions give an excellent flavour and taste to the uthappam than the regular big ones
2. Heat Dosa pan and grease it with few drops of oil. Reduce the flame to medium, pour a ladle of batter and no need to spread out like normal dosa. It needs to be thick, so gently spread to form a thick dosa
   
3. Add the chopped onions over it and drizzle few drops of oil
   
4. Cook covered in low flame until the lower side starts to get browned
5. Then flip it over and cook the other side without covering; while cooking gently press so that onions get toasted well
   
6. Once it turns golden brown, take it out
7. Serve hot with Sambar / Chutney!
   

Wheat flour Dosai (Godhumai Dosai)

Category: Instant Dosai  
Preparation Time: 5 mins     
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins    
Servings: 3-4 Servings

Godhumai Dosai

 Ingredients:

• Wheat flour - 2 cups
• Rice flour - 1/4 cup (Optional)
• Curd - 1/3 cup (1 cup Buttermilk can also be used)
• Ginger, finely grated - 1 tsp
• Carrot, finely grated - 1 no (Optional)
• Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp 
• Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
• Coriander leaves, finely chopped - 2-3 tbsp (Optional)
• Water - as required
• Salt - to taste
• Sesame oil - for making dosa

Method:

1. In a wide bowl add all the ingredients except oil and mix well to our regular dosa batter consistency
   
2. Heat Tawa and grease it. Pour a ladle of dosa batter and spread it to a thin circle
   
   
   
3. Drizzle few drops of oil around the dosa and cover it with lid
4. Once its done, Flip it over and cook the other side
   
5. Serve hot with sambhar / chutney!
   

Green Gram Sprouts Dosa - Crispier Version

Category: Instant Dosa  
Preparation Time: 5 mins     
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins    
Servings: For 2 persons

Crispy Green Gram Sprouts Dosa

 Ingredients:

• Green Gram sprouts - 1 cup
• Rice flour - 1/4 cup
• Fine Rava - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Water -as required
• Green chilly - 1-2 nos (Optional)
• Sesame Oil - for making dosa

Method:

1. Take 1 cup of green gram sprouts in a blender and grind it to a smooth paste by adding enough water. If using green chilly, we can grind it along with the sprouts
   
2. In a wide bowl, add the ground paste, rice flour, fine rava, salt and mix well 
   
3. The batter should be runny, like rava dosa batter, adjust water accordingly 
   
4. Heat the dosa tawa and once its hot start pouring a laddle of batter from outside corners of the tawa to inside and fill in the gaps if any
   
5. Drizzle few drops of oil around the dosa and cover it with lid
6. Once it gets cooked, flip it over to cook the other side 
   
7. Once done, serve hot with favourite side dish 

Carrot - Avocado Uthappam (Avocado Dosa)

Category: Breakfast / Tiffin     
Preparation Time: 5 mins     
Cooking Time: 2 mins / dosa   
Servings: For 2 persons

Carrot-Avocado Uthappam

 Ingredients:

• Idly / Dosa Batter - 2 cups
• Avocado, ripen- 1 no
• Green chilly - 1 nos (Can be omitted if making for kids)
• Oil - for drizzling
• Carrot, grated - 1 no (Small) 

Method:

1. Cut open the Avocado and take out the pulp using a spoon
   
2. Take the pulp in a blender along with green chilly (I haven't used here) and blend for 30 secs and then add 1 cup of Idly batter into it and blend well till it becomes smooth
3. Mix the blended batter with the remaining batter in the bowl and mix well
   
4. If the batter is too thick, we can add little water to adjust the consistency  to make uthappams

   

   So Creamy:)

5. Heat Dosa Tawa and grease it. Pour a ladle of dosa batter and spread a little like Uthappam (Should not be thin), Reduce the flame to low
   
   
6. Add the carrot gratings over it and sprinkle little oil and cook covered for around 30-40 seconds  
   
7. Flip it over and cook other side   
   
8. Serve hot with sambhar / chutney!
   
9. We can also add little more water and make regular thin dosa with the same batter  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. These Dosas will be super soft and kids will like it for sure:)

Barley Idly & Dosai

Category: Breakfast / Tiffin    
Soaking Time: 6 Hrs / Overnight  
Fermentation Time: 8-12 Hrs    
Cooking Time: 10 mins /batch; 2 mins/dosa

Barley idly & Dosa with Carrot Sambhar

Another healthy Idly / Dosa recipe to add on to my list:) I tried substituting 50% of Idly rice with Barley in our normal Idly / Dosa batter and the result was good:) Only the colour of the Idlies would be pale and not pure white but tastes good. Dosai came out perfect and yummy!

Barley Idly

Barley Dosa

Ingredients:

• Barley -2 cups (I used Pearl Barley)
• Idly rice - 2 cups
• Whole white urad dhal - 1 cup
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
• Salt - To taste

Method:

1. Soak Idly rice & fenugreek seeds together and barley (separately) for 5-6 hrs / overnight and urad dhal for 45 mins-2 hrs
   
   
2.  In a wet grinder, first add the urad dal, grind till it becomes soft and fluffy. Once urad dhal is done, remove it in a big container and keep aside. While grinding for Idly, make sure you just sprinkle required water at regular intervals rather than pouring it at once. This will make the batter very fluffy and airy which results in soft idlies
3.  Add barley to the grinder and grind it till it becomes smooth, then add the rice and fenugreek seeds to it and grind to a smooth batter, but with a slight coarse texture. Once done, remove it into the container with urad dhal
4.  Add required salt and mix well with hands

   

   Before Fermentation

5.  Allow to ferment for about 8-12hrs and it depends on your room temperature; After fermentation, the volume of the batter would be almost doubled. (Make sure to place the batter in a big bowl to avoid spills after it gets fermented)

   

   After Fermentation

6. Once fermented, make idlies as usual
   
   
   
   
7. Serve with your favourite side dish
8. Next day, just add little water to the batter and make it slightly thinner than the idly batter
9. Heat Tawa and grease it. Pour a ladle of dosa batter and spread it to a thin circle. Pour a teaspoon of oil around the corners and cook covered for few seconds 
   
10. Flip it over and cook other side
    
11.  Serve hot with sambhar / chutney!