Tadka Idli/Tempered Idli

Idlis are the quintessential south Indian snack. It is one of the most popular tiffin items (tiffin meaning snack) Having grown up in Madras (now Chennai) I have eaten a lot of these little steamed rice cakes. These fluffy rice cakes make a delectable breakfast, I can seriously have them everyday for brekkie with piping hot sambhar and coconut chutny, yumm! The best thing is if you have the batter ready you can make it in a matter of minutes. My husband who is very north Indian in his ways also loves them, dosas are probably his favourite closely followed by idlis drowned in milagai powder. These tadka idlis are made with left over idlis and are a delicious way of using up leftovers. They make a really yummy snack, I always make extra idlis so that I can make this the next day.

Recipe                                                                                               Print Recipe

Serves 3- 4

Ingredients
10 Idlis - chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
Salt to taste
11/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Asfoetida powder
10-12 curry leaves

Method
Cut the idlis into bite sized pieces and put them in a bowl. Now sprinkle the turmeric, salt, and chilli powder on them and toss them so that they are all covered in the spices.

Heat some oil in a pan and once it's hot enough add the mustard seeds. Once they start to pop add the curry leaves and asfoetida quickly followed by the spice laden idli pieces. Give everything a good mix so that all the idli pieces are covered in the oil-spice mix.

Cook them till the idli pieces start to crisp up and are golden in colour. Keep an eye so that they don't stick to the pan. Once golden transfer them to a plate and serve with coconut chutny and idli milagai podi (spicy chutny powder or gun powder as it's called in North India)