Foxtail Millet Idli Dosa Recipe is an Indian Diabetic Recipe made with only Foxtail or Thinai or Korralu. This Thinai Idi Dosa Recipe is a No Rice dish fermented to make it more healthy for Diabetic meal.
For the A to Z Indian Steamed Dishes Series, the only choice I could make was with Foxtail Millet. We regularly use this millet to cook as instead of rice. So the ideas was to make a Dhokla. However, thinking about it, I decided I could go ahead make an Idli as it will be easy to serve this than a dhokla at home.
I have made a No Rice Tamil Nadu Breakfast Thali, using different Millets for all our regular tiffin dishes. For this Foxtail Millet Idli Dosa Recipe, only millet is used. With us replacing rice with different millets for our lunch for almost four days a week, I thought I should surely make this idli and see how it will be received.
Foxtail Millet has been part of our Indian cuisine for ages. This millet is rich in fiber, calcium and has a low glycemic index, making it an ideal choice for Diabetics. Athamma used to eat this regularly for her meals and I decided I would make this Idli to see if we will like it too.
These Thinai Idi Dosa Recipe make nutritious breakfast choice for anyone as the batter is fermented, using urad dal. I also grease the plates with oil. So it makes it gluten free, Vegan and very healthy! So go ahead and try this Foxtail Millet Idli Dosa Recipe now.
Check this Godhumai Idli if you are looking for another instant idli.
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Ingredients
Foxtail Millet and Urad dal are the only ingredients we use to make this idli.
Some call for adding poha to the batter. However, with a longer fermentation time, these idlis will be soft.
See recipe card for quantities for Thinai Idi Dosa Recipe.
Instructions for Foxtail Millet Idli Dosa Recipe
I have used Foxtail Millet with whole urad dal. We have to soak these in separate vessels to grind the batter.
For the Batter
Wash the foxtail millet for a couple of times until the water runs clean. Soak with enough water to cover it.
In another vessel, wash and soak the urad dal along with fenugreek seeds. Cover both vessels with a lid.
Let the soaking be done for at least four hours.
Once the soaking time is done, grind it in either grinder or a mixer jar.
I used a mixer jar, so first take the drained urad dal and pulse it for a couple of times.
Make sure the dal is all ground and leveled again.
Now sprinkle water over it and grind to a smooth soft batter.
Add as little water as possible. We only need it for getting ground well.
The batter texture should be like almost a butter.
Now remove to a bowl, add the drained millet to the jar.
Again grind to a smooth paste. You will still find it to be a granular texture, add water and grind to a smooth paste as much as possible.
Now add this to urad dal paste, add salt and beat it well.
Sover with a lid and let it ferment overnight or for at least 8 hours.
Steaming the Korralu Idli
Take about 3 cups of water into your idli steamer, cook on high for the water to boil.
Grease the idli plates with oil, pour the batter to 3/4 level and continue until the entire batch is over or how much ever you want.
Stack the plates and place it in the steam and let it steam for 15 minutes.
Once the idlis are steamed, let it stand for 5 to 7 minutes for it to easily unmold.
Serve with Chutney or Sambar of your choice.
Substitutions you can make for Foxtail Millet Idli Dosa Recipe
If you are not used to making it with only foxtail millet, you can add 1/4 cup of soaked Poha and grind it along with the other ingredients.
If using this batter to make dosas, you can always add a little rice flour or any other flour to make batter more easy and tasty to eat.
Variations
You can made dosa with the same batter. If the texture is not as expected, you may add 2 tablespoon of rice flour to one cup millet batter.
Otherwise, you can add other millet flours like ragi, jowar, bajra or multi millet flour to the batter instead of rice flour.
To make it more nutritious, you can add vegetables as well.
If serving to kids, you can top it with carrots, cashews etc to make attractive to them.
Equipment
To make Foxtail Millet Idli Dosa Recipe, you will need a steamer to steam the idlis and a tawa to make dosas. You can either use a grinder or a mixer for grinding the batter.
Storage
After fermentation, you can refrigerate the batter for two days. Storing it in smaller vessels for using it on each day without stirring will keep the batter from not getting sour.
Expert Tips for Foxtail Millet Idli Dosa Recipe
Ensure not to add too much water while grinding the millets. These Millet batters tend to become watery after fermenting. So, your Idlis won’t be fluffy if the batter is watery. Thicker batter before fermentation should take care of this problem.
It is better to grind dal and millet separately since we have to grind the dal to a very fine and fluffy texture.
Unlike rice, millets absorb less water and the grinding time is also less.
Grind till it becomes fine rawa. It may take 10 minutes, depending on the quantity.
We don't have to add cooking soda to batter, minimum 8 hours of fermentation will take care of it.
Other Millet Recipes you can try
- Healthy Samai Idli
- Barnyard Millet Dosa
- Kodo Millet Paniyaram
- Little Millet Khichdi
- Thinai Sambar Sadam
- Nachni Uttapam
Recipe
Foxtail Millet Idli Dosa Recipe ~ Indian Diabetic Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Foxtail Millet / Thinai / Korralu
- 1/2 cup Urad Dal
- 1/2 teaspoon Fenugreek /Methi Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
How to make Foxtail Millet Idli Batter
For the Batter
- Wash the foxtail millet a couple of times until the water runs clear. Soak with enough water to cover it.
- In another vessel, wash and soak the urad dal along with fenugreek seeds. Cover both vessels with a lid.
- Let the soaking be done for at least four hours.
- Once the soaking time is done, grind it in either grinder or a mixer jar.
- I used a mixer jar, so first, take the drained urad dal and pulse it a couple of times.
- Make sure the dal is all ground and leveled again.
- Now sprinkle water over it and grind to a smooth soft batter.
- Add as little water as possible. We only need it for getting ground well.
- The batter texture should be like almost butter.
- Now remove to a bowl, add the drained millet to the jar.
- Again grind to a smooth paste. You will still find it to be a granular texture, add water and grind to a smooth paste as much as possible.
- Now add this to urad dal paste, add salt, and beat it well.
- Cover with a lid and let it ferment overnight or for at least 8 hours.
Steaming the Korralu Idli
- Take about 3 cups of water into your idli steamer, cook on high for the water to boil.
- Grease the idli plates with oil, pour the batter to 3/4 level, and continue until the entire batch is over or how much ever you want.
- Stack the plates and place them in the steam and let them steam for 15 minutes.
- Once the idlis are steamed, let it stand for 5 to 7 minutes for it to easily unmold.
- Serve with Chutney or Sambar of your choice.
Nutrition
Radha says
I usually make millet idlis in this proportion and they turn out amazing! Love your idli clicks and this is a great recipe for the series! Always a fan of idli and this is a favorite one for me.
Harini says
This is a regular idli at my place. I agree that the batter takes a while longer for fermentation. I would ferment for more than 16 hours for our kind of cold climate. The idlis taste divine if the fermentation is perfect.
Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth says
The idlis look soft and delicious. We just make regular idlis, and I am not even in a mood to try anything else because my girls can be super dicey... hehe...