We all know how healthy an Idli is, right? The versions, accompaniments are endless. People are getting so creative everyday and bringing out different varieties that anybody would love to try. This is one such recipe except more nutrition added with pumpkin. Pumpkin is widely used in making desserts around the world. In India I have seen the pumpkin is mainly used in sambars, curries, halwas, soups, parathas, dals.. but I never tried idli or dosa with pumpkin until recently.

I came to know about this idli recipe through one of my friends and I liked it, I tried dosa with the same batter, I liked even more. What I liked about this recipe is we can make both Idli and Dosa with one batter and both taste great. If dosa is good, we can also make ponganalu with the same batter, I haven’t tried yet, but will definitely try next time. If you are looking for a change from the routine style breakfasts like me, this is just a kind of variation you can go ahead and try sometime.

This is not an instant version of Idli. We need to ferment batter at least 8 hours, then make super soft idli and crispy, golden dosa.

Pumpkin is highly nutritious, particularly rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, and beta carotene. Also has vit B2, vit E, potassium, iron, fiber, protein, more minerals, high in anti-oxidants .. also good for diabetic people, low in calories. Good for eyes, aids in weight-loss, and is loaded with many more benefits.

If you’ve tried this Pumpkin Idli & Dosa recipe or any other recipe on Siri’s Food Lab, then don’t forget to rate, like and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!

How to make Pumpkin Idli

COOK TIME: 10 MINS

PREP TIME: 15 MINS SOAK TIME: 3 HRS. FERMENTATION: 8 HRS

COURSE: MAIN COURSE

CUISINE: SOUTH INDIAN

SERVES: 4

Ingredients

idli rice – 2 cups
urad dal or skinned whole urad – 1/2 cup
sabudana – 1/2 cup
thick poha (flattened rice) – 1/2 cup
soy bean (dry) – 1/2 tsp
orange pumpkin – 1&1/2 cup

Instructions

Prep:

Rinse rice at least twice and soak it for 3 hours.
Add urad dal, sabudana and soy bean together in a bowl, rinse and soak for 3 hours.
Peel and remove seeds from the pumpkin. Chop the pumpkin into cubes.
Soak thick poha just before 15 minutes before grinding.

Grinding:

First take pumpkin pieces in the blender jar, add soaked poha, then grind to a smooth paste. Transfer it to a deep mixing bowl.
Add soaked urad dal, sabudana to the blender jar and blend to a smooth batter by adding little water. Use the dal soaked water for grinding. Add this batter to pumpkin.
Add soaked rice to the blender jar, grind the rice into a coarse rava textured batter and add this to the bowl.

Stir all the batters to mix well. Close and keep the bowl in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight for fermentation.

Tempering:

Heat a small pan or kadai with 1 tbsp oil, add 1 tsp bengal gram/chana dal, 1 tsp black gram/urad dal, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp jeera/cumin, few curry leaves, 1 broken red chilly and pinch of hing, if you like, pinch of turmeric can also be added. Fry the dals until golden. Turn off the flame.

Making Idli

Batter would be doubled by the morning after the fermentation. Mix once and Transfer half of the batter into a bowl.
Add the tempering from above step to the batter.
Add salt and mix the batter well.
Keep the steamer or Idli cooker ready with enough water on the bottom.
Grease the Idli moulds with ghee or oil. Fill half of the moulds with batter.
Place the Idli stand in the steamer and steam for about 10-12 minutes on high.
Wait for 5 minutes before opening the lid, check if they are cooked by inserting a tooth pick. Tooth pick would come out clean if they cooked properly.
Serve with peanut chutney or fried gram chutney or coconut chutney and/or sambar.

Pumpkin Dosa

Take the remaining batter in another bowl and add salt. Mix well.
Heat a dosa pan on medium heat. Sprinkle some water and wipe off with a paper towel or a cloth.
Pour a ladle full of batter in the middle of the pan, and spread it round and thin with the bottom of the ladle.
Sprinkle 2-3 tsp of oil or ghee around and on the middle of the dosa.
Let dosa cook until golden brown. Flip the dosa to the other side and cook if making plain dosa.
For masala dosa, no need to flip. Just apply onion chutney, then sprinkle some masala powder like palli powder then add potato curry.
Fold the dosa to half and serve with peanut chutney and/or sambar.

Tips

Idli looks a little yellowish color because of the pumpkin, if you like more defined color, you may add food color in the batter or add turmeric in the tempering.
If you don’t have soy bean, you may use fenugreek seeds instead. Soy makes the fermentation faster.
You may also use the same batter to make ponganalu.
You can make plain or chutney dosa or masala dosa or uthappam or any type of dosa with this batter.

Step by step photo instructions

Prep:

Rinse rice at least twice and soak it for 3 hours.
Add urad dal, sabudana and soy bean in a bowl, rinse and soak for 3 hours.
Peel and remove seeds from the pumpkin. Chop the pumpkin into cubes.
Soak thick poha just before 15 minutes before grinding.

Grinding:

First take pumpkin pieces in the blender jar, add soaked poha, then grind to a smooth paste. Transfer it to a deep mixing bowl.

Add soaked urad dal, sabudana to the blender jar and blend to a smooth batter by adding little water. Use the dal soaked water for grinding. Add this batter to pumpkin.

Add soaked rice to the blender jar, grind the rice into a coarse like rava textured batter and add this to the bowl.

Stir all the batters to mix well. Close and keep the bowl in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight for fermentation. Batter would get doubled by the morning after the fermentation.

Tempering:

Making Idli

Transfer half of the batter into a bowl.
Add the tempering from above step to the batter.
Add salt and pinch of soda (soda is optional), mix the batter well.

Keep the steamer or Idli cooker ready with enough water on the bottom.
Grease the Idli moulds with ghee or oil. Fill half of the moulds with batter.
Place the Idli stand in the steamer and steam for about 10-12 minutes on high.

Wait for 5 minutes before opening the lid, check if they are cooked by inserting a tooth pick. Tooth pick would comes out clean if they cooked properly.