Chutney is a spicy condiment associated with south Indian breakfast menu. This kind of finger licking and colorful chutney recipes for idly and dosa always teases your palate, brighten you mood and sizzle your taste buds. small onion chutney / chinna vengaya chutney is a spicy and a traditional south Indian side dish recipe for idly, dosa and paniyaram. I already posted onion chutney and onion tomato chutney recipe for idly and dosa in my blog. I really love this small onion (shallots/ china vengayam) chutney for hot idly. You can also replace big red onion to make this chutney. Try this easy small onion chutney recipe (without coconut ) for breakfast.

Onion Chutney Recipe – Ingredients

To Fry and Grind

• 2 Handful of Small Onions
• 10 Big Garlic Cloves
• 3 Red Chillies
• Small Gooseberry Size of Tamarind
• 1 Big Tomato
• 6 Curry Leaves
• Pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)
• Salt to taste
• 2 Tsp of Gingelly Oil

To Temper

• 2 -3 Tsp of Gingelly Oil
• 1 Tsp of Mustard
• 1 Tsp of Urad Dal
• 5 Curry Leaves

Method for chinna vengaya chutney

• Heat a pan with oil, add all the ingredients listed under ” To fry and To grind ” saute it one by one, cool down and grind it with water to a smooth paste.
• Heat a pan with oil, temper with the ingredients listed under ” To Temper ” after it sizzles, pour this to chutney, mix well.
• Serve it for hot idly and dosa or paniyaram.

Tips for small onion chutney

• You can make this chutney either with small onion or big onion.
• Skip tomato if you use more tamarind.
• Adjust number of red chillies according to your taste.

Health Benefits of Small Onion

• Rich in iron, fibre and potassium
• strengthen the immune system.
• good for heart, tooth, eyes and hair.
• lowers cholesterol, blood pressure and prevents cancer.

Millets are one of the oldest foods known to humans and possibly the first cereal grain to be used for domestic purposes. they are short term crop, give a quick yield even with less water. Varagu sadham / Varagu arisi sadham / kodo millet rice is very nutritious, good for vegetarian as it was high in fibre and protein. You can cook millets like ( kuthiravalli, samai, thenai), varagu) at home either in pressure cooker or in pan. Varagu are very easy to digest, so it is good for both kids and adults. Now days I substitute millets in place of rice and wheat to prevents diabetes, weight loss and other disease when used regularly. Most millets can be cooked like rice. You can make different millet recipe in place of rice such as idli, dosa, payasam/kheer. Millet flour can be used to make rotis.

Kinds of millets available in markets.

Barnyard Millet (Hindi: Jhangora; Tamil: Kuthiravaali; Telugu: Odalu)
Finger Millet (Hindi: Mandua; Tamil: Kelvargu; Telugu: Ragulu; Kannada: Ragi; Malayalam: Koovarugu)
Foxtail Millet (Hindi: Kangni; Tamil: Tenai; Telugu: Korra; Kannada: Navane; Malayalam: Thina)
Kodo Millet (Hindi: Kodra; Tamil: Varagu; Telugu: Arikelu; Kannada: Harka)
Little Millet (Hindi: Kutki; Tamil: Samai; Telugu: Sama; Kannada: Same; Malayalam: Chama)
Pearl Millet (Hindi: Bajra, Tamil: Kambu, Telugu: Gantilu, Kannada: Sajje)
Proso Millet (Hindi: Barri; Tamil: Panivaragu; Telugu: Varigulu; Kannada: Baragu)
Sorghum (Hindi: Jowar; Tamil: Cholam; Telugu: Jonna; Kannada: Jola; Malayalam: Cholum)

Health Benefits of Varagu Rice (Kodo Millets)

• Digestion friendly.
• Gluten free, rich in vitamins and minerals.
• High in fiber and protein.
• Controls cholestrol and blood sugar.
• Act as a prebiotic feeding microflora in your inner ecosystem.
• Serotonin in the millet calms and soothes the mood.
• Hydrate your colon to keep your system regular and keep you from being constipated.

Kudo Millet

Preparation Time : 10 mins         Cooking Time : 15 mins        Serves : 2- 3 People

Ingredients for varagu rice

• 1 Cup of Kodo Milet ( Varagu Rice )
• 3 Cups of Water

Method

• Wash the millets. In the pressure cooker, add millet and water. Cook it for 3 whistles and turn off the heat.
• Serve it with sambar or rasam or curd.
• Substitute millet in place of rice.

Tips

• You can make idly or dosa or variety rice with millets.
• You can cook the millet either in pressure cooker or in pan.
• If you are cooking in pan, first add water to the pan, allow it to boil, after you see bubbles, add millet and cover it with a lid, let it cook for 15 mins. Turn off the flame. Do not open the pan for another 15 mins.
• Use 2.5 – 3 cups of water to 1 cup of varagu depending on your preference.

Vendhaya Idli Recipe / Fenugreek idli / Methi idly recipe is simple and easy to make south Indian breakfast dish. Some people might think that adding fenugreek would make idly tastes bitter…but that is not true, it makes the idly soft and tasty, you don’t taste the bitterness. I got this recipe from my amma and this idly recipe is without urad dal, also diabetic friendly idly dish. Those who are allergic to dal, can have this vendhaya idli for breakfast or dinner. Best accompaniment for this vendayam idly are sambar, tomato chutney or idly podi. Making vendhaya idli once in a week, keeps our body cool, healthy and fresh.

• Preparation Time : 10 hrs
• Cooking Time : 10 Mins
• Serves : 4 people

Ingredients

• 3 Cups of Idly Rice
• 3 Tsp of Fenugreek
• Salt as required

• Soak the fenugreek in water for 4 hrs. Soak the idly rice in water for 2 hrs.
• In grinder, first grind the fenugreek and add water little by little. Grind the fenugreek until you get soft and fluffy batter.  Make sure the fenugreek batter looks similar to urad dal batter. Remove and transfer it to a bowl.
• Grind the rice separately and transfer the batter to the same bowl. Mix both the batter with hand along with salt. Let it ferment for overnight.
• The next day, mix the batter with laddle before making idly. Pour the batter in idly plate and steam it for 10 mins. you can wet the hand and dip the index finger to check if it is cooked. If it is sticky, steam it for another 2 mins.
• Hot, soft fenugreek idly is ready to serve with coconut chutney or onion tomato chutney or peanut chutney.

Tips

• Always soak fenugreek and rice separately because the bitterness which gets imparted with rice makes idly bitter.
• Use your hand for mixing for better fermentation.
• For best result of batter, use wet grinder rather than mixie.

Health Benefits of Fenugreek

• 26.2 gram of protein in 100 grams of fenugreek.
• Cure arthritis, skin problems and improve digestion.
• Treat diabetes and lowers blood sugar level.
• Ease child birth for pregnant women.
• Aid milk production in lactating women.

Soft Methi Idly

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