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Protein High - Ep-1 - Moong Dal Idli
Living in a country like India really spoils your taste buds, especially when you grow up to be a health freak and have to eat healthy foods, like salads, and suddenly everything tastes so bland because your tongue is so used to the flavourful Indian cuisine. We have totally been there (kinda still are!) and so we present to you, this new series, where we bring to you protein packed, flavourful Indian recipes to satisfy the inner health enthusiast in you, while still keeping that spoilt brat happy.
Starting with one of India's most favourite breakfast items - Idli.
Regular Idli, on its own, provides us with 2-3 grams of protein, 2-5g fibre, 6-10g of carbohydrates; 1-5 mg iron, and minimal amounts of calcium, folate, potassium, and vitamin A, depending on the ingredients used. It also provides around 35 to 40 grams of calories in total. This is the nutritional value of a single, plain regular sized idli. However, since we are focussing on increasing the nutritional content, we shall be making its nutritionally superior cousin - Moong Dal Idli!
Lets start with what you need -
- 2 cups of Skinned Moong Dal - There are two types of Moong Dal available in the market. We require the yellow coloured one that doesn't have the green cover. It looks like this.
image source naturallynidhi.com
- 2-3 Tbsp of Thick Curd
- 2-3 Green Chillies - You can increase or decrease the quantity as per your liking and spice tolerance level.
- 1 inch of Ginger
- 1 Tsp Sugar
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp Lemon Juice - You can also substitute it with citric acid.
- Veggies of your choice (Carrots, Zucchini, Beetroot, Spinach, whatever you like)
- Coriander leaves
- 2 tsp Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 tbsp Urad Dal
- 7-10 Cashew Nuts
- 4-5 Curry Leaves
- 1 Tsp Eno
Here's what you need to do -
- Wash and soak the Moong Dal overnight, or at least for 4-5 hours.
- Drain the water and add your curd, chillies and ginger. Grind till it turns into a smooth paste. Add water if needed.
- Transfer this paste into a bowl and add in your veggies, sugar, salt and coriander leaves along with the lemon juice.
- Heat oil in a pan and add your mustard seeds, curry leaves, urad dal and cashew nuts. Once this begins to cackle, transfer this tadka into the moong dal paste.
- Mix everything well and just before you are ready to steam them, add in the eno and mix.
- Grease the idli moulds with oil and then add in the batter. Steam on high flame for the next 5 minutes. Turn down the flame to medium and continue steaming for the next 10 minutes.
- Take off the heat and serve hot with the chutney or condiment of your choice.
One moong dal idli ideally provides us with 40-50 grams of calories, and around 8-10 grams of protein. This of course will change according to the vegetable and other ingredients you choose to add or remove from your recipe. Overall, this idli tastes delicious and is super nutritious and packed with proteins and fibres.
We will be back really soon, with another very healthy and equally delicious Indian recipe, to soothe both the foodie and the healthy in you.
