Watermelon Idlis, Vegan Rava Idlis

          After making dosas with watermelon, using the white rind part of the fruit, the next thing that came to my mind was Watermelon Idlis. As usual, when I am trying something new, I am always prepared for anything, the dish can turn out good or bad. I decided to make it in the same way as Rava Idlis ( Sooji/Semolina Idlis ), using the watermelon rind pulp in the place of yogurt/curd. The idlis came out really good, the texture was like that of rava idlis, and I also realized that I had made Vegan Rava Idlis, do try these idlis, the next time you buy watermelon..

Need To Have

• Rava/Semolina/Sooji - 1+1/2 cups
• Watermelon Rind,White Part - enough to make 1+1/2 cup pulp
• Broken Cashews - 1 tablespoon
• Chana Dal/Bengal Gram - 1 tablespoon
• Urad Dal/Husked Black Gram - 1/2 teaspoon
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Ginger - 1" piece, grated
• Green Chilly - 1 chopped
• Curry Leaves - 15, roughly chopped
• Eno/Fruit Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chopped Coriander Leaves - 2 tablespoons
• Salt - 1 teaspoon
• Oil - 5 teaspoons

Method

          Grind the white part of the watermelon rind and measure out 1 and 1/2 cups of the pulpy juice and keep.

          Heat the oil, add the cashews, chana dal, urad dal and mustard seeds, when it starts sputtering and the cashews turn golden, add the ginger, green chilly, curry leaves and saute for a minute. Then add the rava/semolina.

          Roast the rava for about 5 minutes and remove it in a bowl. Add the watermelon pulp, salt, coriander and 1 + 1/2 cup of water and mix.

          Heat the water in the idli steamer, grease the idli moulds, now add the eno/fruit salt to the rava batter, mix it well, immediately spoon it into the idli moulds and steam it for about 15 to 17 minutes till the idlis are done. Remove, the idli moulds from the steamer, give it 3 to 5 minutes to cool down, then running a wet spoon around the edges, remove the idlis from the moulds.

Note
The batter should be thick and not very watery.
These idlis go very well with coconut or peanut chutney.

Watermelon Kuzhi Paniyarams

          After the Watermelon dosa became a hit at home, I wanted to try other dishes with the fruit. I tried a couple of them and this Watermelon Kuzhi Paniyarams was the first on the list. I have used the white rind part of the watermelon and to make it more healthy, I made the paniyarams using millets, I have used varagu/proso millet and the paniyarams turned out very fluffy and soft. The batter needs to be fermented overnight or at least for 10 to 12 hours and the same batter can be used for making both sweet and kara/spicy paniyarams. The sweet ones can be had as such and the spicy ones can be served with some coconut or peanut based chutney and they make a delicious breakfast, snack or even dinner..

Need To Have

• Varagu/Proso Millet - 1/2 cup
• Urad Dal/Husked Black Gram - 2 teaspoons
• Fenugreek Seeds/Methi - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chopped Watermelon Rind - 2 cups + 2 tablespoons
• Aval/Rice Flakes/Poha - 2 tablespoons
• Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

For The Kara/Spicy Paniyarams

• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad Dal/Husked Black Gram - 2 teaspoons
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Onion - 1 medium, chopped
• Green Chilly - 1, chopped
• Curry Leaves - 10

For Sweet Paniyarams

• Jaggery Powder - 2 tablespoons
• Cardamom - 1

Method

          Wash and soak the proso millet, urad dal and methi seeds together for about 3 hours. The rice flakes/poha need to be soaked for just 5 minutes and chop the watermelon rind.

          First grind the watermelon pieces, then add the drained millet mixture along with the poha and grind everything into a smooth mixture and remove.

           Add the salt, mix it well and leave it overnight to ferment. Now I reserved just 1/4 cup of the batter to try out the sweet paniyarams and used the rest of the batter to make the spicy ones.

          First let's make the spicy ones, heat some oil, add the urad dal and mustard seeds, once the seeds start sputtering, add the asafoetida followed by the onion, green chilly and curry leaves and saute till the onions turn translucent. Add this to the batter and mix it.

           Heat the paniyaram pan, drizzle a little oil into each of the moulds, spoon the batter to about 3/4 th the height of the mould. Cover and cook on medium-low heat till the top is set and cooked, flip it and cook on the other side and remove.

           Now coming to the sweet paniyarams, to the 1/4 cup of the batter, add the jaggery and the cardamom ( powder the inner pods of the cardamom ), mix and make the paniyarams.

Note
You can use idli rice instead of the millets.
Drain and add the millets and the poha, the water from the watermelon is enough for grinding.