Eesha Kulkarni

Shahid Kapoor loves and lives to eat and often shares glimpses of him cooking and relishing all sorts of foods on his Instagram feed. The Jersey actor also frequently lets his fans in on his personal life and engages with them on Twitter and Instagram.

Recently, in an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Twitter, Kapoor was asked about his favourite south Indian food, to which he replied “Ghee Idli”.

Ghee Idli is a famous south Indian dish made with protein-packed lentils like moong dal, urad dal, masoor dal and chana dal. The dish serves as a filling and healthy breakfast option and is light, yummy and easy to make.

How you can prepare ghee idli at home

Ingredients

½ cup regular Rice or Idli Rice

¼ cup Urad Dal (whole or split black gram)

¼ cup of Chana Dal (whole or split Bengal gram)

¼ cup of Toor Dal (whole or split Pigeon pea)

1 tbsp of ghee (clarified butter)

2 dried Red Chillies

1-2 tsp of Oil for greasing

1 & ½ tsp chopped Ginger

A pinch asafoetida or hing

1-2 Green Chillies

½ tsp Cumin Seeds

½ tsp Mustard Seeds

⅓ cup chopped Shallots

¼ cup chopped Coriander leaves

9-10 chopped Curry leaves

¼ cup fresh Coconut, grated

Salt to taste

2 cups Water or as desired

Method

1. Rinse all the lentils and rice and soak them in around one and a half cups of water for at least two hours. The best way is to soak them overnight. Don’t forget to add red dried chillies to the rice and lentils mixture before soaking.

2. Once soaked, drain the water and blitz them in a blender. Add around a three-fourth cup of fresh water and blend to form a coarse batter. Pour out the batter into a bowl.

3. In a pan, heat the ghee and allow mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves to crackle and temper.

4. Add asafoetida, green chillies and ginger and stir until light brown

5. Add the ingredients to the bowl of batter and mix well. Let it rest for around half an hour to one hour.

6. Once done, add shallots, coriander leaves and grated coconut. Sprinkle in some salt to taste.

7. Grease the idli moulds with oil and pour the batter. Steam for around 10 minutes.

8. Transfer idlis to a plate and serve hot with sambar or chutneys.