Vendhaya kali

Vendhaya kali is also called as menthulu sankati in Telugu. My mom makes it very often during summer and it is one of my favorite dish. It is prepared as a breakfast or dinner at my home. Vendhaya kali is a very healthy dish because it helps to cool our body especially during summer. Recently I got the recipe from my mom and tried it for the first time and it came out well.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup – Idly rice
• 2 tbsp – Fenugreek seeds / Vendhayam / Menthulu
• 1 tbsp – Sesame oil (as needed)
• Salt as needed
• 1 1/2 cup - water

For jaggery syrup:

• 1 no – Palm jaggery / Panai vellam (grated)
• 1 tsp – Rice flour
• 1/8 tsp – Dry ginger powder / Sukku
• 2 pinches – Pepper powder
• 1 no – Cardamom (crushed)
• 2 cup – Water

Preparation method:

Making of jaggery syrup:

1. Take a pan, add in grated palm jaggery and 1/2 cup water, bring it to boil. Cook until palm jaggery dissolve completely. Switch off the stove and filter it to remove the impurities. Set aside.
2. Take a small bowl, add rice flour, dry ginger powder, pepper powder, crushed cardamom and 3 tbsp water, mix everything well together. Set aside.
3. Bring back the same pan, add filter jaggery syrup,rice flour mixture and remaining 1 1/2 cup water, boil again the filtered syrup till it reaches to a thick consistency. Syrup should not be very thick or very thin. Hot palm jaggery syrup is ready.

Making of kali / sankati:

1. Wash and soak idly rice and fenugreek seeds together in a wide bowl for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Using mixer grinder or wet grinder, grind soaked rice and fenugreek seeds to a fine batter by adding enough water to grind them.
3. After grinding add additional 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water and enough salt to the batter and mix well without any lumps. Consistency of batter should be little watery like appam flour.
4. Heat a wide pan (preferably non stick pan), add ground batter and keep stirring so that no lumps are formed. Keep the flame over medium heat.
5. Continue stirring till the batter gets very thick consistency. Now reduce the flame to low and add a tablespoon of sesame oil ( more if needed). Keep stirring so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan and consistency should be like a thick ball.
6. In order to check whether it is done or not, dip your finger in a cold water and touch the batter, it should not stick in your fingers. Healthy vendhaya kali / menthulu sankati is ready to serve. Make a big ball and pour jaggery syrup over it, serve hot and enjoy.

Notes:

• Consistency of the jaggery syrup should not to be too thick or too thin.
• Consistency of the kali should be like a thick ball.
• Grind soaked rice and fenugreek seeds in batches because after grinding the batter will be double in quantity. In order to avoid spilling and save time, grind batter in batches.
• You can always replace palm jaggery with our regular jaggery.