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Black bean and Black rice Idli with cranberry chutney - vegan

I call this an exciting spooky nutritious combination of black beans, black rice complimented by spicy cranberry chutney.
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Prep Time 16 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Indian
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • Wet grinder or high speed blender
  • Idli pan with Idli cooker

Ingredients
  

Idli batter

  • 1 cup urad dal - split or whole
  • 1 cup black beans - raw
  • 1 cup black rice
  • 1/2 cup poha
  • salt to taste
  • water to soak and grind

Cranberry chutney

  • 2 cups cranberries fresh
  • 3 red sweet chili peppers sliced
  • 3 dry red chilies
  • 1/2 Tbsp channa dal
  • 1/2 Tbsp urad dal
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp tamarind paste
  • 1 tsp jaggery or brown sugar
  • 1 tsp oil

Instructions
 

Idli batter

  • Soak the urad dal, black beans, black rice in a bowl for 6-8 hours. Add the poha to the soaked mixture about 30 min prior to grinding.
    Drain the water from the soaked dal/beans/rice/poha , add to the blender and grind into a smooth paste adding little water at a time. The batter should be thick and not runny. Leave to ferment for 6-8 hours in warm area. Add salt before making idlis.
  • Add little water to the batter to bring it to a consistency slightly thicker than dosa batter. Add the batter to idli molds and let it cook in idli maker for a good 15-20 min on medium heat. These idlis take longer , so be patient. Turn off the stove and don't open the lid yet. Let them cook for 10 min with residual heat.
    Once idlis are done, demold and serve with tempering on the top.
    Tempering with oil, mustard seeds, red chilli flakes, curry leaves, and grated ginger in addition on top of the idlis will add aromatic flavor.

Cranberry chutney

  • Take a skillet, add oil and once hot, add the sliced red sweet chili peppers and saute for 3-4 min. Take them in to the blender jar.
    Now in the same pan, add dry red chilies, channa dal, urad dal, cumin, garlic cloves and saute for 4-5 min. Once you can feel the aroma from roasting these ingredients, add them to the blender. Add the tamarind paste and coarsely blend for 30 sec.
    Now add the two cups of cranberries to the same pan, and let them cook until you see them soften and pop. It will take about 5-7 min.
    Add the cooked cranberries to the partially ground blender contents. Add jaggery powder, salt to taste and blitz it to make a nice red cranberry chutney.
    Add tempering if desired as mentioned above.

Notes

You can add even red bell pepper instead of red sweet chili pepper in the chutney. The peppers add more substance and texture to the chutney, without compromising the color. 
We are adding dense protein rich foods to make idli, so the overall texture will be less fluffy than normal idli but not hard or chewy. It will be very much palatable.
Fermenting the batter is important for better texture. Do not rush the batter, let it sit for almost up to 12 hours if you can. 
Eat the idlis when warm for best results.