Siyalam - Guest Post By Meera Rajan

Continuing with my guest posts, today's recipe is shared by Meera Rajan , who is an awesome photographer , yoga expert and an avid bird lover in addition to being a lovely mom. We are yet to meet her personally as we got introduced via social media ,but we share a bond that makes us feel we are friends for ages and we seldom realise that we haven't met in person.

Meera has shared with us a traditional recipe from TamilNadu, South India called "Siyalam" which is similar to the famous Gujurati snack Dhokla . This snack has a special place in her recipe list and she has happily shared it with all of us .

Presenting her recipe to all of you in her own words.

Ingredients

1 cup Moongdal 
1/4 cup raw rice( I used brown rice )
1 table spoon Channa dal 

Mel Podi or Masala Powder
1 tea spoon channa dal 
1/4 cup peanut 
3 table spoon coconut 
2 table spoon Coriander seeds 
3 dry red chillies
Small piece hing 

Fry all this one after another in oil, & powder it coarsely .

Tadka /Tempering
1 teaspoon mustard 
1 teaspoon uradh dal
1 teaspoon channa dal 
1 green chilli 
Oil 
Curry leaves 

Method 

• Soak rice and dhall for an hour, grind like idli batter with 1 green chilli, ,piece of ginger , & salt , ferment for 5 hours minimum. Steam it like idly for 10 to 12 minutes .After it cools down cut it in to pieces.
• In a kadai add oil /ghee add the tadka items one by one , add thick tamarind water ( 1 small lemon size ) salt , let it boil till the raw smell goes , add the  cut dal pieces , mix nicely.
• Cover & let it absorb the imli water , open mix nicely without breaking the pieces.
• Add the Mel Podi or powdered masala . Garnish with fresh coriander .

Note
 Imli water is optional, if you don’t want , then skip that step and add lemon juice .