Cholam Idli/ Millet idli is a soft spongy, delicious and healthy breakfast prepared with Sorghum, Urad dal and rice.

Cholam/ Sorghum/ Jowar is a millet (small grain) which is used in making variety of yummy main dishes. Adding this millet to our diet yields lot of health benefits.

Today I am sharing with you guys this recipe of soft and delicious millet idli. It can be prepared just like regular idli’s without much hassle.

These millet idli’s look a little dull in color than the regular idli; but it surely benefits our health as the millet is rich in protein, iron, fiber and is packed with vitamins and minerals. You could also make adai with cholam like this Millet adai.

These sorghum idli’s can be served with hotel style coconut chutney, tiffin sambar or even with podi. The good thing about jowar/ sorghum/ cholam is it aids in weight loss as well. Great news right? So let’s get to the making of jowar idli!

You may be interested in other millet recipes below:

Proso millet upma, Barnyard millet idli, Kambu vermicelli upma, Finger millet idl, Finger millet kanji, Kambu sweet semiya

Other recipes that might interest you:

Cholam idli recipe, How to make Millet Idli

Recipe by Sandhya Riyaz

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Breakfast, DinnerCuisine: South IndianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Soaking time

hours

Fermenting time

hours

Grinding time

minutes

Cholam idli/ Sorghum idli/ Jowar idli is a fiber, iron and protein rich soft and spongy idli that can be prepared easily at home for breakfast.

Ingredients to make Cholam idli

1 cup, Sorghum/ Cholam /Jowar
1 cup, Idli rice
1/2 cup, Whole urad dal
2 tablespoon, Poha/ Aval
1 tablespoon, Oil (for greasing idli plates)

Directions to make cholam idli / Sorghum idli / Millet Idli

In a bowl add urad dal, sorghum/ cholam millet, idli rice and poha together. Wash 3 to 4 times until you see clear water. Soak it in enough water for 5 to 6 hours.
After 6 hours, in a wet grinder add little quantity of the soaked ingredients. Switch on the grinder, when it starts grinding gradually add little by little of all the soaked items. Grind the mixture into a thick and fluffy batter with adding water in regular intervals when needed. My batter was not really smooth so if your batter has grains its completely fine it will yield soft idly and crisp dosa. I used 1½ cups of water for grinding but it may vary according the soaking time. But the measurement is just a guideline to get a perfect batter. Also scrap the inner sides of the grinder often to get rid of coarse rice mixture using the scrapper provided along with grinder.
When done grinding transfer the mixture to a bowl, add required amount of salt and mix well
Allow the batter to ferment for 8 to 10 hours.
In the morning heat water in idli pot. Grease idli plates with few drops of oil. Pour ladle of batter in each idli mold and place the batter filled idli plates in the idli steamer and steam it for 12 minutes.
When done remove the idli plate from the steamer and keep it aside for a minute then wet a spoon with little water (wetting the spoon with water helps to scoop idli from the idli plate and serve it hot with chutney of your choice!

Notes

During winter season/ if you live in cold country keep the batter in oven with oven light on for fermentation
Try adding 1 tbsp of old fermented idli batter to the freshly ground batter for quick fermentation.
Add little water at a time so that you don’t miss the consistency of the batter, as thick batter yields fluffy idli’s and also helps in easy fermentation.
* 1 cup = 235 ml

HOW TO MAKE CHOLAM IDLI WITH STEP BY STEP IMAGES

In a bowl add cholam/ sorghum.
In the same bowl add urad dal, idli rice and poha together. Wash 3 to 4 times until you see clear water. Soak it in enough water for 5 to 6 hours.
After 6 hours, in a wet grinder add little quantity of the soaked ingredients. Switch on the grinder, when it starts grinding gradually add little by little of all the soaked items. Grind the mixture into a thick and fluffy batter with adding water in regular intervals when needed. My batter was not really smooth so if your batter has grains its completely fine it will yield soft idly and crisp dosa. I used 1 ½ cups of water for grinding but it may vary according the soaking time. But the measurement is just a guideline to get a perfect batter. Also scrap the inner sides of the grinder often to get rid of coarse mixture using the scrapper provided along with grinder.
When done grinding transfer the mixture to a bowl, add required amount of salt and mix well. Allow the batter to ferment for 8 to 10 hours.
In the morning mix the fermented batter well. Now heat water in idli pot. Grease idli plates with few drops of oil. Pour ladle of batter in each idli mold and place the batter filled idli plates in the idli steamer and steam it for 10 to 12 minutes.
When done remove the idli plate from the steamer and keep it aside for a minutes then wet a spoon with little water (wetting the spoon with water helps in and scoop idli from the idli plate and serve it hot with chutney of your choice!