Blueberry Jam Filled Idli


Happy BC Day! I absolutely love my home province and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world, so I’m excited to share a BC Blueberries inspired recipe today. (Ironically, I’m sitting in a hotel room looking out at the Coos Bay in Oregon as I write this post – but I’ll share more about that next week!)

bc blueberries
A couple of weeks ago our family took a trip to a
local berry farm, and I’ve been itching to try a recipe with our u-pick bounty every since. I’ve had this idea to do a stuffed idli banked in my file filled with random blog post ideas for nearly a year, and I finally found the perfect filling – blueberry jam.

Blueberry Idli
An idli is basically a steamed rice cake, and the blueberry jam is the perfect compliment to this basic snack item. I have high hopes of this becoming a school lunch option in the fall, and am already planning some fun new filling ideas. 

This recipe comes together quite easily with a packaged idli batter mix and quick cooking jam. If you are an idli master feel free to use a from scratch batter, and if you have a family recipe for blueberry jam, that is the way to go! 

Blueberry Jam Filled Idli Recipe:

bc blueberries
Ingredients for Jam: (Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking)
2 cups of fresh blueberries
1 tbs water

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbs fresh lemon juice

2 cups prepared idli batter

blueberry filled idli, pink chai, idli snack
Put the berries and water into a heavy bottomed pan. Cook over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes and mash the berries. 
blueberry filled idli
Add the sugar and cook for 1-2 minutes ensuring all the granules have dissolved. blueberry filled idli

Add the lemon juice and increase the heat to high. Continue boiling the jam until it reaches a temperature of 218 Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer. It took about 10 minutes for my jam to cook. 

blueberry filled idliDSC_5780AzizDhamani
Add a thin layer of idli batter to each compartment in your idli steamer and spread it around. Drop a spoon of blueberry jam in the centre, and cover with more idli batter. (Tip: always grease your idli tray with oil so they come out easily!)

If you haven’t made idli before or used an idli tray, you can watch this video which explains the process quite well. If you don’t want to invest the time in making a batter from scratch you can get a batter mix at your local desi store. 
DSC_5782AzizDhamani
Steam the idlis for 8-10 minutes, pop out of the tray and serve! These are delicious, healthy, and easy to transport for road trips or summer snacks. blueberry filled idliblueberry filled idliblueberry filled idli

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