Podi Idli Recipe (Podi Mini Idli)

Podi Idli is a quick South Indian Breakfast dish made by tossing steamed idlis in a spicy ground lentil condiment known as Podi. These fluffy Podi Idli are delicious, nutty, and super healthy & sure will be loved by your entire family. Podi Idli are protein-rich, gluten-free and are vegan if you use oil. Apart from being a great Breakfast, they can also be served for a snack or a meal any time & also go well in an office & school box.

For the uninitiated, Idli are steamed cakes made from fermented lentil and rice batter. These are one of the most basic breakfast in traditional South Indian homes. Usually idli are served with a Chutney and/ or Tiffin Sambar.

About Podi Idli

This Podi Idli is yet another way of serving them where you toss or temper the steamed idlis with ghee or oil & podi.

Podi Idli, Pudi Dosa, Podi Uttapam are common delicacies served in Udupi & Karnataka Restaurants. They are served with a combo of Tiffin Sambar and Coconut Chutney. But they are good and can be eaten on their own without any side.

Every restaurant has their own recipe to make a special aromatic podi. The Karnataka restaurants use a combination of peanuts and roasted chana dal (Chutney dal). In Tamil restaurants you will taste the chana dal more prominently and sometimes even sesame seeds are used.

In the Tamil version idlis, are smeared with sesame oil while in Karnataka restaurants they are tossed in oil & drizzled with ghee or sometimes ghee is served separately.

My Recipe

My recipe will help you make delicious Podi Idli under 20 to 25 minutes, if you have the steamed idlis ready. If you have pre-made podi you can simply toss them in a bowl with a drizzle of some hot oil or ghee.

I make podi idli often for breakfast as my kids’ love them. Most often I stock up few kinds of spice powders (Condiments) like Podi, kobbari karam podi, Peanut powder, sesame seeds podi, Flax seed podi and Curry leaves podi.

With so many varieties in stock, I have this quick option of tossing warm idlis in some podi with hot ghee.

In this post I have shared podi recipe just enough to make 8 to 10 podi idli. You can also make the podi the previous night. Just steam the idli in the morning and you are done with the breakfast just by tossing them in oil or ghee along with podi.

But I have also shown a tempering method here, if you can spend 2 more mins you can try that way too. I have used mini idlis here you can use regular idlis.

For more Breakfast Recipes, you can check
Rava Idli
Idli Sambar
Dosa
Masala dosa
Adai

Photo Guide

How to Make Podi Idli (Stepwise Photos)

Make Podi

1. Dry roast 3 dried red chilies and 2 tablespoons peanuts until the peanuts are almost golden but not fully roasted.

2. Add 1 tablespoon chana dal and 1 tablespoon urad dal to the same pan. Roast on a low to medium heat until golden & aromatic. If you like you can also add a small garlic clove.

3. Add 1½ teaspoons sesame seeds and 1½ teaspoon copra / desiccated coconut. Copra tastes best. I did not have copra so did not use.

4. Next add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds.

5. Add 1 sprig curry leaves. Wash and pat dry first. Roast until the leaves turn crisp and all the ingredients are golden and aromatic. Make sure none of them taste raw. Set this aside to cool.

6. Add them along with ¼ teaspoon salt or as needed to a grinder jar. I do not use tamarind and jaggery but you can use them if you like them.

7. Make a fine powder.

Temper Mini Idlis

8. Heat 2 to 3 tablespoon ghee or oil in a pan. Add a pinch of hing and pinch of mustard, both are optional.

9. When they splutter, switch off the stove. Add the idlis. I used 3 plates of mini idli (3 servings), you can use the regulars idlis too.

10. Then add the podi more or less as desired. Toss the idlis gently in the pan. If needed add more oil or ghee. Taste test and add more salt and more podi if you want.

Serve Podi Idli as breakfast or evening snack.

Pro Tips

• Idlis: Though plain soft idlis are the most commonly used, you can also use any kind of idlis. Like ragi idli or any millet idli and even rava idli go well in this recipe. If you do not have mini idlis, you can also cube large or regular idli and use them.
• Cold Idlis: If you are using cold idlis from the refrigerator, heat them in a steamer, cooker or Instant pot until hot. Let them cool a bit and then use in the recipe.
• Nut-free: To make these nut-free, simply skip using peanuts and use the same amount of lentils (chana dal and urad dal).
• Ghee: We personally love using ghee. You can also use wood pressed or cold pressed sesame oil. In this case you may simply skip heating the oil and mustard seeds from the recipe. When the oil turns warm, turn off the stove. Add the idlis and podi. You don’t necessarily want to heat this kind of oil.
• Podi: You can also use store bought podi.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

Podi Idli Recipe first published in August 2016. Updated & republished in May 2023.