Description
In this blog post we talk all about Idli - how to make soft idli and dosa batter, the proportions for making batter and pro tips and tricks to make the recipe. Idli is a savory rice cake and a delicious breakfast staple of South India. It is made with a mixture of rice and urad dal (a type of lentil), which is ground into a batter and fermented overnight. The next day, the batter is steamed into fluffy little cakes - idlis!
Ingredients
3.5 cups Idli Rice / Parboiled rice
1 cup Whole Urad dal lentils
1 teaspoon Fenugreek/ Methi seeds
4 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Rinse 3.5 cups of idli rice (parboiled rice) and 1 cup urad dal (and 1 tsp fenugreek seeds/ methi seeds, if using) separately under running water.
- To make idli batter, soak rice and urad dal separately in enough water for 4-6 hours or overnight. The water level should be at least a couple of inches above the rice and lentils.
- After soaking, drain the water from the urad dal (and fenugreek seeds/ methi seeds, if using) and grind it in a wet grinder until it becomes a soft fluffy batter. Pour the urad dal batter into a large bowl.
- Next, grind the rice until it is fairly coarse. The ground rice texture should not be too smooth nor too coarse. Again, add water as needed. Pour the coarsely ground idli rice into the same bowl as the lentil batter.
- Add salt to the idli batter and mix well.
Notes
Always grind the soaked urad dal lentils until extremely smooth and fluffy taking care to add water little by little as the grinding progresses.
Grind the soaked rice until it reaches a slightly coarse texture.
You may include soaked poha while grinding the batter.
Mix both the batters thoroughly with before allowing it to ferment.
- Prep Time: 8.5 hours
- Cook Time: 1.5 hours
- Cuisine: Indian