Soft Idli Recipe | Idli | How To Make Idli & Dosa Batter In The Mixer Grinder
Idli or Idly is one of the most popular South Indian breakfast dishes. Learn how to make the perfect fermented idli batter that yields spongy, fluffy and soft idli every single time.
Servings 0
Ingredients
Measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml
- 3 cups idli rice/parboiled rice
- 1.25 to 1.5 cup whole urad dal/urad dal gota, skinless whole black lentils
- 1 tsp fenugreek (methi seeds)
- 1/2 cup thick poha/cooked rice
- 1 tbsp salt or to taste
Instructions
SOAKING THE RICE AND DAL
- Rinse the idli rice well, soak in about 5 cups of filtered water, preferably 8 hours or at least 4 hours.
- One hour before you begin to grind the batter, wash and drain the urad dal about 2-3 times. Soak the urad dal with enough water, about 3-4 cups of filtered water. Also, soak the fenugreek seeds along with the dal.
- .Just 15 minutes before you begin grinding the dal and rice, soak poha in sufficient filtered water. Then drain, squeeze excess water and add it to the rice whilst grinding.
HOW TO GRIND IDLI BATTER IN THE MIXIE?
- .After the specified soaking time, drain the urad dal & methi (reserve the water for grinding). Add ice cubes to the reserved water, plus use more filtered water as required for grinding, add ice cubes to that as well.
- Transfer 1/2 of the drained urad dal to your grinder/mixer along with 1/2 cup water, run the mixer on the lowest speed for 30 seconds.
- Open the lid and let the jar rest for another 30 seconds.
- Add another 1/2 cup water, cover the mixer and grind for another 30 seconds.
- Repeat the grinding process 2 to 3 times more if required with a resting time of 30 seconds, the batter should be fluffy and smooth. Do not let the mixer heat up. (I ground the batter in 2 batches & used a total of 2 cups ice cold reserved water). Then transfer this batter to a large vessel, with sufficient volume as the batter will rise during fermentation.
- Next, drain the rice, and grind along with poha or cooked rice in the mixer to a slightly coarse batter, adding little water as required. (I ground the rice in 3 batches and used a total of 1 & 1/2 cups water, 1/2 cup ice cold reserved water per batch. Follow the same procedure of grinding the rice, grind 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds, repeat one more time.) Do not add too much water in one go. When you touch the batter, you should feel tiny rice granules. Do not grind to a smooth batter. Transfer this batter to the vessel containing the urad dal batter.
HOW TO FERMENT IDLI BATTER?
- Add salt and whisk the batter for 2-3 minutes. Incorporate the batters using clean hands. The final batter must be thick and flowy, not watery and runny. Add salt only while you mix the batter with hands, not when you are grinding the rice and urad dal. Cover with a lid and keep aside in a warm place to ferment overnight. (I switch on the oven to 180 degrees F for 10 minutes, then turn it off, switch on the oven light and let the batter ferment in the warm oven. The warmth of the oven light also aids in fermentation). If you do not have a big vessel, you can divide the batter into two containers/vessels. If the weather is warm and humid where you live, you can leave the container on the countertop, away from a draft-free place.
- Next morning, give the fermented batter one or two gentle swirls. Do not mix it vigorously. It took a total of 15 hours to ferment the batter in this chilly winter, I think it was 3 degrees C the day I made this batter. During the summer it should ferment in 8 hours. If your batter did not rise to the brim or didn't even overflow, it doesn't mean that your batter did not ferment. To check, take a ladle full of batter from the vessel if the batter in the vessel has air bubbles and you can feel the fermented smell then your batter is ready to use.
HOW TO STEAM IDLI AND HOW LONG TO STEAM IDLI?
- Bring water to a simmer in the idli steamer. Pour spoonful's of batter into greased idli molds.
- Steam it for about 10-12 minutes. Insert a toothpick or knife in one of the idlis to check for doneness. They are done when the toothpick comes out clean. Unmold the idlis using a butter knife or a spoon. Repeat the same procedure for other idli batches. Serve hot with sambar, coconut chutney, and podi.
Notes
- Do not let the mixer heat up whilst grinding the batter. When the batter heats up, it does not ferment well as the heat kills the good bacteria in the batter. Hence ice cold water helps to avoid that to an extent. At any point, if you feel your mixer is heating up, simply stop and let it cool down and continue.
- The above-mentioned ratio has yielded me excellent and soft idli. However, if the urad dal quality is good, 1: 4:: urad dal: rice works well too.
- The quality of urad dal is another important factor for a successful fermentation, so make sure your urad dal is fresh or not from an old batch.
- Soak urad dal for a shorter period. This helps in giving volume to the batter.
- Do not use split urad dal, it will not give the required volume to the batter.
- Do not go stingy on the water, the water proportions that I have mentioned have always given me good results. I do not know about the amount of water required to grind the batter in a stone wet grinder. But if you use a mixer grinder these water proportions should work fine. Still, it is always good to add water gradually, since the quality of rice and dal differs.
- During the winters if you want your batter to ferment quicker, you can add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp baking soda or powder to the batter, before fermenting it.
- Fenugreek does 3 things- Helps in fermentation. It gives a nice aroma to the batter which in turn passes to the aroma of the idli and dosa. Imparts a nice golden color to the dosas.