Idli

Idli - Soft Ildies

This morning, as I woke up, I was little excited to see the idli batter which I prepared last evening. When I entered the kitchen, I could see myself smiling as the smell of the fermented batter welcomes me. I was curious to open the lid and see the batter raised. It was as thrilling as it used to be in my college days when I open the culture plates to see the bacteria grown. I know.. it sounds gross to you right? 😝.. okay now back to idli.. You can get a detailed instructions about how to make the idli batter here. Any way I can give a short version of the idli recipe in this post. Now lets go to the recipe.

For more breakfast recipes click here - Breakfast
Left over idlies.. click Idli upma

Idlies with kadalai paruppu chutney

Ingredients:

• Idli rice - 5 cups
• Urad dhal (whole) - 1/2 cup
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Rock salt - 3 heaped teaspoons
• Water -  as required

Procedure:

• Wash the rice, urad dhal and fenugreek and soak them seperately for 7 to 8 hours.
• Using grinder or mixer/blender grind the urad dhal and fenugreek first. Sprinkle water then and while to make sure the grinder is comfortable and at the same time not too watery. Grind the urad dhal till it is soft and fluffy like butter. Transfer this to a wide mouthed container and keep aside.
• Now grind rice. Never add all the rice together. Add one fist full at a time. And keep adding water at intervals. This phase of grinding requires more water than the first part urad dhal grinding. So keep checking for water. 
• Add rock salt while the rice is still running in the grinder.
• Grind the rice till it is slightly coarse but not fine. This gives the idli its grainy texture.
• Once rice is ground, transfer it to the container with the urad dhal batter.
• Mix them thoroughly with the bare hand.
• Cover it and keep it in a warm place over night for fermentation.
• Bingo! next morning the batter is ready.
• You can use the pressure cooker or an idli pot to make idlies.
• Smear some oil on the idli plates and pour a ladle full of batter to the respective places in the plates.
• If you want to use idli pots, add a glass of water into the pot first (you can add a piece of lemon to this water to avoid the calcification of the idli-pots at the bottom due to boiling of water). You can either smear the plates with oil or use a clean white cloth on the plates before you pour the batter.
• First keep the stove on high. Once the steam comes out steadily, reduce the flame and cook in low flame for 10 minutes. If you are using pressure cooker.. never put the pressure weight.
• The idlies are ready. If you are using cloth on the idli plates, tilt the idli plate on a serving plate.. sprinkle some water on the cloth and lift the cloth slowly. The idlies will come out without sticking to the cloth.

Before fermentation

After fermentation

Sprinkling water to remove the idlies from the cloth

There is no one fool-proof recipe for idli. You need to do at least few trials to settle with one perfect idli recipe for you.

Side dishes for idli are countless. On regular days.. it can be sambar, coconut chutney, peanut chutney, bengal gram chutney, mint chutney, coriander chutney, onion kara chutney, idli podi etc. Idli with chicken kozhambu, vadai curry, khurma etc., makes a weekend breakfast special.

For side dishes click Chutney / side dishes

Happy cooking !!