Soft Idlis

Ingredients:

Urud dal - 1 cup

A little note: Before buying Urud dal, ensure the packet has some whitish powder all around the inner walls of the packet and the Urud Dal is whitish in color, Urud dal can be either whole or split. I use Split. (I use Pooja Brand)

1 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
3 cups Food World White Idli Rice
1 cup Sona Masoori Rice (I use Ravi Brand)
3 teaspoons White flaked rice (Poha)
Salt

Method:

For the Batter:

In the morning, wash the urud dal, add fenugreek seeds and soak in water.

Mix the idli rice and masoori rice. Wash and soak in water. Wash the poha several times and add it to the soaked rice.

After 3 hours, using the same water, grind the Urud Dal in a Wet Grinder. You can add water while its grinding, see to it that it doesn’t get too watery. Grind until you see some small bubbles. The tip is, when you think its done, grind for 10 more minutes. Take the ground urud Dal and transfer it to a large bowl.

Grind the rice using less water. Let it grind until it is well ground and you don’t feel any coarse rice when you touch the Batter. The tip is, when you think its done, grind for 5 more minutes. (The ground batter should not be too loose or too thick)

Now, pour the Rice Batter on Urud Batter. Add required amount of Salt and Mix well using your hands. Mix really well until everything blends well. Pour it in large containers. I use three boxes. Fill only half the containers. Keep it partially closed in the Oven (Please Do not Switch ON the Oven). Keep it in the oven overnight for fermentation. The next morning the batter is ready for making SOFT IDLIs.

To Store, Refrigerate the Batter. Each time you open a box, you can make soft iddlis.

To Make Idlis:

Grease the idli plates with ghee. fill the idli plates with batter and steam cook covered for few Minutes. I use non-stick idli plates. When the Idlis are done, Take the Plates out and keep it aside for sometime. Let all the steam go away. Then scoop the Idlis.

To make the idlis look more interesting, put a spoon full of grated carrots in the plate before pouring the batter.

Serve Hot with Sambar and Chutney. Click here for Sambar for Idlis.

I have used 3 cups of food world white iddli rice and 1 cup sona masoori rice. Just add 4 cups white iddli rice and omit sona masoori rice. The iddlis come out well in this proportion too.