Idlis

Recipe Courtesy: Kannamma Cooks

Each time I meet someone who serves me idli, I ask for their rice-lentil ratio, yet I never manage to replicate it. I blame it on the weather, the lentils, the quality of rice and all my idli experiments end up as Dosas. But nobody complained as other than me, there was no idli fan in my home.

But since 2017, the story has changed! My daughter has made her presence felt in the breakfast scene and idli is back with a vengeance. Even if we run out of eggs and cereal, there’s always a bowl of idli/dosa batter in the fridge!!

Thanks to a cousin who introduced the Annapoorna Sambar by Kannamma Cooks, I found the answer to a fail – proof soft and fluffy idlis . Her blog is as authentic as Tamil – South Indian Food can get. If you run a search for idlis on her blog, you would find no less than 10 pages dedicated to various idli related recipes and topics. Please do refer her blog to access this treasure trove!

P.S. This recipe has been adapted to incorporate rice flour in the place of idly rice.

Ingredients

Urud dal – 1 cup*

Poha / Aval/ Beaten Rice- 3/4 cup*

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Rice Flour – 3 cups*

Salt -1 tbsp or to taste

(1 cup = 250 ml)

Method

Soak Urud dal and fenugreek seeds in separate bowls in plenty of water.

Soak the poha in 1.5 cups of water.

Let it all soak for 3-4 hours.

Grind the poha with the water it is soaking and the fenugreek seeds in a dry grinder.

Grind it till you get smoothly blended mixture with 3/4 cup of water.

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Pour this mixture into a large bowl or container in which you will be fermenting the batter.

Now drain the urud dal.

Place the urud dal in a blender jar.

Add 3/4 cup of cold water and blend it till it’s smooth and fluffy. You might need to blend it for 3-4 minutes.

Pour this urud dal mixture over the blended poha mixture.

Now take the rice flour in the blender and add 3 cups of water to it . Mix it with a spoon to ease the blending process. Blend for 3-4 minutes till you get a smooth and lump free batter .

Add this mix to the rest of the batter and fold it together using a spatula or your hand.

Now add 1 tbsp salt or to taste, to this batter and mix it well.

Cover the bowl or container and let it ferment for 12 hours.

Once the batter has fermented, prepare the idli mould by greasing it.

Let water boil to a level of 2 inches in a large stock pot with a lid or idli maker.

Take the fermented batter from the top and place a spoonful in the each mould.

Fill only 3/4th of a mould as you would need room for the idli to rise.

When the water is boiling, place the idli mould inside .

Cover and let it cook for 7 minutes.

Take the idli out and let it cool for a minute before you take them out of the mould.

The rest of the batter can be kept in the fridge and used later.

This batter can also be used for making crispy dosas.

I’m on a low carb diet.

Whenever I feel low, I eat carbs!