IDLY / DOSA BATTER

Idly or dosa is the most common breakfast of South India. It is consumed almost everyday, for breakfast and dinner. Generally idly/dosa batter will be made once or twice a week, in a South Indian home, depending on the size of the family. We in our home, usually make it once a week.

Idly/dosa batter is made with rice and urid dhal. It is ground to a fine paste, and is made to ferment for a minimum of 6 to 8 hours. The batter gets fermented with days. The next day, not so fermented batter is usually used to make idlies. On the second day, the batter gets fermented really well, which can be diluted with water and be used to make dosa.

In restaurants or parties, idly or dosa is usually served with 3 types of chutneys and sambar. But, it doesn’t really need to be paired with only these combinations, all the time. It goes really well with any kind of side dish like kulambu, kuruma, sambar and podi. Also, it can be either vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

ABOUT THE RECIPE:

The main part of making idly/dosa batter is the proportion of the ingredients. There are so many different proportions for this recipe. The proportion that I’ve included in this recipe is what, we have been making in our family for generations. 5:1:1 is the proportion that my mom always say, which I can never forget, since I’ve heard it a million times.

*IT REQUIRES A WET GRINDER, AND I’VE USED 2 LITRE WET GRINDER FOR THIS RECIPE.

INGREDIENTS FOR IDLY/DOSA BATTER:

• IDLY RICE – 5 CUPS
• RAW RICE – 1 CUP
• URID DHAL – 1 CUP
• FENUGREEK SEEDS – 1 TBSP
• SALT – AS REQUIRED

HOW TO MAKE IDLY/DOSA BATTER:

• Wash and soak the ingredients for 3 hours. Raw rice and idly rice can be soaked separately, and the urid dhal and fenugreek seeds can be soaked separately.

• Meanwhile, wash the wet grinder. Switch it on, and add 1 cup of water.

• Then add the soaked urid dhal and fenugreek seeds to the grinder. It requires 2 to 2.5(Around 500ml) cups of water to ground the urid dhal. 1 cup of water is added at the beginning. Add the remaining water little at a time, and grind them to a fine paste.

• The urid dhal becomes fluffy and the quantity increases to almost 4 times the quantity of urid dhal. It takes around 20 minutes to completely grind the urid dhal.

• After 20 minutes, check for the consistency. It has to be smooth. At this stage, switch off the grinder, and transfer the ground batter to a large mixing bowl.

• Then, switch on the grinder and, add little water and, the soaked rice to it. Also add water gradually. It requires around 5 to 6 cups(Around 1.5 litre) of water.

• The rice takes around 45 minutes to ground to a fine paste.

• After 45 minutes, check for the consistency. Once it gets the smooth texture, switch off the grinder, and transfer it to the same mixing bowl that had the ground urid dhal in it.

• Add salt to it, and mix everything well. Mix it with bare hands. Do not use any utensil to mix it. Mixing the batter with bare hands helps in fermentation. This is the most important step for a perfect idly/dosa batter.

• Then transfer the batter to a storage container. It has to be kept at room temperature for about 6 to 8 hours for fermenting. Fill until half or 3/4 of the container. While fermenting, the batter raises. When the containers are completely filled, the batter might overflow.

I’ve transferred the batter to 3 separate containers. Fermentation process happens really fast, when it is kept at a warm place. I usually keep one container at room temperature, for fermentation, and the remaining 2 container in the fridge. Once the fermented batter gets over, I keep the other container at room temperature, usually overnight. The next morning it gets fermented, and will be ready to use.

• After 8 hours, the batter will be fermented, and is ready to be used. The next day, we usually make idlies and, the day after we dilute the batter with water to make dosas.

TO MAKE IDLY:

Mix the batter, and pour it onto the idly plates and steam it for 15 minutes. Hot and fluffy idlies will be ready.

TO MAKE DOSA:

Add 1/2 cup of water and dilute the batter. Heat a dosa tawa and spread the batter on the hot tawa. Pour a teaspoon of oil, and cook for 10-15 seconds on both sides. Hot and crispy dosa is ready.

SERVE IT WITH YOUR FAVORITE CHUTNEYS, PODI, SAMBAR OR KULAMBU.

THIS TIME I SERVED DOSA WITH SENNAKUNNI PODI AND, IDLY WITH MILAGAI PODI.

VARIATIONS:

• Generally whole urid dhal is used to make idly/dosa batter. But, split urid dhal can also be used instead of whole urid dhal.
• Full boiled rice can be used instead of idly rice.

PRO TIPS:

• Make sure to add little water to the grinder, before adding the ingredients. The grinder might get stuck when it is too dry.
• The batter gets fermented only when you add salt. If you want to store the batter for a long time, do not add salt.
• It gets fermented easily in hot regions. But for colder regions the natural fermentation process is not possible. In this case turn on the oven lights, and place the batter in an oven safety container for 8 hours. This heat from the lights inside the oven helps the batter to ferment.