Idli

Idli, The  South Indian breakfast food. These are fat little cakes of a rice/lentil mixture that are fermented overnight and then steamed. They are served, like almost all tiffin.  இட்லி  is a south Indian savoury cake popular throughout India. The cakes are usually two to three inches in diameter. The fermentation process breaks down the starches so that they are more readily metabolised by the body. Idli may have been imported to India from Indonesia.Most often eaten at breakfast or as a snack, idlis are usually served in pairs with chutney, sambar, or other accompaniments. Mixtures of crushed dry spices such as milagai podi are the preferred condiment for idlis eaten on the go.  Earliest mention in India occurs in Kannada writing of Shivakotiacharya in 920 AD. Idly an easily digestible food taken with sambar provides a mix of proteins and carbohydrates to the body.

Ingredients

• 4cup Idli Rice (It is a parboiled rice)
• 1 cup round urad daal (white)
• 11/2 tbsp Salt
• 2 tspOil
• 
  

Vessels needed

Blender/wet grinder
Idly stand with idly plates
And a vessel with tight lid (suitable to fit idly stand)

Method

1.Wash and soak the daal  for 1 hours. Wash and soak the rice at least for 4 hours.

2.Drain the urad dal.Wet grinder is good for making idli batter, but if you don't have one you can also use mixer grinder or mixie. Switch on the grinder, add the soaked urad dal add some water and grind till it is so soft.  If needed add some water, Batter should be medium thick. Collect it in a big vessel.

3.Switch on the grinder and add the drained rice little by little, adding water if necessary. Grind it until the texture  is coarse. The rice batter need not be as smooth as the urad dal batter.

4.Now mix the ground rice and daal together into a batter, add salt mix it and allow it to ferment for at least 8 hours.By morning, the batter will be doubled in volume.

5.Grease the idli holder or pan well and fill each of them with 3/4th full of batter.Keep pressure cooker on flame add 2 glasses of water and keep this idli holder into this. .

6.Steam cook idlis on the medium flame for about 5 minutes or until done.

7.Use a spoon dipped in water  to remove the idlis.

8.Serve them with sambhar or chutney.

Note: Do not use weight for the cooker to prepare idlis.