Soft & Spongy Idli

Idli....south Indian food would be incomplete without Idli..yeah thats true..Idli is the king of breakfast..Starting from Five star restaurants to Kaiyenthi bavan, Idli is a mandatory breakfast for south India. Idli /Savoury cake is a must have breakfast in every household. Growing in a south Indian family, I never missed Idli...

There are different varieties of Idli like kanchipuram idli, mini Idli, Kushboo Idli..etc. The process itself takes minimum 24 hours. Soaking, Grinding, Fermenting are the main process involved. Even after following these steps, it is difficult to get soft and spongy Idli. The measurement and thickness of the batter plays the main role in getting soft puffy idli.

Ingredients:

3 cups ponni boiled rice
1 cup whole urad dal
1 tbsp methi seeds
salt to taste

Preparation:

Soak the rice, urad dhal and methi seeds (together) separately for 12 hours before grinding. Drain water completely. Grind soaked urad dhal, sprinkle water occasionally.In a wet grinder or mixer grinder, grind rice to thick batter consistency. Don't add too much water. sprinkle water occationally. Don't add too much water, the batter has to be silky smooth and medium thick. Mix the rice batter and urad dhal batter together using ur hand coz if u mix it in spatula the batter wont ferment!!!. Add salt and baking powder( optional), mix well cover and leave it for overnight or 6 hours. Next morning the batter will be fermented and the volume will be doubled. As I mentioned, the batter has to be medium thick/ thicker than dosa batter. If it too thick, Idli will be hard..If the batter is thinner, the idli will never puff.. It takes time to get correct consistency..U know practice makes perfect...

Take a sauce pan, big enough to fit the Idli pan. Pour 2 to 3 cups of water and let it boil. Separate the Idli plates, grease them with oil or cooking spray. Fill all the plates with Idli batter and place them back in their stand. Keep this Idli stand into the sauce pan. cover cook for abt 10-15 mts. Insert toothpick and it should return clean. Turn off the heat and remove the idly stand from the vessel. Run a spoon under each impression to separate steamed idlies from the plate. Soft an spongy Idli is ready...

Serve with Chutney and sambar. I had it with Betroot kurma!!!