Idli dosa is staple in every South Indian home. All of us will agree that readymade batter comes nowhere near the homemade Idli batter. This post is solely for beginners. When I start to grind Idli dosa batter, I struggled a lot to get soft idlies. After lot of trail and errors, I could able to grind the batter right.So I wanted to do a post on this as it may help some.
The main key to get soft idlies is the quality of urad dal and the amount of water added while grinding the batter. Methi seeds helps in better fermentation and to brown the dosa. Don't miss the notes section at the end of post for additional points. Let's go to the recipe.
Homemade Idli Dosa Batter Recipe
Prep time
Cook time
1 hr
Total time
Idli dosa batter preparation from scratch
Author: Kalyani
Recipe type: Basics
Cuisine: South Indian
Serves: 40
Ingredients
- Idli Rice - 3 cups (1 cup=250 ml)
- Urad dal - 1/2 cup
- Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp
- Water - as needed
- Crystal salt - 3 tsp or adjust as per taste
Preparation :
1. Measure Idli rice, Urad dal and fenugreek using measuring cup. Then Wash & soak rice and urad dal with fenugreek seeds separately for three hours at least.
Procedure :
1. Start grinding the urad dal first by adding little water say 1/4 cup. After 5 minutes, wipe the urad dal and fenugreek sticked in the wall of grinder with your hands. Add 1/4 cup of water now and let the grinder run.
3.When the bubbles starts to appear and the batter is fluffy, it's done. I have added approximately 1 and 3/4 cup of water to grind the urad dal and it took 30 minutes to grind the urad dal.Transfer the urad dal batter to a separate vessel.
4.Then filter the water completely from soaked rice and grind by adding 1/2 cup of water. For every 5 to 10 minutes keep adding water.
5.Grind the rice till smooth or little grainy. I have added 2 cups of water for the rice to grind smooth.Transfer the rice batter to the same vessel and mix with urad dal batter well with your hands after adding required salt.
6.Let the batter ferment for overnight or for 12 hours. Next day the batter should be raised as shown.Now you can start make idlies using the batter. Heat the idly pot with one cup of water and fill the mould of idly plate with batter. Steam it for 8 to 10 minutes. Then unmould the idlies from the plate.
7.For dosa's add little water to the batter and make.
Serve the idlies / dosa's with chutney or sambar of your choice . We had it with brinjal Gothsu and idli podi.
Notes:
1. The amount of water mentioned in the post is to give a rough idea. Adjust as needed.
2.The ratio of rice and urad dal used here is 6:1 and it works best if the urad dal quality is good. If the urad dal quality is poor , try with 4:1 or even 2:1 if the dal quality is very poor.
3. Fermentation time depends on climatic condition. In summer , it takes only 8 to 9hours for the batter to raise.
4.crystal salt helps in better fermentation.
5. If the idlies are flat, add less water while gring urad dal or decrease the urad dal quantity next time when you make.
6. If the idlies are hard, increase the water quantity while grinding urad dal or increase the urad dal quantity.