Soak urad dal with a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds and keep it in the fridge. At the time of grinding you can take it out. I soak minimum 3 hours. The idlies come very nicely. Splitting the batter in 2 containers. I have to try !
My mum makes the best Idli/Dosa batter. We make it once in 2 weeks. Whenever we are bored and lazy to make them, we buy ready to make dosa/idli batter from ID Fresh.http://www.idfreshfood.com They make exactly same batter we make at home. And it comes in a nice pack, economical too.
I prepare the dosa thrice a week. I purchase the branded dosa batter (say, from iD Fresh Food or other local brands) and prepare it at home. And no, I don't prepare it directly from rice and urad dal
I prepare the batter 10 days once. Few tips that i follow: 1) First i will soak the rice. 2) After 45mins i will soak the urad dal. 3) After 45 mins, i will first grind the dal and keep it in a big bucket. 4) Then i will grind rice. I will add the required salt (Kal uppu) while grinding itself. 5) Then i will mix everything together in the big bucket and will beat them together for 3 to 4 mins. This will help in good fermentation. 6) Then ferment it for 8 hours or more depending on the weather. 7) I will store this in 4 or 5 small containers and store it in fridge. 8) Everyday morning i will take it out by 6.30 am and will make idli around 8.00. It will turn out so soft. The remaining batter can be used only for dosa. The next day i will take out another container and after making idli, i will pour the remaining into dosa batter container. In that way i will make idlis for 4 to 5 days in the orning and make dosas for dinner. Spongy Idlies (South Indian Idli)