how to make good idli batter?

Discussion in 'Cuisines of India' started by thegirlygirl, Apr 8, 2013.

  1. OliveOyl

    OliveOyl Gold IL'ite

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    I use idli rice. It looks like parboiled rice, but short and round. Proportion is 3.5 to 1. I soak it in the morning, grind in the evening and allow to ferment overnight. Even with mixie grinding it is soft.

    I realized that for good soft idlis the amount of water in the batter has to be just right. More water or less water makes it hard. Also, the urad dal has to be ground to a very smooth paste and rice to a somewhat smooth paste. Not too rough again, and not too smooth also. Also, before making idlis, dont mix the batter or all the aeration due to the fermentation process will go away. Just pick up batter and put it in the idli moulds.

    Like others, I use this batter for dosas also, by mixing water, from the second day.
     
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  2. Agilas

    Agilas Gold IL'ite

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    make it 2 cups rice + 1 cup urad dhal + 1/2 cup sabudana, 1 table spoon of fenugreek (methi), soak these ingredients upto 6 hrs then grinder rice with sabudan together and urad dhal.

    let it ferment for 8 to 10 hours and you can use this batter for Idly as well for dosa.
     
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  3. Anuragmhalotra

    Anuragmhalotra New IL'ite

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    Oh, it’s very simple to make Idli batter. All you need to make the Idli batter is Urad Dal and Rice. Soak them in enough water and then transfer in a blender and grind into the batter. Though, for exact measurements and many other varieties of Idli, you can visit the website of Living Foodz just like how I do.
     
  4. pritisuman

    pritisuman New IL'ite

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    While it’s amazing that we now have idli batter easily available in the market, there is something special about making idlis from freshly grinded batter at home! Moving into a new city means learning recipes online and this idli recipe really helped me just like many others from LivingFoodz.
     
  5. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    Dearie....
    While idli batter may be easily available in the market, there are serious suspicions about any and all packaged food items, including the idly/dosa batter. What is that "something special about making idlis from freshly ground batter at home" is the guarantee that you have not added any preservatives, fake-gassifiers to fluff up the batter, avoided the leeching of monomers and plasticizers from the plastic bag into the batter, and various and sundry serendipitous/adventitious impurities (including mice droppings) into the batter.

    Live long, and prosper.
     
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  6. samairareddy

    samairareddy New IL'ite

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    One should admit that idli is one among the most popular sublime dishes in South India. Though a simple dish, it asks for the right preparation of batter. You need correct proportion of urad dal and rice, which is 1:3 or 1:4 (depends on the rice you use). Soak them separately in water for about 4 to 5 hours; add methi seeds. After 5 hours, grind the dal and then rice in a grinder. Transfer the content to a container and allow it to ferment.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 3, 2019
  7. nemesis

    nemesis Platinum IL'ite

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    ^ Non-invasive ad. Easily bypasses the ad-blocker.
     
  8. deepthivinayak1

    deepthivinayak1 Gold IL'ite

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    Hi,
    I like to tell what works for me in USA past 10 years. Idli rice 6 cup, Urad dhal 1 cup, methi seed 1 tsp. Soak dhal n methi together in cold water. Idli rice separately. I soak in night and grind in early morning. In morning,drain the dhal water and grind with little soaked water . Add water little by little till,you get that puffy airy batter. Take it out and grind the rice separately. Once grinned, mix together and add enough water ,so that when batter ferment and raise,it should be hard batter which struggles to raise. If the mixed batter in not too thick, the batter raise well and ferment well. Else, the batter won’t fully raise or top layer will be cracked and not risen well. Keep the grinder batter near to stove to get enough warm to ferment. Once fermented ,add salt and mix well. I store the batter in semi liquid form,so that once refrigerated it will thicken up.
     
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  9. deepthivinayak1

    deepthivinayak1 Gold IL'ite

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  10. deepthivinayak1

    deepthivinayak1 Gold IL'ite

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    You can use poha 1 cup instead of 1 cup rice. Soak poha 1 hr before grinding, add it while grinding. As I said, when you mix batter to ferment, add enough water ,mix well and allow to ferment. My batter always be liquid during fermenting so that the top layer won’t get hard as hour pass. Once fermented, my batter will have bubbles formed. It makes a good spongy uttappam like above.
     
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